Climbing
It is hard to explain to anyone who doesn’t like cycling. Actually it’s hard to explain to many who do like cycling. In fact, it is plain hard to explain! How can someone who lives in a flat country and…
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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…
The Englishman Who Rode a Bike in Belgium
I already posted that 2018 would be the year of just one challenge. It is something already very special for me, the whole experience of Liege-Bastogne-Liege. I don’t expect everyone to understand that, you just have to trust me on…
Back to Liege – The Challenge for 2018
Last year I rode Liege-Bastogne-Liege and, as I sat and ate a huge pizza the night after and drank too many Belgian beers I thought to myself… ‘Never Again’. Never again….. So, in a fit of absolute stupidity, I have…
Good Times!
Sometimes the good stuff just comes non-stop, like an avalanche. Perhaps overdramatic but, for all the troughs, the peaks are there to be enjoyed, revelled in. First the slightly superficial. Well not that superficial to me but, anyway, the triple…
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 Two – Ventoux…. Just One More Time….
The last three days of work and the holiday begins. Back to Provence, to Mormoiron and back to Ventoux. This time, just for myself and not for any sponsored goal, although the sponsored goal of last year’s ride was bloody…
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…