Les Alpes

Well, I've not long been back from our whistle-stop tour of the Alps. John drove Me and Jenn down to his dads place near Morzine where we got to watch stage 17 of Le Tour de France. Superbe! We cycled up to the top of the Col de Joux Plane in the morning, actually not that steep but pretty long (about 12k) 'course it's one thing to ride up up it as we did, enjoying the viewand trying to chat with the locals in pigeon French, quite another to finish a 200k stage by racing up it (not forgetting the previous 16 stages). Once at the top we staked a place and waited for the real riders to come through.
Now I've never seen the tour live before and what you don't see on TV is the huge, mad and frankly quite surreal procession that come before the racers. Giant coffee pots, dancing animals, mobile raves, all advertising some sponsor or others tat and flinging handfuls of sweets, hats and leaflets to the slavering horders. We sat higher up the slopes maintaining a more dignified British decorum. ;o)
So, the Race streaked through, Landis well ahead of the others - as we later found out he'd made his race winning move earlier that day and managed to stay ahead until the end. Awesome...

Day 2 John and I went out to get a taste of the off road riding with a local guide (Martial). Sound fella who showed as some nice rocky and rooty singletrack and some spectacular views. John was having a clumsy day and took the odd tumble, but luckily had plenty of time to catch up due to repeated punctures from myself and our guide (Gavin:4 Martial:2). Note to self, fatter tyres for the Alps next time!

A few piccies here.

Happy Birthday Me!

Oh OK then...

Yes I'm 38 today - hard to believe with these boyish good looks I know *cof*!

In other news...mountain mayhem was good this year. Didn't rain so we actually had the luxury of riding the course rather than dragging our bikes through a swamp littered with the bodies of fallen comrades and through rivers swollen with the tears of frustration. No, this the course was dry, fast and relatively easy so laps were quick and consistent. Jey pride came 53rd in Sport Men and I am told we were 5th singlespeed team. But big, big respect to Jenn for WINNING the female soloists with a buttock battering 25 laps!

Happy Birthday Imi!

My little girl is five today :o)

Hottest day of the summer so far and...

...I've got a cold! Now that (are you paying attention at the back Alanis?) that, is ironic. Felt fine until about 8 last night and then came down with the whole sneeezing, headache, sweating thing. Hardly any sleep so ended up phoning in sick today. Not a totally wasted day as after loading up with cold capsules and sleeping for a couple of hours I felt well enough to paint a few skirting boards. I'm *that* close to finishing all this home improvement stuff - well on one floor anyway.

Be a relief to finally pack the tools away for a bit! :o)

On a more summery theme here's Jack flying a kite.

Come on! Who wants some?

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It's Grim Up North...

Nah, it was great really. Just back from another fantastic weekend in Appletreewick in Yorkshire. Freezing cold and hard as hell, but top riding and superb hospitality as always from John at the New Inn. Big thanks to Rory for organisation and unflagging enthusiasm, and to Phil, Grant, Jerome, John, Lorraine and err me for being generally cool and making the whole weekend special. You guys ROCK! (Makes devil sign with fingers)

;o)

More Pictures

Steyning Stinger

Well, that was ****ing brilliant! :o)

Nigel and I set off with the mass start at 9.00am. The sun was out, the ground was dry and there was a cool breeze blowing. Perfect! We ran though a small field and onto the opening stretch of tarmac. After about a mile we were off into the forest . A couple of rises to warm us up, a short slippy downhill into Washington village for a quick cup of water and then the first 'Sting'. Sheesh, that was steep, after a hundred yards or so everyone gave into the inevitable and walked up, after all it wasn't much slower than running anyway. Then we were onto the top of the downs. Windy now but we only had half a mile before we turned and then the wind was behind us for the rest of the day. We then had a long steepish but runnable climb topping out at chanctonbury ring where we passed our support team. Cheers all, that certainly helped keep us moving!
A run down through Chalk Pit woods followed, this was my favourite part - rooty, steep and with the odd slippy patch to add excitment! Then it was just a couple of miles along the flat back to the finish and our free and very welcome cooked breakfast.
I finished in 1:56. A time I'm well pleased with, only 10 minutes slower than for the on-road half marathon in Brighton two weeks before. Nigel came in just a minute or so behind my, despite claiming to have hardly prepared at all (secret training I reckon).
All in all that was one of the best events I've ever attended. Now thinking about having a crack at the full Marathon next year...

(Thank to Rory at U.S.E for the pic)