Tommy

Provence and Mt Ventoux beckon on Sunday, and it's impossible to think of that ride without considering Tom Simpson, and his untimely fate on the mountain in the 1967 Tour de France.

I remember Tommy being in my thoughts a lot last year when I ascended the mountain for the first time, and I have no doubt that it will be the same this time round.

Whilst obviously never pushing myself as hard as Tommy did on the day he died, climbing the Ventoux does put you on the limit of your abilities, and you are therefore able to garner the smallest glimpse of what Tom pushed himself to and beyond in the pursuit of his ambition.

The epitaph on his gravestone in Harworth, Notts reads:

"His body ached, his legs grew tired, but still he would not give in"

And that's all the inspiration you need...

Rabbit Hunt

12 ascents of Box Hill today - lots of 'rabbits' (ie. other cyclists) to chase down which kept the pace high.

Managed to set a new personal best on this climb on the 1st run with a 6:41 - a massive 33 seconds off the previous best. Forget marginal gains!

The Numbers Game

When working towards hitting peak form, you often hear pro cyclists talk about posting 'encouraging numbers'

Now I don't have a full time coach, or even a power meter, so my 'numbers' are a bit less scientific.

However, the last few weeks have seen me put in some good performances, with numerous PB's, high average speeds on long rides and some very satisfactory turbo sessions.

Of course, it'll be a totally different ball-game when the road starts pointing upwards for 20-25km at a time, but it's really good to see genuine improvement.

Etape Caledonia

Despite forecasts to the contrary, the worst of the weather stayed away for Sunday, and so we lined up in Pitlochry for the start of the Etape Caledonia in good spirits.

Got straight out of the saddle at the start and was soon up to speed and making good progress up the early climbs. The profile doesn't look too demanding with 130km and 1,300m climbing, but there's a few tough climbs and essentially a 50km TT around Loch Rannoch. I picked up a partner within 25km and we had great fun ripping up the road and jumping from group to group.

Barry eventually dropped me on the main climb of the day up the Schiehallion, but I still climbed well, setting a time of 7:52 for the KOM segment which was the 277th quickest time of the day. More importantly, it was 30 seconds quicker than Chris Boardman's time. I'm sure he's crying himself to sleep with his Olympic gold medal, and dabbing away the tears of disappointment with his TdF yellow jersey.

After that there was the great descent back into the valley, then more hard pedalling with very little help (I turned around at one point to find I was pulling a train of 5-6 riders, with none of them willing to take a turn!)

With 35km to go, I knew a sub 4 hour time was possible, so I really attacked the last series of climbs. I was pretty much on the limit on these and I was very thankful to finally start the descent back into Pitlochry as my climbing legs were shot.

So it was hard to see that the final 400m was a climb into the town. I gritted my teeth and got out the saddle to empty the tank, and had nothing left as I crossed the line for a time of 3hr 56min.

That gave me an average speed of 33.2km/h and 499th place (out of 5,000+ riders). Very happy with that performance, and now my focus is on climbing with my trip to Provence in 2 weeks time.

The long drive home to London was put in perspective when we spotted an Omega Pharma Quickstep truck on the M1. Pitlochry to London may be a slog, but it's the equivalent of nipping round the corner in comparison to driving from Dublin to Italy in the middle of the Giro d'Italia

The Rain In Spain Falls Mainly On.... Scotland

Etape Caledonia this weekend, and in the greatest Scottish tradition, it looks like it's going to rain.

To get me in the right mindset, here's Shimano's view of the 2013 World Championships in monsoon conditions:

Hitting The Peaks

Down to Surrey on Saturday with Emily and a couple of mates who are taking on the Etape Caledonia with us, so that they could try cycling on some hills in preparation. A really fun ride in great weather, with everyone showing a bit of form.

Gave the climb out of Shere the full gas out-of-the-saddle treatment and felt very quick. Unfortunately my Garmin chose not to record it! Hey-ho.

Out with Jon today for 140km, and despite him being off the bike for a while due to the London marathon, he still beasted me up all the climbs. I did however manage PB's on Box Hill, White Downs, Staple Lane and Crocknorth, and once again hammered the 30km home from Surrey for a really big and well-timed confidence boost

Utah

Back from the USA and did manage to get one ride in whilst away (plus I managed not to add any weight despite the generous portions of food on offer)

Moab in Utah is a great place for outdoor sports (it's a mountain-bike mecca), and is blessed with a very scenic, quiet and tough 100km loop road for a spot of road-biking - the La Sal Loop road. This includes an alpine-like climb up 'the Big Nasty' - a total of 1,200m climbing over 30km. This however hides the fact that the second half is where most of the climbing is done, with gradients of 6-13%.

Emily and I hired a couple of very nice Giant Defy bikes for the day and decided to do the loop anti-clockwise to get the climbing out of the way early during the cooler hours of the morning. This made the trundle up the shallow incline out of town very enjoyable, but the mountain was always directly in our view.

 

Emily left my wheel as the first slopes of 11% were hit, and eventually she turned around having completed the 'Little Nasty' about halfway up the main climb. On my own, I pedalled up the steep slopes of the little nasty, then galvanized myself for another big effort as a second set of steep ramps came into view. My earlier hubris on the little nasty, plus the dry heat of the desert sun and the thin air meant that I was soon gasping for breath, and I began to feel quite light-headed as my heart felt like it was trying to escape from my chest.

Around a sharp left, the gradient eased to 6-8% for the last 3km's of the Big Nasty, before a short but welcome descent into a river gorge, then the final ascension to the highest point of the ride at 2,500m above sea level. The road surface in the last km was particularly poor, and was a complete gravel road by the summit, which was just inside the snow-line. Stopped at the top for a photo, and some calls of 'Good Job!' from some mountain bikers that had driven up the road to descend one of the trails, then it was over the top for the long descent back into the valley.

The road was again poor at the top of the descent, so I had to take it easy, but once the steep switchbacks at the top had been negotiated, the surface improved and I was able to get some real speed up.

If Carlsberg made descents.... they'd resurface this one and call it a day

After the main descent, there is a great 17km section of road with a slight negative gradient that entices you to get on the drops and time-trial the bike through some of the most beautiful desert scenery, and I averaged 46km/h along here. By the time I got to highway 128 for the last 30km home I was shattered and had very little water left. Perfect Marmotte training. I focussed on staying strong mentally as I rode yet another stunning road, with 200m high canyon walls on either side and ground out the kilometres.

With about 10km left, who should I see waiting at the side of the road but Emily, who'd ridden the route clockwise to meet up with me and ride back into town. More importantly she had water, so after a rejuvenating drink we knocked off the remaining distance back into Moab town.

I was absolutely shattered by the end of the ride, but was glad to have got this in prior to Provence and then the Marmotte. I certainly learnt to take it easy on the lower slopes of a big climb as being in the red when in the thin air 2,000m+ above sea level really takes its toll.

Should be happy with this ride, but the constant doubts about my abilities have manifested themselves in the thought that this ride was essentially the equivalent of climbing Glandon and the long pull to the foot of the Telegraphe. Could I have done the Telegraphe/Galibier and Alpe d'Huez straight after? Not. A. Chance.

As a reward for the efforts of the day, we went to the Moab Brewery next door to the bike hire shop for a couple of beers and the best burger I ate all holiday.