Okay... just about got my breath back, so time for the lowdown. Here's how the ride went from my perspective.
1st Col of the day - Cote de Sainte Marguerite:
Pretty straight forward this one. Sat nicely on Dez's wheel admiring nice new racing jersey! Seemed to be over fairly quickly. Knees knocking a bit at this point, but teeth gritted so rode through this. Temperature and tempo bearable. I reckon I've done bigger climbs in training.
2nd Col of the Day - Col de Lauteret:
Bit of a head wind through up a valley that seems to go on for ever! We were holding back a bit on this one, me kidding myself that I'd love to be going faster when really energy conservation was the name of the game. Seemed to take all day to get to the top at 2067m! Felt pretty good though when we did, which was lucky, 'cos the top of this is the bottom of...
3rd Col of the Day - Col de Galibier:
First proper climb of the day. They say this is the easy side of the climb, and I kind of agreed right up to the last 2 clicks when suddenly the road goes vertical and the guys in front must have taken whatever spare oxygen there was out of the air before I got to it! Still, I was expecting to be proper caned up here and was only 150 yards or so off Big Bruv and TGMM at the top! If I'd known they hit 182bpm on this bit I'd have given it all to stay with them, but given my pulse hadn't been below 178 all the way from the bottom I figured I ought not to push my luck... View from the top was amazing. Decent even better! Quite technical at the top, which meant lots of opportunity for flying past cars and motor bikes! Excellent! Halfway down the descent was the lunch stop in Valloire. Oxygen had returned to the air, but unfortunately so had the heat! Didn't bode well... Left from lunch straight onto...
4th Col of the Day - Col de telegraphe:
From the side we hit this it's fairly straight forward. I say that... If I hit this climb in Scotland I'd be pretty cheesed off; but in the Alpes anything that's only a couple of miles and barely breaks 5% is just a warm up. Group stayed together up this - great sight seeing the 4 jerseys together, especially given we then got the formation flight down the descent to the lowest point of the day (altitude wise) in the valley through Saint Julien Monts Denis. It was proper scorching down here! Despite the fact that I was pretty much free wheeling along the sweat running in my eyes was totally blinding me through the valley! Felt like my eyeballs were on fire. And then things got much, much, much worse...
5th Col of the Day - Col de Croix de Fer
Croix de Feu would be a better name (cross of fire!). The first few km of this climb are insane! The gradient's up and down so I never got a rhythm going, the temperature's well over 30, there's no shade at all and the road winds out in front of you laughing at you for being so massively under-prepared for its hellishness! We regrouped about 4km up this, by which point I was a couple of hundred meters down on the lead 2, but when I stopped I was practically passing out from the heat. Luckily our roadside angel arrived with water which was promptly poured straight over the head!
The middle bit of the climb was okay-ish apart from that niggle in the back of your head telling you that it's only the middle bit. When I got onto the last 8mile slog and saw my speedo barely registering 6mph I knew I was in for a very, very tough afternoon! All in all it took about 3 hours to get to the top from the valley. Two stops - one at the top of the inferno section at the beginning and one just out of the last village, where just like on the Galibier, the road builders saw fit to put a couple of vertical sections in! Buggers! There's a pretty long straight near the top where one of the cars stopped twice to ask if I wanted a lift! Apparently I wasn't looking my best... I was begging for Nathan to pop out and give me a push at this point, but instead he blew a head wind right into my face! I can hear him now, "what kind of a wuss are you? Armstrong would be in his big ring up here... Ciappucci would be wheelying and bunny-hopping..."
It was nearly 7pm by the time I got to the top of here. I was starving and feeling pretty sick from taking too much energy drink and not enough solid food. 100miles done though at this point and I knew I only had another 9miles of climbing to do.
The descent from the Croix de Fer was absolutely amazing! Long meandering roads tucked in at 45+ mph. I had a bit of a hairy moment when I got a speed wobble at 53mph which felt like a front tyre blow-out, but that aside the descent was great! Was cool to have Doug back with us as well and have the full compliment of Nathan's flyers tearing down the valley together and onward to our final ascent!
6th and last Col of the Day - Alpe D'Huez (okay, not strictly a Col as it doen't come down again...)
I felt there was a huge sense of anticipation as we rode the final valley through to the Alpe. Not just 'cos it's such a mecca for all cyclists, but because this was the where we'd pay proper tribute to the big fella. His ashes are scattered there at Bungo bend (hairpin 7) but his spirit is in every name written on the road all the way up - every one of them a cycling story that would have been wittily recalled. I felt we all wanted to ride this one well despite the miles in our legs. I felt at the top that we'd all ridden it well - we'd all given it everything we had and left a piece of ourselves on the mountain to keep Nat company.
Concentration and rhythm are everything on the Alpe - the gradient's much more constant than the Croix de Fer so despite being steeper, if you can keep a rhythm going you give yourself a fighting chance! After clinging onto TGMM's wheel for the first 3 hairpins I had no choice but to let them go, find my rhythm and ride this one alone as I had the Croix de Fer. I had to stop for water a couple of times to avoid the knock setting in, but made it to the top just as the last of the daylight disappeared.
The last km of the Alpe is fantastic! It dips down ever so slightly so I managed to get it in the big ring, and as I came round on to the final uphill straight I felt like I was flying to the finish, such was the rush from finishing! It ended pretty abruptly mind when I crossed the finish line and realised that, 132.8 miles from Embrun, I could finally stop pedalling, lie on the floor and weep!
Average speed for the ride was 13mph. TGMM did 13.4, which means in total I'd lost 18 minutes between last the two climbs - if someone had told me in January after I cracked on a 23mile flat route that I'd have been anything like this close I'd have laughed in their face!
Prior to the ride I'd had this crazy idea that we ought to be able to do it without support cars. Just for the record - this was clearly an insane notion! Without the support we'd never have finished it in the day - so big thanks are due to all those who followed us round! You were our back winds and you brought us home safely. Many thanks to you all!
Seems strange that it's over now after being so focused on getting through it for the last 7 months. I guess this is pretty much it for the blog too... I'll probably have one or two more posts with pictures and then it'll be cheerio for good. For now though it's just TTFN.
Col.
Nathan Evington
28/02/77 - 03/11/07
About Nathan
Nathan, was a big chap in more ways than one. He was always to be found at the centre of the action, telling it exactly as it was – loudly!
In fact, Nathan was in such a hurry to make his impact on the world, he arrived on a cold February morning 8 weeks early. He was so premature that he spent his first month in hospital, and at the time was one of the youngest babies in Hedon Road hospital to survive!
Cycling played a huge part in Nathan’s life. He loved the film American Flyers and watched it many times. In it, there is a scene where the main character does the "torture test" which involved running on a treadmill for as long as possible before ending the test by hitting the "chicken" switch. After Nathan’s diagnosis of cardiomyopathy in 2004, he was actually quite excited to discover that he would be required to do his own "torture test" and spent a good deal of time psyching himself up for a good performance. In fact, he was so determined that it was ultimately the doctor, his Mum and the technician who had to drag him off, as Nathan refused to give in himself.
Cycling also revealed Nathan’s talent for remembering facts and figures. He was our very own walking cycling encyclopaedia. He loved to test his friends and show off his knowledge, and he was always the person you would want on your pub quiz team.
Nathan was determined to live life to the full, and unbeknown to his Mum he began playing in a football team a few years ago. The cat was out of the bag when a new football trophy took pride of place on the mantelpiece one evening. Nathan was very proud of himself and his team-mates, although I am reliably informed that Nathan was valued more for his enthusiastic participation, rather than his football talents – which led to his shots on goal just missing the target – 100% of the time!
Nathan was the life and soul of any party and loved to dance. He would always take to the dance floor first, and was quite happy to dance alone. However, his infectious enthusiasm always encouraged others to join him.
Nathan was a kind man, and always generous to a fault – on the benefit of his Mum and brother. He had a very special sense of humour – one he shared with his brother – and left his mark on everyone he met.
Thursday, 7 August 2008
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1 comment:
Well done Col and the team. Enjoyed following your exploits! Hope the legs are beginning to feel something like normal again?
Kev, Wendy & Lucas
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