More Photos - Etape Act 1 - 2012

Etape Photos

So here are the photos of my experience of the Etape - Act 1 - 2011

Etape Act 11th July 2011 - The Figures

BOOM!

Did it! Etape 2011 has now been completed with a lot of suffering. Burst into tears after finishing.

The Training Gets Hilly

The Plans Are In Place

Accommodation booked. Trains booked. Car booked. 1 stone in weight lost. Now the serious work of training begins, as does the regular blog entries of the whole painful affair!

Etape Du Tour - The New Challenge

So although there have been a few ideas sloshing around for the cycling challenge for 2011 a final leap into the unkown has been made by gaining entry into the Act 1 Etape Du Tour. We hope to have an old friend of the Tour De Amateurs join us for this - Rich and a new member - Matt.

More details to come but in the manner of previous posts here are the numbers:

Date: 11th July 2011
Route: Modane - Col du Telegraphe - Col du Galibier - Le Bourg d'Oisans - Alpe d'Huez
Distance: 109km (67.7miles)
Total Ascent: c.3000m (to be confirmed)
Highest Point: 2556m (Col Du Galibier)

That tunnel under Brussels

One last puncture...

It was only a matter of time before the flat tire fairies caught up with Neal. As we were cycling from St Pancras to Paddington Neal managed to suffer a blowout as his front wheel went into a pothole!

Cycling through London rush hour was huge fun.

I managed to miss the train I was hoping to catch in order for Han and the kids to pick me up, so waited around for Spencer and Neal to catch up (on the underground) so we could all travel back to Swindon together. The final hitch was that the train we wanted to catch had no more room for bikes, so I'm on my own for the final leg to Swindon. The good news is that my lovely wife will be able to pick me up from Swindon Station.

I'm really looking forward to seeing her again, it feels ages ago that I kissed her goodbye at Dover.

From Neal - A myth

The idea of amazing european rail service has been debunked. It left 15 minutes late and the supposed luggage area for the bikes was just about non-existent. We put them in an area in 1st class eventually and sat down on drop down seats in the luggage area. We were moved on because we weren't 1st class. You would be well put out if you paid for 1st class and had to sit on drop down seats next to the luggage!!!!

The train has finally picked up speed since leaving Liege.

Next year

Well I've sown the seed for the next Tour de Amateur event, we'll see if it takes.

We'll work out the details in due course but here's the idea:

A dawn to dusk race from Swindon northwards, around the time of the summer solstice. We'll equip ourselves with GPS and see who gets the furthest north by sunset. No support vehicles, carrying your own supplies.

I think that idea's got some real miles in it.

I think we have all probably had our fill of the multi-day, long distance challenge for now. Being away from Hannah and my kids has been tough emotionally. Doing day upon day of cycling is tough physically. Watching Spencer cycle off on his own without waiting for you again and again is tiring and frustrating (I lost it with him for a second year running). Constantly badgering friends and colleagues for sponsorship is a real pain, and not something I ever feel comfortable with. So all in all I think this thing has reached a natural conclusion.

The one beacon of hope in all this (besides the tremendous amount of money raised for good causes) was a throw away line I said to Spen earlier. He was talking about his mate Matt probably wanting to go riding when he gets back, Spen joked about Matt playing with the big boys. I joked saying Matt doesn't know that he's messing with a two-time veteran Tour de Amateur. In that one line though, I feel like this has taken on a bit of a life beyond this Tour. I'd like to keep challenging myself like this, there's something to be said for meeting a challenge head on, for not giving up when your body is begging you to. The most memorable points from London to Paris and from this tour haven't been the towns and cities we've seen or the food we've eaten (some of the most satisfying meals have been eaten sat at the side of the road), they've been being with my brothers pushing each other on when it's seemed impossible to carry on because of the heat or the rain, wind and hail, to climb the next hill when your legs haven't any more climbing in them.

Perhaps a race isn't in the spirit of brotherhood I've been extolling, but I think deep down we'd each like to see what the others are made of, and nothing will quite show you that like some 18 hours in the saddle!

From Neal - Catch up

It has been a while since I posted due to the little adventure I had yesterday on the trains. A whole different story which I will put on the blog at a later date.

This tour has been as much a battle against the elements as it has been physically. My saddle doesn't hurt like last time, I can walk properly, but the top of my shoulders have been the problem.

This morning was much like our night in Brussels, only much worse!! About a mile out of Valkenburg the thunder and lightening started, then the heavens opened up. The wind got so strong that trees came down, police and firemen were all over the place trying to clear them from the road. Hail the size of large peas came down. Yesterday got to 41 degrees, today we were hit with frozen rain, which by the way really hurts. On the plus side this reduced the temperature to a comfortable 16 degrees for a few hours.

German tarmac is the best in the world hands down. It was so smooth and meant that we could drive hard like the HTC Columbia train. We ate up the miles quite nicely. We did however find ourselves being beeped again by the German drivers who were pointing out that we did a number of miles in a 100kmh lane. We weren't going THAT fast!!!

Everything slowed right down when we hit the outskirts of Koln and ended up following a cycle path which took us on a large detour.

Adam seemed to be a little concerned about using his german language skills at the start of the tour. However, he has done a really good job on communicating with the locals and seemed to get into the more he has done it.

Tonight has been an evening of meat. Lashings of it. I had a drei konige which consisted of a lamb shank, pork ribs, pork knuckle all covered in a gravy with pan fried potatoes and sauerkraut!! A bit full now as you can imagine. Walking back to the hotel to sleep it off.

Beer with Fanta!!

I've nearly ordered a beer with Fanta. It's called Alster. I thought the Germans were beer connoisseurs. Another assumption dismissed.

Valkenberg to Cologne - The Numbers

Miles: 62.49

Start time: 10.48

Finish time: 18.30

Average speed: 12.9

Max speed: 33.1

Calories: 2709