Tom Hill

Guys I have roof bars which will fit most cars with rails. I have many and varied bike carriers: 4-off fork mounted 4-off conventional wheel and frame mounted. Both types mount onto said roof bars. 1-off tow bar mounted rack (4-bikes from memory) All are available for use. Just booked my internal flights in France. Arrive in Lille about 4:30 on Friday. 20 minute shuttle bus to train station which is about 400m from hotel. Return to Marseille Monday morning. Bring it on!!! ............... I hate cobbles

Correct Mr Yuille Mul no-one has any intention of wearing anything but the blue and yellow on the day!! Agreed regarding Flanders. See me? See happy?

Allan Leave it at three nights and I will pay the extra night. I am going to stop over Sunday as my flight from Lille to Marseille is not until the Monday afternoon. Would someone please take my bike from here? Tom

At the moment it looks like I will already be in France so I will take the train from Aix en Provence to Lille on the Friday..... or something like that. Never was very good at forward planning. Tom

Who is this George guy anyway? He must be the only club member to have been out on fewer runs than me!

Billy I have requested to be part of the group as I couldn't see anyway to add the transfer. I emailed them and they have added me manually to the shuttle. so no need to do anything, other than accept me as part of the group. Thanks. Tom

Well I have now ridden my bike two weeks ina row...... so going for three!!

Hogmanay champagne to blame? Booked and bricking it!!

Hope to be out but need to be back by midday. Tom

Should be there. Going for two in a row for the fist time since April !!

Should be there.

Alan Riding in sportive or audax mode? Quite fancy it too.

Will do Kenny. Thanks.

Sorry I could not make it along. I assume the minutes of the meeting will be posted on the forum? Tom

Playing at being a dad! Will definitely need to put the stabilisers back on at this rate!

Won't make Sunday as still recovering from a strain. Beginning to forget what it is like to ride my bike!!

Billy The track aka velodrome is that new big building in the East End of Glasgow......

Change of plans for that weekend. I can no longer make it. Have a good one! Tom

Climbing more hills in France.

Sounds good to me!

Signposted and lots of other riders to follow ........ and of course the post Flanders Garmin to keep me right!!

Billed as the toughest sportive in Britain and I am not going to argue. Departing from Bangor on Dee racecourse the weather was very cold with a watery sun promising its best but delivering very little by way of heat. Started off with the usual frantic pace as the first 2.5km was somewhere between flat and downhill. It was then that the course began to live up to its name. What followed was as close to an alpine climb as can be found in Britain measuring about 22km with a few very short and very fast downhill sections in between. The descent from the peak was brilliant. 2km of fairly narrow roads, several corners but good sight lines and good tarmac and closed roads. This is where I hit my maximum speed for the day of 65kph. Could have gone a bit faster but it became quite busy near the bottom. Next came the (in)famous horseshoe pass. 6km climb measuring 10-12% in places. Geraint Thomas's time of 14mins and 22secs was never in any doubt; although I did match the 22 seconds by reaching the top in 25 mins and 22 seconds. It was tough in places but overall only marginally tougher that Crow Road. I thought well if that's the famed horseshoe pass over and done then I should be okay. Of course this was only twenty five miles in so perhaps I should have realised that I was getting ahead of myself. And I was because then came the C11s cousin which was very tough into an icy head wind. Another quick descent and then the C11's big cousin; I sure mine wasn't the only voice calling out for my mum! It was only 5km with an average gradient of 5% but there were several 12% and above sections which had my legs screaming at me and wondering why they had been forced to drive 300 miles south then get up at 5:30 in the morning to do this cycling malarkey instead of lying in bed. This brought me tiredly to the third feed stop. Not much point in hanging around as it was still only 8C with a chilly wind to boot. Cheese toasties were a brilliant idea and made a welcome change to sweet gels and energy drink. Another tiring 6km drag and I am wondering if I will make it to the end, still 50 km to go. At the top of this climb some kind soul had put the inspiring message "cheer up, the worst is still to come". He wasn't lying. After another fast descent the next climb seemed to be never ending with the first 2km of 10-12% with little 5-6% respites. It never fails to amaze me how 6% suddenly become easy after a prolonged effort at 10%. Eventually things levelled off to a more manageable 3-4% which seemed to continue to the top of what was now a very dark and very cloudy world. Oh deep joy, freezing rain for the next 3 miles was just about enough to make me throw my bike off the mountain. It was only the realisation that, without it, I would have to walk that prevented me from doing so. From here I finally found a group that I could keep up with, probably because the final 10 miles only involved some short climbs and flat to rolling, which we covered in just under 30 minutes. There was the obligatory sprint to the line where I only just made the podium, stealing third by a tyre width. An epic ride, tougher than Flanders. I made it 2900m of climbing which is still 1000m short of the Nove Colli but the compressed distance and the fact that you were either climbing or descending with little in between did make it a tough ride.

Al Do you have a share holding with Boardmans?

In Wales for the Etape Cymru. Here's hoping for good weather!

Happy to hear that Charlie. Hope to see you out and back to normal in the near future!!