I’ve never tried this function (reblog) on WordPress, so hopefully it works. I’ve been talking to a client lately about the effort needed to get oneself up Ventoux (he’s a triathlete, so we are geeking out on FTP talk), which made me think about how to explain something like this to someone.
Then last night, over a nice talk with my step-brother, Rob, the subject of the article I’m re-blogging came up – namely, the hardest 1:36 (1:35 in Rob’s case) I’ve still ever done on the bike.
Re-reading this after nearly 5 years still makes want to vomit. Weirdly it also makes me want to do it again.
I’d be curious to know what the hardest thing you guys/girls have done. Like misery, suffering loves company.
I hope you weren’t worried. The internet at the hotel last night was pretty temperamental and I just couldn’t get on.
Today’s stage was quite simple for the athletes (probably a nightmare for the organizers); we did a 23 km time trial up the Cime de la Bonette, the highest through road in Europe. In many ways, the climb is reminiscent of Mont Ventoux, but with 2 more km added to the fun. The elevation gain was nearly 1600 meters.
The riders started in blocks of 75, with 5 min breaks into between, I think. Rob, myself and Mark were all in the 2nd to last block, since we we were somewhere in between 76 and 150 in the GC. Mark was kind enough to snap me starting.
I’d done one mountain TT before, but it was local and just a mass start. This was quite cool and we even…
View original post 322 more words
The Vicious Cycle 
All a bit of a blur… selective memory and all that.
Maybe it involved cobbles?
Since I am absolutely crap at climbing, it’s probably one of the alpine or pyrenean days. Or, l’Eroica 200k. I think the truth is that I have never competed on a road bike, so I never experienced pressure or the need to go full throttle. Hobbyists can’t claim pain & suffering like competitors do…
I remember now. How could I forget GF Stelvio… It was just the middle distance, which did not include Mortirolo on the menu. I think it was only about 100km. I came dangerously close to tears at several points. However, as soon as I reached the top of Stelvio, I forgot it all. 🙂 That was a torture.
I rode up Mortirolo the day before, and I still can’t understand how some people did the full monty…
Crying. I’ve done that, too. One time I moaned so loudly I got looks from riders around me. I have to do that Stelvio thing one day…
Possibly marmotte. Or the Haute Route Glandon-Madeleine-Saises 180km day in 2017. Or when i first got my new bike dirty for the first time
I remember the first scratch I got on my Bianchi way back. It was traumatic. What that HR stage a ‘mistake’ like the one they made us do in 2015 because of the buried tunnel? I can’t imagine anyone cruel enough to make a route like that on purpose.
I remember that stage you mean, it was lautaret – galibier, croix de fer, deux alpes i believe. That was quite cruel. Ah, the things we do to ourselves and tell each other we ‘enjoy it’ after.
I never said I enjoyed it!
Getting out of bed in the morning. Just you wait.