Ventoux: Back Among Giants
I love it here. Provence. I am hiding from the Sun a little now, it is a touch warm. But the view of Mont Ventoux remains utterly spellbinding. How can something that can be so cruel on long climb have…
Category Ways of Escape
The posts talking about those ways of escape!
Twenty Years
In August 1998 I thought I would take a chance and move to Holland. Amsterdam. Spend some time in the land of my girlfriend. Good experiment for a few months, maybe a couple of years. Something no twenty-three year old…
Liege-Bastogne-Liege 2018 – Closing the Book
Last week I wrote a fast, fairly emotional piece about Liege-Bastogne-Liege. A little more considered review is below. It’s time to close the book on this year’s challenge. Just the one this year. The hard kilometres of preparation were done in…
Falling Sideways
You effectively spend the last year, mentally, building up to a ride. And one particular part it. The Cote de la Redoute… Oh, the name! So mythical! The core of Liege-Bastogne-Liege! And you fall off. Or, more pathetically, you fall…
Liege-Bastogne-Liege – Something Special….
So it’s nearly time. All the training, all the preparation. It all comes to a head on Saturday 21st April in Belgium. A quiet week beforehand, no more big rides. Just a couple of low tempo, easy outings. Stretch the…
Challenge Number Three – Rondje Markermeer
So, the year comes slowly to close and, with it, the triple challenges I set myself with the bike. Just one left now After Liege-Bastogne-Liege (agony in the rain!) and Mont Ventoux via Malaucene (agony in the Sun!) comes the…
Ventoux – Second Time Lucky
And then it was done. Ventoux climbed for a second time, marking the completion of the second challenge for this year and also a big personal landmark,, showing that last year was not a one-off, that I can take on…
Challenge Number One – La Doyenne
And then it’s done. All the preparation, training and mental preparation built toward yesterday, April 22nd 2017. The Liege-Bastogne-Liege challenge, or perhaps I should be honest and call it Liege-Stavelot-Lige because the 156km version does not go as far as…
The Day After
Today is all about a rest. And cleaning the bike. A lot of dirt on the cassette and chain, not to mention the sticky residue of energy drink spillage. After Ventoux yesterday perhaps an anti-climax but necessary. A small piece…
The Englishman Who Went Up a Mountain……..
The last post talked about the completion of this year’s challenge and what next year’s challenge would be. In a cycling sense. The decision around ‘what’ has been made and I am now signed up. The challenge in question is…