. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael's Etape

2008-10-25T14:36:00.004+01:00

SOME STATISTICS

Kathmandu

Days riding : 2
Distance :
Height gained :

Tibet - Lhasa to Kathmandu

Days riding : 15
Distance : 695 miles
Height climbed : 11,781m (38,650 feet)
Weight lost : 8lbs
Seat pins broken : 2
Punctures : 2

See more of my photos at : Tibet photos

2008-10-22T15:44:00.003+01:00

MONDAY

Really early up next morning as we had to get our bags into lorry so it could get onto the road before it closed at 7.00, then we had a couple of hours to kill until it got light, as we could use the road anytime.

Fantastic ride out, dropping down on tarmac road, and then it turned into one big set of roadworks, as we plummeted down the beautiful valley full of waterfalls, absolutely brilliant riding. 30 miles of bumpy scary downhill along a steep gorge brimming with waterfalls.

At the bottom, the border… and some breakfast!

For some reason you can’t take vehicles over the border so all our luggage, bike boxes and camping equipment had to be unloaded and carried the 1km over the boder by a hoard of porters, most of whom were women. Astounding seeing how much each of them could carry.

On the other side clocks went back 2 and three quarter hours so it was only ten o’clock or so, nevertheless we settled down for some lunch. Not surprisingly, none of us were hungry, however, Russel and I had a couple of beers knowing we only had 25 miles of downhill to our campsite and all day to do it. Encouraged by a couple of bottles of Lhasa beer, Russel and I decided to remain for some more beer while everyone else headed off.

We then had a leisurely cycle down the mountain stopping at various local ‘bars’ on the way chatting to locals. Arrived as it was getting dark at the campsite….

2008-10-22T15:36:00.003+01:00

Sunday, Day #14

Very very cold this morning, minus 15 degrees at breakfast! And was first night that I felt slightly chilly in my four seasons expedition sleeping bag. First half hour very uncomfortable as my fingers were so cold I seriously was concerned about frost bite, but then got into the sun and started the first of our two final climbs. I felt remarkably good and got into a good rhythm. Soon I was overtaking people, Alvis, Woolfgang and Heidi. I was first to the top after the three fast boys, feel I have established my natural pecking order!! The second and final climb of the trip was more boring, just a long more or less straight grind. However, a real sense of elation at the top as it was the final pass we had to cross.

Then began the downhill… first, fantastic open bends unfortunately not tarmaced, but great fun. Terrain kept changing but all the time going downhill… going through a village I heard a loud bang as my back tyre punctured… I was soon on the road again after a roadside repair watched by a gang of small urchins. Unfortunately, a couple of miles down the road I snapped a second seat pin… the terrain was very rough and could not cope with the bumps. I tried to continue with no saddle but there were too many little climbs so I was forced to abandon. In some ways just as well as it was a long ride and fairly tough by the end. So I missed out on about 15 miles, but claim mechanical problems that could not be fixed.

Tibetan guides worked wonders in Nylam and found a bolt of sorts to fix my saddle, so I was fine for the final two days cycling.

Nylam was a fairly big town and we stayed in a guest house, I was down to share with Mark, but realised that this was just down to penny pinching – we were supposed to be camping but the road was closed… all day everyday, for resurfacing. So I paid up and got my own room.

Internet café and local restaurant for some food with Russel and Derek while the rest eat usual camp stuff.

2008-10-15T20:37:00.003+01:00

Saturday, day#13

Woke up early after a good night’s sleep and watched the sun appear over Everest and the Hymalayas.

Long flat ride along the Freedom Highway today, not tarmac but hard packed dirt. Day of two halves, cycled morning with Russel and had a good time, just before lunch went off piste to a ruined fort made of clay – fascinating. After lunch, however, got very tedious and I got very tired. A combination of yesterday’s great ride and the food being so bad I suspect.

Anyway just about made camp, feeling tired. Lets hope tomorrow is better as we are camped at the bottom of our last pair of passes.

2008-10-15T10:42:00.002+01:00

Friday day #12, 40 miles

A fantastic day. Woke up feeling really fit after a good night’s sleep – think I was suffering from altitude yesterday. Headed off on my own before the rest as I like to do. Weather was wonderful with a beautiful clear blue sky and Everest in the background as I slowly cycled up the valley on a rough road, climbing about 500m in 5 miles. Road was packed dirt with some parts covered in rocks but for the mainpart a good surface. Some very steep but short bits that I managed pretty well. Crept up past some little villages to the top of the pass then flat/downhill all the way. Road got a bit more rocky, and sometimes pretty scary as it hung to the hillside high above the river. Came upon a heard of yaks which looked fantastic down below us at the water’s edge, their Sheppards were busy putting away their tent.

Some v steep downhills and at one stage the road veered off to the left with the old road going straight on, I went straight on and found myself going straight down a very steep rocky incline, to meet the diversion at the end. Exhilarating!

More cycling on my own then met up with the car for drinks. At this point we could see what I was told was Tingi, so I headed off on my own across a huge rock field plain. When I got to what I thought was Tingi, I got mobbed by a crowd of very pushy children who kept following me around while I looked for the internet café I was longing for. It should have been obvious to me (a) this was not Tingi and (b) there was not going to be an internet café as I rode up narrow streets with cows wandering around.

Finally left and then saw in the distance Tingri. When I got there it was not much better though it was on the Freedom Highway, just half a mile of shops and hotels selling not much. I had expected it to be tarmaced here but unfortunately not, don’t think we are going to see any tarmac until we get to Nepal.

So, back in camp, feeling tired but happy with the effort I put in today – really have not felt that strong all trip. Feel great.

2008-10-15T10:20:00.004+01:00

Wednesday, Day #10 25 miles - Up to Ronbuck and Everest

Short ride today, only 35miles, up to Ronbuck but on very rough roads and rising 700m. I decide to take it easy and admire the view. So Russel and I sauntered along taking pictures. First 20 miles were great but having run out of energy bars I suddently started feeling very tired. As we arrived at lunch there were a goup of gypseys there as well, looked like Danniel had encouraged them by giving then food.

Rongbuk was not what I expected – not a town at all, just a monastery, which is now an hotel, another hotel and a few other buildings. Next to it on a steepish slope is the campsite, and along with us were the large Austrian group of cyclists and the small (8 or so) Dutch cyclists. Russel, Derrek and I went down to the hotel to see if we could get a beer. Great little spot, with a magnificent view of Everest, beer an unbelieavle 8y a bottle, about £1. Imagine what that would cost in the alps. We decided to return at 6 for some dinner to make a change from the vegetarian/carbohydrate stuff we have been getting every evening.

In the middle of the room was a large range, next to which was a big box of Yak dung, which was often shovelled into the burner.

Turns out Daniel took it apon himself to cycle up to base camp on his own, Sterling not pleased as apparently the Austrian group had been found one thousand dollars for wandering off the route. Our Tibetan guide not happy either.

Spent the evening in the hotel which made a very welcome change from the campsite regime and wandered back around 9.30. Very cold.

Got straight into bed, someone said it was minus 15, I can believe it, my water in the tent was slightly frozen next morning. Group of gillies working for the Dutch next to my tent and insisted on singing Tibetan folk songs way into the night as well as hoiking up all over the place. I had to get up in the middle of the night for a pee – astounding display of stars. You need to be really desperate to get out of your sleeping bag at minus 15!

2008-10-15T10:11:00.001+01:00

Tuesday, Day #9, 48 miles - the dreaded Pang La

Some nice texts from R last night suggesting we go to Cork at half term for a few days with Maeve, good omen!

Feeling a bit tired from exertions of yesterday but lovely bright start to the day, 10 miles mainly downhill to the Everest base camp check point. Here we have to show our passports and a little further along the Freedom highway is the turnoff to Everest base camp… unfortunately the road is not tarmac and is very rough. 4 kms gently rising takes us to another check point which I get to first and am told to wait.

After that comes 18k climb rising 700m to Pang La at 5200, reasonable gradient, however, the road surface and the fact that the oxygen content of air here is only63% of that at sea level makes it tough going. There are supposedly 50 hairpin bends, I gave up counting but would not be surprised. After 4km of climbing I get a puncture and as my bike climbing configuration does not include a bag on the back do not have the wherewithal to fix it. However, some of the Aussies club together and give me the necessary. Unfortunately, the tyre levers are very lightweight and not up to the job so I have to wait for the backup vehicle. Which takes a while as Bec is crawling up the mountain. Eventually it turns up and I plus Bec get in. We drive 7km up the hill to lunch where David kindly fixes my puncture. He’s amazed that I have got a puncture with the tyres I’ve got but then discovers that my rim tape was not covering a spoke.

I get on the bike and complete the climb, which is not too bad. At the top an amazing view of the Hymalayas and Everest, takes your breath away. Took a few photos and then started a hairraising descent of 1000m on a rough road. Very scary, nearly lost it a couple of times on some corners. At the bottom a few flat difficult kms on the rutted road. 4x4s for some reason turn the road in to something resembling corrugated steel. Really jarring on the arms and wrists.

But all in all a fantastic day, with the views of Everest really memorable.

2008-10-15T10:00:00.001+01:00

Monday Day #8, 40 miles

Today’s ride was the most knackering ride I have ever done, by the top I was nearly crying it was so difficult but I made it! Unlike the first big climb this was not through a series of hairpins up a big mountain, rather it followed a river through a gorge, rising at 5-6%, over 14 miles a total of 1,100m. The top of Gytaso La is at 5160m and we were promised a view of Everest, however when we got there were told it was in 10ks time, typical misinformation.

Ride down was unbelievably windy and cold over 25 miles of mainly descent. We stopped fairly soon and I put all the cycling clothes I had with me on and was still a bit cold. The wind was so strong that one of the guys turned round and said it was easier riding up hill than down.

Stirling decided that it would be better if we sheltered behind one of the jeeps and cycled in their slipstream, however, after half a mile it was clear that only he, Daniel and David had the strength and skill to do this so the rest of us fell back. I ended up cycling with Mark and Alvin, not much fun but the three of us got a little peleton together and managed to get to camp before everyone else.

Soon, the boys arrived behind the jeep. I pointed out (impishly) that officially they had not now really cycled Lhasa to Kathmandu as they had been mechanically assisted. Daniel, who has no sense of humour was distinctly unimpressed as, to a lesser extent were the other two. The good natured discussion continued over tea, with me bringing in the tour de France rules.

One thing that is really good is the quality of the road. All the guide books refer to rough roads but we have been cycling on fresh new tarmac with very little traffic, in fact could have used my Cervelo most of the way so far. The answer is that the Chinese took the Olympic flame to the top of Everest earlier this year and to do that and look good in the eyes of the world they tarmaced the entire road. We’ll find out tomorrow if they tarmaced up to Everest base camp, I suspect they did.

2008-10-15T09:54:00.002+01:00

Sunday, day#7 - 40 miles

Another beautiful morning and I am feeling really well. Nice flat riding for the first half hour or so then a climb of 300m over about 5 miles. We could see the top from the beginning and I felt fine the whole way up, with three gears to spare.Yulong La (4950m). Hung around a bit at the top then another great descent over 5 or 6 miles, sweeping roads with almost no traffic – getting much better on the corners.

Rest of the day fairly flat and easy, with a half hour stop in Lhartse which was a one street town with a rumour of an internet café, unfortunately it had closed down. Also in town were some guys in vintage cars who were doing Amsterdam to Shanghai over three years.

Strange how altitude is affecting my heart, it is staying really low. On the climbs it is around 120 where at home it would be 135/140. I assume I am going correspondingly slowly. Today, for instance did 40 miles and 400m of climbing and my max rate was 121 with an average of only 101.

2008-10-15T09:48:00.002+01:00

Saturday, day #6 - Shigatse to just below Yulong La, 4950m, 60 miles

Lovely sunny but cold day and we head off the 50 miles to Tso La. Mainly flat open road but no organised chain gang today, instead I rode the first three hours with Derek and Russel then had lunch. After lunch supposed to be 12 miles to go, turned out to be 22 miles. I was feeling good and even broke away from the bunch soon after lunch to be the first man over Tra La (4505m), a short and not very steep climb.

Found myself with Russel, Derek, and Heidi working against a headwind, after a while R&D fell behind and I was left with Heidi. We worked really well together but both were getting tired. Finally found the car stopped with most of the group. A discussion ensued about how far was left – estimated ranged from 2 to 7 km, in fact it was more like 15km. The extra 10 miles over what we were expecting was a really big deal when you are as tired as we were.

Heidi and I finally made camp and sat down for a cup of tea. About 20 mins later a very irate Russel came into the tent and made his views clear to team leader Stirling – don’t tell me its 5k when its 15k, I’m knackered and have run out of water. Stirling really is showing how not to be a leader – he has no information about length of rides so takes what the guides say and passes it on to us. I suggest he tell them to measure the distance tomorrow in the truck which goes ahead then phone it through so we can be told an accurate distance at lunch time. He seems to think this is a good idea.

Two days till first sighting of Everest… I’m very excited.

2008-10-03T10:26:00.002+01:00

INTO THE WILDERNESS

Now in Shitgase, second biggest town in Tibet, having cycled here... 60 miles on an almost completely flat route. Raining as we set out but after an hour sun came out and was as hot as all the other days.

Again fairly demoralising long straight roads, however, I organised 7 of us into a chain gang as Rupert, Paul and I discovered in Tour of Ireland. Surprised most of them had not done this before, but they are mainly mountain bikers. They took to it well and we covered the 60 miles at an average of 16mph which is pretty good for mountain bikes with nobbly tyres.

Great fun, I realise I am a roadie at heart.

Tomorrow we are of for 10 days straight camping before we return to Kathmandu so afraid this will be last post until then. Its going to take us five days to reach the Hymalayas, and before that we have to go up the most scary pass, 1,300m of climb with 50 hairpin bends - Alpe D'huez eat your heart out. I hope (a) to be fully aclimatised by then (b) to have got a bit fitter and (c) have lost a bit of weight... so might be in with a fighting chance. When you get to the top though, you are rewarded with your first sight of Everest and the mighty Hymalays!!

2008-10-03T10:09:00.002+01:00

Camping has started

Well here I am four days into the ride after three nights camping in an hotel in Gyantse (look it up on Google maps). Real one yak town, but fgamous as the place Younghusband based his army when the British invaded Tibet in 1904. I've just cycled over the Karo la pass (4960m) where Younghusband engaged 5000 Tibetans which still counts as the highest battle ever fought by teh British army. The poor Tibetans had bows ands arrows and a few old riffles as well as a personal amulet from the Dalai Lama guranteed to fend off Brittish bullets. It didn't and teh British light artillery and maxim machine guns slaughtered 700 Tibetans in 4 minutes.

Anyway, hotel has no wi-fi so no pictures as I am in the only internet cafe in town surrounded by adolescents playing computer games.

So, what's happened so far... well, first we all cycled to the Potala for a group photo before teh start. Then teh cycle out of Lhasa was fairly tedious as it was on the main road and far too much traffic to cope with. The fact that th last 10 miles was traffic free and through beautiful scenery did not stop me having a crises of confidence the following morning when I woke up in my tent and thought why on earth am I doing this?

Luckly though, the sun was out and we started immediatelyon a 15 mile 1,200m climb with a steady 5% gradient up to the top of teh Gampa La (4794m). Absolutely stunning scenery, flet good over teh first 5 miles in just under an hour and teh second was pretty good too. However, things got harder with the final 5 miles and in the last three I was stopping every 500 yds or so. On one of these occassions a bus load of Chnese stopped right in front of me adn got out and so0tensibly started taking photos of the scenery. Given it was a completely deserted road I realised they really wanted to photo me! Taking pity on them I gestured for them to take my photo, which 15 of them promptly proceeded to do.

Anyway, made the top in just over three hours, which I was very pleased with givn the lack of oxygen at nearly 5000m and the fact that I had not aclatimised yet.

Fantastic views from the top of Yamdrok-Tso, a huge lake at 4000m which is famous for being a fabulous shade of deep turquoise (pictures to follow!)

Following a beautiful ride around the lake we ended up at teh campsite set in a lovely location on the lake shore. On the way saw a number of Hoopoe - last time I saw one of those was no Alresford watercress beds in about 1985.

The next morning I felt like a bit of sloitary riding and set off 10 mins before teh rest of the group, First 10 miles although through beautiful scenery was demoralising as it is a series of very long flat straight roads. THe next 10 in contrast are fantastic, rising fairly gently up to the Karo La pass mentioned above. A fast descent brings us to another lovely campsite next to a river.

The next day work up feeling really well, despite it being -6 degrees. WHen hte sun came out it warmed up a bit but not much. THere followed an easy and beautiful ride of about 40 miles with one little 200m climb to Simi La pass. Got some great photos at the top then a fantastic hairpin descent with almost no cars don to Gyantse (which I had the R3 here).

2008-09-28T14:17:00.001+01:00

IN LHASA

Fantastic flight to Lhasa over the Himalayas and we were blessed with perfect weather to get a great view of Everest (see photo from plane window!). Chinese airways a bit rickety, and the seats are so close together I could hardly fit in. In flight food was laughable apart from what looked like a bag of sweeties… I popped one into my mouth only to discover it was yak jerky, yuk jerky more like :-))

Arriving in Lhasa everyone concerned about altitude so a beer free disastrous meal in the hotel, yak tongue and yak tripe on the menu, had a bit of the former (tasted like smoked duck) but gave the latter a miss.

The next day off to the Potala which has got to be one of the most impressive buildings in the world, really takes your breath away as you come round the corner and see it for the first time, weather a bit cloudy but still managed to get some good photos, see below. I was quite keen on all things Tibetan as a schoolboy and had read Seven Years in Tibet, so it was really exciting to wander round the palace where Henrich Harrier had had his meetings with the Dalai Lama.

First we looked round the Dalai Lama’s apartments on the top of the White palace (the rest of it is closed by the Chinese) and it was spooky to see microphones all over the place listening to what we were saying. This is the most politically sensitive area as it is where the last and current Dalai Lama’s held court. On the left of the throne is a portrait of the 13th Dalai Lama but notable by its absence on the other side is the corresponding portrait of the 14th Dalai Lama.

The off to the red palace where you can wander around all the chapels showing throne rooms and resting places of all the Dalai Lamas since the 5th who built it all in the 16th century.

Off to The Jokhang in the afternoon which is the most holy temple in Tibet. Very few western tourists here, place is filled with Tibetan pilgrims walking clockwise around the temples with their prayer wheels, or even prostrating themselves all the way round and Chinese tourists, blissfully unaware of the irony of wandering around temples their parents tried to tear down (bit like German tourists visiting St Pauls…).

Spent the afternoon wandering round the old part of town, absolutely fascinating once you get away from all the stalls selling tatty prayer wheels to the Chinese tourists. One of the few decent things to buy here is a thanka, a religious painting on cloth done by the monks traditionally. Difficult to separate the authentic ones from those mass produced in Nepal. However, trusting the lonely planet guide I visited a shop they recommended and bought a beautiful geometric Thanka, used to aid in Tantric meditation – the more usual ones showing Buddhist gods were not to my western taste. So, lets hope I can get it home in one piece.

Tomorrow we start our main trip with a very gentle 50 miles of flat riding and three nights of camping. Which means that the next update will be a few days away.

2008-09-26T08:00:00.006+01:00

FINALLY SOME RIDING

On thing is becoming very apparent – we have a very ineffectual group leader. Affable but useless – a south African who was a client on a similar tour in India last year and is now having a go at leading for himself. The main problem is he can’t make a decision and when he does it’s a bad one. The real decisions are made by the local tour organisers represented by a very smiley Tibetan called Loki.

There are various levels of anxiety in the group about altitude sickness. Heidi, vegetarian Ausie triathlete doctor quietly concerned but personally content as she is taking drugs to fend the symptoms off. Main complainer is Wolfgang, genome scientist and erstwhile mountaineer, who keeps banging on about there being no effect under 2500m. The fact that he has a strong Professor Heinz Wolf accent (remember The Great Egg Race?) somehow adds to his credibility. The plan is to head up to 2000m and cycle around there hoping it will do some good. Wolfgang is volubly sceptical.

Night before the first ride everyone clustered around a large table peering at maps, there then follows a classic case of what happens to a group if the leader has no idea what he is doing… various plans emerge to ensure maximum aclimisation, the favourite being: lets take the bus up there and then start cycling straight up to 3,500m. I realised that it was a waste of time getting involved so I grabbed Russel and Derek and headed off to find a beer.

A couple of beers later we headed back for dinner at 6.15 only to find all the mad plans had to come to nothing and we were indeed going to do what was originally planned – cycle north about 35miles up to 2000m. So no surprise there then.

By the way, I was in a separate hotel across the road from everyone else due to lack of rooms… on the way over there I walked on one of the concrete blocks supposedly covering up the main drain only for it to give way and me fall in (see photo of offending item). Could have broken my leg, but fortunately only some cuts and bruising – but would have been a terrible way to end my Tibetan adventure. The other group anaxiety is about infection, everyone has a bottle of hand wash that they use all the time and which, luckly for me, Ros gave me just before I left. So I washed it all down and poured disinfectant all over it .

So, back to my room for an early night, 8.30 except for the lottery kiosk below my room blaring out Hindi pop music till god knows when. At 5.00 am the next morning rudely awoken by the hotel shutters being opened. Nothing for it but to head off to breakfast.

Which takes us to Wednesday and the cycle up north. Cycling out early at 6.50! The road goes gently up then there is a taste of what is to come with a short steep hill on broken stones, an interesting interlude, I mistakenly think. From here on the rocky road continues with no tarmac at all as it winds up through tiny villages of unbelively poor people – astounded to see people sitting on piles of rocks and smashing them in to chips with hammers

Unbelievly hard cycling, as I got higher the sun disappeared and it started to rain, then the mist came in too. Finally after 2 hours of pain I come across a number of parked busses and people running around in a dither. Apparently there had been two rock slides about 8km apart making the road impassable. What should we do? Our intrepid leader decides we should take enough clothes for 2 days in rucksacks and continue cycling on as intended while the bus would return down the mountain with the rest of our gear. The deficiencies in this little plan were too many to mention so I simply told him I would be taking the 3 hour ride back down the mountain in the bus. Sense prevailed and everyone else decided to join me.

At the bottom of the mountain after a very hard day’s cycling with 10k to go, Heidi, the NZ doctor stops the bus in order to run back!! Locals very confused seeing her running after the bus, thinking we had left her behind.

Turns out we were going to stay in a different hotel as the Aussi women thought the communial lavatory/shower was not up to scratch in the other one and a cat had used Russel’s cycling hat for a dump… unfortunately, I’m beginning to realise things are not that easy here, we turned up tired, wet and hungry to be told they did not have 8 rooms as we had expected but they did have 8 beds in three rooms… even the Aussies voted to head back to the original hotel.

Thursday

Feeling tired from yesterday’s exertions, but fantastic scenery as I climbed up the mountain. Bottom getting a bit sore and as I got higher it started to rain, had to stop every half hour for relief. Finally called it a day 10 miles from the top. However, got back on the bike and headed down into the valley. Fantastic descent, when suddenly my seat pin cracked and I found myself without a saddle - not the best thing to discover heading fast downhill on a rutted road with mad bus drivers coming towards you…

Back in the hotel more shambolic leadership with confusion about which bags can or can not go to Tibet in the van.

2008-09-22T12:01:00.006+01:00

DAY #2 - KATHMANDU

Bad start to the trip when Gulf Air asked for 12g of exess baggage payment, £240!! A bit of haggling later plus removing various bits and pices from my bag got it down to £60. Still not what i wanted and bodes badly for the flight up to Tibet not to mention the return trip home. Talking to people here it seems to depend on which check in person you get and its all a bit of a lotery. However, after my 2 hour wait at Bahrain I was delighted to discover that for no aparent reason I had been upgraded to 1st class, seat 1A. Surprising as there were plenty of seats in the rest of the plane and nobody else up front with me at all. Perhaps they felt guilty at charging me excess for my bike. Anyway, had a couple of hours sleep on the flat bed then woke up for lunch which was delicious and waited on by two hostesses exclusively for me. Not a bad way to arrive in Kathmandu.

The airport is as mad as you might expect but got my bags and waded through the crowds to our mini bus, and was told I had to wait for five more of our group. While I was waiting badgered by locals who said they helped in putting my bags in the bus... told them I had no change, but they insisted and eventually were happy to take a pound coin. I got off lightly, two of the others were persuaded to hand over £20 each!

Today went on an organised tour in a mini-bus - just the sort of thing I dread and was tempted to do a runner, however, really glad I didn't as we had a brillliant visit to the Holiest Hindu temple in the world (apparently) followed by a less impressive but nevertheless well worth seeing Budhist temple.

Was absolutely stopped in my tracks as I approached the temple when I realised the small crowds of people on the other side of the river were actually creamating their relatives, and that there were more bodies wrapped in orange robes lying in a row waiting for their turn.

What seems to happen is that the relatives first wash the body in the river then wait their turn for a funeral pyre to become available. Then they set fire to the body, starting at the mouth. Ideally the eldest son should do this which is why, we were told, Hindis really want to have sons.

After that we headed off in the interests of religous balance to see a Bhudist temple... impressive in its own way, we wandered around it the correct (clockwise) way spinning prayer wheels (the Bhudist version of rosary beads), all the time under the gaze of the all seeing eyes...

Tomorrow off on a four day cycle tour up into the foothills to try and get a bit of aclimatisation before heading up to Lhasa on Saturday. We should have been going on Wednesday but Chinese authorities insisting on five rather than three days to issue the necessary paperwork.

2008-09-17T11:53:00.004+01:00

ONE FINAL ADVENTURE TO CLOSE THE YEAR OUT.

Was going to close this blog down having completed the Etape, however, have just decided to cycle Lhasa to Kathmandu before all the fitness I gained training for the Etape finally disappears. Not sure what is facing me as a lot of it is new to me: never cycled at altitude before; never camped before and never had three weeks without a beer before. The final one I'm not so sure about , though, as there is local beer in Lhasa but I have been heavily discouraged from drinking during the trip as alcohol encourages altitude sickness :-((

Here's details of the trip: Tibet to Kathmandu

Original plan was to spend three days in Kathmandu to obtain the necessary visas then four days in Lhasa acclimatising before heading off for the two week cycle down to Kathmandu via Everest Base Camp. Unfortunately, teh Chinese are being difficult post Olympics about visas so we now have to stay a week in Kathmandu. So now, we are spending four days cycling around Kathmandu hoping to acclimatise a bit before flying up to Lhasa for only one day of sightseeing before heading off on the cycle which is now two days shorter - we loose the rest day and the final two days have been condensed into one... so all in all, a bit tougher.

Preparation has been a bit rushed... so far, bought a four seasons sleeping bag plus fancy silk liner; two expedition mountain bike tyres ; a pretty cool rear rack and bag for putting my camera in and a polarised filter for the camera which is supposed to give better pictures of mountains, sky and lakes. But apart from that not much other prep...

With three days to go another bike maintainance incompetence story... given all the focus on road biking this year its been some time since I rode my mountain bike, so it took it out for a spin and, of course, the chain snapped. Off to wiggle for a replacement, can't be that hard to fit surely?? Reached for my chain-splitting tool, never used one before but there is always a first time. Bit fiddily but soon new chain was on the bike. Just assumed it would work so with three days to go went for a short ride with Ros. I was consious of an unusual noise coming from the chain area, but as always ignored it and hoped it would go away... it didn't and half a mile from home the chain snapped. Looks like I did not install the rivet correctly. Just got some new pins and have had another go... but not feeling confident. In the local bike shop yesterday, however, they gave me a very clever little chain link meant for Sram chains, which is a link which does away with the need for revits... got to be a good idea, I'll take it with me just in case.

2008-08-27T07:35:00.009+01:00

MONDAY 7th July, All over... Done it!

Miles last week 50 (50 road, 0 indoors)
Climbing 6,300ft (2,000m)
Weight : 14st 7.0lbs (+2.0 lbs)
Body fat : 24.5% (0%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

Done it! Well all three of us did it: Paul broke the 8 hour barrier by 54 seconds and remarkably came 222nd of his ager group (the fittest 20-30 year olds), Rupert came in next with 8hr 18 minutes followed by me in 9hrs 16mins. 6,178 people finished from a total start of 7,500 which means a drop out of 18%, much less than last year's 40%!

Absolutely brutal, nothing can prepare you for doing one of those Cols without having done one already.

Stats

Pos Pos in age grp. Adjusted time

Me 1202 5606 9hr 16mins 24secs
Paul 2940 222 7hr 59mins 04secs
Rupert 3727 1318 8hr 18mins 29secs

Overview

Absolutely brilliant experience, only downside was the weather - rain all day and thick mist on the mountains which meant that we missed out on the fantastic scenery and the sense of achievement as you gained more and more height.

Although I was pretty slow going up hill, I discovered a talent for coming down... absolutely exhilarating experience coming off the Tourmalet. I seemed to be going twice as fast as everyone else and overtook what seemed like hundreds during the 20 mile descent. I suspect being more experienced they knew how dangerous it was in the wet with limited viability but it could have been a combination of my very fast bike and my superior weight... Anyway, over the steepest first 12 miles, I averaged 30 mph hitting a maximum of 51mph!

Detail

On Thursday decided it would be prudent to check how quickly I could change a tube on my new high profile zipp 404 wheels. The tubes need to have 'valve extenders' fitted and in my naivety I assumed it would be a simple task to simply unscrew these and fit them to the new tube as part of the puncture repair process... wrong. I could not figure out how to detach valve extensions.

So a quick plea for help on the Cervelo forum elicited a reply that made my blood run cold... apparently, it was pretty straightforward, all you had to do was use the little plastic tool that

came with the extenders (what tool??) to loosen them, then insert a 3mm hex wrench into the extender in order to remove them. Then to replace simply reverse the process remembering to put plumber's tape on the original valve threads first in order to ensure an air tight fit (pretty important on a tube pumped up to 8bar I would have thought). Not what I wanted to find out 3 days before the Etape. Managed to find someone who stocked said extenders and fitted one to my spare tyre, but not feeling at all comfortable.

A very early start on Friday saw Paul and me at Gatwick waiting for the 7.00 BA flight to Toulouse. Unlike budget airlines BA does not charge for bikes, unfortunately, this means they don't know how many bikes will be on a particular flight... sitting on the plane the pilot came on the tannoy to explain that the reason we had been delayed 40 mins was that they had expected 5 bikes on the plane when in fact there were supposed to be 67. These would not fit in the hold of the original aircraft so BA changed the plane... unfortunately, all the bikes could not fit in so about 20 of them had been left behind.

A very stressful flight followed by an even more stressful wait in baggage hall but fortunately Paul and I got all our bags straight away. All the BA bags turned up later, but as every flight was overbooked some bikes did not turn up until Saturday evening... but at least they did turn up, unlike a distraught chap we met at registration who travelled with Easyjet and whose bike never arrived along with plenty of others. So there is a difference between BA and the budget airlines.

Showing that cycling has the socio-demographics that skiing had 30 years ago, two blokes drove down to our hotel in a Porsch 911 with their bikes on a roof rack... unfortunately, forgot about the bikes as they drove into the carpark, consequently ripping them off and opening up the Porsch like a tin of sardines. Very unhappy fellows, however, they did manage to hire a couple of replacements... not sure about the car though.

Paul and I popped out for a short 25 mile warm up on Saturday which took in a couple of hills while we waited for Rupert to arrive. In direct contrast to our arrival on Friday to clear blue skies and temperatures of 35 degrees we were woken during the night by the sound of a thunderstorm, come 5.00 it had abated but was still raining. Slight drizzel, we thought, was better for us than the heat we had seen on Friday. Only barely light at 7.00 we headed off in the rain through Pau and the closed roads. Paul and I were together and we kept up a very respectable 20mph for the first 15 miles, then we hit the first hill and slowed down a bit. Even so, the first food stop at Lourdes turned up at 40 miles at 18mph average, dead on schedule. By this stage Paul had left me and I was nipping in and out of various slip-streams all the way to the bottom of the Tourmalet at 72 miles. The first few miles are pretty flat but then it kicks up and for the next hour or so its just a steady grind away on constant gradient.

The biggest disappointment with the weather was that we were surrounded by mist all the way up so did not get the fantastic views back into the valley and the sense of achievement that would bring. The next feed stop was at La Mongie, 2 miles from the summit. Got there feeling wet, cold and knackered - a real bun fight for drinks and food, though they did have some ham sandwiches among all the energy gels which were a welcome change. The next two miles were misery, but after what seemed an age I turned a corner to see the famous statue of the cyclist - I had done it! Conquered, albeit slowly, the feared Tourmalet.

After a short stop I headed down the pretty steep and winding road... as I mentioned above, I seemed to be going twice as fast as everyone else - suddenly pay back time for all those that had overtaken me on the way up. Just under an hour and 23 miles later after a fantastic blast along a beautiful gorge I found my self at the bottom of the Hautaucam. I was 45 mins ahead of the dreaded broom wagon and feeling a bit refreshed after not having to pedal for the previous hour. 97 miles done only 8 to go, surely I can do this??

There's an immediate 8% climb and then it goes up and down relentlessly, some very, very steep sections. After about 20 mins of very hard climbing I realised that due to delirium I had not realised that I had four more gears left and had been struggling up in far too high a gear. Instead of treating myself to a series of down shifts over a period of time, I crashed through the gears down to my bottom ring... joy. But not for long it soon started feeling as bad as ever. I was going slowly, but was going.

The road was littered with people pushing their bikes (I can tell you, no matter how low your gear is, you can still cycle faster than walk up a mountain). Some were stopped at the side of the road with their heads slumped over their handlebars, completely exhausted, and I saw three people fall off their bikes into the ditch at the side of the road as they tried to get off but fail through tiredness to get their let over the saddle. The carnage continued as tired people started to wobble their bikes from side to side and run into each other causing some very unsavory exchanges in French.

But finally the finish and my little medal before having to come back down the road I had just climbed up. By this stage very cold and I reached the bottom in early stages of hyperthermia, met up with Paul and back on the coach for a celebratory dinner with Rupert.

2008-06-30T08:26:00.006+01:00

MONDAY 30th June - 1 week to go

Miles last week 50 (50 road, 0 indoors)
Climbing 6,300ft (2,000m)
Weight : 14st 7.0lbs (+2.0 lbs)
Body fat : 24.5% (0%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

A week in sunny Mallorca celebrating 25th wedding anniversary. I had thought it would be a bit cheeky to take my bike, but Ros insisted! So I had a couple of great short but high rides over Soller (500m) and Orient (500m), with Ros picking me up afterwards for lunch. Mallorca really is a lovely island and perfect for cycling. We stayed at The Residentia, a beautiful hotel in Deia, a small town built into the mountainside by the sea. We were there for Spain v Russia in the semi finals of the European cup and watched it with a crowd of locals in a local bar - must say, they were all very subdued compared to pub crowds I have seen in UK...

Then back for Paul's stag night... not the best preparation for the Etape but there you go. Turns out we were staying in Southampton with a day trip across to the Isle of Wight. the round the island race was on (nearly 2000 boats!) so there was plenty of post race revelry to join in with. Here's a picture of us waiting for an hour outside a curry house.

Today (Monday) just been out to Box Hill where I did 8 repeats, 24miles and 3000 feet (900m). Felt good, though only 6-7% gradient good preparation for this week. Bike in for a service tomorrow, then off to Henley on Wednesday with a little ride Thursday morning before packing bike away.

So, only a week to go, worth having a round up of how I have been doing since the start of the year:

Weight - feeling great to have lost over 2 stone, however, still nearly a stone over my target of 13st 7lbs, going to notice that on the way up the hills.

Mileage - Well, I've done 2,408 miles since the start of the year which I think is a reasonable amount of training. Plus I have managed 121,400 feet (37,000m)! of climbing.

2008-06-30T07:42:00.009+01:00

MONDAY 23rd June - 2 weeks to go

Miles last week 80 (80 road, 0 indoors)
Climbing 5,000ft (1,500m)
Weight : 14st 5.0lbs (-0.0 lbs)
Body fat : 24.5% (0%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

Weekend of the annual RPRC summer outing to the Pyranees, plus a trip to Ascot with Paul, Isabel and Ros. Came back early from weekend in order to head out to Mallorca with Ros to celebrate 25th wedding anniversary (more of that next week), which meant day of trains, planes and automobiles on Sunday when up at 6.00 to get train to Toulouse for flight to Gatwick and train to Guildford in order to re-pack to get back to Gatwick for evening flight to Palma, phew... still I am getting pretty used to packing and un-packing my bike.

Great day out at Ascot, against expectations weather was sunny but a bit windy which meant hats flying everywhere and the added bonus of dresses too... Specularly bad at betting but Paul proved a bit of a dab hand - Isabel refused to bet, saying that as a dealer she spends all day betting but only when she has the right information... sensible girl. Here I am with Ros and Paul...

Then on Friday off to Pyranees for some hills... along with: Pete, Rupert, Gareth, Alan and Matthew. Bit of a trek to get there, only arriving after 10 to find most of the place closed, however, gite owner managed to get a local pitzeria to stay open for us. Next day off for a great ride, starting with a five mile 1000m climb at 5%. Then some beautiful rolling cycling to a lunch stop at a little French restaurant. Rose was the wine of choice, so said Pete, and Rupert was nearly convinced but so convinced that he did not order his own personal bottle of claret. A little sluggish after lunch but some very fast riding along the flat.. eventually finding ourselves at a hill top village where we stopped for a refreshing beer and some supper. Probably stayed a bit longer than we should have and found ourselves lost and cycling back in the dark... eventually Mattew talked us in by phone and off to bed... Next day I was off before the rest got up but by all accounts Rupert sorted out a challenging ride for that day too...

2008-06-16T19:47:00.003+01:00

MONDAY 16th June - 3 weeks to go

Miles last week 36 (36 road, 0 indoors)
Climbing 2,600ft (800m)
Weight : 14st 5.0lbs (-0.0 lbs)
Body fat : 24.5% (0%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

I know I should be entering the 'tapering' period of my training regime, but this is ridiculous... 36 miles in a week is nowhere enough, even though one outing was a trip to Box and Leith Hills with Paul and the other a trip to Highgate with Darren for a full hill repeats. Paul and I decided we should do some hills so headed over for a 30 mile circuit, with two trips up Box Hill. Came at Leith from the North this time which was surprisingly easy, hit the top without realising... box hill also fairly straight forward - exactly 1.5 miles and 7% all the way up. Eight of those should equal almost a Tourmalet!

Then Darren and I did some hill repeats on the Hill east of Highgate West Hill, only half a mile in length but averageing 9% with 15% near the top. Debriefing in the pub afterwards Darren was all for joining us on the Etape.... even decided to have his bike serviced.

Weekend saw our yearly company awayweekend - this year just outside Lisbon in Portugal, a great weekend but no cycling and not the best preparation for the Etape...

2008-06-09T09:06:00.002+01:00

MONDAY 9th June - 4 weeks to go

Miles last week 107 (107 road, 0 indoors)
Climbing 2,100ft (600m)
Weight : 14st 5.0lbs (-0.0 lbs)
Body fat : 24.5% (-1%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

No cycling this weekend with Ros off in India a very enjoyable weekend spent with Maeve. Three outings during the week though, first up to Highgate for a few hill repeats on West Hill, good practice though only half a mile in length. Then a cycle to London from Hampshire, spot on 50 miles and 4 minutes inside my best time to date at just under 3 hours. Pretty flat course apart from getting over North Downs and cycling up to Richmond. Then on Friday Paul came down to Hampshire and we did one of my usual 40 mile circuits.

Distance seems pretty good at the moment, 60 miles is no problem and 100 holds no worries, however, hills are starting to give me nightmares... need to do some more of those, so off to Box Hill next week.

2008-06-03T06:55:00.003+01:00

May Roundup

Well, end of the fourth month of training.... so how have I done against my KPIs?

Weight loss: -3lbs (now 14st 5)
Fat change: -1.8% (now 23.5%)
Mileage: 718 (avg. 162 per week)
Training time: 45.5hrs ( avg. 10.25 per week)
Avg heart rate : 127 (+4)

Total height : 25,300 feet! (7,700m)
20k TT average wattage: 240 (+0)
Power/Weight ratio : 1.14 (+0%)
Box Hill: not done

Muscle mass :
Visceral fat :

Weight loss leveling out again, realistically not going to make target weight of 13st 7lbs, however, with a push over the next month should be able to get below 14st for race day...

A good month for cycling though and plenty of hills, with trips to Mallorca, Oregon, California!, and Ireland. That's got to be doing some good. Weather in England pretty poor so not helping with home based training.

And, of course, a new bike....

Into the final month.

2008-06-02T07:54:00.006+01:00

MONDAY2nd June - 5 weeks to go

Miles last week 173 (158 road, 15 indoors)
Climbing 10,100ft (3,000m)!
Weight : 14st 5.0lbs (-0.0 lbs)
Body fat : 25.5% (+2%)!
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

A half term week in London while Ros is in India visiting Sarah. With a bit of lucky coincidence, Paul, has just resigned giving himself 3 months gardening leave... so, we headed down to Richmond Park to do the three lap challenge - good first lap at 20:20, but then a mechanical (gears on my new bike sounded like a bag of bolts in a washing machine) and a lot of traffic slowed us down, so just under 1hr 5mins. The next day decided to try and find some hills in London so headed north.. came across West Hill in Hampstead. Fairly quite, half a mile long and 7% average with 10% at the top. Did that a couple of times and came home.

Then at the weekend, the Chiltern 100. A race of two halves - first 50 miles fairly flat with some rolling hills, we were lulled into a false sense of security and were feeling pretty upbeat at the half way mark. Second half, however, was a series of very long and steep hills... good news is that I got up them all without getting off (albeit very slowely) bad news is felt fairly knackered at the end.

Simon, from Etape Virgins, points out that Garmin height measurement is a bit variable and the real climbing on the Chiltern run was 2620m while Etape will be 'only' 760m more than that or two thirds of the final climb up the Hautaucam. Definitely could not face that at the end of the ride yesterday, however, five weeks to go could loose up to half a stone in weight and get a lot more hill practice in... so you never know...

Back to the bag of bolts... bike was just about unrideable in most of the gears so was looking bad for the Chiltern run. However, rang Condor on Thursday and they said they would look at it first thing Friday morning. Turning up in Greys Inn Road at 8.55 found a little queue of cyclists waiting for the shop to open... true to their word, they grabbed the bike and 15 mins later all done. Gears feel great now, must have been a bit of cable stretching on a new bike. Really do need to figure out some rudimentary bike maintenance...

2008-05-23T20:58:00.007+01:00

MONDAY26th May - 6 weeks to go

Miles last week 20 (20 road, 0 indoors)
Climbing 2700ft (900m)
Weight : 14st 5.0lbs (-2.0 lbs)
Body fat : 23.5% (+1%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

Back last Friday from a week with Pete in Portland, Oregon. Short 20 mile ride with Scott in Palo Alto on Wednesday which included a fair hill was the only riding since the weekend.

After the 100 mile ride with Pete we had a much shorter 40 miler in Hood River Valley, beautiful scenery and a long 5 mile, 1000m ride at 6%. Interesting experience, kept my heart rate well below lactic threshold and got up in 50 minutes. Given Tourmalet is just over twice this height and 8% gave me a bit of confidence at first, until I realised I had not ridden 40 miles first, nor was the oxygen depleted near the top, nor did I have to do the same again on the Hautacam... hmmm, need some serious hill training over coming weeks and loose even more weight.

Later in the week, visited Scott in Palo Alto and he took me on one of his regular rides over the ridgeway towards the Pacific Ocean. Again a good hill involved, bit shorter at 3 miles, but with average 9% gradient going up to 25% in one place (or so my Garmin says). Confortable ride - though we were not breaking any speed records.

Here it is... in all its glory on Pete's balcony

2008-05-19T19:26:00.000+01:00

So, here it is... Cervelo R3 in 08 white. Feels great, only difference from Bianchi setup is that the bars are a little lower and not as far out, but that gave me no trouble, in fact feels a little more confortable if anything. I was going to get anatomical carbon bars but listening to advice from the shop they recommended an aluminium 'cockpit' because carbon is fragile if bashed from the side plus to go for traditional shape. Must say the shape of the bars better than bianchi, shallower curve and not anatomical, feels much more confortable on the drops.

This is one very light bike, reputadly 14lbs, which is half a stone saving on my aluminium Bianchi - might not sound a lot but i know what it takes to loose half a stone in weight!

I notice a big difference on acceleration and the wheels themselves are very light too, though still a little concerned by their lack of stability in strong cross winds coming down that hill, I suspect going to windy on top of Tourmalet. Very disconcerting knocking sound coming from my cranks during 100 mile ride, pretty sure its the bearing in my pedal but hope its not the bearings in BB - bad news in a brand new bike. Anyway, may nip out in Portland and get some new pedals to check that out.

2008-05-19T16:49:00.006+01:00

MONDAY19th May - 7 weeks to go

Miles last week 185 (185 road, 0 indoors)
Climbing 3500ft (1,000m)
Weight : 14st 7.0lbs (-0.0 lbs)
Body fat : 22.5% (-2.7%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

Over in Oregon visiting Pete and picking up new bicycle (literally, see photo of end of beach ride). Bike is tremendous, but more on that when I return. Weekend saw a couple of rides, first, 100 mile ride from Portland to the coast. Mainly flat with one or two hills but absolutely beautiful scenery, very hot, mid 30s so good practice for July in the Pyranees. On Sunday we headed up to Hood River for a short 40 mile ride, but with one five mile 6 percent climb. Very tough on hill, particularly with a very strong head wind, but did not get off. Got to get a lot better at hills in next 7 weeks or no chance on Tourmalet :-((.

Interesting looking at the statistics for the hill - 5 miles, 6%, 1000m, 50 minutes. I was trying to keep my heart rate around 135 and definitely not going over my lactic threshold of 148 - worked really well, avg 128 with a maximum of only 141. Hard hill though, and I was glad to get to the top, would not have been able to do much more. Now compare that with the Tourmalet, 12 miles 2100m and 8%.. on first sight not too bad with 7 weeks to go and some more weight loss and fitness.. however, hadn't done 40 miles at speed to get to it; oxygen a bit thin on Tourmalet and there's the little point of having to do the Hautacam afterwards... ho hum.

Coming down the other side very steep and windy and as I have Zipp 404s on the bike, with deep carbon walls, they were getting very wobbly in the cross wind - at one stage thought I was off as front wheel started wobbling uncontrolably... scary.

2008-05-13T13:01:00.008+01:00

MONDAY12th May - 8 weeks to go

Miles last week 365 (365 road, 0 indoors)
Climbing 12,000ft (3,600m)
Weight : 14st 7.0lbs (-0.0 lbs)
Body fat : 22.5% (-2.7%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

Well, three of the four days of the Tour of Ireland in this week's figures. Surprisingly, no weight loss, however, some funny things going on with body fat which is well down. I'll wait a couple of days to see if both readings stabalise to something different.

Just back from four brilliant days at the Tour of Ireland with Paul and Rupert. Here's Paul on the one sunny day cycling through Kilkenny on the way to Carlow. Thursday afternoon we arrived in Belfast where my other brother, Patrick, had arranged transportation and a short tour of the sites for us. Then off with him for our first, but not last, taste of real Irish Guinness.

Thursday morning saw us in the sports centre assembling our bikes with 250 other riders - I had expected a fair few 'fun' riders, but instead everyone else seemed fairly serious - we had the only unshaved legs in the place. Unbelievable array of bikes, must have been at least quarter of a million pounds worth of bikes there. Rupert and Paul had both bought a DHB bike box and both had had problems fitting their bikes into them. Unlike with my box, they had to remove their handlebars, and Rupert came across with the various bits from his ahead set in his hand asking whether I knew how to re-assemble it! An early trip to the event mechanic soon put that right.

Surprisingly tense before the start and we were all a bit nervous, but then we were off with police escort in the rain. We soon settled down into a rhythm with a group of about 12 others until we got to the first hill and it all started to break up. 125 miles later we arrived at Cavan, had some dinner and found a local pub for a ride de-brief, here's Rupert showing it was not all cycling. Had a fantastic day, scenery brilliant up on the mountains and amazed that (a) we managed to do it and (b) didn't feel too bad! Was it our imagination or did our police escort disappear as we approached Crossmaglen?

Saturday saw a much flatter ride which suited me much better, 120 miles to Galway with only 1000m of climbing. Joined a very fast peleton to the first feed stop at 60 miles then Paul and I left early to get over the only climb of the day and as luck would have it they caught us 40 miles later at the next feed stop, so we were able to have a fast run in to Galway with them. A very creditable 17.5mph average over the 120 miles.

Sunday, the weather improved and we were off on the marathon 140 miles to Kilkenny... important to get there in good time as Ros, Maeve, the Mother and various other extended family who live in Kilkenny were waiting at the finish line.

Great reception in Kilkenny and off to Morrisseys bar for some food and refreshment.

Paul and I stayed with our mother who gave us a big Irish Breakfast (just like a full English breakfast but with more of everything) on Monday morning. Unfortunately, that's not the best food to ride 120 miles over the Wicklow mountains and after 30 miles we were feeling distinctly tired, here I am having just climbed a very long hill.... Not ashamed to admit, that we took an executive decision to abandon at about 40 miles and took the train into Dublin. In Dublin we had a very pleasant lunch off Grafton Street before cycling the 10 miles out to the finish line. Rupert, on the other hand continued on into the Wicklow Mountains and completed the ride. It was a fantastic effort on his part as Paul and I were completely spent and had no hope of completing that stage. Rupert mixing it at the front with the shaven legged brigade reminds me of another of our friends, Pete, running near the front group of the Portsmouth 10 mile race surrounded by club runners in their racing singlets while he was kitted out in a normal tee-shirt.

So, great four days, and great preparation for the Etape. What lessons did we learn... well,

1) don't disassemble your headset before a big ride;
2) need to prepare better and have a map of the race with you so you know what's coming up;
3) have food bars already open and accessible. Saw lots of people with small bags on the cross bar for holding food bars, going to get one of those
4) find out what pharmaceutical substances Rupert is on.

2008-05-04T14:41:00.004+01:00

MONDAY 5th May - 9 weeks to go

Miles last week 220 (220 road, 0 indoors)
Climbing 13,500ft (4,100m)
Weight : 14st 7.0lbs (-1.0 lbs)
Body fat : 25.2% (-0.0%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

Thats more like it... helped by five days in sunny mallorca. No photos unfortunately but great week. Must rush, off to prepare for TOI....

2008-05-03T10:10:00.004+01:00

April Roundup

Well, end of the third month of training.... so how have I done against my KPIs?

Weight loss: -6.6lbs (now 14st 8)
Fat change: -1.8% (now 25.2%)
Mileage: 580 (avg. 135 per week)
Training time: 36.75hrs ( avg. 8.5 per week)
Avg heart rate : 123 (+5)

Total height : 32,000 feet! (9,750m)
20k TT average wattage: 240 (+0)
Power/Weight ratio : 1.14 (+0%)
Box Hill: not done

Muscle mass :
Visceral fat :

That's more like it, hope I've not left it to late to put the miles in. Couple of poor weeks but all made up for by five days in Mallorca where I managed to get some good mileage in and some reasonable hills. Very pleased with the weight loss too after a poor March, that's two stone lost since I started all this!

And have got my entry number 2098, category D and Paul is 2099, category A. Pretty good, should be in the first quarter of the start pens - I guess the categories refer to our ages.

2008-04-29T19:05:00.007+01:00

MONDAY 28th April - 10 weeks to go

Miles last week 61 (61 road, 0 indoors)
Weight : 14st 9.0lbs (-2.0 lbs)
Body fat : 25.2% (-0.4%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

Weight details a couple of days late this week as following a severe case of lack of confidence, I booked five days in Mallorca at the Stephen Roche cycling camp to try out a few hills and I´ve not got my faithful Tantia scales with me.

Having had two days here now, its a case of good news and bad news: good news is that I am undoubtedly much stronger, lighter and fitter than the last time I was here (see photo at start of blog with Mr Roche himself to see what I mean), bad news is that the hills are still hard going and they are 2-3 miles in length and average 5% gradient... long way off 15 miles at average 7.5%. So, feeling a bit concerned.

However, the good news is that less worried about Tour of Ireland next week - yesterday did 65 miles over three hills averaging over 16.5 mph and felt fine. Taking a whole day to do twice that is not so daunting - mainly down to the enormous effect of cycling in a group, makes it much, much easier.

Other thing I have been practicing here is going down hill around hairpin bends... finding it very scary, particularly in a group with people all around you. I know the theory, break before the bend NOT on it, and let the bike take you around. However, its a bit like the first time I learnt to ski, I knew that in theory in the middle of a turn as you were facing straight down hill the skis would take you around to the safety of the next traverse, however, all my instincts contradict this. So, now not only am I worried about going up the Tourmalet, I´m also worried about coming down it!

Mallorca is a tremendous place for cycling, government really encourage cyclists from keeping the tarmac up to scratch to telling the locals to show some courtesy when driving past (got to say the latter is of only limited success!)

2008-04-21T08:26:00.004+01:00

MONDAY 21st April - 11 weeks to go

Miles last week : 62 (62 road, 0 indoor)
Weight : 14st 11.0lbs (+1.0 lbs)
Body fat : 25.6% (-0.8%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

Slower week after two very good weeks - combination of weather and traveling up and down to London. This week should be good, though, with not many distractions. Only three weeks to Tour of Ireland, which is still concerning and then immediately off to Oregon to cycle Mt Hood - just looked at the profile, 35 miles of climbing and up to 10%, and that's after doing two other hills first.

2008-04-13T21:56:00.006+01:00

MONDAY 14th April - 12 weeks to go

Miles last week : 176 (176 road, 0 indoor)
Weight : 14st 10.0lbs (-3.6 lbs)
Body fat : 26.4% (-0.1%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

Out five times this week, including one trip to London of 50 miles. Extra mileage and being a little bit more sensible with the food resulted in a big weight saving... that's more like it!

Sunday saw me, Rupert and Paul atempt our very own mini Tour D'Etape. 75 mile course taking in Leith and Box hills (that's not any of us in the photo, but it is Leith Hill). A glorious sunny morning we headed off at 8.30 hoping to be back for lunch around 2ish. First 10 miles at a frisky pace of 19.5mph - were we writing cheques we later could not cash?, asked Paul. Unfortunately, a puncture for me after another 5 miles meant an unenforced stop - still we decided we should practice team puncture repair drills like formula one teams.

Some more fast riding down to Cranleigh and soon we were at the foot of Leith Hill after 26 miles. Paul and Rupert headed off in front of me in their own little race whilst I established my own, slower, rythm. Good ride up, unfortunately some ominous thunder on the way.When I got to the pub at the top where we were meant to meet - there was no sign of the others. And then the heavens opened for an enourmous thunderstorm.

I assumed they had taken a wrong turn at the top and were heading back down, so I followed them in driving rain. No wet weather gear so I was suffering and very cold, plus no signal on our phones.

When we finally met up we were drenched and cold so decided to abandon the ride and head home... absolute misery coming off that hill in driving freezing rain and we stopped at the first pub we came across for some shelter. Our bad luck was to continue as we stumbled across The Kings Arms, Ockley. Everything bad about a Surrey pub... every table laid out for lunch, notice in the window saying 'this is a lounge bar, please dress appropriately'. Poor Eastern European barmaid served us three pints and before we could get them to our lips a dragon of a landlady appeared and screamed at her that she could not serve beer until 12.. a Basil Fawlty episode then ensued with the poor girl having no idea why.

2008-04-04T17:42:00.007+01:00

MONDAY 7th April - 13 weeks to go

Miles last week : 140 (120 road, 20 indoor)
Weight : 14st 13.6lbs (-0.8 lbs)
Body fat : 27.4% (+0.4%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

Ah, that's more like it, at least from the cycling point of view. Friday was the first really sunny day we had and I even left my vest off for the ride. Headed out intending to do 25 miles but weather so good I just kept going and managed to do just under 50 miles. However, need to revisit my refueling strategy, one bannana clearly not enough as after 30 miles just got very tired. Luckly, I was just passing through Bighton, a village I used to live in 20 years ago, which has a great little country pub. Grabbing my £10 emergency money from my tool bag I popped in... you can't buy much with £10 these days - a sandwich and two pints.

Completely empty pub, so I sat outside in the sunshine for a rest. Replenished, I set off for the final 20 miles home, unfortunately, the two pints seemed to have cancelled out any benefit the sandwich may have had and they were a painful and slow 20 miles. Next time I will bring more food with me.

Saturday a rest day so off to Reading to watch London Irish beat Perpingnan in the Heineken Cup, next stop Twickenham for the semi final. You never know, it could be LI v Munster in the final, now that would be a game worth seeing. Very good lunch beforehand at the Crooked Billet, a pub that my father-in-law used to drink in fifty years ago and that he took me to a few times 20 years ago. Then it was a little two room country pub with beer served straight from the barrel by an overweight widower. Now its a pretty fancy gastro pub made famous by the fact that Kate Windslet had her (first) wedding reception there. Having said that, the food was very good and I shall be re-visiting.

Paul and I cycled from Reading to Oxford last year and stopped in here for a pint. A lovely ride of about 50 miles with the benefit of having an Oxford pub crawl as the reward at the end. Probably worth us having another go at that ride in our preparation.

How not to sell a bike

Now it would be foolish not to go out and buy a new bicycle, so armed with a big bag of cash I popped into a pretty big bike shop fairly near by. It stocked the three bikes on my short list - Cervelo Soloist Carbon, Colnago C50 and the new Trek Madone. Why those three, I hear you ask - well simply I like the look of them from pictures in bike mags, no technical information to back that up at all. So was hoping for some good sound advice about how to choose between them.

The salesman (I use the term loosley), started off by rubbishing the Colnago. Basically, it was all about style and vastly overpriced for what you get - as was Campag - much better to go with Shimano. The Italians, apparently, put more by style than actual performance. When I asked him the difference between the Cervelo Soloist and R3 he made no sense at all. But then, best of all - I told him I wanted a triple chainset not a compact. At this point he said in that case I should go for the R3 as a triple would look stupid on the Soloist!! And all from a man who a moment before had said that style should not win out over substance. Needless to say I will be taking my bag of cash elsewhere.

2008-04-02T12:41:00.005+01:00

March Roundup

Well, end of the second month of training.... so how have I done against my KPIs?

Weight loss: 2lbs (now 15st 0.4)
Fat change: +0.4% (now 27.0%)
Mileage: 196 (avg. 44 per week)
Training time: 12.5hrs ( avg. 3 per week)
Avg heart rate :118

Total height : 9,600 feet (2900m)
20k TT average wattage: 240 (+2)
Power/Weight ratio : 1.14 (+2.7%)
Box Hill: not done

Muscle mass :
Visceral fat :

Disappointing month, only excuse is the weather. 3 hours training a week is not going to get me up the Tourmalet and weight loss stalled as the graph shows. Something needs to change in April. However, just one indoor session on the spinning bike and average power for 20 miles up 2 watts, and with weight going down a bit overall a net power/weight gain of +2.7% which is pretty good.

2008-04-01T14:34:00.002+01:00

MONDAY 31st March - 14 weeks to go

Miles last week : 85(85 road, 0 indoor)
Weight : 15st 0.4lbs (-1.0 lbs)
Body fat : 27.0% (+0.0%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

A fun weekend in London of mixed weather saw me head off to Richmond Park on both Saturday and Sunday mornings with brother Paul. Only did a couple of laps each day which added up to 25 miles for each ride when you take there and back from central London into account. Pretty windy but some sun and we managed 18mph average on one of the laps, which was pretty good as in the London duoathlon last September (under race conditions!) I managed 18.8mph for one of the two laps in perfect conditions - so not bad for a very windy day.

Fully confident of breaking 15st barrier this week...

2008-03-29T09:10:00.004Z

MONDAY 24th March - 15 weeks to go

Miles last week : 15(15 road, 0 indoor)
Weight : 15st 1.4lbs (+1.0 lbs)
Body fat : 27.0% (+1.6%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

Weather still pretty bad, but not enough excuse for another week of very little cycling. Only out once, in driving rain and wind - managed 15 miles but not much fun.

I may not be getting any fitter but I am getting better at entering sportives... just signed up for the Mount Hood Classic in Oregon. Its over two days and on the first day you ride up Mount Hood, a pretty large inactive volcano, visable from all over Oregon in the same way you can't avoid seeing Ventoux from anywhere in Provence. Have a look at: Mt Hood Classic. My brother-in-law, Pete, lives in Portland, only an hour drive from the start so will stay with him for the week. It is organised to be on the day a professional race goes up the montain - you start at 7.00 and they start three hours later, challenge is to get to the top before the caravan catches you and you have to pull over.

2008-03-18T16:12:00.004Z

MONDAY 17th March - 16 weeks to go

Miles last week : 0(0 road, 0 indoor)
Weight : 15st 0.4lbs (-2.0 lbs)
Body fat : 25.4% (-1.0%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

A poor week for cycling, combination of bad weather and two days away for a quarterly partners meeting. Hope I have not peaked too early... need to get that enthusiasiam back. Also, too much watching of rugby with the final day of the six nations. Up to Rugby first to collect Grace from school for Easter holidays then back to London to meet up in pub to watch the matches. Great fun but should have been out on that bike. Paul joined us but had, sensibly, got five laps of Richmond park in first.

Slight mechanical last week when my saddle started rotating very slightly in the seatpost - seems the top bit is bonded into the carbon seatpost and was coming loose. Well it was not moving much, but over 40 miles left me pretty sore in the nether regions, something I only really noticed having a shower afterwards. So, trip to Wiggle produced a bright new Richie carbon seat post.

And it being St Patrick's day today a little luncheon in Bentleys.
A great Oyster Bar run by an Irishman, though the shamrocks on the eastern European staff leff a lot to be desired.

2008-03-10T10:40:00.002Z

MONDAY 11th March - 17 weeks to go

Miles last week : 40(40 road, 0 indoor)
Weight : 15st 2.4lbs (+1.0 lbs)
Body fat : 26.4% (-1.4%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

Busy week meant no cycling until Sunday and then the weather was unpredictable. However, spotted a break in the very heavy showers and headed out for a ride - feeling bad about the lack of mileage so managed 40 miles. Felt fairly tired on the hills but also my saddle has come loose in the seat post and is wobbling slightly from side to side. When I got back realised that this was enough to make my seat pretty sore. Germiline out and an order put into Wiggle for a replacement.

Otherwise time taken up with watching the six nations - regrettable Ireland not putting up much of a show

2008-03-03T09:59:00.002Z

MONDAY 3rd March - 18 weeks to go

Miles last week : 80(80 road, 0 indoor)
Weight : 15st 1.4lbs (-1.8 lbs)
Body fat : 28% (+0.8%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

Very good week for cycling - weather has changed, lovely and sunny but very windy. Three days of great riding - culmanating in usual ride with Rupert which we have now extended to 30 miles.

2008-03-01T18:13:00.002Z

February Roundup

Well, end of the first month of training.... so how have I done against my KPIs?

Weight loss: 0lbs (still 15st 2.4)
Fat loss: 0% (still 26.6)
Mileage: 202 (avg. 48 per week)
Training time: 12hrs ( avg. 3 per week)
Avg heart rate :129 (-3)

Total height : 8,653 feet (2600m)
20k TT average wattage: 238 (+14)
Power/Weight ratio : 1.11 watts/lb (up 0.6)
Box Hill:

Muscle mass :
Visceral fat :

Not a great month, disappointed with the weight loss - although managed to get below 15st at one point those couple of pounds crept back on are proving difficult to shift. Week out in Marrakesh meant that mileage was more or less halved this month which is also disappointing.

However, on the plus side average speed seems to be creeping up (15.11 to 16.37 mph) a significant improvement and that power on the indoor bike is improving too. Lets see what I can do in March.

2008-02-25T10:46:00.002Z

MONDAY 25th February - 19 weeks to go

Miles last week : 0(0 road, 0 indoor)
Weight : 15st 3.2lbs (+3.6 lbs!!)
Body fat : 27.2% (-1.0%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

Hmmmn, well a week in Marrakesh was not helful. Even though the food was diabolical and it was difficult to get hold of alcohol I still managed to put weight back on. Need to really get back on the bike this week and stay off the food.

On the other hand, Marrakesh was brilliant. Highlight was a two hour quad bike safari into the desert.

2008-02-18T08:31:00.004Z

MONDAY 18th February - 20 weeks to go

Miles last week : 40(30 road,10 indoor)
Weight : 14st 13.6lbs (-5.0 lbs!!)
Body fat : 28.2% (+0.4%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

Big day today.... broke the 15st mark for the first time. Been a few weeks coming but there you go. Down to eating not much as its not been a good week for cycling (and fat rating going up indicates I am fairly de-hydrated, but ho hum, scales don't lie). After last week's 100+ miles up in London on Saturday so no chance. However, brilliant ride with Rupert on Sunday. We extended our normal 22 mile route to bring it up to 30 miles. Fabulous sunny day, very few cars around and great views of the Hampshire countryside. Perhaps having a quite week helped (or possibly the weight) but felt much better on the hills.

This week off to Marrakesh for a week so no cycling opportunities. Not sure what to expect but just checking the weather, looks a bit chillier than I had thought.

Rupert and I begining to get concerned about the Tour of Ireland at the start of May... going to need to be a lot fitter for that.

2008-02-10T20:37:00.000Z

MONDAY 11th February - 21 weeks to go

Miles last week : 113(83 road,30 indoor)
Weight : 15st 4.6lbs (0.0 lbs)
Body fat : 27.8% (+0.6%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

Very good week for cycling, doing over 100 miles in a week for the first time. Mild and sunny weather was a real help. Weight a bit stalled, at least did not go up, but a bit worried - I blame last night's chinese takeaway, did'nt really want one but once its here I can't resist - what's that about being able to resist everything except temptation?

Two weekends into the 6 nations, a much better performance by Ireland yesterday against a young French side, still lost though while England managed to scrape a win against a fiesty Italy - there's no justice in rugby.

2008-02-03T21:56:00.000Z

MONDAY 4th February - 22 weeks to go

Miles last week : 48(28 road,20 indoor)
Weight : 15st 4.6lbs (+1.0 lbs)
Body fat : 27.2% (+0.6%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

Ooops, a little wobble on the weight there, a combination of very little cycling and some complacency on the weight side which saw burgers, Chinese takeaway and a curry this weekend. Chastened, I will try better this week.

All booked into the Chiltern and Hampshire 100s now. Chiltern looks like its going to be booked out almost straight away - I think that is going to be the way with many of the cyclesportives this year, you only have to see how many cyclists are out training in the middle of winter to realise that cycling has undergone a hugh resurgence.

Time to start thinking of that new bike.....

2008-01-28T16:17:00.000Z

January Roundup

Well, end of the first month of training.... so how have I done against my KPIs?

Weight loss: 6lbs
Fat loss: 2.7%
Mileage: 293 (avg. 66 per week)
Training time: 22hrs ( avg. 5 per week)
Avg heart rate :132

Total height : 16,700 feet (5000m)
20k TT average wattage: 124
Power/Weight ratio : 1.05 watts/lb (up 10%)
Box Hill: 11:13

Muscle mass :
Visceral fat :

Very pleased with weight loss this month, mainly due, I have to reluctantly admit, to the complete lack of alcohol. Some good rides but only at weekends - so in February try and do at least one mid week session and bring mileage up to 100 per week.

The mad measurements from the Tantia scales are useful too, don't want to loose too much muscle mass, so worth keeping an eye on.

Plus our first Cyclosportive, great experience though much harder than any of us thought and although only 65 miles compared to the 120 of the Canterbury sportive last year, much more difficult due to the hills.

Need to uncover a little cyclesportive for Feb but entries open for Chiltern 100 on Monday, so will be entering that. Off to Marrakesh with Ros in a couple of weeks so with a week of no cycling will have to do much more in the other three weeks.

2008-01-28T07:15:00.000Z

MONDAY 28th January - 23 weeks to go

Miles last week : 67(67 road,0 indoor)
Weight : 15st 3.6lbs (-3.0 lbs)
Body fat : 26.6% (-1.0%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

Good week for weight, but a lot of it due to the big ride on Sunday, so interesting to see whether it stays off this week.

Only one ride this week, must try and get sessions in during the week as this will not do - however, it was The Hell of Ashdown cyclosportive - 67 very hilly miles. Rupert and Paul accompanied me (see photo) and we had rather underestimated the time it would take us. However, great day out, sunny and beautiful countryside. My Garmin said it was a total of 1600m of climbing over five hills, so not quite a Tourmalet but getting there.. the good news is that I felt the 7% two mile hills were OK albeit in my granny ring and going slowly - however had to stop twice on Hell of Ashdown Hill, very steep and long, and once on the final two mile hill to the finish. But, all in all, not a bad day considering its only January.

Statistics for the ride:

HR : avg 137; max 167
Speed : avg 15mph (if I ignore last 2 miles!); max 42.6mph!!

2008-01-19T10:08:00.000Z

MONDAY 21st January - 24 weeks to go

Miles last week : 70(70 road,0 indoor)
Weight : 15st 6.6lbs (-3.2 lbs!)
Body fat : 27.6% (-0.4%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

Weight up and down like a Whores Drawers this week - even hit 15st 4lbs mid week, though that was mainly due to a trip to the hospital for a minor procedure which meant no food or water all day. But then Friday breakfast of bacon butties, lunch at Gordon Ramsey's pub in Docklands (see photo) followed by an evening curry in Farnham pushed things up a bit. But then a couple of days cycling interspersed with a 25th wedding anniversary party (no alcohol still!) made a difference.

Fantastic ride on Saturday over to the party - cycled up Leith Hill and then onto Box Hill - 45 miles in all with a lot of difficult hills (see map that misses out the last 5 or 6 miles for some reason).

Box Hill in particular is well worth trying, 1.5 miles at a very constant gradient of about 7%. Took me 11 mins 24 secs to get up. By end of May last year Rich (see blog link at the side) did Box Hill in 6mins 30 secs, so someway to go yet! However, I'm under the impression that Tourmalet is just over 10 miles at an average of 7.5%, if that is the case then its only 8 Box Hills, or at my pace only an hour and 20 mins. Must have got the calculation wrong???

View Larger Map

On Sunday an easy 20 mile cycle back from the hotel, which was just as well as I was feeling fairly knackered.

2008-01-13T18:21:00.000Z

MONDAY 14th January - 25 weeks to go

Miles last week : 85(50 road,35 indoor)
Weight : 15st 9.8lbs (+1.2 lbs)
Body fat : 28.0% (-0.5%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)

Better week for cycling - couple of indoor sessions, the first called off after 8 miles due to Pete calling from Oregon, but the second a 1 hr TT. Think I'll use this as one of my critical measures to see how much I am improving (or not). Would like to have the three laps of Richmond Park as one too, but realistically I'm not going to be in London that often to make it a worthwhile benchmark. Anyway, managed an average power of 207 watts over the hour - bit worrying as this time last year was getting 227 watts... however weight well down so the most important measure power/weight may still be OK.

Plus, decided to ride from home in Hampshire to London on a beautiful sunny Saturday. Great ride, just under 50 miles done at an average of 16.8 mph to Roehampton Gate, which is not bad considering I was on my own - last 8 miles considerably slower due to London traffic! Fairly flat ride with one serious, but short, hill over the North Downs. Caught up with a cycling club at the bottom of this and actually overtook three of them! Admittedly 2 girls and a bloke with mudguards but still good for the confidence. Glad it was only half a mile though and not 10 miles...

Weight, however, a different kettle of poissons. Stalled a bit, even with no booze - few lunches blamed, including very good roast beef lunch in Rugby on visit to see Grace.

But weight is vitally important, here's an interesting piece from Rick's blog from last year:

Estimates suggest that saving one kilogram of bike weight will save you approx 45 seconds on a climb like Tourmalet, which works out at 41 seconds per 1,000 metres of ascent per kilogram. On this basis, over the course of the Etape (4,400m climbing), this could result in a saving of 3 minutes/kg.

If I manage to loose two and a half stone (~ 15kg) that means 45mins extra!!

2008-01-07T09:08:00.000Z

MONDAY 7th January - 26 weeks to go

Weight : 15st 8.6lbs (-0.4 lbs)
Body fat : 28.5% (-1.1%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)
Miles last week : 70(70 road,0 indoor)

Aah, with the New Year has come a bit of ground rush.. reasonable week for cycling, got out three times, but going up one of the local short hills I thought 'who am I trying to kid?'. Got to get a bit more serious or this is not going to happen.

Had another look at a very encouraging blog from last year(see Rick's Etape), he managed to loose 3 stone and started from where I am now. As a start am going to try and stay off the booze all through January, one week in already so only three to go. Also, no more milky coffees. Have a horrible feeling its going to take more than that.

One of my rides was aborted due to a puncture (again) knew I should have replaced that rear tyre. Also, getting my priorities right and been practicing riding no hands, so I can get that classic arms raised victory photo as I cross the line at the end of the Etape. Proving difficult though.

2007-12-30T21:17:00.000Z

MONDAY 31st DECEMBER - 27 weeks to go

Weight : 15st 9lbs (-3.5 lbs)
Body fat : 29.6% (-0.9%)
Tantia body type 2 (obese)
Miles last week : 15(0 road,15 indoor)

Well a last minute go on the indoor bike meant I at least did some cycling. However, 195 average wattage does not compare to 215 that I was getting this time last year, and, I suspect, is a lot less than is needed.

2007-12-24T07:13:00.000Z

MONDAY 24th DECEMBER - 28 weeks to go

Weight : 15st 12.5lbs (-1.5 lbs)
Body fat : 30.5% (+1%)
Miles last week : 0(0 road,0 indoor)

Well under 16st! Horrah, though a bit disappointed with body fat going up a bit - afraid it looks like its a bit of de-hydration accounting for some of the weight loss. Never mind, here we are on Christmas eve with a few days of weight putting on ahead.

As for cycling, forgot all about that. In London all week due to various social and work events related to Christmas and without a bike so no training at all. Must do better.

Did get hold of the video of the ride Road to Hautacam, great encouragement, the scenery is spectacular some snow about but clear blue skys all the way. Did mean the guy doing it chickened out of the first bit of the descent from Tourmalet, even without ice it looks pretty scary and he described the first bit as 'technical' due to the twisty nature of the road and lack of barriers!

Oh, well, off for some last minute Christmas shopping. Ho, Ho, Ho.

Scary punctures

2007-12-10T10:03:00.001Z

MONDAY 17th DECEMBER - 29 weeks to go

Weight : 16st 0lbs (0 lbs)
Body fat : 29.5% (-0.1)
Miles last week : 25 (25 road,0 indoor)

Hmmm, bit tricker than I had anticipated. Still at least weight not gone up. Only one day out this week, but which was a beautiful Sunny Sunday, very cold. Had a puncture and began to get pretty cold while I fixed it - new rear tyre I think as am getting a lot of punctures recently.

By the way, here is the tyre I use, a Verdestein Fortezza Tricomp. Think its fine but as it came fitted to my Bianchi I don't have anything to compare it to. Pretty woried about punctures with that broom waggon chasing, was thinking of taking 3 spare inner tubes but with the amount of time it takes me to change a tube the waggon will have caught me if I need them all.

As the weather is so bad, while not riding have been thinking of a new bike - not sure what to get but will surely be a victim of advertising. Without any knowledge at all the front runners are: Cervelo carbon or a fancy Italian (Pinerello or Colnago). Looks like they are ludicrously cheaper in USA (40% less)... much be a catch somewhere. Have a look here: USA bikes

Good news today is that Rupert has signed up for Tour of Ireland in May, that makes all three of us with Paul already in. If we manage to do that we should be in good shape for Etape du Tour (four days of 100+ miles).

Christmas week looming, not expecting much on the weight front, going to have to be a serious weight loss attempt in January with half the rest of the population.

Christmas is coming

2007-12-06T14:33:00.000Z

MONDAY 10rd DECEMBER - 30 weeks to go
Weight : 16st 0lbs (-1lbs)
Body fat : 29.6% (-0.4)
Miles last week : 35 (15 road, 20 indoor)

Christmas party season has kicked in which meant a poor week for both cycling and weight. However, did try a short road session with some hill intervals. Local hill is only half a mile long but fairly steep (8%ish), so, did four repeats up that. Couple of miles, I reckon that is a tenth of the Tourmalet!

In the absense of much to talk about this week, here is a photo of me with Stephen Roche that famous Irish winner of the TDF. Stephen kindly accompanied me up one of the steeper hills in Mallorca earlier this year.

Training approach

2007-11-26T18:44:00.000Z

MONDAY 3rd DECEMBER - 31 weeks to go

Weight : 16st 1lbs (-0lbs)
Body fat : 30.0% (-0.6)
Miles last week : 80 (50 road, 30 indoor)

Hmmm, weight stalled a bit, not a good sign with Christmas coming up. Need to break that 16st barrier permanantly.

However, good cycling - out with Rupert on Sunday in the pouring rain, would have been easy to call it off but we feel pretty pleased with ourselves for doing it. On to Wiggle today for some wet weather gear! And for our friends on the West Coast, here's a picture of Rupert in the rain, does not convey the full horror of the situation, but should give you an idea.

Very windy too, pretty scary with side winds realise my bike handling skills not all they should be. Have been worrying about the ascents on the Etape, now starting worrying about the descents as well...

Training approach

So, need to put a bit of science behind all this. Basically, my approach is to loose weight and do more and more cycling. However, reading The Cyclysts Training Bible, I realise there is more to it than that. However, I think I am starting from a low base, so until the end of the year its all about trying to loose weight and put in the mileage. Then, I'll set about drawing up a proper training plan.

But one thing is certain, its going to include a number of cyclosportive trips - one of which is the Tour of Ireland, four glorious days in May, starting near Belfast and ending up in Dublin. With the final night being in Kilkenny!

Training Partners

2007-11-20T08:20:00.000Z

MONDAY 26th NOVEMBER - 32 weeks to go

Weight : 16st 1lbs (-2lbs)
Body fat : 30.6%
Miles last week : Zero! (0 road, 0 indoor)

Terrible week for cycling and not so good for weight either. Mainly due to birthday celebrations and weekend in Tuscany (eating not cycling!). One sign of encouragement was that hit 15st 13.8Lbs mid week, which was the first time I was under 16st (however little) for a very long time.

John Donne was right, no man is an island, and this is especially true when it comes to training for the Etape. It takes a very single minded individual to be completely self-motivated through all the long months of training. Far better to have a couple of trusty training companions to share the pain and provide much needed encouragement. I am very fortunate in my choice of training partners: brother Paul and old friend Rupert, both of whom rode the London to Cantebury cyclosportive with me earlier this year, thereby giving all of us a false sense of our cycling prowess.

Paul is admitting to 13st 4lbs today which he claims is way above his fighting weight plus he works long hours and is getting married the week after the Etape - balanced against all that is the fact that he is only 27 and has been training for the Dublin Marathon all summer.

He rides a Condor Carbon bike with a compact gear set.

His main weaknesses are strong lager and sunday lunches.

I've know Rupert for donkey's years and get out cycling with him about once a month, all of which is now going to change. Also, we have got away for a long weekend cycling with the Regent's Park Running Club - Cycling Section, once a year for the past five years. Last year was in Tuscany and this year will be Sicily in June.

Rupert has recently acquired a carbon frame Bianchi with a 53" big ring which has him belting along on the flat but may prove less useful on the Tourmalet. This prompted an ill-informed conversation between the three of us on Compact v normal gear ratios... didn't reach any conclusions as we had no idea what we were talking about. Something to research, will present my findings if the mist ever clears.

Rupert weighs in at around 13st 7lbs and his main weaknesses are strong ale and late nights.

The Equipment

2007-11-13T08:09:00.000Z

MONDAY 19th NOVEMBER - 33 weeks to go

Weight : 16st 3lbs (-4lbs)
Miles last week : 60 (30 road, 30 indoor)

Good week for weight, bad week for cycling. Tried to drink vodka, lime and soda instead of beer, unfortunatly need to drink from a pint glass so need doubles... supposed to be much less calorific. Busy at work and could not get a cycle in on Saturday so only road ride on sunday of 30 miles, did two very windy laps of Richmond Park. Saw the Richmond Park challenge on the Cyclosports forum - do three laps in under an hour. Way outside that with two laps in 45 minutes (it was windy and I did do two for the London Duoathlon in 43 minutes, still a bit of improvement to go!)

Bad week coming up I fear, as I am 50 tomorrow... 20th November.

Anyway, back to the subject of this week's mumblings - the equipment...

When you are as unfit and weigh as much as I do then you tend to put more reliance and hope on your equipment than usual. There is a mythical hate figure in all Mountain Bike magazines (avg reading age 14) - the Lite Bike Fat Git. I am proud to be that man, whatever money I can throw at equipment in a futile attempt to level the playing fields I am happy to do.

First, my bike... its my first road bike and I bought it from Evans in Waterloo. I'd done my extensive research by pouring over their mail order brochure and had whittled my choice down to two bikes (a) Trek, because Lance Armstrong rides it and (b) Bianchi, because I like the colour. A quick test ride over Waterloo Bridge for appearance sake and I plumped for the Bianchi.

Only thing is, I wanted a triple ring on the front and while Trek know their market very well and supply all their bikes with a tripple at no extra cost, Bianchi could not concieve of someone buying one of their more expensive bikes who needed a tripple. Nice chaps at Evans saved the day by ordering the frame and building my own bike... for the same cost as a factory built one. Just goes to show what buying power Evans has.

However, I have a funny feeling I will have to buy a new bike for the Tour, watch this space...

So that's the bike sorted, but what about those cold winter nights? Well nothing for it but to get an indoor trainer. Without too much research it became apparent there are two choices (arn't there always) each with its pros and cons and I had to choose. Turbo trainer or Indoor bike? Turbo trainer looked attractive, more realistic and, more importantly, all sorts of extra gadgets to buy - PC based simulations/ability to race other sad people on the internet etc... however, I realised that the nuisance of taking wheels off carting it into the house would soon be too much, plus I think they are pretty noisy. So, I plumped for a Cyclops Indoor spinning bike with power measurement (of course!), another set of statistics to show out of condition I am. I've been happily training on it and getting 250 watts average with highs of 600 watts for milliseconds - thought this was pretty good with nothing to compare against, until I saw that Tom Boonen gets up to 1,600 watts in a sprint finish :-(

And then, of course, is the essential Edge 305 GPS bike computer! There's nothing like collecting data on heart rate/speed/distance/cadence and being able to plot them on a map.. only trouble is you can waste hours of time when you should be cycling. Apparently there is a new colour model coming out after Christmas, Edge 705, in the UK...

Finally, its very important to look good up on that bike. None of the garish team colours for me... bibs of choice are Assos which are unbelively confortable compared to the Santini items I used to have, and tops are all from Rapha - expensive but great quality and no dayglo colours.

What have I done....

2007-11-11T17:35:00.000Z

Monday 12th November 2007 - 34 weeks to go.

Weight : 16st 7lbs
Miles last week : 65

Been an occassional weekend cyclist for a couple of years, not more than 25 miles at a time. Signed up for the London to Canterbury Tour de France cyclosportive with my brother Paul and friend Rupert. We all enjoyed it so much that have now decided to go the whole hog and enter the Etape du Tour 2008.

Only problem is that I weigh 16st 7lbs (231lbs) and turn 50 in a couple of weeks (20th November), while Paul is 27 and about 12 stone. Here's the least flattering photo I can find of me in cycling togs so I can do a before and after...

We have applied to Sportingtours but are waiting for confirmation that we have places in Pau as required... hope we have as I have booked flights to Toulouse for 100 quid each, which is pretty good value as BA don't charge for bikes while the bucket shop boys are now charging £30 for the privledge.

Just seen the profile of the route... going to have to do some training.