End on a high!

Well it was all set up to end the tour with a great day in Paris bur I have to say this was possibly one of the most rubbish days yet!

Leaving the hotel, parking the car, getting the tickets from the automated machine and lastly getting on the right train all went without a hitch. Great start to the day.

The door to the compartment of the seat number in my ticket was pretty stiff but with a couple of good shoves I got it open and sat down. Someone had left their briefcase open on the on the sear with lots of paperwork and rail tickets. When the guard came back it turned out I had broken the lock on the door of the compartment he had commandeered as his office. He got very shouty and frog marched me down the corridor and put me in another seat. Oopsie!

With that behind me finding the Place de la Concorde was easy enough but getting anywhere near the podium or finish line was a no no. Bugger! Everything is fenced off now for invitees only. Not very egalitarian! You've either got to have money or special needs to get in. Now if anyone looks like they've got special needs.....I should have been at the front of the queue.

Abandoning hope of seeing the finish I set off in search of a good spot. With tight security it wasn't until beyond the Élysées Palace that you could get to the Champs Élysées.

With crowds eight deep I had to settle for bugger all view but I was in Paris and on the Champs Élysées. I got talking to an American couple who were just in town for today before heading off to 'do' Britain. It turns out that this chap used to work for Bob Stapleton the owner of HTC Hiroad the team that Cav rides for. Just then his phone rang "Hey Bob. Long time no speak. Yeah. We're in Paris, France. That'll be neat we'd love to come and meet the guys."

He turned to me and said Bob's invited us to the team bus to meet the guys. Nice to meet you we'll be off. Obviously insane with jealousy I managed to choke out "Say Hello to Mark Cavendish." At which he said over his shoulder "Who?" and walked off.

Now I have been known to faff from time to time and double check a couple of times. Just as well I did as my return to Troyes was for 7am and not 7pm but that was OK I could sort that at the station. However, the stub of the ticket for parking the car was with the rail ticket and I only had an hour left on the ticket. KNICKERS!

I wasn't sure how strict the French are about parking fines, clamping and towing so thought I had better not wait and find out. So I managed to grab the photos below before heading back to get the train and save the car from the pound! Better luck next year eh?

Last nights

Whilst driving the long slog to my last hotel of the Tour, I was hoping for a few things from the hotel:

1. Ideally located on an industrial estate.
2. Have prefabricated toilet units where you have to have the door open to sit down. (You can see the tv from there so it's not all doom and gloom .)
3. Have a humming factory opposite.
4. It must not be located in the town where it says it is but in the style of budget airlines be located a good 5km from the named town.
5. My adjoining 'roomies' should be hard of hearing thus requiring the tv being turned up to 11.
6. Other adjoining 'roomies' should have a dog who is raising money for children in need by having a sponsored bark-a-thon!

All I can is........Mister Bed of Troyes. You rock!!

The view from my room :-)



Anyway! I'm up at stupid o'clock to get the TGV to Paris (very excited about the train ride on the TGV) and see Cavendish win the stage AND see Cadel Evans cry!

Col du Galibier

Having talked up my cold to life threatening manflu status I was feeling pretty ropey yesterday morning but thought while I'm here I might as well see if I can get half way up to the Col du Lautaret and watch the stage from there. The official Galibier climb starts in Monetiers Les Bans and climbs at a steady 4% up to the Col du Lautaret, with a little 7% sting just before the Col.

It is a glorious ride on a wide winding road with spectacular views of the alpine masif on each side. The headwind proved to be pretty fierce at times but it was manageable with such an agreeable gradient.

After a dicey part through a tunnel and a couple of switch backs I reached the Col du Lautaret with only mildly burning lungs and plenty left in the legs. Now I had left it a bit late in the day to start so was perilously close to the passing of the caravanne which would put an end to any summit bid.

Pushing on, the 8km to the Col du Galibier pops up to about 7% which was putting my lungs under a bit of pressure. It sort of felt like breathing broken glass. I was now at about 2300m above sea level and I'm guessing the air is starting to get a bit thinner? Maybe I'm just lame!

At about 4km from the top I was duly stopped by the gendarmes. Bugger! So very close, but this could be the first Col I tackle next year. (I hope you like the way I slipped that one in. A couple of weeks 'peak bagging' is on the cards I reckon and on a road bike this time.)

I descended about 2km back to a spot with a great view of the switch backs down to the Col du Lautaret.


The caravanne came and went and I got talking to a lovely French couple who had been on the mountain for a week. They saw the stage the day before that ascended past them and spent two days with a foot of snow!! We discussed the monarchy, the strength of La Republique, draconian French laws and dis respect for gendarmes. They said I should have just ignored the gendarme and carried on regardless!

Anyhow, the riders arrived and this was the first time I had seen a mountain descent and these guys were flying. They weren't fre wheeling but giving it everything they had got. The bikes were right in the edge. Hitting a stone or a pothole and they would be finished. Real courage risking everything to get to the foot of L'Alpe d'Huez first. Chapeau!

While chatting in the afternoon I had decided that 4km was too close to walk away from and although getting late, I would continue with the last of the climb. Forgetting that I had descended 2km it was of course 6km. Bugger!

Feeling like a salmon swimming up stream I battled my way up against a steady flow of descending pedestrians, cyclists,cars and camper vans. The views, terrain and switch backs on the road are amazing as you reach the summit at a reasonable 7% gradient. The signs keep telling you the height you have reached and hiw far you have gone. Some basic maths and you realise with only 2km to go at the current gradient you wont make the summit height, you'll be 100m short. Unless that is the last kilometer is at 10%.

Once you get to a tunnel and set of traffic lights there is the answer. Taking a right at the lights, the Tarmac kicks up alarmingly and a terrifying series of alpine switch backs is your reward to take you up to the summit of the Col.

So with heart pounding and chest sore, for the first time, the numbers scribbled on the road indicating distance to the summit wee correct. Reaching the summit of the Col du Galibier at 2645m above sea level is sometime else. You are on top of the world.....looking down on creation and the only thing.....la! La! La! Thank you Karen Carpenter, that was my ear worm for the entire descent! Aaargh!!



Gratuitous summit shot!

End of camping

After a long cold night with little or no sleep prompted by a failing sleeping bag, low temperatures, man flu, a fox ripping open my bin bag and finding a flat tyre I have called a halt to the camping 2 nights ahead of schedule. There have been 20 nights in a tent at 6 campsites so I feel I've done my bit.

So this afternoon I checked into a great little Logis de France hotel in the beautiful ski station of Vars St Marie high up in the southern Alps. Looking forward to the supper tonight as the plat du jour is duck. Well if you insist!

The man flu developed into a bad stomach this morning and I didn't fancy the 150m dash in the middle of the night. However, that seems to have passed leaving me starving. Still have a thick head, ringing ears, blocked nose, headache for 3rd day and no energy. Gutted that I had to watch the Galibier finish from my suck bed.

However, the view from my balcony is pretty cool.



Whilst lunching on a Jambon Buerre I found a new friend, possibly having something to do with food?



Oh and a shiny beetle. I'm guessing these are like the ones that Gerald Durrell used to buy fr the beetle man in Corfu.

Man bags

Being pathologically disorganised and constantly searching through bulging pockets to find keys, wallet, phone and various other items I have long admired the continental European male's embracing of the 'man bag'.

I finally found a great little black number by RIPCURL and have transferred the contents of my pockets to my new one stop shop for bits and bobs. Strutting along the high street in France it looks pretty cool as it is slung over the shoulder nestling in the small of my back at a jaunty rake.

Slight concern is, will this be sustainable once beyond immigration at Dover?

Man flu stops play...

I've got a stinking cold and took to my bed. Normal service will be resumed when I've recovered. Might have to miss out the Galibier tomorrow :-(((( There is 100+ mm of snow on the summit!

Sitting in the campsite bar to send this and just realised that I didn't wipe the sudocrem off the end of my sore nose before leaving the tent! Oppsie!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Le Mont Ventoux

The unfinished business on the slopes of Le Mont Ventoux is now concluded and the account closed. Making coffee at 6.30 this morning and pulling on my cycling gear I was actually really nervous. Despite success on the Tourmalet I was still apprehensive about slaying The Giant of Provence. Having tried and failed two years ago there was something of a mental block to overcome. This was possibly the biggest obstacle of the day.

As the ride started lead like legs did nothing to reassure me that it was going to be possible. The initial part of the climb is through vineyards, olive groves and pine forests and is pretty much straight in to the average 9% gradient. Being an average means that you hit 12% at certain points. On some of the switch back corners it's like cycling up a wall.

The previous personal best of 11km came and went and I was into unexplored teritory. Just before the Chalet Reynard and the end of the tree cover there is a brutal section of tight bends that averages 10%.

After the earlier 9% and 10% sections when the gradient drops to 7% after the Chalet Reynard it feels like you are going down hill. That is until the first bend after the Chalet is reached and the wind hits you in face. Bottom gear, standing on the peddles and I came to a standstill.

Having left the cover of the trees behind the exposed section of the climb is like cycling on the moon. White limestone is banked up either side of the road creating eddies that can stop you dead or blow you over. Not to mention into the paths of descending cars and bikes. The wind changes from head wind to side wind as the road wriggles up the Giant's spine. My pannier bag was acting like a sail and pulling the back wheel to the side and then when the gradient kicks up to 10% again in the head wind the front wheel was lifting.

The monument to Tom Simpson who died on the Ventoux and is one of Le Tour's great characters came into view and the tower on top of the hill looked like it was getting closer for the first time in the ride. It probably wasn't until now that I allowed myself the luxury of thinking that this was possible.

A couple more switch backs and I would be there with one last blast of wind just as I rounded the last corner I was in the lee of the tower and had made the summit. Gratuitous summit shots below and I brought the most expensive bag of jelly babies from the sweetie stall on the summit.













I had to peddle for the first part of the descent because of the wind! It was pretty harry coming down with about 500 bikes passing me on their way up and loads of cars. Coffee and crepe at the Chalet Reynard to stop me shivering and then full tilt back to Befoin. Defiately a quiet afternoon reflecting on an awesome ride and being thankful that I never have to do that again. Well in fairness I have done it one and a half times.