THE ULTIMATE TRIATHLON

Friday May 29th 2009

It is now less than a week until myself and the rest of the 'Crohn's Crusaders' attempt to cycle the 2009 Tour de France route. The fact that I am currently in New Zealand and will have to travel through some 7 airports before reaching the start line in Monaco next Thursday doesn't seem to bother me any more than the fact that I have yet to meet any of my teammates. Sometimes you can be too well organised you know.

Monday April 6th 2009

I am back on my bike and back riding again! My arm is still not fully healed and I can't straighten the elbow fully, but there is little pain and I can apply some weight to it. With this in mind, it is apparently fine for me to ride, so long as I don't fall off again!

I did a short ride yesterday of about 12 miles, and a longer one today of 30 miles. I was a little apprehensive about getting back on and it felt strange at first, but I am pleased to report that the old addage about riding a bicycle is true and I was soon into the swing of things. Indeed, my average speed today was almost 16 mph, which I was very happy about.

Good times.

Wednesday March 18th 2009

I went back to hospital on Monday for more x-rays on my left elbow. These confirmed a fracture of my radial head (the top of one of the long forearm bones.) Fortunately not too serious, and I should hopefully be back on the bike in a matter of a few weeks. Just in time for 'adventure two' in fact...

Sunday March 15th 2009

So, the short story is; I got knocked off my bike by a car, messed my arm up pretty bad, and all my plans for the summer are in jeopardy.

The longer story:

After working all winter, I was all set for my big summer of adventures. 'Adventure one' was to cycle from London to Edinburgh and back again. It was to be a fairly leisurely journey, taking detours to visit friends and to take in some of the toughest cycling roads in the UK. Day 0, last Sunday, was to ride down to my friends, Will and Michelle, down in Ealing and spend the night before starting the expedition the next morning. It was a journey of some 60 miles which went well in some pleasant spring sunshine. Cycling in London was a new experience to me, and it was apparent how unfriendly the place was for cyclists. There weren't many cycle paths, certainly not many safe ones. At one point a cycle path appeared on a raised path next to the road I was cycling along. Great, except there was no point at which the kerb was lowered, making it impossible to get onto the cycle path without stopping completely and lifting the bike over the kerb. Something not worth doing anyway as the cycle path was only a few hundred yards long. Brilliant.

Anyway, I did make it safely to Ealing in time to watch the football and have a nice evening with my friends. I woke early the next morning with a plan to cycle to Hyde Park to meet a Channel swimming friend, Ilana, for a swim in the Serpentine, before setting off from Big Ben as my official start-line. Well, unfortunately I never made it to the start-line. Not riding my bike anyway. I was still in Ealing when it happened. My plan was just to follow Uxbridge Road all the way to Hyde Park and I was quite pleased to see this had a cycle lane in place and quite a few cyclists on it. But it was rush hour, and the traffic was moving slowly, which meant we kept overtaking and undertaking one another. I was following another cyclist, trying to keep up with him, I probably wasn't paying enough attention to the road, I couldn't have been. I came up the inside of a car, saw its left indicator flashing too late, realised it was making a left turn too late. I wasn't covering the brakes, it all happened so fast, I tried to swerve but I had no place to go. I hit the cars wing mirror and then the front near side as it turned into me. Next thing I know I'm flying through the air and come to a halt with a thud in the middle of the road. I lie there motionless for a moment in shock. 'Is everything ok?' I think to myself. Seems to be. I decide I better get up out of the road as the driver runs over to me. I'm amazed I feel ok, I had twisted in the air and landed on my side but my rucksack seemed to cushion my fall. At least, the pile of crushed hobnobs in the road seems to confirm this. The driver is furiously apologetic but I tell him not to worry. Technically, yes it was his fault, but I know I shouldn't expect drivers to check their left blind spot before turning left. It just doesn't happen. But while I'm waiting the exact same thing happens to another cyclist at the junction before this one. He is fortunate to stay on his bike, but that doesn't stop him going crazy at the driver. I'm more annoyed with myself for not seeing the danger. Heavy traffic, a side-road, I know a cycle lane isn't worth the paint its written with. In any case, it appears that no harm is done, and I get back on my bike towards Hyde Park.

Uxbridge Road is a nice place to cycle, because of the sheer volume of cyclists. Strength in numbers means drivers have to be more aware. But as I ride on, the pain in my left arm grows considerably. By the time I reach Hyde Park and meet Ilana I am worried it might be broken. After watching her swim, I head for St Thomas hospital, now forced to push my bike nursing my painful left arm. In the hospital I remove my top and see that my elbow is a funny shape, but x-rays are inconclusive. The doctors tell me they think it is broken, but there is too much blood in the joint to see a break. Whatever, adventure one is over. I walk out of the hospital onto Westminster bridge and look up at Big Ben - my supposed start point has become the end of the road.

Almost a week on and I still don't know the extent of the damage. The pain has dissipated a lot, but swelling remains and movement is restricted. More x-rays this week should reveal the extent of the damage, and hopefully it won't be too long before I am back on my bike.

 

Right: A similar situation to the one I found myself in. Imagine approaching this junction but imagine the bus is a car and its turning left. As a cyclist, where do you go? You have the right of way, but you don't want to mix it with two tonnes of metal. This picture also highlights some of the many flaws cycle paths in roads have. The fact that the bus feels it is safe to pass close by a cyclist because of a white painted line, where normally it would leave more space. Plus cyclists feel compelled to remain in the lane, even when obstacles such as that drain make it more dangerous to do so.

 

I am very happy to announce that I have decided to link up my own Tour de France project with that of Australian Damian Watson. We had both been planning the same expedition - to cycle the entire 2009 Tour de France route - and we came to the conclusion that in every sense we would be better off cycling it at the same time. As well as moral support, we will also be able to use one support crew, and as this will be made up mainly of Damian's family, I decided it would be only fair that I support Damian's cause; Crohn's disease. I am a Crohn's Crusader! To those of you who have already pledged money to Cancer Research UK, don't worry, I still intend to raise money for them during my Marathon des Sables in 2010. In the meantime, I want to help raise awareness of Crohn's disease and will be updating the site with more information over the coming weeks and months.

The Crohn’s Crusaders seed was planted in Damian’s mind when he completed a solo coast-to-coast bicycle tour from Boston to Vancouver in North America in 2005. While he was spending countless hours in the saddle cycling through middle-American cornfields, national parks, snow capped mountains, never-ending highways and various wide open spaces he was contemplating how he would make his next trip bigger and better.

Above: Damian during his American coast-to-coast ride and Below right: with his girlfriend Marika, who will also be riding with us in France

He had never ridden two days in a row prior to attempting his coast-to-coast tour so, although he was keen to raise awareness and funds for a cause, he was reluctant to make a public commitment to it just in case he found that long distance cycling was not for him.

After Damian had conquered the Rocky Mountains and was halfway through the Cascade Mountains a realisation dawned on him that he was definitely capable of completing the course and really should have been doing all of this for a cause. It was during a long sweeping descent in the Cascades with the wind on his face and the smell of late autumn pine forest in the air that Damian decided he would try the impossible and make an attempt on the Tour de France course! And, this time he would do it for a cause that he was passionate about.

The Tour de France route, that varies its course each year, is world renowned as being home to the most gruelling sporting event in the world and, further to this, home to the most finely tuned, well conditioned athletes in the world – not your everyday Melbourne man who does a bit of recreational cycling!

However, the more difficult and unrealistic the attempt seems the more interest it will raise in whether he can complete his goal. This leads to an extraordinary opportunity for a worthy cause to leverage off the interest in the project.

The attempt will be no easy task as the pace of Damian’s 2005 American tour was leisurely at best and the distances covered were nowhere near as long as the Tour de France route. The most ground Damian covered in one day during the American tour was 180km. There are typically 17 stages over 160km (or 100 miles) in the 20 stages of the Tour de France route with 6 stages over 200km.

Damian wants to raise awareness and funds to contribute towards research into Crohn’s Disease as the causes for this disease are not yet known and there is no cure. For the majority, a diagnosis is not a death sentence but the symptoms have an enormous impact on the quality of life of sufferers. In the more severe cases sufferers are too unwell to continue work or school and require expensive treatments to manage their symptoms. There is a whole lot more about Crohn’s and Colitis on the About Crohn’s page of Damian's website.

The two main goals of the Crohn’s Crusaders project are:

1. Raise awareness of Crohn’s Disease among the general public in the UK, Australia, and internationally by registering 10,000 people to follow the progress of the project via occasional e-mail updates and via the Crohn’s Crusaders website 

2. Raise funds for Crohn’s Disease research 

Please help by REGISTERING FOR E-NEWS  or  DONATING NOW

 

Tuesday February 24th 2009

I was very pleased to see my story featured in 'Triathlete's World' this month. It is always good to open up a magazine and see yourself in print and I have to thank Ruth Emmett for an excellent article, and for making my Nan proud. Its available in all good newsagents!

 

I thought I would take the opportunity to mention a fantastic achievement by a guy called Steven Philp. He too was attempting an extreme triathlon, although he wasn't having any big gaps in between like myself, the big wimp that I am. His plan, starting last summer, was to run the length of England, swim the Channel, and cycle all the way across Europe to Istanbul.  This Trans-European Triathlon was in aid of the Stroke Association and was a really extraordinary test, both mentally and physically. I highly recommened visiting Steven's website and taking the time to have a read through each of his adventures, they are all truly remarkable tales.

Click here to visit Trans-European Triathlon

This years Tour climaxes with an ascent of Mont Ventoux, one of the most difficult mountain climbs in the Tour's history. I stumbled across a couple of quotes about it which I thought I would share:

"The Ventoux is a god of Evil, to which sacrifices must be made. It never forgives weakness and extracts an unfair tribute of suffering."
Roland Barthes, French philosopher, pioneer of semiotics, sometimes windbag and full-time bicycle racing fan, describes Mont Ventoux, a 13-mile clilmb above the treeline into a desolation of strewn rock, in the Tour de France.

"Physically, the Ventoux is dreadful. Bald, it's the spirit of Dry: Its climate (it is much more an essence of climate than a geographic place) makes it a damned terrain, a testing place for heroes, something like a higher hell."
Roland Barthes, French philosopher and bicycle racing fan, describes Mont Ventoux in the Tour de France.

"Nineteen hundred meters up there is completely different from1,900 any place else. There's no air, there's no oxygen. There's no vegetation, there's no life. There's no life. Just rocks. Any other climb there's vegetation, grass and trees. Not there on the Ventoux. It's more like the moon than a mountain."
Lance Armstrong, American cycling king, wearing Tour de France yellow jersey on the Ventoux Stage, 2000.

Wednesday December 31st 2008

And so 2008 is at an end, and a new year is set to begin - a time for reflecting back and looking forward. Well, I'm done reflecting on what happened in 2008, so it is time to look forward to 2009.

As the vast majority of you believe that the only way to truly experience cycling the Tour de France is to actually do it the same way as the pros, that is to say in 23 days, one stage per day, then that is what I will do. In truth it is the only way I could see myself doing it anyway. It is, however, the more expensive option, and I will spend the next three months working all the hours I can to fund it. My training will consist primarily of cycling to and from work (a round trip of almost 20 miles per day) with long rides taking place on any occasional day off I may be afforded. Come spring I plan to ditch work and hit the road in search of adventure. Loading my bike panniers, I plan to bike down to London before completing a London-to-Edinburgh ride. In Edinburgh I will hopefully find work as a cycle courier, delivering parcels around the city whilst being paid to train. Why Edinburgh?

It reputedly has one of the best cycle networks in the UK, and, although I have yet to visit it, it has of course a reputation for being a beautiful city. What better place to spend outdoors cycling all day and being paid for it? After a month or two of this, the next stage of my plan is to take a trip up through the Scottish Highlands, or down through the Peak District and Snowdonia, or all three, looking for some decent size hills to test me. My theory being if I can cope with these on a heavy bike loaded with full panniers, the more severe Pyrenean and Alpine climbs should be possible on a much lighter machine. And then, come July, I will head for Monaco to begin the biggest challenge of my life - to cycle 2,200 miles in 23 days and complete the 2009 Tour de France route.

Thats the plan anyway, and 2009 promises to be quite an adventure. Happy New Year everyone!

Above: One of the stages of next years Tour. If it helps you to picture it, the Col de Romme, that small summit near the end, is about the same height as Ben Nevis. The distance, 169 km, is roughly the same as between London and Birmigham.

I have two options as to how I can cycle the Tour de France next year. Option one involves trying to complete each stage in one day, as the pros do, and finish the whole thing in 23 days. The disavantage being I will need a dedicated support crew to transport me overnight from one stage finish to the next start.

Option two would involve taking things a bit more gently and could be done without a support crew. By cycling the bits in between stages and carrying my own kit in panniers, I could in theory complete the task alone. However, doing so in 23 days would become impossible, and I would likely be on the road for something more like 6 weeks. In many ways, this option becomes a tougher test.

So which do you think I should do? Is not completing it in the same way as the pros a kop-out? Or is it even more impressive? What do you think I should do? Your opinion really matters to me so please vote below. Many thanks!!!

Saturday 8th November and Sunday 9th November 2008

I spent most of the weekend covered in mud, as I competed in two Endurancelife events down on the Dorset coast. On Saturday I took on the challenge of the first coastal trail marathon, which proved to be an epic task. This was followed on Sunday by a mountain bike competition, not easy with tired legs! More details to follow...

This is the route for next summers Tour de France which was announced this morning. It starts in Monaco and winds down into Spain and Andorra through the Pyrenees. It then jumps up through France before heading across into Switzerland and Italy and back down into the Alps for the serious mountain stages, culminating in a final ascent of Mount Ventoux, one of the most difficult climbs ever featured in Tour history.

Very few of the stages start from where the previous stage ends, and there are a number of very large gaps, so it looks like I will be in need of a support crew. I also have to decide whether I am going to attempt to do each stage in one day and complete the whole course in 23 days, as the pros will do, or whether to take a longer but more leisurely time over things. The latter of these appeals for obvious reasons, and will allow me to enjoy some of the places I'll visit along the way a little more. However, I think in the true spirit of the challenge, I will almost certainly be trying to do as the pros do and complete it in 23 days.

Sunday October 19th 2008

The Dorset Trail Marathon is in less than three weeks, and will involve very difficult terrain, lots of inclines, and the likelihood that we will probably have to run more than the usual 26.2 miles. Finding all this out made me feel more than a little nervous, especially as I have had so little time to train for it. I think I may have taken on more than I bargained for with this one. Nevertheless, I thought it might be prudent to attempt some sort of actual running race beforehand, and with the Maidstone half-marathon right on my doorstep today, I decided to take part.

Its been over a year since my last race and my target today was to finish in under 2 hours. I had to get up very early to make sure I got an entry place, as I hadn't pre-entered, and mingling with the other runners I saw a familiar face. It was Cliff Golding. Cliff has swam the Channel twice, in 1997 and 2003, and was a regular on the beach this summer, helping me out more than once with his encouragement and advice. He is also a keen runner of course, and discussing our pre-race ambitions, it was obvious I wouldn't be keeping up with him today.

It was a lovely day for running, but my run started off slow. There were over 700 runners, and maybe I started too far back, but I felt like I was being held up for the first mile. A look at my watch at the first mile marker confirmed it - 9 minutes 20 seconds. I would need to average 9-minute-miles to finish in under 2 hours, I needed to step up the pace. And for the second mile thats what I did, skipping past runners with ease, feeling confident as we headed out of Maidstone. In fact, the second mile was 7 minutes 34 seconds - a bit too fast! As we encountered a big hill, not to be the last, I began to regret going quite so fast, as many of the runners I just passed went back past me and I felt pretty stupid, and pretty tired!


I am in this picture, try and spot me

Despite my erratic start, I soon settled into a rhythm and the next few miles were all between 8:30 and 9:00 minutes. We were running alongside a road I knew well. After returning from hitch-hiking around Europe last summer, I had got stuck at Maidstone services. Hitching in England is a real pain and, unable to catch a lift home, I had walked into Maidstone to the train station, along the very path I was now running on. It brought back a good few memories.

It was during these miles that I made a few 'rivals' - people who kept overtaking me, and I would then overtake, and so on. One of these was a lady with a bright orange T-shirt with 'I AMsterdam' on the back. Another was a slightly plump, bespectacled, bald man. I became determined to beat them both, as we passed through half-way and started heading back to Maidstone.

The return journey was along narrow country roads and provided some much nicer scenery, as well as being unfortunately quite undulating. I was running ok, I felt like I was running within myself. At 7-miles I decided I was going to up the pace at 9-miles. But when the 9-mile marker came along I really didn't feel like pushing it. I was comfortably on for 2 hours after all. By 11 miles I had left the bald guy behind, but the orange lady was still about 100 metres ahead of me. I decided I would attempt to reel her in. With just one mile to go I finally caught up to her, and then proceeded to run along just behind her, planning to sprint past her at the end in a quite glorious victory in our little race (that only I knew we were having.)

With 300 metres or so left I decided to go for it and sprinted off ahead. I found this surprisingly easy and I realised that I had probably been taking the run a little too easy as I clearly still had plenty in the tank. Still, I came in in 1 hour 54 minutes and I had achieved my 2-hour target. Happy days.

Friday October 10th 2008

So, the Tour de France changes route every year. The route for 2009 isn't revealed for another two weeks, but the rumours are it will start in Monaco and go through Barcelona and Andorra. I love Barcelona and who doesn't want to visit Andorra, right? So thats good. The big mountain looks like it might be Mt Ventoux, one of the most feared mountain stages ever on the tour where Tom Simpson famously once met his maker due to exhaustion. Not so good. At the moment I'm still not sure how I'm going to work it logistically, because the start of one stage is never where the last stage ends, so I'm not sure whether I will need a support vehicle, or whether I will cycle the bits in between or what yet. I'll have to make those decisions when the route is revealed.

But how am I going to train for this massive challenge of cycling over 2,000 miles? I need to be able to train for hours every day, while also holding down a job which will pay the bills. Then I had an idea:

Thursday October 2nd 2008

After the disappointment of not finishing my Channel swim last week, I pretty quickly decided I needed a new challenge to focus my energy towards. I thought a marathon would be a good challenge, especially as I have not run for months, and I soon found one that intrigued me, provided by Endurancelife.

The Endurancelife Coastal Trail series is actually seven marathons in seven months, all at beautiful coastal locations run along trails. I have never run a proper trail marathon before, and the first one takes place in Dorset on the 8th of November. I am going to attempt this one for definite. I am not sure about whether I will run the remaining six as well, but I am seriously tempted.
 
 

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