2015 Challenge Minety to Moët

So next years challenge has been set and agreed. 300 miles in 4 days between home (Minety) to the home of Champagne (Moët) in June. As there will be a new crew this year I'll be setting up a new blog and will link it to this site.

Just enough energy for the celebrations

Well that's the final climb done. The best description of how I now feel is that I've purged the last remaining energy from my body. It feels go

A very cold but completed Col du Tourmalet

17.7km of climbing done. Slow with some tough moments but overall a great climb. It took 2 hours.

Sent from my HTC

Preparation

The packing has been done and the bike is now in the lap of the British Airway baggage handling gods. Good look Cervelo, I hope you make it through unscathed!

It looks like with the help of my friends and Nationwide colleagues I'll raise over £500 so there is no backing out now. I just need the legs and lungs to hold out.

Quite nervous.

2013 Challenge - Pyrenean Raid

So the 2013 challenge has had a number of ideas suggested and rejected. It came down to a final two. The 2013 Etape or 3 classic Italian climbs. After some consideration had decided to go for  Italy. I'd have loved to do the Etape again and I had great expectations of what the 100th anniversary of the Tour de France Etape was going to bring. However, with only one course choice, no recognisable climbs and an almost identical profile of the 2011 Etape it just didn't feel special enough.

So the Challenge for 2013 was to do the Passo Gavia, Mortirolo and the Passo dello Stelvio in two days.
Unfortunately after looking at combining the trip with a family holiday in August it just wasn't possible to find a reasonably priced holiday home in the Northern Italian Lakes. So back to the drawing board.

After a quick conflab it was decided to aim for some classic Pyrenean climbs. at present the plan is to do the Col d'Aspin, Tourmalet and the Aubisque.

The only members of the Tour de Amateurs for this years Challenge will be myself and my twin brother Neal. I think we'll see if we can raise some money and make the whole training and trip doubly worthwhile.

I'll create another post with the details of the planned ride later.

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.