Richie Cross

Flander Tours - Day 3
Ronde Van Vlaanderen Cyclo 173km
OK ....... where do I begin with the above question :-)
Good start to the day, Martin picked me up on time from my hotel in Nazareth (which was a good 15km away from Oudenaarde) ...... and things got interesting after that :-)
Got to the start without too much issue, getting ready & then some kind bloke pointed out to us that Martins car had a flat rear tyre, oh dear a puncture already & we haven’t even started riding :-) still, at least it wasn’t our bikes ......
Busy start understandably as Oudenaarde was the start for 3 of the km category, Antwerp being the other one for the longest ride, but all finishing in Oudenaarde.
We - Martin, Lewis, Danny, Ruairi & myself set off with our plan of staying together. I would like to point out at this point that Mul’s youngest Ruairi is only THIRTEEN years old & I was told up until yesterday, his longest ride was only 50-ish miles :-0 He was determine to break the ton today, crikey, you couldn’t have picked a harder one to do it ....... huge Chapeau!
30km in first “incident”, Danny’s knee injury flared up & was really struggling with severe pain & so Martin decided the best way to distract him was to do a somersault off his bike on one of the cobble section :-0
Luckily he got back up & was ok, but unfortunately Martin’s lovely restored Colnago came out worse, the rear drop out was crack & un-ridable. So, he rode the remaining course with Danny’s bike which was a bit too small for him, had a seized seat post & dodgy bottom bracket, while Danny headed back gingerly to the car on his Dad’s broken bike.
At this point, we were thinking of shortening the ride & go for the shorter route, but later when we got to the junction point, we had to decide!
Ruairi was determined to get his 173km & not swing denied the Kapelmuur, so we stuck to the original goal!
One berg after another & regular feed stops gone without much incident thankfully.
This year, the organiser have cleverly printed the participants name on the number, which had to be displayed on the front of everyone’s bike, that meant the cheering crowds on the climbs knew who to shout for.
Young Ruairi got the biggest cheers on the day & rightly so! It was brilliant to watch him dancing pass big tall guys with “badass” tattoos on their guns going up those bergs, it was certainly one of the highlights of my day!
Chapeau again young man!
Just before the Kwaremont, disaster struck again, it was Ruairi this time, he hit the deck when a big 7ft German guy took him down on a straight flat stretch road!
Thankfully he just dusted himself down & got back up after Martin checked that everything was fine & got back on the bike to tackle the final 2 climbs.
These Mulholland’s are made of granite :-)
But the other guy didn’t look so good, no real injury though, just really shell shocked & probably low on sugar level. Size doesn’t matter!
Finally, it was great to see the finish line in what have been the most memorable day in Belgium for me so far!
Big Thank you to the Mulholland’s for letting me tag along & witness this their epic family tradition & for the lifts to & from the hotel!
I absolutely enjoyed myself immensely today & it was a brilliant ride!
Massive Chapeau to them ...... oh, we even had a “local” Wheeler at the finish to buy us all beer - Phil Malcolm who now resides on Ghent came by to say hello & bought Martin & me a Flanders gift too, thanks big man!
Thats all for now & thanks for listening :-)
Cheers
Chung

Hi Folks,
Well, here I am in Flanders again, this will be my 4th time in 5 years & certainly will be my longest stay thus far!
Traveled from Glasgow yesterday early morning, 12 hours later I was in Brussels.
Sitting in my hotel room last night, I was thinking - why am I here?! I’m missing home already & worrying about the busy traffic outside (I’m staying just across from the Eurostar terminal & it’s not the best part of town) & if I will manage to get out of this busy city without bother   All I had was my IPhones google map app & some old fashion paper map ........ I was nervous ..... & my last minute change of plan (only 2 days prior setting off) carrying 2 rear panniers instead of my original single “trunk bag” had me really worried, I only manage a wee test ride of 5 minutes around my street on Tuesday & I did not enjoy it  
Needless to say, I didn’t have a very good night sleep :-/
Fortunetly, shortly after I set off from the hotel this morning, all my worries & concerns prior quickly vanished, I guess my question from the night before had been answered, once I started riding the bike, everything just felt fine  ....... great even :-) That was why I was here!
Despite the busy Brussels roads, the driving & cycle paths are just first class, I felt safe & riding with the rear panniers wasn’t that bad either!
A quick detour into Geraardsbergen was a good call & definitely the only time I would be able to stop & admire the place! The App did not show were the Kapelmuur was so I stopped & asked an auld local who understandably did not speak English, but the “Muur” is famous, he apologises & appointed straight on & left, but he did warn me though :-) - Check my Strava photo please!
The Mulholland & I had planned to meet in Oudenaarde in the afternoon so I made my way there hoping to have lunch with them. As I left Geraardsbergen, I spotted a bike shop & quickly stopped & chap the door, it was shut but the man let me in anyway, I was missing a bar tape end plug (it fell off in the a Eurostar transit) & the tape was about to come loose, not ideal for tomorrow!
Anyway, he sorted me out & as I left he told me he was a pro rider, his name was Tony Bracke & use to ride for Lotto :-) I asked him did he rode with Cadel Evans :-) maybe that’s why he thought I was Australian ..... haha!
He gave me one of his old autograph card - €7 well spent!
Met up with the Muls & now back in my hotel, getting ready for tomorrow ......... & it’s raining outside :-/
Not to worry, I’m sure everything will be just fine when we start pedalling!
Cheers
Chung

This looks good although there are a lot of cyclists going which is more than a tad off-putting.
 
Being one of the few JWCC to have climbed over 5000 metres in one day I'm happy to pass on advice to those less experienced in these matters. My first tip would be to cease all calorific intake immediately after reading this post. 2nd tip is to carry toilet roll.

Errr...
Entered as the last rider, just to give it a shot. At the start line with Carol and Dave and without a clue as to what could happen in a race. Kept at the front group for the whole way round but after the first wee climb I was at the head and because I eat lots of cake I pulled away easily on the first downhill section. I kind of just repeated that round the course with everyone else catching me going up the next hill. One brave soul made a solo breakaway effort and held it until something stopped him heading towards Mount Stewart. Back in the lead bunch on the home run I decided to have a sprint with about 500m to go, looked back once at 200m to see no-one nearby and surprised myself by winning. Massive amount of fun.

Thought I would share my holiday snaps  

Makes for a change that I got to get home first from a Bunch run :-)
 
Met the Bunch at the club room this morning - bunch of 5 to start with - Alex, Charlie, Darryl, Greg & myself set off for Charlie's proposed Strathaven route. The size of our group was increased by 20% when Iain McTarvish ambushed us along the way just before Lugton. Great - more wheels to follow!
 
We got to Strathaven eventually after a bit of stop-start to get our bearings, some good climbs & descent to follow too.
Cafe at the town square was alway welcoming, so soup & sandwich all round which was much needed by all!
 
Made our way back to Newton Mearns after heading to Eaglesham, where upon I bid the Bunch fairwell as they continue home via the Barrhead dams, hope everyone got home without too much drama. Unfortunately for me a bloody puncture just 1/2 km from home - I suppose I was lucky in that sense, so just roll back home with the flat!
 
Thanks for the route Charlie & the Bunch for the wheels today - loved it!
 
Cheers
 
Chung

He means Speedos.
 
I'm sure he means Speedos.

Jets are on their travels.
 
This weekend (4th - 7th) 6 Johnstone Jets will be taking part in their 1st international stage race. We are taking a squad of mainly younger riders to the 6th Errigal tour in Donegal. Jamie, Ollie, Isla, are youth C riders (under 12, if you don't folllow youth racing),   Joseph is youth B (u14) and Matti and Kyle are our A's (u16). They are all going to race 4 stages over 3 days: 2 road stages out on public roads, 1 TT and a town centre crit in Letterkenny.
 
This is a great development opportunity for our young riders who are normally only able to race on closed road crit circuits, and they are all raring to go. Huge thanks to the Braveheart Fund who have given the Jets financial support again this year and whose cash is subsidising this jaunt.
 
Race manual here, if you are interested in finding out more.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BzElcenvHPBdV0s4aldkeHBwbGM?usp=sharing
 
We'll keep you posted on how we get on. Mon the Jets!
 
PS. The Jets use facebook to share info so I had kind of forgotten about this bit of the forum tbh. Will post here more often so the non-facebookers can see what we are up to.

The weather forecast for the day was due to be a mixed bag for our planned route, but it did begin with a tailwind down to Ardrossan. Andrew, Graham and myself met at Millar street and were joined by Jaki and Paul a little further down the cycle track. We made it down to the ferry on time but still last to board, Eric and Ian were already there and found us on board.
 
Good progress was made initially at a steady pace, but a snapped chain gave us our first break. Our next stop was a bit more eventful when Ian and Andrew coming off their bike on a comer at Corriecravie, probably the tarmac lurching up at them. As we Wheelers are made of tough stuff, both picked themselves up, compared road rashes and torn clothes and we were on our way again. Lunch was at Cafe Thyme outside Machrie, a bit of a slog into the wind, a measure of things to come afterwards. The remainder of the run to the ferry was going to be tough, into the wind with thankfully only occasional rain despite the menacing dark clouds hanging over the mountains like the gateway to Mordor. After the expected drag out of Lochranza, leaving a streak of our pain and suffering on the road behind we all managed a well ordered and brisk return to the 1640 ferry.
 
A decent rest on the ferry was needed for the band of five's return home, we were all clearly tiring, but kept the pace up well. As is the way with these days out as we all peeled off to go our separate ways, each hopefully with a warm welcome home and lots of food (I know I did!).

Evening all.
 
Well, here's the report from one of the 'also rans'
 
I had been keen for Roubaix this year until Geo talked me into the Marmotte.
 
"11 months to go" I thought....what could go wrong!
 
A combination of work and a 2yr old meant I didn't get as many miles in as I would've liked...I had ridden a couple of 75 milers in the previous couple of months but my last century was at Flanders last April.... but before I knew it, we were flying out to Geneva!
 
As George said, a bit of delay getting to the Alpe but a nice wee ride down the Alpe on Sat, along to Allemont and then a climb up to Villard Reculas and into Huez village. It did made me think about the day to come!
 
The descent to the start wasn't as bad as I feared and we were soon off and blasting through the valley. I was with my friend from Dumfries and we were staying together as he has been on the bike less than me.
Up and over the looooonnnnnnggg drag of the Glandon into the cold and mist. Not much hanging about before the neutralised descent.
Neutralised because it's dangerous.....it also didn't help that visibility must've been down to 50ft! Interesting!!
 
I had lost sight of my mate and found myself on a wee train along the valley. Hanging on a bit as I didn't fancy being stuck on my own into the headwind.
We collected Greg, who was doing exactly that, just before the feed stop and we were joined by my mate before tackling the Telegraphe.
The Telegraphe itself isn't too bad a climb but then we were onto the Galibier. At this point my mate said he was chucking it and as Greg and I spoke to Ramsay and Elaine....who had caught us for about an hour!!...I lost of sight of him and we eventually thought he must've turned round.
 
The Galibier was ok to start with but the last 8 or 9km is a pretty hard slog. Think it was about 4 or 5mph all the way up!
 
To surprise and delight, my mate was at the feed station at the top! It was blowing a gale so we headed off down the descent which wasn't too nice in the wind.
The Galibier soon turned into the Col du Lautaret and it's fast, majestic sweeping bends that went on for km after km.
Good for the morale and the sun had came out by now!
We realised we weren't as far ahead of schedule as we had imagined so it was a race on to make the time cut off of 6.15pm at the foot of the Alpe.
We dug in and made it with 10 mins to spare. We had dug in because we had decided we weren't going to ride the Alpe after all.
 
Then we decided that that would be daft......so off we went!
 
It was in the 20's by now so off came as many clothes as was decent and we agreed it was every man for himself so I continued on my 4mph slog upwards and got closer and closer....seeing a lot of folk looking in a worse state than yourself is a strange morale boost!!
 
I eventually got to hairpin 1 and had some new found energy so had a good run in to the finish line.
 
Total time from start to finish was 12hrs and 20 mins so a long day in the saddle.
I was delighted to have finished because I had my doubts. It was a tough mental battle at times.
 
I was less than delighted to be told that they didn't have any medals left!!!
I'll see how the organisers reply to my e-mail!
 
What Ramsay didn't tell you was that he still managed to climb the Alpe in 1hr 10 after everything that came before!! Chapeau
 
As the others have said about the Fred, not sure if I'd do it again but glad to have ticked it off!
 
Thanks for reading....and goodnight

Evening all.
 
Well, here's the report from one of the 'also rans'
 
I had been keen for Roubaix this year until Geo talked me into the Marmotte.
 
"11 months to go" I thought....what could go wrong!
 
A combination of work and a 2yr old meant I didn't get as many miles in as I would've liked...I had ridden a couple of 75 milers in the previous couple of months but my last century was at Flanders last April.... but before I knew it, we were flying out to Geneva!
 
As George said, a bit of delay getting to the Alpe but a nice wee ride down the Alpe on Sat, along to Allemont and then a climb up to Villard Reculas and into Huez village. It did made me think about the day to come!
 
The descent to the start wasn't as bad as I feared and we were soon off and blasting through the valley. I was with my friend from Dumfries and we were staying together as he has been on the bike less than me.
Up and over the looooonnnnnnggg drag of the Glandon into the cold and mist. Not much hanging about before the neutralised descent.
Neutralised because it's dangerous.....it also didn't help that visibility must've been down to 50ft! Interesting!!
 
I had lost sight of my mate and found myself on a wee train along the valley. Hanging on a bit as I didn't fancy being stuck on my own into the headwind.
We collected Greg, who was doing exactly that, just before the feed stop and we were joined by my mate before tackling the Telegraphe.
The Telegraphe itself isn't too bad a climb but then we were onto the Galibier. At this point my mate said he was chucking it and as Greg and I spoke to Ramsay and Elaine....who had caught us for about an hour!!...I lost of sight of him and we eventually thought he must've turned round.
 
The Galibier was ok to start with but the last 8 or 9km is a pretty hard slog. Think it was about 4 or 5mph all the way up!
 
To surprise and delight, my mate was at the feed station at the top! It was blowing a gale so we headed off down the descent which wasn't too nice in the wind.
The Galibier soon turned into the Col du Lautaret and it's fast, majestic sweeping bends that went on for km after km.
Good for the morale and the sun had came out by now!
We realised we weren't as far ahead of schedule as we had imagined so it was a race on to make the time cut off of 6.15pm at the foot of the Alpe.
We dug in and made it with 10 mins to spare. We had dug in because we had decided we weren't going to ride the Alpe after all.
 
Then we decided that that would be daft......so off we went!
 
It was in the 20's by now so off came as many clothes as was decent and we agreed it was every man for himself so I continued on my 4mph slog upwards and got closer and closer....seeing a lot of folk looking in a worse state than yourself is a strange morale boost!!
 
I eventually got to hairpin 1 and had some new found energy so had a good run in to the finish line.
 
Total time from start to finish was 12hrs and 20 mins so a long day in the saddle.
I was delighted to have finished because I had my doubts. It was a tough mental battle at times.
 
I was less than delighted to be told that they didn't have any medals left!!!
I'll see how the organisers reply to my e-mail!
 
What Ramsay didn't tell you was that he still managed to climb the Alpe in 1hr 10 after everything that came before!! Chapeau
 
As the others have said about the Fred, not sure if I'd do it again but glad to have ticked it off!
 
Thanks for reading....and goodnight

To echo Billy, after a few days to reflect, I would do this again. It's utterly epic. The mountains are harder than anything most of us have done but the scenery, the buzz of the event & the sense of achievement are beyond anything I've ever experienced.
 
If I do it again I'd get my diet sorted & train properly as I was totally broken by the finish.
 
I'd also take some loo roll & wet wipes.
 
The Santini Stelio or Maratona are on my list for next year but if a group fancied this I'd go again.
 
Just be aware that it's 7 quid a pint and about £20 for a pizza 😳

Evening all.
 
Well, here's the report from one of the 'also rans'
 
I had been keen for Roubaix this year until Geo talked me into the Marmotte.
 
"11 months to go" I thought....what could go wrong!
 
A combination of work and a 2yr old meant I didn't get as many miles in as I would've liked...I had ridden a couple of 75 milers in the previous couple of months but my last century was at Flanders last April.... but before I knew it, we were flying out to Geneva!
 
As George said, a bit of delay getting to the Alpe but a nice wee ride down the Alpe on Sat, along to Allemont and then a climb up to Villard Reculas and into Huez village. It did made me think about the day to come!
 
The descent to the start wasn't as bad as I feared and we were soon off and blasting through the valley. I was with my friend from Dumfries and we were staying together as he has been on the bike less than me.
Up and over the looooonnnnnnggg drag of the Glandon into the cold and mist. Not much hanging about before the neutralised descent.
Neutralised because it's dangerous.....it also didn't help that visibility must've been down to 50ft! Interesting!!
 
I had lost sight of my mate and found myself on a wee train along the valley. Hanging on a bit as I didn't fancy being stuck on my own into the headwind.
We collected Greg, who was doing exactly that, just before the feed stop and we were joined by my mate before tackling the Telegraphe.
The Telegraphe itself isn't too bad a climb but then we were onto the Galibier. At this point my mate said he was chucking it and as Greg and I spoke to Ramsay and Elaine....who had caught us for about an hour!!...I lost of sight of him and we eventually thought he must've turned round.
 
The Galibier was ok to start with but the last 8 or 9km is a pretty hard slog. Think it was about 4 or 5mph all the way up!
 
To surprise and delight, my mate was at the feed station at the top! It was blowing a gale so we headed off down the descent which wasn't too nice in the wind.
The Galibier soon turned into the Col du Lautaret and it's fast, majestic sweeping bends that went on for km after km.
Good for the morale and the sun had came out by now!
We realised we weren't as far ahead of schedule as we had imagined so it was a race on to make the time cut off of 6.15pm at the foot of the Alpe.
We dug in and made it with 10 mins to spare. We had dug in because we had decided we weren't going to ride the Alpe after all.
 
Then we decided that that would be daft......so off we went!
 
It was in the 20's by now so off came as many clothes as was decent and we agreed it was every man for himself so I continued on my 4mph slog upwards and got closer and closer....seeing a lot of folk looking in a worse state than yourself is a strange morale boost!!
 
I eventually got to hairpin 1 and had some new found energy so had a good run in to the finish line.
 
Total time from start to finish was 12hrs and 20 mins so a long day in the saddle.
I was delighted to have finished because I had my doubts. It was a tough mental battle at times.
 
I was less than delighted to be told that they didn't have any medals left!!!
I'll see how the organisers reply to my e-mail!
 
What Ramsay didn't tell you was that he still managed to climb the Alpe in 1hr 10 after everything that came before!! Chapeau
 
As the others have said about the Fred, not sure if I'd do it again but glad to have ticked it off!
 
Thanks for reading....and goodnight

Evening all.
 
Well, here's the report from one of the 'also rans'
 
I had been keen for Roubaix this year until Geo talked me into the Marmotte.
 
"11 months to go" I thought....what could go wrong!
 
A combination of work and a 2yr old meant I didn't get as many miles in as I would've liked...I had ridden a couple of 75 milers in the previous couple of months but my last century was at Flanders last April.... but before I knew it, we were flying out to Geneva!
 
As George said, a bit of delay getting to the Alpe but a nice wee ride down the Alpe on Sat, along to Allemont and then a climb up to Villard Reculas and into Huez village. It did made me think about the day to come!
 
The descent to the start wasn't as bad as I feared and we were soon off and blasting through the valley. I was with my friend from Dumfries and we were staying together as he has been on the bike less than me.
Up and over the looooonnnnnnggg drag of the Glandon into the cold and mist. Not much hanging about before the neutralised descent.
Neutralised because it's dangerous.....it also didn't help that visibility must've been down to 50ft! Interesting!!
 
I had lost sight of my mate and found myself on a wee train along the valley. Hanging on a bit as I didn't fancy being stuck on my own into the headwind.
We collected Greg, who was doing exactly that, just before the feed stop and we were joined by my mate before tackling the Telegraphe.
The Telegraphe itself isn't too bad a climb but then we were onto the Galibier. At this point my mate said he was chucking it and as Greg and I spoke to Ramsay and Elaine....who had caught us for about an hour!!...I lost of sight of him and we eventually thought he must've turned round.
 
The Galibier was ok to start with but the last 8 or 9km is a pretty hard slog. Think it was about 4 or 5mph all the way up!
 
To surprise and delight, my mate was at the feed station at the top! It was blowing a gale so we headed off down the descent which wasn't too nice in the wind.
The Galibier soon turned into the Col du Lautaret and it's fast, majestic sweeping bends that went on for km after km.
Good for the morale and the sun had came out by now!
We realised we weren't as far ahead of schedule as we had imagined so it was a race on to make the time cut off of 6.15pm at the foot of the Alpe.
We dug in and made it with 10 mins to spare. We had dug in because we had decided we weren't going to ride the Alpe after all.
 
Then we decided that that would be daft......so off we went!
 
It was in the 20's by now so off came as many clothes as was decent and we agreed it was every man for himself so I continued on my 4mph slog upwards and got closer and closer....seeing a lot of folk looking in a worse state than yourself is a strange morale boost!!
 
I eventually got to hairpin 1 and had some new found energy so had a good run in to the finish line.
 
Total time from start to finish was 12hrs and 20 mins so a long day in the saddle.
I was delighted to have finished because I had my doubts. It was a tough mental battle at times.
 
I was less than delighted to be told that they didn't have any medals left!!!
I'll see how the organisers reply to my e-mail!
 
What Ramsay didn't tell you was that he still managed to climb the Alpe in 1hr 10 after everything that came before!! Chapeau
 
As the others have said about the Fred, not sure if I'd do it again but glad to have ticked it off!
 
Thanks for reading....and goodnight

Evening all.
 
Well, here's the report from one of the 'also rans'
 
I had been keen for Roubaix this year until Geo talked me into the Marmotte.
 
"11 months to go" I thought....what could go wrong!
 
A combination of work and a 2yr old meant I didn't get as many miles in as I would've liked...I had ridden a couple of 75 milers in the previous couple of months but my last century was at Flanders last April.... but before I knew it, we were flying out to Geneva!
 
As George said, a bit of delay getting to the Alpe but a nice wee ride down the Alpe on Sat, along to Allemont and then a climb up to Villard Reculas and into Huez village. It did made me think about the day to come!
 
The descent to the start wasn't as bad as I feared and we were soon off and blasting through the valley. I was with my friend from Dumfries and we were staying together as he has been on the bike less than me.
Up and over the looooonnnnnnggg drag of the Glandon into the cold and mist. Not much hanging about before the neutralised descent.
Neutralised because it's dangerous.....it also didn't help that visibility must've been down to 50ft! Interesting!!
 
I had lost sight of my mate and found myself on a wee train along the valley. Hanging on a bit as I didn't fancy being stuck on my own into the headwind.
We collected Greg, who was doing exactly that, just before the feed stop and we were joined by my mate before tackling the Telegraphe.
The Telegraphe itself isn't too bad a climb but then we were onto the Galibier. At this point my mate said he was chucking it and as Greg and I spoke to Ramsay and Elaine....who had caught us for about an hour!!...I lost of sight of him and we eventually thought he must've turned round.
 
The Galibier was ok to start with but the last 8 or 9km is a pretty hard slog. Think it was about 4 or 5mph all the way up!
 
To surprise and delight, my mate was at the feed station at the top! It was blowing a gale so we headed off down the descent which wasn't too nice in the wind.
The Galibier soon turned into the Col du Lautaret and it's fast, majestic sweeping bends that went on for km after km.
Good for the morale and the sun had came out by now!
We realised we weren't as far ahead of schedule as we had imagined so it was a race on to make the time cut off of 6.15pm at the foot of the Alpe.
We dug in and made it with 10 mins to spare. We had dug in because we had decided we weren't going to ride the Alpe after all.
 
Then we decided that that would be daft......so off we went!
 
It was in the 20's by now so off came as many clothes as was decent and we agreed it was every man for himself so I continued on my 4mph slog upwards and got closer and closer....seeing a lot of folk looking in a worse state than yourself is a strange morale boost!!
 
I eventually got to hairpin 1 and had some new found energy so had a good run in to the finish line.
 
Total time from start to finish was 12hrs and 20 mins so a long day in the saddle.
I was delighted to have finished because I had my doubts. It was a tough mental battle at times.
 
I was less than delighted to be told that they didn't have any medals left!!!
I'll see how the organisers reply to my e-mail!
 
What Ramsay didn't tell you was that he still managed to climb the Alpe in 1hr 10 after everything that came before!! Chapeau
 
As the others have said about the Fred, not sure if I'd do it again but glad to have ticked it off!
 
Thanks for reading....and goodnight

Spied two Wheelers (Grieg and Richie) in Valloire, between The Col du Telegraphe and Col du Galibier on Sunday.
 
Was great to see some friendly faces on the road!
 
 

Evening all.
 
Well, here's the report from one of the 'also rans'
 
I had been keen for Roubaix this year until Geo talked me into the Marmotte.
 
"11 months to go" I thought....what could go wrong!
 
A combination of work and a 2yr old meant I didn't get as many miles in as I would've liked...I had ridden a couple of 75 milers in the previous couple of months but my last century was at Flanders last April.... but before I knew it, we were flying out to Geneva!
 
As George said, a bit of delay getting to the Alpe but a nice wee ride down the Alpe on Sat, along to Allemont and then a climb up to Villard Reculas and into Huez village. It did made me think about the day to come!
 
The descent to the start wasn't as bad as I feared and we were soon off and blasting through the valley. I was with my friend from Dumfries and we were staying together as he has been on the bike less than me.
Up and over the looooonnnnnnggg drag of the Glandon into the cold and mist. Not much hanging about before the neutralised descent.
Neutralised because it's dangerous.....it also didn't help that visibility must've been down to 50ft! Interesting!!
 
I had lost sight of my mate and found myself on a wee train along the valley. Hanging on a bit as I didn't fancy being stuck on my own into the headwind.
We collected Greg, who was doing exactly that, just before the feed stop and we were joined by my mate before tackling the Telegraphe.
The Telegraphe itself isn't too bad a climb but then we were onto the Galibier. At this point my mate said he was chucking it and as Greg and I spoke to Ramsay and Elaine....who had caught us for about an hour!!...I lost of sight of him and we eventually thought he must've turned round.
 
The Galibier was ok to start with but the last 8 or 9km is a pretty hard slog. Think it was about 4 or 5mph all the way up!
 
To surprise and delight, my mate was at the feed station at the top! It was blowing a gale so we headed off down the descent which wasn't too nice in the wind.
The Galibier soon turned into the Col du Lautaret and it's fast, majestic sweeping bends that went on for km after km.
Good for the morale and the sun had came out by now!
We realised we weren't as far ahead of schedule as we had imagined so it was a race on to make the time cut off of 6.15pm at the foot of the Alpe.
We dug in and made it with 10 mins to spare. We had dug in because we had decided we weren't going to ride the Alpe after all.
 
Then we decided that that would be daft......so off we went!
 
It was in the 20's by now so off came as many clothes as was decent and we agreed it was every man for himself so I continued on my 4mph slog upwards and got closer and closer....seeing a lot of folk looking in a worse state than yourself is a strange morale boost!!
 
I eventually got to hairpin 1 and had some new found energy so had a good run in to the finish line.
 
Total time from start to finish was 12hrs and 20 mins so a long day in the saddle.
I was delighted to have finished because I had my doubts. It was a tough mental battle at times.
 
I was less than delighted to be told that they didn't have any medals left!!!
I'll see how the organisers reply to my e-mail!
 
What Ramsay didn't tell you was that he still managed to climb the Alpe in 1hr 10 after everything that came before!! Chapeau
 
As the others have said about the Fred, not sure if I'd do it again but glad to have ticked it off!
 
Thanks for reading....and goodnight

Evening all.
 
Well, here's the report from one of the 'also rans'
 
I had been keen for Roubaix this year until Geo talked me into the Marmotte.
 
"11 months to go" I thought....what could go wrong!
 
A combination of work and a 2yr old meant I didn't get as many miles in as I would've liked...I had ridden a couple of 75 milers in the previous couple of months but my last century was at Flanders last April.... but before I knew it, we were flying out to Geneva!
 
As George said, a bit of delay getting to the Alpe but a nice wee ride down the Alpe on Sat, along to Allemont and then a climb up to Villard Reculas and into Huez village. It did made me think about the day to come!
 
The descent to the start wasn't as bad as I feared and we were soon off and blasting through the valley. I was with my friend from Dumfries and we were staying together as he has been on the bike less than me.
Up and over the looooonnnnnnggg drag of the Glandon into the cold and mist. Not much hanging about before the neutralised descent.
Neutralised because it's dangerous.....it also didn't help that visibility must've been down to 50ft! Interesting!!
 
I had lost sight of my mate and found myself on a wee train along the valley. Hanging on a bit as I didn't fancy being stuck on my own into the headwind.
We collected Greg, who was doing exactly that, just before the feed stop and we were joined by my mate before tackling the Telegraphe.
The Telegraphe itself isn't too bad a climb but then we were onto the Galibier. At this point my mate said he was chucking it and as Greg and I spoke to Ramsay and Elaine....who had caught us for about an hour!!...I lost of sight of him and we eventually thought he must've turned round.
 
The Galibier was ok to start with but the last 8 or 9km is a pretty hard slog. Think it was about 4 or 5mph all the way up!
 
To surprise and delight, my mate was at the feed station at the top! It was blowing a gale so we headed off down the descent which wasn't too nice in the wind.
The Galibier soon turned into the Col du Lautaret and it's fast, majestic sweeping bends that went on for km after km.
Good for the morale and the sun had came out by now!
We realised we weren't as far ahead of schedule as we had imagined so it was a race on to make the time cut off of 6.15pm at the foot of the Alpe.
We dug in and made it with 10 mins to spare. We had dug in because we had decided we weren't going to ride the Alpe after all.
 
Then we decided that that would be daft......so off we went!
 
It was in the 20's by now so off came as many clothes as was decent and we agreed it was every man for himself so I continued on my 4mph slog upwards and got closer and closer....seeing a lot of folk looking in a worse state than yourself is a strange morale boost!!
 
I eventually got to hairpin 1 and had some new found energy so had a good run in to the finish line.
 
Total time from start to finish was 12hrs and 20 mins so a long day in the saddle.
I was delighted to have finished because I had my doubts. It was a tough mental battle at times.
 
I was less than delighted to be told that they didn't have any medals left!!!
I'll see how the organisers reply to my e-mail!
 
What Ramsay didn't tell you was that he still managed to climb the Alpe in 1hr 10 after everything that came before!! Chapeau
 
As the others have said about the Fred, not sure if I'd do it again but glad to have ticked it off!
 
Thanks for reading....and goodnight

Evening all.
 
Well, here's the report from one of the 'also rans'
 
I had been keen for Roubaix this year until Geo talked me into the Marmotte.
 
"11 months to go" I thought....what could go wrong!
 
A combination of work and a 2yr old meant I didn't get as many miles in as I would've liked...I had ridden a couple of 75 milers in the previous couple of months but my last century was at Flanders last April.... but before I knew it, we were flying out to Geneva!
 
As George said, a bit of delay getting to the Alpe but a nice wee ride down the Alpe on Sat, along to Allemont and then a climb up to Villard Reculas and into Huez village. It did made me think about the day to come!
 
The descent to the start wasn't as bad as I feared and we were soon off and blasting through the valley. I was with my friend from Dumfries and we were staying together as he has been on the bike less than me.
Up and over the looooonnnnnnggg drag of the Glandon into the cold and mist. Not much hanging about before the neutralised descent.
Neutralised because it's dangerous.....it also didn't help that visibility must've been down to 50ft! Interesting!!
 
I had lost sight of my mate and found myself on a wee train along the valley. Hanging on a bit as I didn't fancy being stuck on my own into the headwind.
We collected Greg, who was doing exactly that, just before the feed stop and we were joined by my mate before tackling the Telegraphe.
The Telegraphe itself isn't too bad a climb but then we were onto the Galibier. At this point my mate said he was chucking it and as Greg and I spoke to Ramsay and Elaine....who had caught us for about an hour!!...I lost of sight of him and we eventually thought he must've turned round.
 
The Galibier was ok to start with but the last 8 or 9km is a pretty hard slog. Think it was about 4 or 5mph all the way up!
 
To surprise and delight, my mate was at the feed station at the top! It was blowing a gale so we headed off down the descent which wasn't too nice in the wind.
The Galibier soon turned into the Col du Lautaret and it's fast, majestic sweeping bends that went on for km after km.
Good for the morale and the sun had came out by now!
We realised we weren't as far ahead of schedule as we had imagined so it was a race on to make the time cut off of 6.15pm at the foot of the Alpe.
We dug in and made it with 10 mins to spare. We had dug in because we had decided we weren't going to ride the Alpe after all.
 
Then we decided that that would be daft......so off we went!
 
It was in the 20's by now so off came as many clothes as was decent and we agreed it was every man for himself so I continued on my 4mph slog upwards and got closer and closer....seeing a lot of folk looking in a worse state than yourself is a strange morale boost!!
 
I eventually got to hairpin 1 and had some new found energy so had a good run in to the finish line.
 
Total time from start to finish was 12hrs and 20 mins so a long day in the saddle.
I was delighted to have finished because I had my doubts. It was a tough mental battle at times.
 
I was less than delighted to be told that they didn't have any medals left!!!
I'll see how the organisers reply to my e-mail!
 
What Ramsay didn't tell you was that he still managed to climb the Alpe in 1hr 10 after everything that came before!! Chapeau
 
As the others have said about the Fred, not sure if I'd do it again but glad to have ticked it off!
 
Thanks for reading....and goodnight

Evening all.
 
Well, here's the report from one of the 'also rans'
 
I had been keen for Roubaix this year until Geo talked me into the Marmotte.
 
"11 months to go" I thought....what could go wrong!
 
A combination of work and a 2yr old meant I didn't get as many miles in as I would've liked...I had ridden a couple of 75 milers in the previous couple of months but my last century was at Flanders last April.... but before I knew it, we were flying out to Geneva!
 
As George said, a bit of delay getting to the Alpe but a nice wee ride down the Alpe on Sat, along to Allemont and then a climb up to Villard Reculas and into Huez village. It did made me think about the day to come!
 
The descent to the start wasn't as bad as I feared and we were soon off and blasting through the valley. I was with my friend from Dumfries and we were staying together as he has been on the bike less than me.
Up and over the looooonnnnnnggg drag of the Glandon into the cold and mist. Not much hanging about before the neutralised descent.
Neutralised because it's dangerous.....it also didn't help that visibility must've been down to 50ft! Interesting!!
 
I had lost sight of my mate and found myself on a wee train along the valley. Hanging on a bit as I didn't fancy being stuck on my own into the headwind.
We collected Greg, who was doing exactly that, just before the feed stop and we were joined by my mate before tackling the Telegraphe.
The Telegraphe itself isn't too bad a climb but then we were onto the Galibier. At this point my mate said he was chucking it and as Greg and I spoke to Ramsay and Elaine....who had caught us for about an hour!!...I lost of sight of him and we eventually thought he must've turned round.
 
The Galibier was ok to start with but the last 8 or 9km is a pretty hard slog. Think it was about 4 or 5mph all the way up!
 
To surprise and delight, my mate was at the feed station at the top! It was blowing a gale so we headed off down the descent which wasn't too nice in the wind.
The Galibier soon turned into the Col du Lautaret and it's fast, majestic sweeping bends that went on for km after km.
Good for the morale and the sun had came out by now!
We realised we weren't as far ahead of schedule as we had imagined so it was a race on to make the time cut off of 6.15pm at the foot of the Alpe.
We dug in and made it with 10 mins to spare. We had dug in because we had decided we weren't going to ride the Alpe after all.
 
Then we decided that that would be daft......so off we went!
 
It was in the 20's by now so off came as many clothes as was decent and we agreed it was every man for himself so I continued on my 4mph slog upwards and got closer and closer....seeing a lot of folk looking in a worse state than yourself is a strange morale boost!!
 
I eventually got to hairpin 1 and had some new found energy so had a good run in to the finish line.
 
Total time from start to finish was 12hrs and 20 mins so a long day in the saddle.
I was delighted to have finished because I had my doubts. It was a tough mental battle at times.
 
I was less than delighted to be told that they didn't have any medals left!!!
I'll see how the organisers reply to my e-mail!
 
What Ramsay didn't tell you was that he still managed to climb the Alpe in 1hr 10 after everything that came before!! Chapeau
 
As the others have said about the Fred, not sure if I'd do it again but glad to have ticked it off!
 
Thanks for reading....and goodnight

Evening all.
 
Well, here's the report from one of the 'also rans'
 
I had been keen for Roubaix this year until Geo talked me into the Marmotte.
 
"11 months to go" I thought....what could go wrong!
 
A combination of work and a 2yr old meant I didn't get as many miles in as I would've liked...I had ridden a couple of 75 milers in the previous couple of months but my last century was at Flanders last April.... but before I knew it, we were flying out to Geneva!
 
As George said, a bit of delay getting to the Alpe but a nice wee ride down the Alpe on Sat, along to Allemont and then a climb up to Villard Reculas and into Huez village. It did made me think about the day to come!
 
The descent to the start wasn't as bad as I feared and we were soon off and blasting through the valley. I was with my friend from Dumfries and we were staying together as he has been on the bike less than me.
Up and over the looooonnnnnnggg drag of the Glandon into the cold and mist. Not much hanging about before the neutralised descent.
Neutralised because it's dangerous.....it also didn't help that visibility must've been down to 50ft! Interesting!!
 
I had lost sight of my mate and found myself on a wee train along the valley. Hanging on a bit as I didn't fancy being stuck on my own into the headwind.
We collected Greg, who was doing exactly that, just before the feed stop and we were joined by my mate before tackling the Telegraphe.
The Telegraphe itself isn't too bad a climb but then we were onto the Galibier. At this point my mate said he was chucking it and as Greg and I spoke to Ramsay and Elaine....who had caught us for about an hour!!...I lost of sight of him and we eventually thought he must've turned round.
 
The Galibier was ok to start with but the last 8 or 9km is a pretty hard slog. Think it was about 4 or 5mph all the way up!
 
To surprise and delight, my mate was at the feed station at the top! It was blowing a gale so we headed off down the descent which wasn't too nice in the wind.
The Galibier soon turned into the Col du Lautaret and it's fast, majestic sweeping bends that went on for km after km.
Good for the morale and the sun had came out by now!
We realised we weren't as far ahead of schedule as we had imagined so it was a race on to make the time cut off of 6.15pm at the foot of the Alpe.
We dug in and made it with 10 mins to spare. We had dug in because we had decided we weren't going to ride the Alpe after all.
 
Then we decided that that would be daft......so off we went!
 
It was in the 20's by now so off came as many clothes as was decent and we agreed it was every man for himself so I continued on my 4mph slog upwards and got closer and closer....seeing a lot of folk looking in a worse state than yourself is a strange morale boost!!
 
I eventually got to hairpin 1 and had some new found energy so had a good run in to the finish line.
 
Total time from start to finish was 12hrs and 20 mins so a long day in the saddle.
I was delighted to have finished because I had my doubts. It was a tough mental battle at times.
 
I was less than delighted to be told that they didn't have any medals left!!!
I'll see how the organisers reply to my e-mail!
 
What Ramsay didn't tell you was that he still managed to climb the Alpe in 1hr 10 after everything that came before!! Chapeau
 
As the others have said about the Fred, not sure if I'd do it again but glad to have ticked it off!
 
Thanks for reading....and goodnight

Evening all.
 
Well, here's the report from one of the 'also rans'
 
I had been keen for Roubaix this year until Geo talked me into the Marmotte.
 
"11 months to go" I thought....what could go wrong!
 
A combination of work and a 2yr old meant I didn't get as many miles in as I would've liked...I had ridden a couple of 75 milers in the previous couple of months but my last century was at Flanders last April.... but before I knew it, we were flying out to Geneva!
 
As George said, a bit of delay getting to the Alpe but a nice wee ride down the Alpe on Sat, along to Allemont and then a climb up to Villard Reculas and into Huez village. It did made me think about the day to come!
 
The descent to the start wasn't as bad as I feared and we were soon off and blasting through the valley. I was with my friend from Dumfries and we were staying together as he has been on the bike less than me.
Up and over the looooonnnnnnggg drag of the Glandon into the cold and mist. Not much hanging about before the neutralised descent.
Neutralised because it's dangerous.....it also didn't help that visibility must've been down to 50ft! Interesting!!
 
I had lost sight of my mate and found myself on a wee train along the valley. Hanging on a bit as I didn't fancy being stuck on my own into the headwind.
We collected Greg, who was doing exactly that, just before the feed stop and we were joined by my mate before tackling the Telegraphe.
The Telegraphe itself isn't too bad a climb but then we were onto the Galibier. At this point my mate said he was chucking it and as Greg and I spoke to Ramsay and Elaine....who had caught us for about an hour!!...I lost of sight of him and we eventually thought he must've turned round.
 
The Galibier was ok to start with but the last 8 or 9km is a pretty hard slog. Think it was about 4 or 5mph all the way up!
 
To surprise and delight, my mate was at the feed station at the top! It was blowing a gale so we headed off down the descent which wasn't too nice in the wind.
The Galibier soon turned into the Col du Lautaret and it's fast, majestic sweeping bends that went on for km after km.
Good for the morale and the sun had came out by now!
We realised we weren't as far ahead of schedule as we had imagined so it was a race on to make the time cut off of 6.15pm at the foot of the Alpe.
We dug in and made it with 10 mins to spare. We had dug in because we had decided we weren't going to ride the Alpe after all.
 
Then we decided that that would be daft......so off we went!
 
It was in the 20's by now so off came as many clothes as was decent and we agreed it was every man for himself so I continued on my 4mph slog upwards and got closer and closer....seeing a lot of folk looking in a worse state than yourself is a strange morale boost!!
 
I eventually got to hairpin 1 and had some new found energy so had a good run in to the finish line.
 
Total time from start to finish was 12hrs and 20 mins so a long day in the saddle.
I was delighted to have finished because I had my doubts. It was a tough mental battle at times.
 
I was less than delighted to be told that they didn't have any medals left!!!
I'll see how the organisers reply to my e-mail!
 
What Ramsay didn't tell you was that he still managed to climb the Alpe in 1hr 10 after everything that came before!! Chapeau
 
As the others have said about the Fred, not sure if I'd do it again but glad to have ticked it off!
 
Thanks for reading....and goodnight

Evening all.
 
Well, here's the report from one of the 'also rans'
 
I had been keen for Roubaix this year until Geo talked me into the Marmotte.
 
"11 months to go" I thought....what could go wrong!
 
A combination of work and a 2yr old meant I didn't get as many miles in as I would've liked...I had ridden a couple of 75 milers in the previous couple of months but my last century was at Flanders last April.... but before I knew it, we were flying out to Geneva!
 
As George said, a bit of delay getting to the Alpe but a nice wee ride down the Alpe on Sat, along to Allemont and then a climb up to Villard Reculas and into Huez village. It did made me think about the day to come!
 
The descent to the start wasn't as bad as I feared and we were soon off and blasting through the valley. I was with my friend from Dumfries and we were staying together as he has been on the bike less than me.
Up and over the looooonnnnnnggg drag of the Glandon into the cold and mist. Not much hanging about before the neutralised descent.
Neutralised because it's dangerous.....it also didn't help that visibility must've been down to 50ft! Interesting!!
 
I had lost sight of my mate and found myself on a wee train along the valley. Hanging on a bit as I didn't fancy being stuck on my own into the headwind.
We collected Greg, who was doing exactly that, just before the feed stop and we were joined by my mate before tackling the Telegraphe.
The Telegraphe itself isn't too bad a climb but then we were onto the Galibier. At this point my mate said he was chucking it and as Greg and I spoke to Ramsay and Elaine....who had caught us for about an hour!!...I lost of sight of him and we eventually thought he must've turned round.
 
The Galibier was ok to start with but the last 8 or 9km is a pretty hard slog. Think it was about 4 or 5mph all the way up!
 
To surprise and delight, my mate was at the feed station at the top! It was blowing a gale so we headed off down the descent which wasn't too nice in the wind.
The Galibier soon turned into the Col du Lautaret and it's fast, majestic sweeping bends that went on for km after km.
Good for the morale and the sun had came out by now!
We realised we weren't as far ahead of schedule as we had imagined so it was a race on to make the time cut off of 6.15pm at the foot of the Alpe.
We dug in and made it with 10 mins to spare. We had dug in because we had decided we weren't going to ride the Alpe after all.
 
Then we decided that that would be daft......so off we went!
 
It was in the 20's by now so off came as many clothes as was decent and we agreed it was every man for himself so I continued on my 4mph slog upwards and got closer and closer....seeing a lot of folk looking in a worse state than yourself is a strange morale boost!!
 
I eventually got to hairpin 1 and had some new found energy so had a good run in to the finish line.
 
Total time from start to finish was 12hrs and 20 mins so a long day in the saddle.
I was delighted to have finished because I had my doubts. It was a tough mental battle at times.
 
I was less than delighted to be told that they didn't have any medals left!!!
I'll see how the organisers reply to my e-mail!
 
What Ramsay didn't tell you was that he still managed to climb the Alpe in 1hr 10 after everything that came before!! Chapeau
 
As the others have said about the Fred, not sure if I'd do it again but glad to have ticked it off!
 
Thanks for reading....and goodnight

Evening all.
 
Well, here's the report from one of the 'also rans'
 
I had been keen for Roubaix this year until Geo talked me into the Marmotte.
 
"11 months to go" I thought....what could go wrong!
 
A combination of work and a 2yr old meant I didn't get as many miles in as I would've liked...I had ridden a couple of 75 milers in the previous couple of months but my last century was at Flanders last April.... but before I knew it, we were flying out to Geneva!
 
As George said, a bit of delay getting to the Alpe but a nice wee ride down the Alpe on Sat, along to Allemont and then a climb up to Villard Reculas and into Huez village. It did made me think about the day to come!
 
The descent to the start wasn't as bad as I feared and we were soon off and blasting through the valley. I was with my friend from Dumfries and we were staying together as he has been on the bike less than me.
Up and over the looooonnnnnnggg drag of the Glandon into the cold and mist. Not much hanging about before the neutralised descent.
Neutralised because it's dangerous.....it also didn't help that visibility must've been down to 50ft! Interesting!!
 
I had lost sight of my mate and found myself on a wee train along the valley. Hanging on a bit as I didn't fancy being stuck on my own into the headwind.
We collected Greg, who was doing exactly that, just before the feed stop and we were joined by my mate before tackling the Telegraphe.
The Telegraphe itself isn't too bad a climb but then we were onto the Galibier. At this point my mate said he was chucking it and as Greg and I spoke to Ramsay and Elaine....who had caught us for about an hour!!...I lost of sight of him and we eventually thought he must've turned round.
 
The Galibier was ok to start with but the last 8 or 9km is a pretty hard slog. Think it was about 4 or 5mph all the way up!
 
To surprise and delight, my mate was at the feed station at the top! It was blowing a gale so we headed off down the descent which wasn't too nice in the wind.
The Galibier soon turned into the Col du Lautaret and it's fast, majestic sweeping bends that went on for km after km.
Good for the morale and the sun had came out by now!
We realised we weren't as far ahead of schedule as we had imagined so it was a race on to make the time cut off of 6.15pm at the foot of the Alpe.
We dug in and made it with 10 mins to spare. We had dug in because we had decided we weren't going to ride the Alpe after all.
 
Then we decided that that would be daft......so off we went!
 
It was in the 20's by now so off came as many clothes as was decent and we agreed it was every man for himself so I continued on my 4mph slog upwards and got closer and closer....seeing a lot of folk looking in a worse state than yourself is a strange morale boost!!
 
I eventually got to hairpin 1 and had some new found energy so had a good run in to the finish line.
 
Total time from start to finish was 12hrs and 20 mins so a long day in the saddle.
I was delighted to have finished because I had my doubts. It was a tough mental battle at times.
 
I was less than delighted to be told that they didn't have any medals left!!!
I'll see how the organisers reply to my e-mail!
 
What Ramsay didn't tell you was that he still managed to climb the Alpe in 1hr 10 after everything that came before!! Chapeau
 
As the others have said about the Fred, not sure if I'd do it again but glad to have ticked it off!
 
Thanks for reading....and goodnight

Cheers guys.
I'll be happy to make the time cut off!
No record attempts from me (are possible)
 
My fear of my white legs being sunburnt seem to be unfounded as it looks like being unseasonally cold with highs of 17 ....and that's in the valley, not at altitude!!