Bretagne

I’ve finally got round to writing this after a week’s break due to racing so now I have plenty to write about. My first adventure occurred with a trip to the hairdresser, I know I’ve mentioned these before but this was my first time actually in there using one (a French one that is not my first time in one at all, although you probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference)...it was exciting. Or at least it was until she started cutting my hair, then it became more a sense of dread about what she was doing. By the end I didn’t have the guts or the vocabulary to ask her if she was blind, so I paid my money and left. It was without a doubt the worst haircut I’ve ever had, she gave me some sort of 1980’s David Bowie with shorter back and sides and an unshaped mop on top. I recently resorted to cutting it myself with some nail scissors and now I’m much happier, next time I think I’ll just let it grow.

On May Day, or Muguet as it’s known in France, we had a 130km race in the mountainous region of Alsace. It was 5 laps of a circuit with hills as big as they’re going to get for a race of laps. I went into it not feeling so great and was told to be active at the start. This isn’t a particularly good mix so when, in the words of David Duffield, the proverbial hit the fan on the first time up the main climb I struggled but held in there. I struggled up it every time but after the front 2 groups had ridden away I got in a small group and we rode round for 3 laps, each time the group got smaller and on the last lap I departed out the back and rode to the finish. At this point the race was in tiny pieces and what was left of the peloton caught me and then rode straight past, I didn’t mind, my legs were in serious pain. I finished 44^th out of 120 starters, a guy from our team put in a great gritty ride to finish 2^nd but was disappointed to miss out on the win.

I spent the next two days desperately trying to recover for my first stage race of the season, the Essor Breton. But I still felt a little bit tired going into Sunday’s prologue having raced on the Thursday but nothing horribly fatiguing. This is how it went for me:

Stage 1: Prologue (4.7km) Le Pertre – Le Pertre

Like any good Brit I was aiming to do Ok in this and after riding the course a few times before hand I was looking forward to nailing it round in a respectable time. I was off pretty early on at 9^th and warmed up and ready to go full beans for about 6 minutes. I started pretty fast as it was downhill with a few little kick-ups which I powered up sapping the legs. I soon got the speed up again though as turned left on a nasty gravelly corner onto another quick downhill section. This rose a little once more and then it was left onto the long, straight up hill to the finish. By now my legs and lungs were protesting profusely and I was rapidly slowing. I kept getting out of the saddle to try and get my speed up again but the lactic acid coursing through my veins had other ideas. I crossed the line in a lot of pain in a time of 6.25, I was soon to learn that this was rubbish. I went back and told the rest of the team that all the time was lost in the last kilometre as I would imagine did the rest of the first starters from each of the 15 teams. They duly took my advice and all set quicker times, the quickest being 7^th overall. The winning time was 5.51 by Pierre Luc Pierichon of the French national track squad. I was 56^th...at least I beat Slippens and Stam.

Stage 2: Saint Méen Le Grand – Inzinzac Lochrist (150km (well 148.8 actually but I’m rounding up))

It was raining in the morning and wasn’t looking good, but by race time it had dried up and I was ready to go. The pace was immediately high but I was in and around the front looking to get away early or at least not get dropped in the first 50km. Neither of things happened but we were still going fast through the first feed, so fast in fact I missed a bottle and at this point the weather was hot and I was thirsty. The race was lined out for a good 10 minutes in the gutter and the legs had to take a serious beating to stay on, fortunately, I did. After that a break went and it calmed down to the finishing circuit where things started to hot up again. I took a bottle on the first lap and immediately drank all of it and took another the next lap. Tom got away with 3 laps to go and it looked like he would make it until with about ¾ of a lap to go he was reeled in by the fast moving peloton. I decided to try and make the sprint at the last minute and made a monumental effort to finish 26^th.

Stage 3: Gavres – Brandérion (140km)

The sun was really shining at the start of this race and once again it started fast. I eventually found myself at the front helping to cover moves as I didn’t feel so bad, but nothing I got in wanted to stay away, maybe they saw me as a threat? (or maybe not) Eventually one did go with Tom in and this stayed away for a while. In the mean time, I was happily milling about in the peloton, helping to infiltrate the moves trying to bridge to the leaders. Then we turned left and out of nowhere, bam! It was a damn steep hill that had everyone quickly changing into the little ring and sprinting to hold contact. Unfortunately this wasn’t the end of it, it stayed steep for about 1.5km before levelling off slightly where the hammer went down again as those in front tried to stay away and those behind fought to stay on, I was somewhere in between. But it wasn’t finished, oh no, there was a severe sting in the tail as it climbed up once again to its steepest point that must have been at least 20% for about 200 metres to the top. The peloton split with me in the second half but I was cool and calm and helped bring it back. The hill had all but destroyed the break and we went into the finishing circuit as one big group. Here I suffered severely every time up the finishing straight hill to the line and took a bottle at about 30mph once, until the last time with 750m to go someone gave up just in front about half a second before I was about to do the same thing. I lost 20 seconds on the bunch but didn’t mind, the heat had been incredible and I had nearly burned, anyone that has seen my skin will know that this is some feat as I tan in wintery showers and rarely burn.

Stage 4: Hennebont – Plougasnou (166km (plus 7km neutralised))

I decided to choose the longest hardest stage to feel my worst as I thought it would be appropriate. The race went backwards through the Plouay circuit used for the worlds some years back and now every year for the GP Ouest France which has a great weekend of events every year including a sportive. I’d recommend it having done it once, anyway, the first climb was at 16km and I blew a gasket going over it, just about managing to stay on. While I was crying in pain, the peloton had split forcing the Dutch track squad (four of whom are definitely going to the Olympics) to pull it back for 15 minutes. This caused more suffering and we hadn’t even covered 50km but finally it was brought back together and immediately a break went up the road. This break quickly gained two minutes and was represented by 10 teams and all the main ones... except us. This meant we had to pull it back so we slowly formed at the front to start the work. For me getting the front was a big effort in itself and once I got there I wasn’t in much of a state to work, but I did. I managed to go through and do my turns for about 10 minutes until we hit a very small climb where I blew to bits. The effort had destroyed me. The peloton streamed past, still at speed as the rest of the team was working but I managed to just about hang on. I took on some bottles and tried my best to conserve anything I had left to try and get over the last GPM of the day. Unfortunately this was in vain, it was a wall of a climb and I had nothing left to stay on, with 50km to go 6 of us had slipped off the back. We rode to the finish happy to get the longest stage over and done with; I had drunk 6 and a half bottles and eaten a veritable picnic along the way.

Stage 5: Plougasnou – Landivisiau (143km)

Finally the last day and I was ready to get it over with. The weather had finally given in and we started in the rain, gileted up with wrecked oversocks to keep the dirt off. I started determined to try and get in some sort of break or at least make sure the team had someone there to do it. This meant being up front and following the constant countering of the guys who all knew they didn’t have a great chance of getting a result in the finale. Nothing was going, but I felt pretty good for the first hour, then we started to go uphill and my efforts had taken their toll. I hung in, around and off the back most of the time, constantly crawling my way back on to the tail end of the bunch. At one point every car had come past and I thought it was game over, but me and another guy ploughed on to regain contact after a 15km chase. While this was happening two of our guys had got away in a five man move and managed to take every one of the GPM maximum points. It was a classy break that sealed the Meilleur Grimpeur prize and I got to hear all about over the earpiece. I grovelled my way to the finishing circuit which had a nasty 500m steep hill to the finish (every finishing circuit had a damn hill in it). The first time up it I was left in a group that had done their job and now just wanted to finish. I’m not sure if I had done my job, but I just wanted to finish as well. We rode round and finished a few minutes down on the peloton, I smiled when I crossed the line, finishing 50^th overall. But as soon as I had finished I got some bad news; one of our guys had crashed with only 8km to go breaking his collar bone. He hadn’t finished outside the top 10 once in any stage and was sitting in 4^th place overall, but that’s bike racing, merde happens.

A few more pictures can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=97782&l=d9713&id=624435000

It was a tough five days for me but I was happy I finished, even if it wasn’t in a blaze of glory. Hopefully now I can build on it and get some recognisable form. The weather has got increasingly better and today, before writing this, I did a 4 hour recovery ride (32kmph average) in the 25 degrees sun with one of my French team mates. I’m starting to enjoy this life.

Until next time,

Shalom