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