By now you all know the story of my journey up to Haute Route. You know that it was originally a plan to get to know my step-brother better in an arena we both love. Well, the plan worked, and then some.

Not only did Rob and I room together and eat together the entire week, we (surprisingly) rode together much of the time.

It was a little bit more than weird that nearly every stage of HR we either finished together, or within seconds or minutes of each other. On paper it looks planned. Check it out:

• Stage One: Same time (we crossed the line together)
• Stage Two: 4 minutes apart.
• Stage Three: Crossed the line together.
• Stage Four: Separated by 2 places on the day.
• Stage Five: One minute difference on the TT.
• Stage Six: Crossed the line together.
• Stage Seven: A couple of places difference on the day.

And honestly, this was not how we meant it to be. On stage one, for example, Rob went out with the front group on the first climb, only to suffer later in the race. I just happened upon him a couple of km from the finish line and we finished together. On stage three we just sort of ended up in the same groups throughout the day. The time trial tells the story pretty well, I think, since there is nothing more ‘individual’ than a race against the clock.

Rob clocks all this up to the fact that we had the same training program, which holds some water, but I can’t but think how strange it was that we were so evenly matched (well, weighted a bit to his advantage, I will admit). It was a nice bonus to an incredible week.