What a difference a week makes!

So after the Monts du Vaucluse sportive at Villars, one week with a dodgy tummy, then another week with only 5 hours on the bike it was time for the next road race.
7 laps of an 11km circuit, vallonée, which means undulating, 25 2nd Cats lumped together with about 30 1st Cats.
As usual things went hard from the gun. I knew that to be in with a shout you'd need to be up the road with some 1st Cats so I buried myself for 3 laps trying to get in every break going. Then on the 5 lap at the top of a short climb, trying to get across to a group only about 15s up the road, I blew dramatically.
The next lap was hell, almost dropped on the false flat up to the village of Collonzelle, then I was sick which sprayed over the guy on my wheel, then I climbed off.
Not all was lost though, a great second place for Bruno and a first win in the 1st cats for my mate José from VC Isle sur La Sorgue.

Monts du Vaucluse - Cyclosportive

First sportive of the season and my best ever sportive finish, 14th out of 350.
These things really are harder than road races. The reason is that you have the French equivalent of Elites, Cat 1's, 2's, 3's, 4's and everyone else all lumped into one big group of anything from 200 - 9000 riders.
Anyway, the weather forecast was atrocious and on arrival at the HQ in Villars near Apt we found the route had been cut short from 140km to 125km and the biggest climb of the day had been taken out. Nevertheless, 2200m of climbing and a very very strong SE wind made for a hard day.
Once again the Scott/Velo 101 team went off strong sending riders up the road almost immediately. They were pushing about 2-3kmh above everyone else's comfort zone so by the time we reached the foot of the Col de Murs many were blowing just to keep with the front group. About 6 got away, I was dropped and managed to hang on to the second peleton of about 20 riders.
The next big climb, the 9km Cote St Hubert near Sault was a struggle, any gradients over 7% and I was the one at the back on the elastic! Not nice. The long descent to Sault came and 4 of us got a 20s gap but into the wind up to St Christol we were clawed back.
Then a long descent to Apt then the sign arriveé 5km. I decided I didn't fancy the bunch sprint through the narrow streets of Villars so launched myself off the front. Unfortunately, after riding most of the last 5km alone with a gap of about 10s, I died near the line and lost 6 places and a top 10 placement! Finished 14th, not sure about time but close to 3.5 hours.

More Race Action

Last week saw the next round in our series. It was my club's home event (USC Vaison) in a lovely village called Villedieu about 6km from Vaison.

Well, I have to say we probably rode the perfect race. The race was 14 laps of a 6km long circuit which had a descent into a headwind then a nasty little climb every lap.

The first attacks came on lap 2 and after a strong attack by clubmate Bruno, I managed to jump on the wheel and cover a strong guy called Alain from Isle sur la Sorgue. Suddenly there were 4 of us working well with a gap that went from 20s to 3 minutes over the next 9 laps.

With 3 to go we dropped the 4th chap on the climb then Bruno and me did the classic 1-2 on Alain. I rode on the front for the whole of the last lap, led Bruno up the false flat to the finish and just managed to get 2nd place behind Bruno! (see the pic)

The perfect result followed by a fantastic barbeque in the vllage square.

4 more USCV podiums in the other categories meant it was a super day for the club.

Club des Cent Cols

Last week over a bottle of Cotes du Rhone I started logging my cols and mountain passes. Anyway, after an evening of browsing maps I found I'd done about 120 named passes and cols in SE France. So, I sent the info off to the Club des Cent Cols (100 Cols Club) and they sent me back a membership number, medal and certificate. I've done 114 in total including 5 over 2000m. I know it's a bit geeky but who cares. What I need to do now is do the remaing 20 in the Drome department so I'll have done the 100 in the Drome.

I was feeling quite pleased with myself then I looked at the list of over 6000 members and found a chap at the top of the list called Michel Verhaeghe - he's done 9100 cols and passes!!!!!!

Tour de Ouest Varois - Best day ever!!!

Well almost. Apart from the wedding day and the birth of Elula and passing my driving test I think Saturday the 8th March was the best day of my life!

I raced down in Aix en Provence. A bigger event than usual, the Tour de Ouest Varois. Only 80km, undulating but not very hilly, but with 75 starters I knew that it would be fast.

I came 3rd last week in Cavaillon and I was in a break for over 30km with a chap from Arles called Bruno. Yesterday Bruno attacked after just 2.5km and I knew how strong he was so I thought what the hell and jumped on his wheel!
4 of us managed to create a small gap then the terrain changed to suit a good break building move. We soon got the bunch out of sight. After 40km there was a climb of 3km at a 5% gradient. I led our bunch over the top, feeling strong, and we went like the clappers for the next 20km. The last 10km was a false flat up-hill to the finish. We were still working well and the others still looked strong. I didn't fancy a sprint.
At about 5km to go I came from the back of the bunch as hard as I could and didn't look back for a few minutes. I had about 300m on them when I did look back. When I saw the 1km flag I knew I had it as I was about 400m in front. I had time to zip up and throw my arms in the air - absolutely delighted!!

Dream Bike?

I'm probably as close as I will ever get to my dream bike. A local chap with a graphic design studio has customised my Campag Bora decals. I quite like the results.

Another 2 months!

Well almost 2 months since the last post. What have we been up to?

The winter training is now well underway. Almost 7 kilos of weight loss and I'm now up to 125km rides feeling fresh. In another 2 weeks the dreaded intervals will kick in. First race on the 2nd March at Cavaillon. I came 2nd last year so who knows.

I've been snowboarding too! for the first time since the millenium at Aviemore. One day at a great resort called Orcieres near Gap and another day with fresh powder at Super Devoluy.

The other thing is snowshoeing or raquettes! Stomping arount to the summit of Mont Ventoux when there's a meter of snow where your bike usually goes is great fun and the views are fantastic.

I've also been experimenting with Moviemaker. Here's a couple of short vids. This ones a Cat 2 race in a village called Richerenches near Valreas.


This ones a small section from a video I did on a Club run with my club USC Vaison last summer.