Craig rides the Archer GP

With the Etape rapidly approaching, I realised I needed a proper test of my fitness. So last Sunday I took part in the Archer GP Chiltern Classic, a 104-mile CycloSportive held as a substitute for the National level race of the same name, that has sadly been prevented from taking place this year by the Police.

The ride comprised of an initial short loop, before returning to Hazlemere, then two circuits of an 11 mile loop (featuring Whiteleaf hill – 25% in places), finishing with a much longer loop taking the rider out towards Tring, back down to Chesham, Prestwood then back to HQ. The long section near Tring was particularly interesting, featuring some very tight and rough country lanes, nasty steep climbs, and technical descents. I’m not sure of the overall climb as I’m not a member of the Garmin club, but I think it was around the 2,000m mark.

After a good start and middle section, I started to really suffer after the last feed point feeling both nauseous and de-hydrated, so unfortunately my finish time took a bit of a hit as I took my foot off the gas quite a lot. Still I finished in the 3rd quarter of people doing the longer ride, which is about where I expected to be given how serious most of my fellow riders looked, and an overall time of 7:01.

My lessons learned were:
- Never attempt anything greater than 10% without a compact chainset again
- SIS is too sweet to drink in any quantity to keep hydrated sufficiently. Will now keep one bottle of plain water to drink regularly, with a separate bottle of concentrated sports drink for salts etc.
- High-5 gels don’t agree with my stomach at all.

It was also a highly emotional day, as after 4 years faithful service, it was my last ride on the Bianchi SL3 in its current form. As soon as I got home, I dismantled it and sent the components down to Sussex to be added to my new Enigma Esprit I’m collecting on Saturday. Bring it on!!!

Ahead of the Giro, EVs hit the Dolomites

Paul, Tim, Nick & Robin joined by 7 other intrepid cyclists spent the weekend in Lake Garda and took on some of the local climbs that are similar in challenge to Tourmalet/ Hautecam.

They were guided by Eros Poli (left image). A native of Verona, Italy, Eros Poli is best remembered for his 1994 Tour de France stage 15 win of Mont Ventoux after a 106 mile solo escape. Eros, at 6 feet 4 inches and 187 pounds, was not a prospect to win one of the most difficult and famous climbs in the Tour de France. He escaped, however, from the peloton very early on and, under conditions of searing heat, arrived at the base of Mont Ventoux with a 22 minute lead. Steadily, the chase pack of climbers began taking back time. Arriving at the final 300 meters of the climb where the grade is 11% the lead had dwindled to 4 minutes. Eros survived Mont Ventoux and then hammered the descent to arrive in Carpentras to an incredible win by 3 minutes and 39 seconds ahead of Pantani and Virenque. His escape and victory earned him the nickname “Monsieur Mont Ventoux”.

Eros is now 45 years old and weighs 224 pounds (16 stone) and is proof that if you have legs like tree trunks and the heart of a racehorse you can still ride like fury and pulled our peleton along at a steady 22-25 mph into a headwind and was still first up the mountains.

For the weekend the 2 main climbs were Sduddzina and Santa Barbara which are each 11km rides with Sdruzzina averaging 10% averaging 9%. The yellow jersey for each climb amongst the etape virgin team went to Paul although if Tim could have avoided his puncture on Sdruzzina and avoided dropping his chain twice on Santa Barbara he would have been able to put on a better challenge. Paul’s time for Sdruzzina was 1 hour 16 mins and about 1 hour 6 min for Santa Barbara. So speed was fine but the relentless climb was exhausting and there was no way we could have done a second climb at that pace/ at all as we need to in the etape.
A fantastic weekend and thanks to Robin for organising it. I don’t think there’s anything to replace the experience/ training of a real 1,000m+ mountain ascent.

New kit

Robin has gone for the total pimp option of a de rosa king although the 900g frame was not enough to offset other weight handicaps but there’s 8 weeks of dieting to go.

Other activity over 10/11 May weekend

So whilst Tim and Paul were flying out to Milan, I was stuck there waiting for his plane back, after a couple of days in the Bergamo area on some client work. I should have taken my bike out and joined Tim and Paul. The Easyjet plane I was scheduled to get, was supposed to get me back to Gatwick at 1020, it eventually got me back at 0400. I rolled into bed at 0515 the same time I had got up the week before for our 100 mile effort. In fairness to Easyjet its plane was diverted twice. Firstly, on its way to Gatwick (prior to its journey out to Malpensa), it had to land at Bournemouth as the runway had been temporarily closed. When they eventually landed at Gatwick, a replacement crew had to be found as the original team had gone beyond their HSE working hours. When they eventually left for Malpensa, a jet had a blow out on the runway as my plane was queuing to land, leading it t be diverted to Bergamo. Finally, the plane regurgitated its passengers from London at 0230.

Given all this, I was not up for much cycling on Saturday. This left Andy mostly on his own, who managed 112 miles and 8000 ft of climbing, joined by Mike for the final 40 miles, who had been on the red-eye back from New York. I finally got out for 3 hours on Sunday morning from 0800 avoiding the really hot weather. Andy came out again and whilst he said he was tired, he put in a storming performance considering the previous day’s efforts and a dose of uncomfortable saddle soreness. I pushed pretty hard over the last 15 miles and was pleased to catch a few cyclists along the way.

Personal bests

Whilst last week’s Wednesday evening ride was a washout, the pervious week was a lovely warm evening. Five of us set out to cover a time trial-ish 26 mile route via Markyate, Whipsnade, Studham, Gaddesden Row, Redbourn and St Albans. The route is far from flat with over a 1000ft of climbing, but three of us stormed round enabling me to record a personal best for this route of 1hr 14min or 20.3mph. Craig, Tim and I did work well as a team and stuck together until we dropped Tim on the rise out of St Albans and I just got clear of Tim in the last 2 miles. This was clear proof to me that the Etape training has been worth it and I am improving.

Andy C, Paul and Tim all entered the Kimpton 10k fun run this weekend and they also recorded best times, showing that the cardio benefits from our cycle training have had a spin-off on other disciplines too (and this is a group who has all competed in the London Triathlon more than once):

• Tim W – 39 min 35 sec (Improvement of 1 min 20 sec)
• Paul H – 41 mins (Improvement of many minutes – approx 4!)
• Andy Cole – I think was c.45mins (Improvement of c 2 min).

The Harpenden Hundred

With the added confidence of last week’s navigation of the Chilterns, I plotted an even longer and more hilly route this weekend. As a couple of the team had to get back by lunch time, I was encouraged, against my natural instincts, to rise at 0515 for an 0600 start. As the weather was predicted to hit 20c, we all turned out in summer gear and quickly regretted it. Whilst there was little breeze the air temperate must have been well less than 10c, so toes and fingers were numb until at least 0800. However, it was fantastic to be out in the quiet of the early morning with very few cars. The route took in some great new climbs, one out of the centre of Tring called Hastoe Hill, one from Monks Risborough up Peters Lane and the best from Chinnor up Chinnor Hill. I can’t remember quiet where we were now, but we also found the steepest section we have encountered locally somewhere just over half way were the gradient touched 28%. Even in a 34x27 I had to get out of the saddle and was wobbling a little to make it to the top.

We had set out as a team of five: Andy M, Tim, Paul, Mike and myself. On the way we ended picking up three others, Andy C, Robin and a newcomer to us, Mike. Mike looked particularly impressive, not an ounce of fat anywhere and mean looking long legs that cruised up the climbs with ease. Unfortunately Mike’s new machine let him down when the main bolt in the crank came loose and no-one had a big enough allen key. This left six of us to complete the route.
I need to add a note of caution regarding the use of the Garmin when plotting courses. When we reached Chartridge, I was looking for a right turn to take us across to Bellingdon, however this ended up being a less than roadworthy footpath. If we hadn’t had Andy C in the team we would really have been stuck as none of us knew the area and all the Garmin has is a little black line that shows you the way home. Once you stray off this, you are on your own. I guess Garmin would be encouraging us to upgrade to the 705 which has proper maps (;-)

Andy took us on a detour back via Chesham, Botley and Bovingdon, getting us back to Harpenden just before 1400, an average for me of just over 14mph for 100 miles and 7600ft of climbing. Unlike the boring >8000 ft 100 mile route, this time I still had power in my legs to storm up the final hill from Redbourn. This is either due to additional training or, more likely I think, better hydration and food in take throughout the ride. This certainly made me feel better that I hopefully won’t bonk on the the final few kms of the Etape up to Hautacam.