Tour des Deux Sevres

Wow! What a busy couple of weeks. I returned to France last Monday night and being a man, I began packing on Monday afternoon, one hour and seventeen minutes before I had to leave for the ferry. Amazingly I didn't forget anything too major. Just passport, helmet, shoes, bike... Jokes! The night ferry was as fantastic a life experience as ever and I disembarked on Tuesday morning having racked up a solid zero minutes of sleep. Still, France was sunny and fresh and all new to me again.

Ferries: don't forget your pillow!

Onwards to Wednesday and I was on the road again, returning for a second year to the Tour des Deux Sevres. Last year I was 3rd overall so I was looking forward to it, although having been 'en vacance' in England for a while it was going to be a bit of a form tester as my first race back.

After the team presentation on Wednesday night, where you basically get kitted up and get on stage in front of some wrinkleys for five minutes, the race proper kicked off on Thursday lunchtime with a solid 165km. It was hot and little did I know it was going to get hotter! After a pretty mental four hours it all but came down to a gallop. Two blokes escaped just off the front by six and three seconds respectively. I did a fair bit of suffering to hang in the front quarter for the whole day; energy wasted unfortunately.

The time trial was the next morning and I was hoping the legs would return as the tour went on. As it was, they were coming back but I wasn't exactly comfortable in the TT and after nearly stacking it on the final corner I came in 3rd, eight seconds back. I was disappointed but kept reminding myself that I had been off the bike with illness not long ago. Anyway, the afternoon stage was only 88km and so sure to be fast and furious, you would have thought. Well it wasn't at the start! We pootled around with various nutters trying to clip off unsuccessfully early doors and in the end it came down to the inevitable bunch sprint, despite my best attempts at slithering off in the final few kilometres. The circuit had several technical bits but also some nice smooth, wide roads perfect for a big ol' gallop. Naturally the finish line was 50 metres after the most dangerous set of corners. I kept the bike rubber-down and myself out of the ambulance so... Successful day!

Best 2nd category rider = podium time.

Day three and 110km in I thought I'd try and win the cycling race. At this point I was 3rd on GC, a mere eight seconds back. I countered an attack over a climb, Sam was with me and we forged a group of 15 or so guys. We got 40 seconds and I was yellow jersey on the road but we got shut down by Nantes Atlantique, the strongest team in the race. We tried. Hard. When we got to the finishing circuits, having been away for about 15km going full whack I wasn't feeling so splendid any more. A small group ground off the front nearing the final and I couldn't make my legs work to get me there. I lost nine places on general classification very quickly, down to 12th overall. Gutttttttteddd.

Worse smile everrrrr as I slip down the GC.

Nothing to lose in the final stage then. I was only 29 seconds down, but with riders from two strong teams ahead of me it wasn't going to be a doddle. My plan was to sit tight all day, clip off at the end and use others to win the stage and maybe move up on general too. Easy peasy. The problem is: cycling is never easy. If it's easy, you're not doing it right! There was a humoungous crosswind section after about 5km and, obviously, we didn't get told about this. Cue: massive shredding of the peloton. I was in the second group and thinking that was race over I broke my own personal racing mantra of 'Never Panic'. I panicked. I tried to ride across a 30 second gap, to a group of 35, with one other guy. Cyclists will understand what this situation means well. It means you've lost your mind! To any normal people imagine the pain of shutting your finger in a door. Then imagine doing this to the beat of a song, or the beat of your pounding heart, repeatedly squashing those digits. Left crack, right crack, left crack.... Foolish! We didn't make it and then, and THEN, it came back together later anyway. Oh man, I was happy about that. I toasted my legs and then we all got toasted later by mother nature. It was 37 degrees and there was a hot wind; people were bombing out left and right. Again a small group escaped annoyingly late in the stage, about 4km from the finish but I couldn't get there. 

I suppose cycling has a few perks.

I finished the tour 10th overall, which isn't bad and I got plenty of podium time for being first 2nd category rider which is all good fun. My tan is looking sick and the form is returning, which makes me happy.

The final podium.

le Fleche d'Armor

This weekend was a really successful one for me: my first stage race win! It was in Fleche d’Armor, a 1/2/3 category race in the Cote D’Armor region on the north coast of Brittany. The scenery was very beautiful (I spent a fair amount of time enjoying it whilst sitting in the bunch all day on Stage 1) and despite warnings from my slightly crazed housemate the weather was good!

Stage one was 130km, rolling all day with a pan flat finishing circuit with about three corners, all very straightforward. A break went away early on as expected with my teammate Sam Allen in it, so I had the perfect reason to sit in all day and try and relax. The bunch was pretty nervous all day with lots of fresh legs and I actually felt pretty poor, but as we entered the finishing laps my legs suddenly came to life. The break’s advantage was dwindling rapidly; it split with Sam having some bad luck and getting on the wrong side, as three riders continued to push on. At this point it was around 8km to go, so I counter attacked, hoping to sly my way up to the three in front and perhaps gain some seconds on general classification or even have a shout at the stage win. It wasn’t to be, as everyone seemed very content to follow me yet rather unable to do any work. I tried a few times but they were fruitless efforts and in the end Fabrice Seigneur, a rider who last week won an Elite National race unsurprisingly won the break sprint three seconds ahead of the bunch. After a brief episode post-stage involving a broken down team van, a lack of clothing, food or drink we got to bed as early as possible on Saturday night.

Sam 'the bigdawg' Allen en route in the break on Stage 1

Sunday morning was a very fast 7.5km time trial with a climb of about 1% and minimal corners: it was right up my street! I did my best effort and headed back to the headquarters for a shower and some food. As I was just getting into the shower I got a knock from Sam who said something along the lines of “Mate! You ______ smashed it!!!” I chucked my clothes back on and turned up to the podium fashionably (painfully) late. I was leading the tour now by eight seconds.

You know the expression "keeping it under your hat"? Well I took that to another level this stage with an interesting mitt storage solution. Yes that's correct, my gloves are in my helmet here.

The afternoon stage was 120km and according to the DS had some tough climbs in. The first half was quite sedate with some crosswinds, but it was child’s-play compared to the Belgian gusts last year so I quite enjoyed it really. The second climb of the day was around 90km in (I think: my wheel had no magnet and the course info sellotaped on my stem was a little misleading!) One of the riders high up on GC attacked as I was getting a bottle, which was nice of him, and a few others clipped off with him so I put the hammer down over the top and got across. This group had myself and most of the favourites in, so it was guaranteed to stick, and get a bit tough near the finish. Various riders attacked me at this point and to try and take the initiative I clipped off myself to make them chase. This backfired rather horribly when we rounded a corner and hit a 20%+ climb: for me the stuff of nightmares! The guy second on GC attacked, I couldn’t go with it and the group shredded.  A group of five formed up front, then three behind them, then there I was, hacking along on the front to bring them all back. Luckily I had some help from 'Sammoth the Mammoth' who had somehow bridged across to us and we pretty much went full gas for 8km or so.

One of the few photos I can find online (disappointed!)

I bridged the gap as we entered the finishing circuit with 12km to go and then of course someone else attacked me. Four or five riders went up the road and we worked to keep them within 20-30 seconds as I waited and waited for the guy second on GC to attack me again. He did so at 2km to go (Sam shouted “Doug!”) and I put out more or less my maximum power to follow him. He was pretty strong. I clawed him back and then had to get on the front to keep closing the gap to the guys in front and inadvertently lead out the sprint. Two guys jumped me at 150m to go but I managed to more or less hold onto them to finish 6^th in the stage and just save the tour, by 5 seconds!

Of all the photos they took and I'm blinking in this one.

I was a little sore yesterday (Monday)! I've got an Elite National RR tomorrow up near Saint-Brieuc so I'm planning to try and roll around for a top 100 finish, get some tanning in and NOT do anything stupid. I hope it's sunny. Peace out.

South Downs Bikes time trial

First race done, and hopefully the first win of many! Here I am warming up in the car park before the start. It took me about 15 minutes to actually get any feeling in my legs as there was a pretty cold wind. (I'm afraid that same wind forced me to race in leg warmers so negative man points to me!)

I felt a little bit awkward on the bike, as apart from the spin I went for the day before it was the first time I’d ridden a time trial machine in four months. Coupled with the fact that the legs are always a bit iffy in the first few races of the season I was a little nervous about how I’d get on. I really felt like I was crawling up the hills on the course but I guess I must have been going better than I thought!

Thanks to Clive Jarman (@CliveJarman) for this picture

I shaved 47seconds off the old course record in the process of winning the event and it definitely made it worth dragging my girlfriend Emily out of bed at 7:30 on a Sunday morning (at least I think so)! Thanks to the guys at South Down Bikes for a great event and a great prize fund! I will be back next year.

Check out these links yo!
www.velouk.net
http://blog.sportsmassagebournemouth.co.uk/2013/02/larry-hickmott-held-this-morning-on.html?m=1