Another Video :)

Christian who rode with us has also put together a short film of our trip.   You can see it by following this link.  It's really good to see other bits of our trip and from a different view point.

Enjoy.

http://vimeo.com/69999931

Our complete trip in a quick video!

I'm so glad i recorded bits of the ride, playing it back you remember so much more, you don't need to see the whole day but just little prompts so memories come back, its easy on a multi-day trip to merge one day to the next so see the video again is great.

This was our trip through my eye's.

Best viewed in HD so you get to see some of the beautiful scenery.  

Enjoy. 

Roll on the next one!   

Day 1 Video

Round up

What a great trip we had...  weather wasn't great but did it matter, no not really, would i do something like this again?  hell yes,  yes i had my down moments (we all did) but isn't that what makes going away special, makes you see things around you at home differently.

I meet some really great people and changed my opinion of a country so all in all it can't be bad.


A couple of nurd facts for you!

• 1,027 miles ... 
• 222,580 pedal strokes (no i wasn't counting! but the garmin does) 
• 32,014 calories burnt, 
• 60,302 ft of climbing
• 111 Hrs in the saddle 
• 2 punchers 1 front + 1 rear
• 1 set of cleats wore out
• 1 set of pads were new but now nearly shot
• 1 broken spoke
• 0.6 Kg lighter than when i started! 
• 75 GB of video!  its going to be a while to put something together

The group as a whole had 

• 4 more punchers, 
• a few sets of blocks 
• and a broken rear wheel rim. 
• 1 broken gear cable
• 1 cut lock (keys help! ha ha) ... is this your bike no! 
• a couple of off's (prating around)

Not bad for 11 cyclists riding around 11,000 miles. 

Reckon I've lost the weight from my face... all that grinning on the decent's!

As you can probably tell I had an absolutely fantastic time.

Many thanks to Craig and Emma for organizing it, and Sean, Louise, Colin, Barry, Al, Duffers, Martin, Christian and Chuggy for making it so memorable and to top it all off we've raised over 2 grand for the Cornwall air ambulance.

Can't be bad.

The final day - Now thats PAN FLAT!

The ferry back was about as smooth a run as you can get...  I slept sound all night and after a big breakfast went back to sleep again!  waking up with about an hour and half to go,  ideal.  

Riding back to Liskeard was interesting... being cut-up countless times, nearly being flattened by a tractor... yeah we're back in England alright!

It was a strange ride back for me... happy to be home but sad the adventure had ended,  I guess that's the sign of really enjoying something.

Day 12 - Flat run in my a#se!!!!

Riding away from Bilbao and towards to coast, Spain became a nicer place... less cars, more considerate drivers and nicer countryside. The first sight of the coast was a welcome sight.

Time for a quick picture before heading to our first and only stop of the day...

Stopping in Laredo we all got a bite to eat in one of the local cafes on the beach.  The ride to there had been anything but the "Pan Flat Ride" that Craig had talked about the night before!

The sun shone for us and the final days riding was superb, my miles clicked over the 1000 not long before we caught the ferry across the bay to the main port.

A few beers to celebrate before catching the ferry were well deserved. 

Day 11 - We're not in Kansas anymore!!!!

Day 11 was away's going to be the hardest day of all... almost 100 miles of hilly terrain to cover!
It lived up to it!  just take a look at the profile!

Long gone were the long smooth rolling roads to France these were very long steady climbs the first of which was a 13 mile steady assent, quite a low gradient but never ending!   the second a shorter stage climb with the first part 2.5 miles long at 8.3%! and the next part 1.6 miles at 6.7%.   More stunning scenery but very different to France.  The first impressions of Spain wasn't the best... worst roads... worse driving... more litter...

The worst was yet to come!  the final climb of the day was on a cut through which Craig had found to keep us off the really busy nitemare roads!!!  It was the only part of the route which when i'd put the little google man down to have a look it wouldn't work!  we found out why! 70 miles in we faced a concrete road which had obviously been laid just before they local farmer had ran his cows on it!!  rough as rats and peaked at almost 18%....  18% in 80°+ heat after 70 miles is not a good mix.

With over 7000 ft of climbing we were all very tired and the run into Bilbao couldn't come soon enough.  Flowers and little tributes by the road said it all, this wasn't a nice place to be at rush hour on a push bike! the rough road cut through had kept of off that road as long as we could. 

  

We arrived at the massive hostel, eat and went out for a well deserved beer!  

Beer in Spain is dirt cheap compared to France so it not all bad!

Flat run into Santander so the beer kept flowing!  

Day 10 - In to Spain we go...!

What a day's riding!!!  very hilly but the scenery has been absolutely breath taking!

Blogging no the go is damn hard!  tell about being tired, can't remember being this nakered!

The first major climb of the day was the Col'd Osquich!  a lovely little 4 KM climb!  god knows where the girls get the strength from as i went for it and Louise was hot on our heals!

After a great decent we stopped for lunch... next up was the major climb of the day!  the Col'd Ispeguy a  8KM climb that takes you to the border of spain!  Nitemare i was completely spent with nothing left in the tank so a slow slog up all the way!  

The road in to Spain is epic!  11KM decent that winds is way down with major switch backs, its fantastic and makes the climbs well worth it!

We arrived at our accommodation which is err... different to say the least!  a bit like an old school! for 6 euro's we can have our evening meal... bargain!  when it turned up it was superb... three plates full's each of chips & pork/turkey burgers, pasta, salad and a sweet!    

Got some great footage from today so can't wait to view it properly :)

I'm ready for the ferry now... and hard push tomorrow and we will be nearly there, 

Day 9 - The big day in the Pyrenees!... OMG now that's a big hill!

The day we all came for had arrived!!  yesterdays glorious weather didn't stay with us!  rain again! grrr.. although not too bad..

After a short prayer by reverent and tea maker Duffy we set off in earnest!

Unfortunately the route Craig had planned wasn't an option due to the river having burst its banks and ruined the cycle path so after a slight lumpy (just for a change) detour we were back on track! off to the Col du Soulor.

A 11.7 mile climb with and average grade of 5.1%, tell about go on forever. We all started off separately and made our own way up,  this length climb is very hard to do at someone-else's pace.  I tried to stay with Craig and Christian but that was never going to happen! I had a plan to ride the climb... keep my heart rate down below 140 bpm and i should be ok and not burn my-self out too soon!  trying to keep with that pair it soon raced above that so swallow my pride and go away steady was the way to go... pacing a few of the team as i went i caught Martin and stayed on his wheel for a bit only to be dropped rapidly when he put a bit of a kick in on a flat section half way up!

The climb got serious when we passed through a little village.  Not long after that i caught sight of John again and caught him,  we rode together for around 6km of climb until with 1km to go he said sprint to the finish! err that'll be a no...!

Getting to the top felt really good although the weather had really pulled in and visibility was really bad (bloody cold too!)

Everyone did really well... it was a massive climb!   after a quick coffee and photo we were off to the Col d'Aubisque.

With a time of 1:20:53 and Strava ranked 239 out of 624 i was well happy with that! 

The road between the col's was cold and the visibility got even worse.  Snow on the ground kind of says it all really!  very cold!.

The climb to the Col d'Aubisque was less of a climb than i was thinking with the summit coming far quicker than expecting, probably because you could see a hand in front of your face!

The decent down the mountains was a bit dicey to start... a VERY near miss with a stupid horse was followed by a very wet decent...  drying roads and improving temperature and weather made the final decent awesome!

The decision was made to not climb the Col de Marie Blanque due to the weather so a straight run in the hotel it was.

Everyone was well and truly spent at dinner... after a 100 miler the day before this was about as much of a day as any of us could do!

Spain tomorrow!

Day 8 - Yay at last the sun came out.

Wow... a long ride that ended lumpy but dominated by one thing ... the sight of the mountains! totally awesome and somewhat scary!

The mood was somewhat quite at breakfast with the prospect of riding over 100 miles and the promise of some big hard climbs playing heavy on everyone's mind!  The ride started with a few long steady climbs which unfortunately claimed our first victim... Kirk claimed the tittybabby award for needing the van!  We did take the mick but to be honest as the day went on the laugh was on the other foot!  god it got lumpy towards the end and we're not even in the mountains yet!

Our resident weather man Al (he's been spot on all along) said the forecast was set to be fine and getting better.

The pace was high and the miles flew by... by the time our lunch stop came around we were blessed with beautiful sun shine :)

Kirk and Chuggy's cafe.

The best was yet to come!  just around the corner!!!

All the way to Lourdes the ride was dominated by the view of the mountains!  lumpy hills mean...  fantastic decent's... and i mean fantastic!  Video's to come!

As the mountains got bigger and bigger what the hell are we doing was the thought on my mind!    Bring it on! 

Day 7 - Not quite as wet :)

The morning after the night before came around about 2 hours to soon for me... the Stella from the night before was defo still with me when i went down of breakfast!   luckily for me i was the worst effected!  faces around the table looked as i was feeling so we kind of knew although it was a short riding day the start was going to be a little harder than it could have been.

After a short delay while Kirk's cleats were changed we were off.

The countryside is changing fast now with long rolling climbs around pretty much every corner. Thank god the never ending flat straight have finished, great at first but the novelty wears off as it hard on you ar##.  Rolling hills and great decent's make for more interesting riding, harder work but fun!

My legs felt great today... even had a sprint with Craig, Christian and a couple of French riders...  I really hope they feel like this in a couple of day time.

I had the first little knee grumble today... nothing major just a bit of tension, a quick rub and some ibuprofen gel and we're good to go :)

The rain stayed off right till the very end of the day.

Big day tomorrow! over 100 miles and hilly!  by the end of it we will see the Mountains for the first time!  Can't wait!  no really i can't.

Day 6 - We went through Bergerac... didn't see John Nettles anywhere...!

What a day!!!! Another long day riding, it started dry but the forecast was rain at lunchtime...!
Rain!!!! I haven't see rain like it!  and 11 silly buggers where riding our bikes in it!!!  It was so hard that to be honest it was a joke and we all laughed about it.

The worst of it was when we were riding through Bergerac!!  Probably a very nice place but to be honest it was the only bit of the ride so far that i just got my head down and peddled.

The countryside is changing quite a bit now, the long flat completely straight roads are becoming a bit windier and undulating!

We crossing the Dordogne river and it was still raining, a beautiful area and i'm sure it wasn't at its best for us... it might look bright in the picture but trust me it wasn't.

We followed the river before climbing up to our accommodation... climbing being the operative word... after getting a puncture about a mile away from the end and the others riding on up Craig, Barry, Christian and I at the suggestion of Craig had a little sprint finish, unfortunately it wasn't obvious where we were staying so we blasted on up a climb that went on for ever!  not bad after a 90 mile ride!  what can i say... the boy did good on booking this place.

Home cooked pasta tea went down a treat!  and the local bar was great... with led zeppelin playing and the beer flowing we all had a great evening... the pay back was to come later!!!

Sean's drink... the bar man says...   It's for your wife no!  lol

Day 5 - Still bloody raining!!!!

Should be 4800ft of climb... my garmin for some reason got wet!

The start of day 5... well what can i say... rain rain rain rain rain... thunder and lightning! bloody miserable!  we decided to delay the set off a bit to see it it cleared... it didn't but at-least it wasn't so heavy when we finally left.

A long day in the saddle with some interesting navigation at the start!!  lol.  We must have found the steepest foot path in Europe to get back on track this morning, shoes off and walk the bikes down!

I've got to be honest today has been pretty hard for me... the riding has been pretty flat again so the miles fly by, but you get plenty of time to yourself, plodding away I found myself thinking of home, I think a few of the gang sensed that might be case and gave me a bit of space.

Chuggy the driver had a bit of mare as well today... meet us at something champagne was his brief (I don't know the exact name)... we are in the Champagne region of France so the sat nav sent him on a right wild goose chase!  lol   but it all came good in the end.

The rain stayed pretty constant until we got to Al's house when it lifted and the sun came out :),  that helped me no end.

The big dilemma of the day was does Sean need to wear his thermal leggings, rain proof leggings, over shoes, plastic bags, rain jacket, Extra think over Jacket, Head warmer or like everyone else just cycling cloths... lol... just joking, he was the only one who didn't get completely soaked to the skin.

Some awesome scenery again today... no not Colin doing the dishes, that was in Al's house... lol

We've seen in the news that the weather has been the same across the whole region and the major rivers are in serious flood...  it might have an impact on our route yet as Lourdes has been hit pretty bad! we should be ok though.

Highlight of the day has to be Colin and Duffers playing silly buggers...  I had to upload this little video (only low quality at the minute) 

No damage done :) 

On the plus side no mechanical issues today :) and by later in the day i was back on form and attempting to out sprint Christian... and winning :) 

Like i said a long day and even team leader Craig was feeling it at the end!

450 miles down and a BIG day tomorrow, over 90 miles but the hillier than ever!

Bed time for me!

Day 4 - Just like the 90's band... WET WET WET!!!

 Day 4  - 363 miles down!

Another wet start... unfortunately unlike yesterday it didn't stop!!!

The ride was flat as you like with the first 30 miles flying by!

Unfortunately one of the riders Christian (our resident mountain goat) had been suffering with major stomach cramps (he suffers with Crohn's Disease which means he can suffer pretty bad!)  at the first stop he looked into getting some medication which elevates the symptoms... the down side was he had to wait to get the proscription sorted which meant a long wait as it had to passed by both UK and French doc's!!!

Conscious of time time Craig gave me the GPS and said they'd catch-up, we set off at a slow pace and after a oh sh#t moment and nearly getting lost we found our way and cycled at a steady pace along the Loire valley. Chuggy (driver) and Craig stayed back with him but when it became apparent it was going to take a while longer than hoped Craig blasted his way back to join us...

He had my Garmin so there will be a little bit in the middle which might be a bit slow... lmao!!!!  all KOM's gratefully accepted Craig :)  it's far to say he was hanging out of his #### at the end! lol oh yeah he also did a few extra miles for good measure (on my garmin)... sure it was because they were flat ;) hence the miles don't add up.

Craig's little outburst to catch the peloton! not a bad effort for an old boy that had to stop at the lights!!! lol 

We stopped at Richelieu for a group photo.  They even put the flags out for us :)

The highlight of the day has to be Kirk's ability to talk to the locals!!!  A little known fact is Kirk Duffy speaks fluent donkey!!!  it was funny as you like, we were all sure a real bond was made.  ha ha

More of the same with roads being flat and rolling... 3700 ft of climb for 90 miles is about as smooth as it gets :)  keep it coming although i have a feeling things are going to change pretty soon!  the map ft climb has been spot on so far which is more than scary for later in the week!!!! Thing strat to get lumper tomorrow with a high 80 mile route with 4800 ft of climb.

After another long day in the saddle a much needed steak and chips a couple of pints in the Buffalo next to the Etap hotel was more than welcome!!!

Everything still good with the saddle feeling more like home everyday and the my legs and knee's feeling stronger than ever  :)

Home seems miles away now... the first few day's; because they've flown by, home seemed just up the road, talking again this evening has bought it back that i'm missing out on what's going on... it's the little things which you miss.  I didn't think missing Father's day would have effected me so much, its taken a couple of day to really sink in. :(

On the plus side tonight's hotel is MUCH MUCH better than last night's. :)

Day 3 - Redon to Angers 99 miles... flat as you like :)

Day 3 - Redon to Angers 99.3 miles

A day of two halfs...  very very wet to start... grrr  i hate riding in the rain!  and to top it off my bikes rear mech was bent almost in to wheel!!!! a quick running repair ie bent it straight and we were away. Luckily the rain stopped pretty quick :)  the sun came out and we were in 28 degs cooking quite nicely... Sean even took his water proofs off!

Kirk's rear tyre went down (pinched tube) so while they repaired that i swapped the hanger so all my gears worked again... yay...

What a great ride today was,  more of the same please!!!!  the roads just seem to get longer on straighter :)

Beautiful sweeping roads! Christian goes for another KOM... this time closely followed by Craig.
My Gopro didn't see the out come for some reason... lol










The Loire river is MASSIVE! and we rode along its banks for a good few miles... a bit like the camel trail but with super smooth tarmac and not dog toffee!!!!

The locals are very nice and try to be helpful when they can, even if you are not asking them!  ha ha.. the guy was riding a MTB and flagged us down... riding in his slippers he tried his hardest to show Craig the way to go... Obviously Craigs GPS didn't have a clue which way we should be going... lol    bless him.

On a personal note... 273 miles in and i'm feeling great... knee's fine, touch wood they stay that way!!! even the saddle's still comfy!!!

The group get on really well together and support each other well.  Another early start tomorrow, blogging is real hard on the go... especially with a rubbish connection... and this is a rubbish connection! so it's time to get some shut eye.

Off to bed now with a group of noisy Greek's in the next room with a big screen and set of disco lights in the room... WTF!

Day 2 - Pontivy to Redon

Day 2 on the bike.. well day 3 if you class the little trip from liskeard but to keep it simple Day 2.

A short day at only 67 miles, a little hilly'er than we thought but the road are so smooth the miles just fly by.

Came across a stray Tiflex employee on the roads... who'd have thought it!

Dave, Sean's brother arranged to meet up with us and stay in Redon the night.

Redon, a beautiful place with some stunning architecture, having said that France seems to be full of it... very clean a basically a really nice place. 

Day 1 - We went to France... no one was home so we rode to Spain!

Day 1 -


Our first day in France was a real eye opener!
Smooth roads rolling roads... drivers who actually respect you... beautify wide open un-populated area's,  France really is a great place to ride a bike :)

The road Morlaix that follows the river is a great ride with great scenery.

We only had one miner hicup on route, Craigs Sat Nav thinks it in the UK so tries to send us the wrong way! (just after this picture we when all around the town! lol )   Craigs on the case!

First night was spent in the youth hostel in Pontivy, a small town that seems to have quite a few shops and bars... all of which seemed to close really early and after the celebrations in the main square ended everyone just disappeared and evertthing closed.

One thing that does strike you when riding through all the villages is the lack of people...  it's like riding through Radiator Springs in the Disney film Cars!  literally no one anywhere, its a bit odd... 

Set off in earnest...!

Well we're off!

The short ride from Liskeard to Plymouth ferry port was err terrible...  rough roads hellish side winds and to top it all a broken spoke... grrr!!!  Rain and wind with a wait at the Torport ferry (thank Martin!) just to rub salt into the wound!.

Anyway the crossing to France was smooth enough with only a few large swells to wake you up (not that i had a wink of sleep), plenty of time to fix my wheel.

Good job Al brought a cycle lock... or was it good job they had a big set of bolt crops on the ferry ha ha, he left his keys in his bag which was packed in the van... the van was parked up in France!  Ferry man humor as he cut the lock...  in french  "this your bike no!"...  

After a mad rush at the ferry port we set off.

It's in the paper so it must be happening!

Well we made headlines... well back page anyway :), thanks Viv at the Cornish Times.

Today's the day!

Well we leave today... I'd hoped to be around 76kg before we left but am a little short, not bad though and feeling well up for the challenge! it'll be interesting to see my return weight!
I not sure a week off the bike before we've left was the best thing as my legs don't feel as strong as they have but I'm guessing that will be sort lived :)
Bring it on!

The bit for the paper...

The Real Tour of France & Spain! 

 On Friday the 14th of June 2013, 11 local cyclist are setting off on an epic 1000 mile ride from Roscoff in France to Santander in Spain. Masterminded and organised by Craig Powell and wife Emma Sargent and joined by Louise Hawkins, Kirk Duffy, Barry Ruskin, Martin John, Al Burges, Collin Lovell, Christian Dransfield, Sean Kelly, Nigel Yeo and supported by Hugh Christopher’s, most of the group are leaving Liskeard around 6:30pm on Friday.

They are to riding to Plymouth where they will meet the rest of the team before taking the ferry to Roscoff in France, returning home on the Santander Ferry on the 27th.

After riding through Brittany the journey takes them through in-land France, riding through the Loire and Dordogne regions arriving in Lourdes on the 8th day. After 700 miles of the smooth flat’ish (hopefully!) roads of France Day 9 is the start of a challenging route which will take them though the Pyrenees Mountains following some of the classic Tour de France mountain passes including the Col de Soulor and via the iconic Cirque du Litor (famous mountain pass) to the summit of the Col de Aubisque and the Col d' Marie Blanque, a day surely to remember!

 Things don’t get any easier on day 10 and 11 as the Basque Country is notoriously hilly being used on the “Vuelta a España” or Tour of Spain as a testing ground for the riders.

Finally on day 12 they ride from Bilbao and follow the coast in the ferry in Santander.  An epic journey for sure.

 If you would like to show your support for the riders; Nigel and Sean have set up a Just Giving Page to raise money for the Cornwall Air Ambulance, they also have a blog which details some of the preparations and training they have done and also document their ride as they go.

 Nigel and Sean would like to thank everyone for their support in helping them raise over and above their target! In particular the employee’s of Tiflex Limited who have once again shown their generosity.

A special thank you also to DrinkMaster for kindly donating refreshments for the ride and Wiggle.co.uk for donating some last minute spares FOC!

 http://www.justgiving.com/NigelYeo-Cycle

 You can also TEXT your donation to their JustGiving page.
 Simply text NYEO99 £x to 70070 (the x = your donation)

 http://www.cycler2s.blogspot.co.uk

Picture for the paper...

Well it's Monday and we leave on Friday...!!!  time for a quick picture and finalise the text for the news paper... needs to be in on Tuesday to make Friday's deadline...

Shame we couldn't get everyone for the picture but work and family commitments come first.

Left to right..   Louise Hawkins, Sean Kelly, Craig Powell, Kirk Duffy, Barry Ruskin and Nigel Yeo.