Thankfully we both did it, adding £200 to the kitty.
Now for the rest of the 120k we need today...
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
Hitting the £7k...
By accepting J's challenge to cover the first 6k uphill today in under 20 minutes, and then challenging him to match me.
Thankfully we both did it, adding £200 to the kitty.
Now for the rest of the 120k we need today...
Thankfully we both did it, adding £200 to the kitty.
Now for the rest of the 120k we need today...
Monday, 24 September 2012
3000km done
3000km completed as we approach the Pyrenean foothills and almost £7000 raised. Huge thanks to all the sponsors and supporters. You are all absolute stars.
And for those of you who are still intending to rummage about in those pockets of yours, now is a great time as we battle with 35 knot headwinds, heavy legs and start to cross the Pyrenees and begin the final stretch through Spain...
And for those of you who are still intending to rummage about in those pockets of yours, now is a great time as we battle with 35 knot headwinds, heavy legs and start to cross the Pyrenees and begin the final stretch through Spain...
Sunday, 23 September 2012
Great video from the Help for Heroes ride
http://vimeo.com/49905533
This was put together after the 4 awesome days riding through the Alps on the Piste to Plage ride for Help for Heroes.
A vital part of my trip and incredible to be part of an event that raised over £350k for the charity.
Enjoy
This was put together after the 4 awesome days riding through the Alps on the Piste to Plage ride for Help for Heroes.
A vital part of my trip and incredible to be part of an event that raised over £350k for the charity.
Enjoy
Wipeouts, Armenian mafia and nudist beaches
The Blazing Pedals tour is well and truly under way again after a 2 week sojourn in Toulouse and the Piste to Plage respectively for Cheeks and I. 4 days of riding from Antibes and we are sunning ourselves on the beach in Agde, a stones throw away from Beziers. So, to recap the ups and downs of the the last 450ks...
Jason, now known as the Armenian Bullet, has joined the trip and was thrown in at the deep end. First couple of days were spent climbing from Antibes up through the Gorges du Loup and Verdon through Provence. Stunning riding and beautiful scenery. Remember the car chase round the mountain roads in the opening scenes of Goldeneye? We cycled it. Photos really don't do justice to the vistas we we treated to.
And Jason came off his bike. Twice. Both were minor, fairly stationary stacks. And unfortunately neither Cheeks or I were able to get either episode caught on camera. Unharmed and enthusiasm undimmed, the Armenian Bullet continued to live up to his name, on the downhills at least.
We had our first donation on the move too as we were finding our way out of Antibes, with an English couple shoving €5 into Cheeks outstretched hand as they overtook. Awesome.
That was only the start of a good run of on-tour donations. Firstly, as we stopped for a hot chocolate in St Remy, we were approached by Kenny from Inverness who had a similar experience of his father being cared for in a hospice. As we set off, he gave us €50 towards our target.
And then in Arles towards the end of the day, a Canadian and an American couple both donated after chatting to us and hearing the story about Dad and why we are doing this. The kindness of complete strangers continues to amaze me.
St Remy was also notable for us Jason getting lost. With pannier management causing all sorts of problems, he fell behind and took a wrong turn. There followed a steam of frantic texting and phone calls to get on to the right road. Eventually, having gone into the back of a car that stopped suddenly (definitely the driver's fault but we won't mention that J was looking at the GPS on his phone at the time) he crested the top of the hill, just as I was about to instigate an international search and rescue operation.
We then had a glorious ride through the farmland national park to a campsite in St Giles as the sun was setting across endless fields of barley. I wonder if i can get any more Sting songs into this blog post...
And Jason had his third stack after failing to get his feet out if the clips before stopping. His panniers are taking a real pasting. He blames me for stopping too quickly and the video evidence is being scrutinised by the tour committee. Cheeks caught it all on camera. Brilliant. But the funniest thing about it was whilst J was lying prostrate in the bushes contemplating appropriate braking distance between bikes, a car of four equally swarthy lads pulled up looking like the local mafia. They happened to be Armenian. In France, on quiet country back roads. They spotted Jason's Armenian flag is still fluttering resolutely from his upturned bike. What are the chances of that? I mean, I've never met an Armenian in my life, and probably wont meet another one. Are the actually any more? Anyway, this bizarre meeting was more than enough to get our bruised but wonderfully colour coordinated hero off his feet and launching into the strangest attempt at a Armenian/English/French conversation. No one really understood a word butane thing, but it was very amusing to watch.
And with bikes, panniers and cyclists just about in one piece, we rolled into the campsite at St Gilles.
The final day, Saturday was a cruise through the Caramgue region along the coast. Some lovely flat coastal cycling enabling us to cover good ground, mixed in with some rather less than ideal hurtling down main roads. Avoiding the endless glass on the hard shoulders/bike paths and the traffic in the road became a little bit too hectic. Especially when one of Jason's panniers comes off and bounced along the dual carriageway. This started a bizarre 10 minutes which ended with Cheeks having his first stack of the whole trip, just as he approached the road sign to 'Palavas'. It summed it all up perfectly!
Again, panniers took the hit so thankfully no lasting damage done. And with energy draining after 120k, we cruised in to the beach town of Agde where we have camped up to have a rest day. And it just happens to be in a nudist colony. Brilliant.
Considering our state of disarray, uncleanliness and general raggedness, if most of France won't allow us in pools without wearing speedos due to 'hygine' issues, I can't imagine they'd want 3 bedraggled hairy bikers muddying their pristine waters.
So, stats for Jason's first four days on the tour:
4 days
3 stationary/barely moving stacks
1 incident with a car (went into back of)
1 pannier found bouncing down a motorway
4 fellow Armenians brothers/mafia
1 croq (shoe) lost, probably forlornly sitting on the side of the road to Palavas
All told, a cracking four days. And we are a couple of days away from Spain. Can't wait.
Jason, now known as the Armenian Bullet, has joined the trip and was thrown in at the deep end. First couple of days were spent climbing from Antibes up through the Gorges du Loup and Verdon through Provence. Stunning riding and beautiful scenery. Remember the car chase round the mountain roads in the opening scenes of Goldeneye? We cycled it. Photos really don't do justice to the vistas we we treated to.
And Jason came off his bike. Twice. Both were minor, fairly stationary stacks. And unfortunately neither Cheeks or I were able to get either episode caught on camera. Unharmed and enthusiasm undimmed, the Armenian Bullet continued to live up to his name, on the downhills at least.
We had our first donation on the move too as we were finding our way out of Antibes, with an English couple shoving €5 into Cheeks outstretched hand as they overtook. Awesome.
That was only the start of a good run of on-tour donations. Firstly, as we stopped for a hot chocolate in St Remy, we were approached by Kenny from Inverness who had a similar experience of his father being cared for in a hospice. As we set off, he gave us €50 towards our target.
And then in Arles towards the end of the day, a Canadian and an American couple both donated after chatting to us and hearing the story about Dad and why we are doing this. The kindness of complete strangers continues to amaze me.
St Remy was also notable for us Jason getting lost. With pannier management causing all sorts of problems, he fell behind and took a wrong turn. There followed a steam of frantic texting and phone calls to get on to the right road. Eventually, having gone into the back of a car that stopped suddenly (definitely the driver's fault but we won't mention that J was looking at the GPS on his phone at the time) he crested the top of the hill, just as I was about to instigate an international search and rescue operation.
We then had a glorious ride through the farmland national park to a campsite in St Giles as the sun was setting across endless fields of barley. I wonder if i can get any more Sting songs into this blog post...
And Jason had his third stack after failing to get his feet out if the clips before stopping. His panniers are taking a real pasting. He blames me for stopping too quickly and the video evidence is being scrutinised by the tour committee. Cheeks caught it all on camera. Brilliant. But the funniest thing about it was whilst J was lying prostrate in the bushes contemplating appropriate braking distance between bikes, a car of four equally swarthy lads pulled up looking like the local mafia. They happened to be Armenian. In France, on quiet country back roads. They spotted Jason's Armenian flag is still fluttering resolutely from his upturned bike. What are the chances of that? I mean, I've never met an Armenian in my life, and probably wont meet another one. Are the actually any more? Anyway, this bizarre meeting was more than enough to get our bruised but wonderfully colour coordinated hero off his feet and launching into the strangest attempt at a Armenian/English/French conversation. No one really understood a word butane thing, but it was very amusing to watch.
And with bikes, panniers and cyclists just about in one piece, we rolled into the campsite at St Gilles.
The final day, Saturday was a cruise through the Caramgue region along the coast. Some lovely flat coastal cycling enabling us to cover good ground, mixed in with some rather less than ideal hurtling down main roads. Avoiding the endless glass on the hard shoulders/bike paths and the traffic in the road became a little bit too hectic. Especially when one of Jason's panniers comes off and bounced along the dual carriageway. This started a bizarre 10 minutes which ended with Cheeks having his first stack of the whole trip, just as he approached the road sign to 'Palavas'. It summed it all up perfectly!
Again, panniers took the hit so thankfully no lasting damage done. And with energy draining after 120k, we cruised in to the beach town of Agde where we have camped up to have a rest day. And it just happens to be in a nudist colony. Brilliant.
Considering our state of disarray, uncleanliness and general raggedness, if most of France won't allow us in pools without wearing speedos due to 'hygine' issues, I can't imagine they'd want 3 bedraggled hairy bikers muddying their pristine waters.
So, stats for Jason's first four days on the tour:
4 days
3 stationary/barely moving stacks
1 incident with a car (went into back of)
1 pannier found bouncing down a motorway
4 fellow Armenians brothers/mafia
1 croq (shoe) lost, probably forlornly sitting on the side of the road to Palavas
All told, a cracking four days. And we are a couple of days away from Spain. Can't wait.
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
The boys are back in town...
Well, back on the tour at any rate. First day had everything from showing off the Union Jack speedos on the Cote Azur, Jason stacking it TWICE, to riding through the gorgeous Bar sur loup and on to the stunning Gorge de Verdon at sunset... Awesome and good to reunited with the Ridgebacks..
Sunday, 16 September 2012
Piste to Plage - an incredible four days
As I sit here admiring the view in Juan Les Pins, a little overview on what was quite an extraordinary four days of riding.
From day 1 when 160 lycra clad cyclists slogged their way up the highest col in the Alps, to the following three days of the best cycling I've ever experienced, it has been an incredible journey.
Day 2 was a big day. 3 cols, 2 awesome descents and over 10,000 vertical feet climbed. Praying for better weather we began the day with an immediate assent of the famous Galibier at over 2700 metres. We grinded up through the snowline until reaching the summit mid morning. No hanging around in the bitter -3 degrees and vicious cross wind, we started descending. At this point I've put a plastic sheet under my 'waterproof' jacket to act as some form of wind protection. Partial success. But descending in fingerless gloves I lasted less than five minutes before being unable to feel the brakes. I pulled over and shoved my hands down my shorts in a futile attempt to get the circulation back. Thankfully a friend came passed and lent me one of his overgloves, which at least gave me one brake hand and allowed for a safe descent down the mountain. A typical example of the camaraderie that encapsulated the whole trip.
With a couple of high mountain passes to get through, my spare socks were modified into gloves at lunchtime. Nothing if not inventive!
The rest of the day involved climbing Cols Izoard and Vars, both surprising us all with their toughness and relentless gradient. Thought Galibier was the hard one! The scenery was stunning with the clearest mountain blue sky providing endless photo opportunities.
Day three began by completing the summiting of Vars and then enjoying a fantastic descent through beautiful gorges, before taking on the Cime du Bonnette, at 2800+ metres, it's the highest road in Europe.
Getting up there was a real triumph and celebrated with the traditional bike above the head shot. Then we had another wonderful winding descent towards Nice followed by a short climb to Auron where we were given beers on arrival as we crossed the finish line. That was the hard stuff done, and we soaked up the sun cheering on in every one of the 158 riders. Special mention to Mark, the marine who lost a leg in a training accident who I cycled with in parts over the last few days. Truly incredible. He did everything we did and seeing him cross the line in undoubted pain, was absolutely fantastic.
Yesterday, the final day, was all downhill. So you'd think it would be fairly leisurely. No chance. Being part of a 10 man working peloton screaming down the mountain in single file, hitting over 60km an hour at times was utterly exhilarating. Trusting the guy in front implicitly as you sit inches from his back wheel flying passed other cyclists, cars and barely noticing the blurred scenery was a fantastic start to the final glorious day.
We cruised through Nice towards Juan Les Pins in one long 160 person procession taking over roads, cycle paths and generally causing all manner of mayhem on the roads as we neared our destination. An incredible sight and experience.
We stopped to waste a few minutes on the beach front before arriving and all threw down our bikes and went piling into the Med. The biggest cheer was for Mark, who, unfazed by the stones that had us all dancing about like girls, threw off his prosthetic leg and bounded down the beach and perfected a dive that would Tom Daley might almost have been proud of. Magic.
And with that, we cruised round to a fantastic reception under the palm trees at the beach at Juan Les Pins. Led in by Mark and the other injured servicemen who have accompanied us, it really was a very special moment. The breath-taking cycling, the scenery and the friendships and camaraderie developed on the road and up the climbs, have made this a truly unforgettable four days.
To be part of a group that have raised over £350k for Help for Heroes is wonderful.
And if there was any doubt about H4H being too much of a 'big charity machine' now, hearing another ex-serviceman Jamie talk so candidly about how he was so severely burned when his plane caught fire and how H4H has been invaluable to him in his recovery, was an inspiring and fitting end to an incredible few days.
Absolutely awesome.
From day 1 when 160 lycra clad cyclists slogged their way up the highest col in the Alps, to the following three days of the best cycling I've ever experienced, it has been an incredible journey.
Day 2 was a big day. 3 cols, 2 awesome descents and over 10,000 vertical feet climbed. Praying for better weather we began the day with an immediate assent of the famous Galibier at over 2700 metres. We grinded up through the snowline until reaching the summit mid morning. No hanging around in the bitter -3 degrees and vicious cross wind, we started descending. At this point I've put a plastic sheet under my 'waterproof' jacket to act as some form of wind protection. Partial success. But descending in fingerless gloves I lasted less than five minutes before being unable to feel the brakes. I pulled over and shoved my hands down my shorts in a futile attempt to get the circulation back. Thankfully a friend came passed and lent me one of his overgloves, which at least gave me one brake hand and allowed for a safe descent down the mountain. A typical example of the camaraderie that encapsulated the whole trip.
With a couple of high mountain passes to get through, my spare socks were modified into gloves at lunchtime. Nothing if not inventive!
The rest of the day involved climbing Cols Izoard and Vars, both surprising us all with their toughness and relentless gradient. Thought Galibier was the hard one! The scenery was stunning with the clearest mountain blue sky providing endless photo opportunities.
Day three began by completing the summiting of Vars and then enjoying a fantastic descent through beautiful gorges, before taking on the Cime du Bonnette, at 2800+ metres, it's the highest road in Europe.
Getting up there was a real triumph and celebrated with the traditional bike above the head shot. Then we had another wonderful winding descent towards Nice followed by a short climb to Auron where we were given beers on arrival as we crossed the finish line. That was the hard stuff done, and we soaked up the sun cheering on in every one of the 158 riders. Special mention to Mark, the marine who lost a leg in a training accident who I cycled with in parts over the last few days. Truly incredible. He did everything we did and seeing him cross the line in undoubted pain, was absolutely fantastic.
Yesterday, the final day, was all downhill. So you'd think it would be fairly leisurely. No chance. Being part of a 10 man working peloton screaming down the mountain in single file, hitting over 60km an hour at times was utterly exhilarating. Trusting the guy in front implicitly as you sit inches from his back wheel flying passed other cyclists, cars and barely noticing the blurred scenery was a fantastic start to the final glorious day.
We cruised through Nice towards Juan Les Pins in one long 160 person procession taking over roads, cycle paths and generally causing all manner of mayhem on the roads as we neared our destination. An incredible sight and experience.
We stopped to waste a few minutes on the beach front before arriving and all threw down our bikes and went piling into the Med. The biggest cheer was for Mark, who, unfazed by the stones that had us all dancing about like girls, threw off his prosthetic leg and bounded down the beach and perfected a dive that would Tom Daley might almost have been proud of. Magic.
And with that, we cruised round to a fantastic reception under the palm trees at the beach at Juan Les Pins. Led in by Mark and the other injured servicemen who have accompanied us, it really was a very special moment. The breath-taking cycling, the scenery and the friendships and camaraderie developed on the road and up the climbs, have made this a truly unforgettable four days.
To be part of a group that have raised over £350k for Help for Heroes is wonderful.
And if there was any doubt about H4H being too much of a 'big charity machine' now, hearing another ex-serviceman Jamie talk so candidly about how he was so severely burned when his plane caught fire and how H4H has been invaluable to him in his recovery, was an inspiring and fitting end to an incredible few days.
Absolutely awesome.
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