Some Cameroon Info

Today I spoke to the DS. I got a little more info on the Tour of Cameroon. We are actually leaving Wednesday, spending Wednesday night in Paris, and flying out early Thursday morning. We then race Friday.

Friday's race is an Elimination Crit. Noone seems too sure about what that is. Sounds like the last rider across the line each lap is eliminated... not sure if some riders are aliminated from the entire stage race or what. I hope it isn't a bad crit... everyone reading this know how deep my hatred of crits runs... and that's mainly due to the fact that I suck at crits.

I'm thinking they can't eliminate you from the actual stage race or they won't have hardly any riders left. Soo... in theory then the riders "eliminated" from the elimination race will actually do less distance... so my thought so far is that I might be able to spend the afternoon drinking a beer and recovering to try and pull off a good stage the next day. Of course it will never be that simple. I guess we'll find out how it all works when we get there.

This means I'll actually have a full day (tuesday) up in Chateauroux to replax, so that will be good. As very motivated and excited as I am for Cameroon, the season has been long and I am exhausted. I'm having a bit of trouble finding motivation to train and am really looking forward to having a week or 2 of "vacation".

Of course "vacation" is all relative as when I return from Africa there'll be a LOT of Bikestyle work to do, and maybe some more journalisme with the Tour presentation and such things.

Today's training:

Today's training went well. I did 1 TT interval and 4 hill reps. TT interval was over 340Watts, at only 160pbm I was pretty happy with that.

The 4 hill reps were around 400 Watts (shorter that above int), so.. I'm feeling so so, but the numbers are good and the results have been there... So...

going soon

I have chosen not to race today. I have been feeling a bit odd the past few days. Joints hurting, muscles feeling really heavy. Probably the vaccines. So, so as not to get depressed with a bad race, and so as to do some training I can quantify, I have descided to stay home and some wattage training. Eat well, spend some time packing, and watch the Cycling World Champs on TV... hoping to at least catch a glimps of Darren....

Tomorrow I will do a recovery ride, go to the doctor's to get my back adjusted, and then drive up to Chateauroux. I'll spend the night there and the team will pick me up from there and off we'll go to Paris for the start of will undoubtedly be an adventure of some kind.

My bike is packed.... I'm ready. Well.. actually I am starcing hungry, so.... off to east.

Thursday. Cameroon distance training

So I had my vaccinations yesterday, and they warned me that I might feel sick over the next few days. Aching muscles, joints, runny nose and a litte fever. Great!
So today I headed out for 4+ hours of basic endurance training. Only after a few KM on teh way out of Gaillac I hooked up with a truck. So I did a pretty solid motorpacing session up the Boissel hill and all the way into Cahuzac before getting dropped on a steep hill. That was a SOLID session, absolute total max effort. Oh well, I still had 3 or 3.5 odd hours to ride... hmmm... The ride is fairly hilly and long. It's a ride I love but it can be a bit hard.


It wasn't long before I felt my knees really hurting, and I wasn't feeling too good overall. But I pushed on knowing I need to get in at least one long ride this week before heading overseas. By the 3rd hour my knees and joints were really hurting... oh well, no pain no gain right? Hmmm....

Well I got in 4 hours 15, so that was good.

Tour Du Plantaurel Stage 3

YEah yeah, I' know it is almost a week later now, but I've been a little bit busy, and frankly, I really haven't see the time go by. I can't believe how fast this week has gone by.

Anyway:

Tour du Plantaurel (Best Climber)

Stage 3:

Stage 3 was an early start. A stupidly early start by French racing standards. We had to be up at 6:30 for breakfast, as the start was at 9am.
The legs were tight that morning, and what with it being so bloody early, it was hard to tell how we were going to feel. I was misty and a bit cold out, but it wasn't raining. The roads were still a bit wet, but we were to stay dry for once.

The pressure was on. The first climb was 11km into the race, and the team knew they could control the entire field for 11k. I was told they wouldn't let anyone get away, and I had to take maximum points over the first climb for the overall climber's jersey. If I got max points then the team would be able to relax it's control of the race, and only keep tabs on my immediate climbing rivals. The danger was if a break formed early and one guy got all the GPM points from the breakaway group, then there would be nothing we could do. So, Sim had to give his all and make sure he got max points. I rode conservatively and stayed near the front. There was no way I was going to get yelled at for sitting at the back of the field today and missing the start of the climb. When we finally got the bottom of the climb, 1 of my team mates pretty much lead the entire climb with me on his wheel. He did a hell of a good job and buried himself up that fairly long climb. As we approached the top our soigneur was waiting just down from the GPM line to tell us how far to go. 200 meters. At about 150m from the line I started the sprint, the Mountains jersey wear was on the right but it looked like I was going to hold him off. Jermone was sitting on my left, ready to slip into 2nd place and take as many points as poss away from my rival. about 50meters from the line, something happened. A loud CRACK and I fell onto the top tube. My chain had somehow slipped off the big ring. I weaved and nearly put Jerome in the ditch. I couldn't believe it. My chain actually landed on small ring, so I was able to still pedal. Amazingly Jermone whipped round me, took all the points (thank god). My rival took 2nd place and I held on for first. On the descent we had a good talk about what had happened. I was had controlled the situation as well as could be expected. Jermone was a legend and had done everything that needed doing. I was impressed!!! However what this meant is that the 3 of us were now all on equal points. We all had 10 points. In the valley Jerome and I talked to try and figure out which one of us was going to go best today and see who was going to work for whom. I had a feeling he was going to be on fire. We decided to wait until the next climb and go from there.

In the valley on a very short but steep hill, our team captain took 2 of our guys onhis wheel (Hugo the young rider and Patrick) and attacked... the peleton watched 3 guys from the same team go up the road and didn't react. Our Captain then pealed off as launching the other 2 riders takes a lot out of you. He came back to the peleton and Patrick and Hugo were off a nice little breakaway. 2 guys from the same team. Amazing.

The Train Tracks:
Our 2 guys were off the front and went over a train track. By the time we got to the train tracks the barriers were down and a train was coming. We didn't stop long but it was pretty exciting for us, as it meant our 2 guys increased their lead. Ahhh.. just like in Paris Roubaix... :-)

The Yellow jersey team wasn't overly happy, but that's cycling.

So with our 2 guys off the front, they took the majority of the GPM points over the next climb. My captain came up to me on the lower slopes of the climb and told me I needed to attack over the climb. Get the points and try to bridge up to our 2 guys off the front. Hmmm.... I was struggling up the climb. Jerome and I were both near the front as we got to the top of the 2nd climb. I launched out of the main field and expected to have at least the KOM jersey wearer come with me. But I guess I Wasn't feel so bad, no one followed. So over the top of that climb, our 2 guys out front got the first 2 place, I got third and Jerome got 4th. Our team took every single point available... the KOM jersey wearer didn't get any points. So I was now back int he lead with Jerome in second for the KOM. I was a little worried that my rival was saving himself to go off and take max points over the final climb, but...

Over the top of the climb I was alone. A few people on the side of the road warned us that the descent was wet, slippery with leaves and very dangerous, so I went down easy. By the bottom however I was still alone with one guy chasing me. So I put my head down and tried to stay away. The yellow jersey team wasn't having it and brought us back on the valley roads befoe the final climb. The yellow jersey team was pretty tired by the point, and another team took up the chase. Now this is pretty funny. We obvisouly didn't want them to catch our 2 guys off the front. So to try and difuse the chase... I saw my team captain zip past me and go to the guy on the front as start talking to him. I wondered what he was saying. He rode up to the guy and said:.. "tough stage. What's the rest of it like? Is it hard?"... the guy naturally answered. But as he started talking he naturally (and without realizing it) slowed way down. "yeah it's pretty hard. Still a mountain pass to come." he said.

"Oh really. Shit. Best to save as much energery as poss for the finish then I guess"

And ther it was.. the chase was seruptitiously deffused. We had a good laugh about that one later.

The final Col

As we hit the lower slopes of the final climb, I wasn't feeling too good. The lower slopes were very steep and zig zagged through steep, narrow villages. Then the climb started propper. I was still well placed near the front, but maybe a little further back than I should have been. We caught and passed the breakaway group. They had done a great job.

At the top of the climb I had started to feel a little better and found myself at the front of the race with 2 other guys. I attacked and took all the GPM points. Happy with myself for wrapping up the mountains jersey, I looked around to see where everyone was. I had a gap. So I thought I'd try and keep the gap down the descent, as on the profile it was only 2 or 3 km from the bottom to the finish, and it looked all flat.

There were a couple of bad looking corners on the way, and I took it fairly easy. Though one corner did surprise me a bit, and as I cam out of it I heard someone behind me crash. I was near the bottom by this stage and just put my head down and hammered towards the finish. As I turned around there was only one guy behind me. I turned around a bit later and I had a pretty big gap on him by now. Ridding at 45 kph alone on the valley road, I was feeling pretty confident. I was going to be pretty happy to win solo, in the Pyrenees.. especially with the champion's jersey on my back. My gap got big enough that they put the neutral support car behind me. However that car actually belonged to team of the rider chasing me. Now I don't know if there was any kind of foul play, but all I know is that despite riding at 45kph with a pretty big gap, suddenly the guy was much closer and the neutral car was being pulled out and put back in front of me.

As I got close the finish, I realized the profile wasn't totally honest. Although the finish was in a village that was onthe flat valley road... the actual finish line was up 1km of steep hill through the village. ARGHH... I had given everything on the flat valley road. The rider behind me caught me and attacked on the steep slopes, I tried to follow but a small gap opened. As we approached the finish, the leader of the Caisse d'Epargne series appeared on my wheel and there we were battling it out for 2nd place. I was totally buggered by then and he very narrowly edged me out for second. So I went from thinking I was going to win solo, to finishing 3rd. But I had taken a few seconds out of the yellow jersey, had had a good ride. Had been out front displaying the jersey and the team, and more to the point had won the overall king of mountains. So I was happy no matter. what. I felt it had been a great day.

Cassero, leader of the Caisse d'Epargne series caught me and edged me out for 2nd on the stage.

And there you have it.. right.. now I have to go train a little bit. I'm off to Cameroon soon and I can just sit around all day.
;-) I hope there are at least some hills in Cameroon.

The race finished, the team loads our bikes for the drive home

Our DS sits in the mini van and reports back on our daily performance

Cameroon

Cameroon

So, what is Cameroon going to be like? I have no idea. I have been trying to find out as much as poss. I thought it was going to be a big sunny, hot dustbowl of a place.. (kind of thing I love)... but from the pics I have found online, it looks more rain-foresty.

Today I had my vaccines and what not... there are a few concerns about Malaria, Chigoungounia, Hepititis, Yellow Fever etc. Oh well, it's all part of the experience I guess. :-) A true adventure.

From what I can find out the race should finish in the city of Yaounde.

Hopefully I will be able to take loads of photos and will have a LOT to write about.

Tomorrow should be a good training day for me. Though I still have a fair few things to take care of before leaving. I need to get my back checked out just to be sure. Sort of some bike stuff, train, race sunday...

I spoke to my buddy Darren this morning who is in Germany for the World Champs. He was suggesting I rest a Land Rover and drive down from Cameroon to see him in Cape Town after the race. Hmmm.... he said I might need some bribe money for the border posts. Yeah.... I think I'll give that one a miss. As much fun as it sounds... well... need I say more. Typical Darren though. He's a sucker for a totally wild and exotic adventure. Here's wishing him all the best at worlds on Sunday!!!

Here's wishing Darren Lill the best of luck at World Champs. If you wanna know a little more about Darren, check out www.darrenlill.com

Sim to Tour of Cameroon

Next week I will be off to Africa for the UCI Tour du Cameroun Grand Prix Biya (or something). Am going to have vaccines tomorrow... don't know when we are leaving, don't know race distances, don't know when we are coming back... It's gonna be great!

I drove up to Chateauroux Monday after the Tour in the Pyrenees, found out I am going to Camroon Tuesday, am thus driving back down to Albi Wednesday (today)... hmmm... crazy.

More to come.. as well as stage 3 of the Tour du Plantaurel.

Tour du Plantaurel: Best climber

Tour du Plantaurel

Tour du what now? The Plantaurel is an area of the Pyrenees near the town of Foix. The team was pretty serious about this race.

Stage 1.
Stage 1 was a 10km Time Trial. The course was horrific. For one thing it was raining and miserable. For another it was on terrible roads. The roads where only just 1 car wide, were really twisty, full off pot hole and covered in grime and farm mess. Oh, and it was nothing but up and down with sharp dangerous corners. I really wasn't feeling up for this TT. I was too worried about the state of the course. After my recent good TT showings I was last man off from the team, and was 6th from last. It started with a steady uphill section where I put out more than 400 watts for the climb, and as I crested the top of that hill and flew down a very dangerous section I realized I was feeling OK. All was going quite well until my chain slipped off right at the

foot of a really steep climb. I managed to get it back on by shifting and pedaling... then it came off again. I stopped, got off, put the chain back on and finally went flying up the hill. I lost a good bit of time there. As I crossed the finish line I still had a good time (much to my surprise). Before the start I had started to think that maybe a TT bike wasn't the way to go on that course. But I think it was afterall. If only I hadn't lost SO much time... oh well. At least my power download from that TT was good.

At the end of the day I was 11th some 40 odd seconds down. My team mate Jerome had only just beaten me, so we were both leaders going into the next stage.

Stage 2:
Before stage 2, we had to get down to some serious business. Lunch in France is very serious… well actually any meal time. Lunch was put on by the organizers for all the teams. So it was only after a good 2 hours lunch, complete with red wine even for the riders, that we were able to move onto stage 2. Stage 2 was going to be run in wet conditions, over a course that included 3 climbs and an uphill finish. The plan for us was to keep myself and Jerome protected for the overall, and to also protect our young rider protected as he was 3rd in the Espoire rankings. We were a little unsure as to how the day would go, because keeping 3 riders protected isn’t easy. We had a feeling we might be putting too many eggs in too many baskets. At the back of my mind, I had a little plan of my own that I hadn’t shared with my team mates yet. 3 climbs meant 3 GPMs (GPM = Grand Prix de la Montagne; King of the Mountains). I have been climbing fairly well of late, but going for the GPM jersey isn’t always easy. You have to keep tabs of breakaways, and be able to sprint at the top of the mountains throughout the day. So I didn’t share my ambitions for the KOM jersey yet as I wanted to see how the first couple GPMs went first.

We raced aggressively and sent riders off the front with all the moves, and were always present at the front. I say “WE”, but that means our teammates. Jerome, Hugo (young rider) and myself all sat in the main field. With the clouds sitting in the Pyrenean valleys and intermittent rain, the roads were very dangerous. I had chosen to ride my aluminum breaking surface wheels today and not my lighter carbon wheels. Even though the carbon ones are much lighter, I wanted to be sure of my handling and breaking in the wet. Thing got pretty hectic as we flew through small towns, narrow roads, around tight village centers… the roads were slick as an ice rink and the painted white lines were torturous. We had a man off the front alone by the foot of the first proper climb. This first climb wasn’t very steep, it was a steady climb on a fairly wide road. I worked my way up to the front on the way up the climb. Come the GPM sprint most of the main field was still well together. The GPM looked more like a sprint as a whole group of us went for the points. Jerome got Maximum points going over the top, I was 2nd on the far side of the road, narrowly edging out 4 other guys who were all pretty much in a line. As Jerome and I talked about the GPM on the descent, another rider overheard us and said that I was 3rd, not 2nd. I was still fairly sure I had been 2nd over the line, but you can never know, so I thought we’d wait until the end of the day and see what the Commisairs thought.

On the flat valley roads a group of 4 got away, and we of course had a rider in the break… meaning we could sit in the field and get pulled along by the yellow jersey’s team. The km markers on the profile weren’t not very accurate… the second climb was supposed to come at 50k into the race… it was actually at about 40k! We had been warned about the 2nd climb. A long climb that would shake up the race for sure. As leaders we absolutely had to start the climb near the front of the peleton. But seeing as I still thought there were a few km to go before the climb, as we hammered dangerously through town and started the lower slopes of the climb, I was hanging around at the back of the main field. As I saw the breakaway and the lead cars zigzag their way up through the trees ahead of me I realized this was THE climb. With our young rider in my wheel I hit the climb full gas and gradually worked my up through the field. This was very risky as the field was already blowing apart and gaps were forming all over the place. We got a pretty good telling off from the DS and our team captain that evening. Our captain had been in the break making sure we didn’t have to chase, he was hoping to make to about half way up the climb before we caught him so that he could give us a hand. Sadly the peleton caught the breakaway near the bottom of the climb. When we passed him we were still a long way down the field. He was NOT happy as he saw 2 of his leaders expending a huge amount of energy blowing past everyone and weaving through the field. Hugo and I blew passed Jerome who was struggling. We made it up to the front of the race… somehow. A group of about 10 guys was at the front with a small gap over the remnants of the main field.. and we had 2 guys in there… myself and Hugo. As we approached the GPM line at the top of the climb, and few of us were obviously champing at the bit to get max points. I launched it and 2 of us were neck and neck as we approached the small crowd at the top of the hill… as we went over the top someone cheered “yeahhh… 300 meters to the GPM…”. SHIT… the GPM line was actually just over the top of climb… so we struggled to keep sprinting as best we could. I just edged it out and took all the points. From then on things got crazy. We had formed a bit of a break by sprinting over the top of the climb, and so 3 of us worked the descent at full gas. On the flat valley roads we slowly got reeled in by individual riders, and then by the main field.

The final GPM was just 4 or 5 km from the finish. I was well placed up the last climb, but as we approached the top and GPM line, riders started attacking to try and get away for the stage win. I tried to respond to all the attacks, but I wasn’t able to get max points over the top. I was 3rd over the climb. But the riders ahead of me didn’t have any other GPM points, and my main rival for the mountains jersey didn’t get any points over the last climb. We then went down a very short descent and starting attacking the climb to the finish. I knew it was a climb all the way to the finish line but I expected it to be steeper. So as we approached the finish on a slightly upwards pointing road I reacted to as many attacks as possible while still thinking there would be a steeper section coming up. If I had known I would have attacked with 1k to go and tried to go it alone. But as things stood we came to the last k in a group of about 7 or 8. The sprint started from quite a way out… I’m not very good at actual sprints and so I finished 6th on the stage. I only nibbled 3 second off the Yellow jersey group.

Our DS went to check the results to see where I was in the King of the Mountains classification. He came back saying I was joint 1st, but because the other guy had finished just ahead of me on the stage, he got the actual jersey. It wasn’t until that evening at dinner when they brought around the full results to every team that we realized they had somehow totally messed up the points on the first climb. According to the results I didn’t score ANY points on the first climb… but my teammate Patrick had scored 1 point for 4th place. Interesting because Patrick was way back in the main field on the first GPM… hmmm… they had obviously confused our numbers (I was number 6, Patrick was number 8)… so we went to see them. We only argued that they had confused me for Patrick, we didn’t bother adding insult to injury by also trying to argue that was 2nd over the top and not 4th. After much deliberation with the jury over dinner, they awarded me the point (putting me just 1point ahead in the king of the mountains classification) but seeing as they had already done the awards ceremony, the other rider would keep the jersey.
I was relieved in a way.., but in order to get any recognition, I would therefore have to try and take the jersey and the title Climbing General Classification on stage 3. The team was obviously very keen on me taking the jersey… the pressure was on! Stage 3 was not going to be easy. I had had a pretty good, but long and hard stage 2, and I wasn’t sure how I would recover. But deep down I wanted that jersey… and I wanted it with a vengeance!
So it was off to the hotel for a good night’s sleep… well... I awoke at 4am and didn’t get back to sleep. :-(


Stage 3:

To come soon

Pyrenees Time Trial Championships

Pyrenees Time Trial Championships

(Click on pics for larger images)

Well... win I did not. :-(

I awoke this morning and looked at the clock at the end of my bed. In my dazed morning stupor I thought I must have misread the dial. The glowing red display claimed it was 10am. Considering I had to leave at 11am, and considering I've been getting up at 6 or 7 every morning for the past who knows how many months... I figured something was wrong. I stumbled out of bed, turned the light on and looked at my watch. My watch said 10am also. Obviously not very alert in the mornings I thought it would be best to check the time on my cell phone and I fully expected it to say 8am. As I glanced at the screen, it said 10am. You'd think I would be convinced of the time after having seen it on 3 different things... but I still crashed down the stairs and looked at the clock in the kitchen... yep... 10am.

What can I say. I overslept. I guess I needed it. I had a quick breakfast and coffee, put together a sandwich for later in the day, and started throwing clothes and junk in the car. Luckily my TT bike was all ready. I had put everything together yesterday, down to the tire pressure and TT valve tape covers etc.

I got to the start to find out my start time had been changed from 14:24 to 15:12. Oh well, whatever. Although this kind of stuff is what drives most American and English speaking riders crazy when they come and race over here, I have now just gotten used to taking it all in my stride and moving on.

So I got my bike out, threw the powertap wheel on and went for a loop of the course with a team mate.

The course was beautiful. Pretty fast, but with a loop around a lake and 3 climbs. Nothing major of course, but pretty tough for a TT.

After a little sit in the car and some lunch, it was soon time to get on the trainer and start warming up. I had warmed up nicely on the ride around the course, so I didn't need much more than 30 or 40 mins on the trainer. It was a hot day, so I put the bike in a bus-stop shelter under some trees to get away from the heat.

Warming up in the shade of a bus shelter in the foothills of the Pyrenees

Once properly warmed up and feeling pretty good about the day, I had 10 mins to finalize my preparation. Go pee, put the disc wheel on, put the trainer in the car, try my best to squeeze myself into my long sleeved skinsuit (yes it was hot, but the team only gave me a LONG sleeved skinsuit... you forget about it once on the road killing yourself anyway), put on that funky looking TT helmet and go to the start ramp.


And then I was on course. I quickly got up to speed and fairly quickly got in a rhythm. I felt like I was going pretty good, the climbs didn't seem too hard and I think I got over them quite well. However I spent most of the day feeling like I wasn't actually pushing THAT hard. I started to think about pushing harder, but my heart-rate was right where I wanted it. In fact it was slightly higher. So I decided against trying to push harder as I was worried I'd overdo it and suffer on the way to the finish. The finish was ever so slightly uphill for the last 5k or so, and with a slight headwind.



Within the last 5k I saw my 2 minute man. Sebastien Casero, current leader of the Caisse D'Epargne Ariege Series. I was a little worried when I saw he was going ahead of me on the day, as I know him to be a good solid rider (obviously, you don't get to be Caisse d'Epargne Ariege leader by sitting on the couch). I came up to him quite quickly, his car pulled aside and let me through, and I blew past him with about 2 k to go. The actual finish was up a slight incline in town and around a corner. I came into the corner WAY too fast, had to slam on the breaks, the bike wobbled and skipped as I skimmed the pavement (or "sidewalk as the Yanks call it). I only just made it around and sprinted in a bit gear for the 10 or 20 meters to the finish. I felt like I had done a pretty good ride...

Sim caught and passed his 2 minute man, Sebastien Cassero, current leader of the Caise d'Epargne Ariege Series.

It turns out I was 4th. Quite a frustrating place really. Julian Almansa who rode as a Stagiaire for US Postal a number of years ago won. He's a great TTist and wins pretty much every TT he does. Just before the presentation he had on a National Champ jersey. I'm ashamed to admit I don't know what he is National champ in... maybe in CycloCross (he's a very good CXer), or maybe it was from a previous year. I really should find out. Julien Rides for AS Villemur... their kit is basically the old Mapei Kit (as they are sponsored by Mapei of course)... That ugly kit lives on. :-)





There he is: Julien Almansa: Ex US Postal Stagiaire and Time Trial Legend, and also today's winner. Yep, That ugly Mapei kit is still around, not in the Pro ranks, but it lives on...

Another guy worth Mentioning is... erm.. shit I can't remember his name, Stephane Dechantaurac (or something like that). Anyway he was offered a spot on Festina a few years ago due to his impressive TT ability. He doesn't do much racing anymore but concentrates on TTs and Triathlons where he blasts the bike section course record almost everytime. He did something and crashed out of the event. I hope he's OK and gets back on the TT bike soon.

Well there you go. I would never have guessed I would do better at the road championships than the TT championships, but c'est la vie. At the end of the 4th is still a really good place. Besides, I won the road champs, you can't have it all. :-)

Time Trial Champs tomorrow...

Well here we go. This is it. The Pyrenees Time Trial Championships. Tomorrow is the big day, and although I had hoped to train specifically for this day, it just hadn't happened. This was to be one of my big aims for the season. But my time traveling up and down to Chateauroux and the recent racing frenzy has distracted me somewhat from the specifics of TT training.

I haven't felt great on the bike the past 3 weeks, but the races have gone well. I've been training up in flat and windy Chateauroux, which might actually be good TT training. But so far it is hard to tell, as those conditions plain don't suit me. What that means is that I haven't been able to quantify my training and it means I am going into tomorrow unsure of my form and fitness. But it doesn't necessarily mean I'm not in good shape. That we will only know tomorrow.

On my way home from Chateauroux yesterday I stopped off at the team house and picked up a disc wheel for tomorrow. That way I was able to clean and adjust it, and also do a short ride on it today to make sure all was in order and clicking as it should be. I know it sounds silly, but I'm really hoping this disc wheel will make the difference. I think I have a good chance of doing well tomorrow. I've doing some good TTs and I keep thinking back to that 3rd place in the TT of the Tour de Chateaux et Coteaux which was sort of in a similar area. Only I don't want 3rd...

Hopefully this thing will cut through the wind like a hot knife through butter

(Click on pics for larger images)

I'll be riding at 12:24 tomorrow, for a 25km TT somewhere in the Pyrenean foothills. I don't know if it will be rolling or flat, but the Pyrenean foothills are rarely "flat", so...

I'll be using the Power-Tap tomorrow, but without the PT wheel I will not have Wattage. I will however have downloadable Heartrate, Cadence etc.
I'm planning to average 175 Beats-per minute. That is what I've been aiming at in most TTs this year. Most of the time I end up a little below that. Between 170 and 175. So hopefully I'll get it just right tomorrow and be at 175; which should have me around the 350/360Watts mark. I haven't done a clear test recently, but going by my previous test, that should be about right. In fact I feel better now than when I did my previous proper test, so it might even be better... The key is not to go too much over that 175bpm, as I could go into lactate production and actually loose time. It's a fine line.

Bonjour? The Team's old wheels are no spring chickens, but they are still in good shape. Just how old are they you ask? Well, the team went from Bonjour to Brioche la Boulangere to Bouygues Telecom... you do the math. (notice how Jean Rene Bernodeau's team always has sponsors starting with the letter "B"! Interestingly enough, the same letter as his last name. Would kind of limit you when looking for a new sponsor wouldn't you think? Whatever, thanks for the wheels JR.

Monday: Off to Chateauroux

MONDAY: Power-Tap rules
Having got back home late last night I was up fairly early to pack and start the long drive up to Chateauroux to spend a week with Gealle. It is her birthday, Tuesday, so...

But first I spent a bit of time with my POWER-TAP.
As a few of you know my power-tap stopped working not long before the Tour. I was pretty bummed to be without the trusty/do all cycling tool. But, the great guys over there at Power-Tap US, have taken really great care of me. And just the other day I received a new mounting harness with a new wire... but just to prove they are a truly company, Jereme over there sent me the new stem mounted harness, complete with cadence wire etc etc etc. So... having happily mounted my new wires on my TT bike, I sad down and thought for a bit. I had guessed that the wires on my old harness had broken, or cracked or something. So I broke open the receiver and had a look inside. Nothing to lose, I plugged in the soldering iron and got to work. I removed the wires from the mount, cut out the section of wire I thought was defective, and resoldered the new end of the wire back into place. As you can imagine the inside of the Power-Tap harness is very VERY small, and my soldering iron isn't exactly nano-technology. After much squinting I got it right. I actually managed to repair the harness... I glued it all back together (which is hideously ugly) and I can now mount it permanently on my training bike. How long it will last like that remains to be seen... and I dread to think what will happen to it if it ever gets rained on.

Now, I must say that this isn't the way to go about fixing your power-tap. I wouldn't advise you to try it at home, and I somehow doubt the great guys at Power-Tap would be too impressed if they found out about my D.I.Y. But hey... I had to give it a try.... The Power-Tap is such a great tool I want one on every bike I have. :-)

Tour du Chassela

Ok, I know it is almost a week later, but I never updated this thing with the Sunday stage race.

Sunday was a mixed day. I probably shouldn't have raced Saturday, but I don't regret it. Saturday and the Pic de Nore was a great day.

Sunday was an early start as I got up and drove up to the team house for this 1 day stage race.

Stage 1 went fairly well and I was feeling good. The first part was flattish, but it wasn't long before we hit the hills. The stage would then finish with 5 or 6 loops of a 5km circuit taking up up a crazy climb to the finish line before plummeting out of the village and hitting endless wind swept and gravel covered corners. We had a guy up the 4man group that got away on the flat. As we entered the finishing loops, still with some 25 or 30k to go, one of the older guys on the team who is a part time DS and is one of the main guys behind putting the team together can read a race like no one I know (except for Chris Hayes, who's a legend). He grew up with Didier Rous, and as I gather spent a fair few years racing at high level. He told me that I was looking good, and needed to attack and bridge up alone to the 4 man group. Now I don't actually know how far ahead of us the 4 man break was, but it was minutes! I looked at him and said "bridge up? Alone? But they are miles away..." But seeing as I sort of like to be told what to do in races, and seeing as I lack confidence in myself, come the steepest part of the climb on the next lap, I did as I was told. I attacked, when over the top alone and nailed the descent. A few km later a few other riders from the main field joined me, and there it was... we had a chase group going. Not quite the solo bridge I had been told to do, but we had sent a guy out early and he was waiting for us to come up to him. In this chase group we had 3 guys from the team, and it was only a 5 man group. So the emphasis was on us to work. Sadly for us the National Champ was also in the group. I had the bit between my teeth and really thought I was going for the win.

Just before we caught the break with 2 laps to go, a rider from the break attacked and went off alone. Everyone in our group was supposed to be working for me, or for Julien Couaillac if I screwed it up. Our man from the original break (Ludovic) worked like a flippin' titan and sat on the front protecting me and pulling back the 1 remaining rider. But one of our guys wasn't working at all. Julien and myself were leaders and we were working, but not this guy. As we hit the climb for the second to last time this guy attacked (much to our surprise)... He didn't go anywhere, but he screwed up our rhythm for the last lap. I ended up working a fair bit in the past lap and felt a bit dead come the bottom of the climb. I had been planning to attack but I didn't feel I had it in me... in all the confusion we still hadn't caught the 1 remaining rider up the road. I thought I would wait until the steepest part of the climb to attack, but the National champ beat me to it. I was in the box at that stage and I basically messed the whole stage up. The solo guy won, the National champ was 2nd, Julien held on well and saved the day with 4th, I got 6th. In hindsight I should have attacked at the bottom of the climb anyway... even if I was tired I probably wouldn't have finished lower than 6th when it came down to it. But there you go. That's life. And that's also what happens when there is a little confusion in your own team. Our club was the organizing club, and with that many riders in the winning break, we really SHOULD have won.

Stage 2, after lunch, saw me reacting to all attacks and trying to myself and Julien up in the top ten overall. Once again I was feeling fairly good on the climbs, and was one of the few able to respond and keep control of the threatening attacks. Eventually a group of 3 went up the road and we let them go (we had 1 guy in the move.) The group soon reduced to 2 guys, and once we hit the finishing loops our man was solo off the front. The finishing loops this time were much shorter. Only a 2km loop and with a steep hill to the finish line. Basically a crit. Everyone knows how I feel about crits. This time however I Was more motivated as I was sitting in the top ten on GC. Sadly the crit got the better of me and it wasn't long before I was dropped from the main contenders. The race blew up all over the road. Our man out front was joined by a shockingly on form National Champ who bridged up to him alone. The National Champ too the overall win and so it was only fitting that our guy took the stage. Julien raced well and moved up to 3rd overall... I suffered big time and lost massive time both on the stage and for the overall. I guess the Sat race took something out of me, and yes, the bloody crit ate me up and spat me out like a lump of fat in a tender chicken breast.

Saturday, A good year for hillclimbs

A Good year for Hillcimbs

Pic de Nore

It's been a crazy week. I got in late Friday night, ate and went to bed. I had a heavy weekend of racing ahead of me. Saturday was stage 1 of the Pic de Nore hillclimb. Stage one starts in Mazamet and takes you to the top of the Pic de Nore, stage 2 (on Sunday) starts just outside Carcassone and also takes you to the top of the Pic de Nore. I already knew Saturday that I would not do stage 2 because I had a 1 day stage race sunday that I had to do with the team. But I really like hillclimbs, and I do the Pic de Nore stage race every year, so even though it would make it a hard weekend for me, I just knew deep down I couldn't miss the Pic De Nore. Besides, having won a hillclimb in the Pyrenees and an uphill TT in the Pyrenees this year, and having finished 2nd at this event last year... well... I just had to do it!

Incidentally, the Pic de Nore climb will be featured in Pro Cycling Magazine either in the Winter or early next year. With Bikestyle tours we guided Pro Cycling up the Pic de Nore... so look out for that. :-)


Pic de Nore

On a nice hot saturday in southern France, and me having difficulty talking because I had lost my voice over the past few days as I have been a bit sick al week, we took the start of the race. The lower slopes of the climb saw World Women's CycloCross Champion and French National TT champ Marilyne Salvetat (who is in her final preparation for worlds) hit the front and string everyone out. She was setting quite a pace. After a while however the inevitable attacks came and a lead group of 9 or 10 quickly formed. The attacks kept coming thick and thin, but this seemed to be a very equal group, and come the town of Pradelles, where the climb gets really steep for 6 or 7k to the top, we were all still together.

The front group arrives in Pradelles still together

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The steep slope of the Pic de Nore soon sorted the group out

Somewhat to my surprise I wasn't feeling too bad. But the steep slopes above Pradelles and the constant attacks had me doubting my fitness. I responded to all attacks until we eventually formed a group of 3, including last year's winner and National Team member Francois Fabiani.Fabiani is a good climber, and his constant attacks had me pulling some of the ugliest faces you've ever seen. He can go really fast, but can't go for too long, something I would try and use to my advantage later on in the race. After a series of attacks, one guy joined our group from behind, and counter attacked. We had just been on the attack in our group and let him go. He actually stayed off the front, his gamble worked and he eventually won.

A we approached the final few K, I knew that if I went with about 1k to go I could probably hold it and take it to the line. But again Fabiani's attacks had me gasping for air and I didn't think I would be able to attack. But with a slight slowing of the pace after yet another of Fabiani's attacks I went for it... and held it for 2nd on the day.

Sim attacks to take 2nd place

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The awards ceremony was back down the hill part way back to Mazamet at a lake that is overlooked by the Pic de Nore. A nice place to sit at the cafe there and have a well deserved Ice Cream!!

Yep, That's the Pic de Nore up there in the background in the top left corner of the pic

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Another day another race.

Grand Prix de Millac




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Seemingly lost in the middle of nowhere, the Grand Prix de Millac seemed like a small town race. But with riders from all over the region and the presence of the Estonian National team it wasn't just a village jaunt.

100km were on the menu in the form of 13 8km loops (or thereabouts). A few meters after the start finish line was a narrow and slightly sketchy descent, followed by 3 short but very steep climbs, before some flattish/gentle uphill all the way to the finish.

The Down Hill after the start in the trees was fast, furious and narrow

The pace from the gun was fast and furious, and on such a course staying near the front was very important. After being fairly active in the first 3 or 4 laps and none of the moves really sticking, a group went off the front without me in it. Most of the race was spent attacking and going off in small groups in pursuit of the front group.

In a 4 man group trying to get off the front.

The race was action packed with intermediate sprints and constant attacks. At one of the intermediate sprints I decided to partake in the sprint and go for a little money, as I was coming up on the outside left of the field, one of the Estonian riders somehow went over the bars and was projected a couple meters in the air. We were at full sprint pace and the road was rough. It was also in town and therefore was fairly narrow. As he landed he took another rider with him and they slid towards me. A second of hesitation went through my mind, do I brake hard and risk taking everyone down behind me, or do I try and go even faster and hope to get through the minute gap before they slide fully into my sprinting line. I accelerated and just made it through, still making second in the sprint and pocketing a little bit of cash on the way.

In the closing laps, sitting in and waiting for the finish

Come the end the race was split all over the course. Myself and one other guy leapt out of our group and joined the 1st chase group within 1 lap. Later I heard someone on the side of the road say how many rider were ahead of us, and I realized there were only 1 or maybe 2 spot available for points. I am in much need of ranking points at the moment and so I absolutely had to finish 1st of our group to take any points. As we came into the final few kms I expected someone to attack on the last little rise about 2k from the line. They did, another guy followed and I reacted as fast as I could (along with the rest of the group). As I got on their wheel I quickly countered and got off alone with 1k to go. at 58-60kph I was fairly confident they wouldn't catch me. I rounded the last corner and was about to pretty much drift the last few hundred meters to the line to take my few National Ranking points.

Not a great pic of me crossing the line ahead of the group for the last few National Ranking points available on the day

The race could have gone a lot better, but it was fun (sort of) and that's what matters.

The high point of the day however was on the drive home, where I drove past a sign to a town called "Arnac la Poste" which translates to "Con the Post office"... what a great name for a town. I wonder how that town got it's name? Maybe it was a town of mail frauders...

I'll be without internet from now on until about the end of the week, so... how I will cope I really don't know.:-)

Chrono Chatelleraudais AKA: The Time Trial

So there it was... The "big" day. Saturday, TT day, and also, maybe more importantly the day we had to go to the estate agents and sign all the papers etc for Gaelle's house. So after having breakfast in our room using bread and jam etc we had got from the supermarket last night (penny saving cheapskates) we headed off to the agency for a good hour of paper signing (everything in France takes longer). Just before walking into the agency I was finally communicated my TT start time, which was a huge relief because as things stood this morning we were only going to have 30mins for all the paperwork and even that was cutting things close.

So with the paper pushing done and out of the way we had lunch in the parking lot (more penny saving) and headed off to the TT.

I haven't been sleeping well this week, we've had long and stressful days, and my training has been far from ideal. And I am feeling it I must say.

After a good warm-up I headed to the start ramp and from here on in it gets pretty boring... I rolled down the start ramp and pedaled. I felt pretty shit at first and had a hard time getting my heart rate up. But about half way through I started to feel a little better.

The TT was 22km long and was, as is typical in Europe, "rolling"... ie: lots of hills, corners etc. It was cool, but painful.

1 guy passed me, and although I hoped it was the Polish National TT champ who was actually "only" finished 3rd, it was just some French guy. But it's OK, he finished 2nd.

The finish/podium bus

I rolled in in 9th spot, which wasn't bad. I improved by about 40 second on my time from 2 years ago, so that's OK. All that being said I wasn't overly happy with the result or the way I rode. I feel I could have done better. Oh well, there you go.

Now it's off to Buffalo Grill for a bit old feast before doing it all over again tomorrow... only this time it is a road race, that I will probably do a training.

Wednesday and Thursday up north

What a busy couple days. So I'm up in Chateauroux in what is actually central France, but for anyone who comes from the South of France, we call anything above Bordeaux "The North". So I'm in northern France, we've been looking for a house for Gaelle, and we have found one. It was a crazy couple days, but it all worked out in the end. During this time I didn't touch the bike.

So today Gaelle had to be in the town of Tours for 2 days of meetings. We arrived last night, and after dropping her off at her meetings I set off in typical Sim style with nothing but a few road numbers for guidance and went for a ride. I looked at the map in the car, figured out where I wanted to go and wrote the road numbers and main towns on a sticky paper and put it on my stem.

I felt pretty shitty on the bike, probably due to 2 busy days with very little sleep. The ride was nice but way too flat and windy for my liking. That flat shit kills me. Sitting on the bike in the same gear at the same speed for so long cracks me.

But I went through some great towns. First on my loop was the town of Villeperdue, which means LostTown... great! As it happens there was a chateaux in Villeperdue which was lived in. The place is HUGE and surrounded my a moat. Even the gardens and tennis court are surrounded by a moat. Imagine the heating bills of that massive place in winter. Stunning house!

After that I meandered around and wound my way through towns and villages until I came to town built on an island in the Indre river. Obviously the town has spread to both shores of the river... a great little town. As I headed out of this town I came across some cliff faces (God knows how, it's totally flippin' flat here) with houses built into the rock. No longer lived in of course, past inhabitants of the area had obviously used holes in the rock as their houses, and had built façades into the rock to make little houses. Sadly the pics haven't come out very well because all I had was my cell phone.

It was a shitty ride, but was great in terms of the towns and places I rode through.

Tomorrow will be an easy day on the bike before the TT on Saturday. Tomorrow (Friday) evening we will travel back down to Chateauroux, sign the papers for the house Sat morning and hope to god it goes quickly as we then have to go to the TT. I have a funny feeling I will not perform well in this TT... gee, I wonder why.. :-) But it'll fun!