Marmotte Week 2013

I rode the four events which make up the Trophee des Oisans, the best known of which is the Marmotte, which in 174km takes in four hefty climbs: Glandon, Telegraph, Galibier and Alpe d'Huez. 

 Naturally I was riding my bike too fast to stop and take photos on these rides, but we did get some days off for good behaviour in between the four sportif events and I got my camera out - the summer flowers across the alpine meadows were simply stunning!

I am a Wessex Super Randonneur!

Earlier this year I published a list of my planned rides for the season.  I've now done a good number of them and just completed my 2013 Super Randonneur series (4 rides of 200, 300, 400 and 600kms).  It was without doubt the toughest series I have ever done, all being in Wessex which turns out to be rather hilly.

The Dorset Coast 200 and Hard Boiled 300 were done on the same weekend in reverse order; the 300 starting from Poole at 2am on 6 April from Poole where the mercury had fallen to -5C.  Our water bottles froze solid over the first stage up towards Salisbury Plain.  After that the sun came out and things warmed up to marginally above zero for most of the day.  Fellow rider Marcus wrote a good account of these rides.

The Porkers "pig of a ride" 400 was held on 5/6 May.  Lots more climbing and lots of lovely Wessex lanes.  Delightful controls.  See Chillmoister's photos here

The grande finale was the Brimstone 600, with 7,700m of climbing, over the weekend of 8/9 June.  Fine weather again, and more fine views from all of the highest roads in Dorset, Hampshire, Somerset, Wiltshire and Devon.  The toughest climb of the ride, a brutal wall up onto the Mendips, came at 390km into the ride at around 2am on Sunday... followed swiftly by the welcome stop chez Drew at his Randonneur Heaven of the Mendips where full English breakfasts awaited and riders snuggled up close on warm floors for a spot of shut-eye till around 5am.    Read Billy's marvellous ride report here (why does he prefer to sleep in a bus shelter just before getting to Drew's house?)  Strava 1  Strava 2

The biggest rides of the year are yet to come: London-Edinburgh-London in July and a Baltic Tour in August.

Wessex Super Randonneurs - we are a small select bunch!

Bach's first overseas trip

Bacchetta and I went to Holland! What a fantastic country to ride a bike in. We will be getting familiar with the route to Harwich, as my Baltic and world tours both go that way.

This was our first proper ride, and all went smoothly. City riding can often be a little stressful, and especially riding in foreign cities. Hook of Holland to Den Haag however was among the least stressful riding I have ever done. Properly segregated and well engineered cycle routes and signposts everywhere, and when interactions with motor traffic do inevitably occur, drivers (most of whom probably also ride bikes) all seem to be so relaxed and happy to stick to the 30kp/h limits, cheerfully giving way to the thousands of men, women and children going about their daily business with not an inch of lycra or cycle helmet to be seen.

Cycling in NL is not sport, it's just the most sensible, convenient and convivial way to get around for many people's typical utility journeys. Utter joy, I will be back soon. Here are a few photos:

 

A brief and occasional off-topic rant

My attention has just drawn to this discussion paper on the Urban Design London website

I have an issue with the first introductory paragraph:

Certain aspects of policy are very clear: we want a big increase in the proportion of journeys in London made by bicycle; we want to make cycling on London’s streets safer and more comfortable; we want cycling to appeal to a broader section of society; we want to get cycling provision right from the start for any new developments and improve facilities within existing streets; and we want to achieve these changes while making streets and public places into better places for people generally.

This all sounds wonderful, but the author forgot to add: And we want to achieve all this without restricting in any way the speed or volume or access to all areas of motor traffic, which in fact we also want to prioritise under our smoothing traffic agenda, by which of course we mean real traffic, ie motor traffic.

No administration in London will succeed in its pursuit of the laudable objectives quoted above without curbing motor traffic volumes and speeds. Until that reality is faced, the debate about segregated V: integrated cycle routes is sterile and boring and pointless. Boris is in cloud-cuckoo land as long as he thinks he can go on giving priority to all road users.

Route & GWR updates

Couple of minor updates on the blog today:

• Route altered to go via Ukraine instead of Belarus, and Perth instead of Darwin.  Now exceeds 30,000km.  And start brought forward by two weeks to 5th April 2014.
• GWR page updated following recent rule changes and yet another new record - Thomas Großerichter has beaten Mike Hall by a couple of days, though he had a support crew. Shame GWR cannot distinguish between supported and unsupported rides.

Ride plan for 2013

hoping to ride most of these this year... and get in shape for next year!

date	ride	kms
19-Jan-13	Willy Warmer	200
20-Jan-13	harphilly100	100
09-Mar-13	chilterns	200
30-Mar-13	Ddutch	200
06-Apr-13	hard boiled	300
07-Apr-13	dorset coast	200
27-Apr-13	oasts & coasts	300
05-May-13	porkers	400
11-May-13	severn across	400
18-May-13	brian chapman	600
01-Jun-13	YLY	600
08-Jun-13	brimstone	600
09-Jun-13	ditch devil	200
30-Jun-13	vaujany	173
06-Jul-13	marmotte	174
27-Jul-13	LEL	1400
04-Aug-13	ride london	160
10-Aug-13	Baltic Tour	5000
05-Oct-13	anfractuous	200
06-Oct-13	falling leaves	110
02-Nov-13	upper thames	200

Picked up the bike!

I picked up the finished bike yesterday from Stuart at Bikefix...

he fitted the mudguards

then had some pizza

then I was ready to set off on my first ride... back home... in the rain