The Etape du Tour 2009

Monday - Race Day and an early 4:00 AM breakfast. I got up earlier to put bikes on car.

We were on the road before 5:00 AM in the dark. There were six of us in two cars travelling in convoy with the bikes on top of the cars. On the way, I was leading, I took a wrong turning and ended up driving around a remote car park in the dark. The other car followed me. You can imagine the comments being made in that car as they puzzled as to what I was up to.

As we approach Montelimar the roads were already busy. Again I took a wrong turning and headed to Montelimar east, an industrial estate. This time the other car was a couple of cars back and didn't see us take the wrong turn. They took the correct route into Montelimar and found a car park. Once we realised that everyone was going the other way we turned around and headed into town. We found a car park and proceeded to unload. As we unloaded we saw our other car just across the car park - by fluke we had ended up in the same car park.

Once we were ready we cycled with thousands (literally 9000 others) of other riders to the start to find our pens. As our numbers were spread out we were all in different pens. Even if we had wanted to stay together there were so many people you would have had a problem staying together. I got to my pen and chatted to a guy from Dulwich Paragon. At one point whilst we were waiting he had to answer the call of nature. He left his bike with me and jumped over the barrier to find a tree. After answering the call I saw him coming back looking for me and his bike. I could see panic in his eyes when he couldn't see me (I am not the tallest cyclist and when there are that many people it is best to pick landmarks to aim for). It took a lot of shouting and waving to get his attention and getting him back with his bike.

We got away and crossed the start line at 7:16. That first 10 miles was slow and wasn't helped by a desperate call of nature. At 10 miles I stopped and went into the woods to do what bears do. Fortunately I had anticipated such an event and had the appropriate wipes. Such relief when I remounted my bike.

At about 15 miles I came across my Australian friend and we chatted.

There were lots of people even at this early stage with punctures and there were quite a few accidents.

As we went through Nyons, and past the hotel I was really enjoying the ride and continued to do so on the long stretch out to Col de Ey.

As I went up the Col de Ey OI spotted another friend and we chatted. As we chatted someone hit his back wheel and went over. Also someone fell in front of me ands I nearly ran over them.

I went to stop at the first food station which came after Col de Fauntaube. It was chaos. I'm not sure how anyone got anything. Fortunately we ha all taken the package offered by La Fuega. They had their own food station 2 Km past the official station. This was not crowded and had food, drink and energy products. I just had to show the band they had issued me with to get access. Lots of riders who had not paid were trying to get access but were being turned away. It was worth the £20 for the ability to feed and water without having to fight for it.

The food stop was followed by the long drag into Sault. I had promised myself I was going to rest there but when I got there it was chaos. The street was so busy I had to dismount to get through. No point in stopping so I remounted after getting through the mob and proceeded out of town past the chocolatier that some of the guys had taken advantage of during the reccie.

After Sault there is a steep downhill followed by another col. This one has a long drag followed by a number of false summits. As I pulled out of Sault I felt better and was surprised that I was OK going up this col.

We rode into Bedoin, past the chaos of the official food and water station and over the timer cable. The La Fuega food station was after the timer cable. At the La Fuega food station I sat in a chair and watched riders pass. I saw a couple of he guys going past and they called out to me as they passed. As I knew how hard the Ventoux was I was in no hurry.

I set off up the mountain. I was determined to get further than during the reccie before I got off and walked. I Got to the 12 Km to go point and had to dismount. I put on cleat covers and started to walk.

I did get back on at various times but for that last 12 Km I walked most of the way. It was like the battle of the Somme with bodies everywhere. People lying beside the road broken, some like me walking whilst other cycled in the 100 degree heat.

I looked at my watch and my speed. I was walking at between two to three mph and there was 7 miles to go and three hours before the cut off. I knew that provided I kept walking I would make it.

I got to Chalet Reynard before the water before it ran out. It was chaos as you needed to take your water bottle from your bike to be refilled. Most people assumed that they would be giving out the water in bottles and so left their bikes and their bottles only to be sent back to get their bottles.

Just after Chalet Reynard I had tried riding again but after half a mile dismounted. This time my legs were cramping so much I couldn't bend them to put on my cleat covers. I had to walk without them but I knew it didn't matter as I wasn't going to need to clip into the pedals again before the finish.

As I passed Tommy Simpson memorial I felt sick. I could not take any more gels. I was acutely aware that I was short of energy.

As you approach the finish the gradient kicks up from the constant 10% of the previous 10 miles. I looked at it before struggling up the gradient on foot pushing my bike. As I approached the line (some 10 feet before the line) I remounted and rode across the line.

My overall time was 9:02:30. It took 5:42:28 to do the first 93 miles and 3:20:02 to do the last 12 miles up the Ventoux (less the 10 minutes spent at La Fuega food station)!

After finishing you had to immediately cycle down the other side of the mountain to the finishing village half way down where you collected your medal and a goody bag. I had a text from the other guys saying that once you had collected your medal the finishing village was to one side, it wasn't very good, and you had to cycle up out of it. As I couldn't face another uphill I collected my medal but didn't go into village (the goody bag only had a Camelback water bottle so I didn't miss anything).

I then proceeded down the rest of the mountain into Malaucene. There the guys had staked out a table in a restaurant/cafe and were enjoying food and drink. I joined them and enjoyed pizza and tea and war stories. One of the lads was telling us how he chatted to Chris Boardman as he climbed the Ventoux.

As people finished they texted us. There was great joy when the last man finished. Everyone finished, we hadn't lost a single man. The times were much closer than we had expected. The course was a great leveller.

We then had the chore of going to the start to collect cars and didn't get back to the hotel until 8:00 PM.

Dinner was a quiet affair followed by an early night

Now everyone is chatting about next year, especially f Alp D'huez

Sunday: Registration in Montelimar

Sunday we got up late still very tired. Still no news of the baby.

We needed to travel to Montelimar 40 Km down the road to where the Etape was going to start the next day (Monday). We needed to show our documents, register and pick up our number, transponder and goody bag.

Travelling down on the Saturday we had all three bikes inside the car (both for security when we stopped and to reduce drag on the long drive). I had also brought inside the car roof bars and bike racks to go on the roof as we were going to need them on race day to take bikes to the start, so first thing after breakfast I put these up on the car.

We then drove, five of us in the car, to the registration village. We registered then wandered around the event village at the start. The village was quite small, much smaller than two years ago at Foix. Seeing as it is such a big event you would have expected a much bigger event at the start.

Wandering around the village I met up with S from Team MK who was on a sports tours package. He joined us for lunch. Whilst I was leaving I also bumped into another friend that I had ridden with in Sydney last year and we had a chat.

We didn't hang around the village too long, things to do. We drove back to the hotel and some of the guys drove on to the finish to drop off two of the four cars we had between the six of us (another guy arrived Sunday morning). The plan was that we would take two cars to the start in the morning with the bikes, and leave the other two cars at the finish so we could drive home after the event.

Late afternoon, after putting our bikes together and watching some of the tour on Eurosport on the TV in our rooms, we did a short ride towards the start. After about 10 km we turned around and returned towards Nyons. Really got the cobwebs out of the legs with a fast ride downhill into Nyons.

We had an early dinner on the hotel terrace and went to bed early. Breakfast was booked for 4:00 AM.

Saturday: Travel to Nyons

I had a 3:00 Am start on Saturday morning. One of the guys supposed to accompany me had a wife who was pregnant and whose baby was due. As (as he put it) “she had not done the business” he had decided not to travel with us. If she had the baby Saturday he would fly down Sunday and meet us. We would still be taking his bike and his baggage.

I picked up M before 4:00 Am and we drove to Dover to catch the 06:00 AM ferry. I cannot recommend the breakfast on the P&O ferry. I have had better.

We got to Calais without further incident and started the long drive south to Nyons. A couple of he other guys had got the 5:00 AM ferry and we didn’t expect to see them, however, just over a hour into the journey we happened upon them on the motorway. For the rest of the journey we leapfrogged each other.

We had hoped to get to Nyons about 18:00 however there was such traffic at Lyon that it was 20:00 before we arrived at Nyon. After being on the road for 16 hours we were tired as we ate our dinner that night and had no problem sleeping.

Friday - A proud father at his daughter graduation

My original plan was to travel down to Nyons on the Friday, however, the best laid plans of mice and men and all that, my daughter’s university had that day planned for her graduation. As I had invested so much money in her getting this degree, and with the degree she was also awarded a prize for the best dissertation, so I needed to be at the graduation as proud father to witness the event.

I took the train to Leicester early on the Friday morning. As I had been struggling to think of the right present to get her I had not got anything by the time I arrived at Leicester station. As I came out of the station I saw a large camera and electrical store. I went in and purchased a pink Nikon camera. I had the shop put the fully charged battery from the demonstration camera in he one I bought and proceeded to the ceremony. The camera was well received and was fully used during the day.

My daughter had had the flu all week and had been off work for the previous days. Obviously she didn’t want to miss her graduation and on the day had dosed herself up with over the counter drugs so that she could get through the day. Her mother was also at the event and together we watched her get her degree. The three of us went to lunch before going to the prize giving ceremony in the afternoon. She was shattered after that so I left her with her mother and caught the 17:00 train home to London arriving home after 20:00.

After a long day I had to be up at 3:00 AM the next morning to travel to the Etape!

Last Minute Preparations

For the Etape we (The Guildford Peloton) had arranged to stay at a gitte belonging to a member of the Guildford Peloton. This had been arranged for some time. It turns out that there might have been a bit of misunderstanding and that the family that owned the gitte would be staying at the gitte at the same time. As there was to be seven of us and we would be arriving and leaving at odd hours we decided that we needed to arrange alternative accommodation. I got in touch with Benoit at the Hotel Colombet in Nyons which we had used for the reccie and he came back to me immediately confirming that he could accommodate us. A real stroke of luck as Nyons is ideally located 40 Km from the start and 45 Km from the finish (and on the day it proved very handy for the rider with stomach cramps who dived into the hotel for emergency relief before continuing the ride). Also, we had really enjoyed our stay at the Colombet in May, the food is exceptionally good, the hotel clean, and the staff very pleasant and accommodating.

Two of the lads were travelling down with me in my car. They dropped off their bikes at my house on the Thursday night so they could be packed before the early start we had planned on Saturday morning. One of the lads got a £50 parking ticket for having his wheels parked on the pavement whilst dropping off his bike.

Saturday July 11th and Sunday July 12th: Last Minute Training

On the weekend before the Etape I was torn between getting last minute training in, overtraining, and spending time with the family (as they would be away the weekend of the Etape for a week in Ireland with The Wife’s family).

The Saturday sorted itself out with no chance to ride and I had lots to do with the family. On the Sunday I wanted to ride but had no one to ride with. At 8:30 Am on the Sunday morning I decided to ring Big G. He does not usually get out of bed early at the weekend but I thought it worthwhile to try him. He did not initially answer the phone but eventually whilst I was leaving a message picked up. He agreed to meet me 20 minutes later for a ride. We got out and did a 43 mile ride in surrey hills with tea at Box Hill. The weather was good and the cycling relaxed. It was very relaxed and much the way cycling should be.

Weekend July 4th & 5th 2009: A fortnight to go!

The weekend was spent in Bognor. Fortunately I was able to ride down on the Saturday and back on the Sunday. I did the 55 mile ride each way on my own. On the way back up the A29 on the Sunday afternoon I was feeling so good I decided that once I had been over Coldhabour and through Dorking I would go over Ranmore rather than just skirting around it. This does not add any distance but does include an extra climb.

It was during this ride that I noticed that my gears were playing up with difficulty in changing the gears on the front rings. I hadn’t intended getting the bike serviced before the Etape but this showed me that I needed to get it done urgently. On the Monday after my ride back from Bognor I telephone Corridori in Banstead to see if they could help me. They told me that they were very busy but as a regular customer they would fit me in. As it turns out, when I picked it up they told me that my chain and rear cassette were “beyond worn” so it was a good job I got it done rather than struggle with a mechanical on the Etape.