Guegon – Cyclo Randonée - 20^th June 2010

So, there I was, standing outside Daniel Dunot’s house, 08:00 hrs, Sunday morning; the day after the wondrous events at St Brieuc.

The previous night, as he dropped me off, Daniel had invited me to participate in a Randonée at Guegon the following morning. I of course, refused; I was knackered after the St Brieuc hills and my legs had stiffened up after sitting in the back of a car for the 80 minute return journey.

Daniel insisted, saying that the Randonée was only 45 kms (28 miles) and our club, Taupont Cyclisme (henceforth to be known as T.C.) would be well represented and no-one would be at our usual Sunday-morning meeting place. I relented and agreed to attend; after all it was only 28 miles and would be a good post-race ride to shake off my stiff leg muscles. Yeah!

Sunday dawned with a brilliant blue sky and a warm mid-summer sun peaking over the wooded Guilliers hillsides, promising a hot morning in the saddle. The dawn chorus shrilled loudly and a gentle steam rose lazily rising from the grass of my back lawn as the heat from the sun evaporated the overnight dew. All was right with the world....... Ooh err, that sounded a bit poetic; better get back to business and my usual bald prose......

As I said, the weather was brilliant, sunny, warm and still. I deal for a gentle Sunday morning shake-down ride with friends. I was stiff-legged but relaxed about the whole affair.

Now, for those that don’t cycle or live in France, let me tell you what I’ve learned about Randonées. They’re a little like Fun Runs back in the UK. Semi-serious affairs which can include, cycle road races of varying distances, Velos Toutes Terraines (VTT’s - off-road cycling), and even some country walks. This one at Guegon included all three so there were a great many competitors milling around the Guegon Sports Centre. We paid our €5 entrance fee, which included a much-needed feeding station (more of that later), and a post ride drink and sandwich.

Randonées: the skinny.

Now, Randonée cycle road races are strange semi-serious affairs; you just turn up with your mates and 'go for it' at any time you fancy after the ‘official’ start time of, in this case, 08:30. My group started at 08:45hrs; there were about 30 of us on a rolling start out of the venue

As this was only going to be 28 miles, a distance I can do ‘standing on my head these days, I decided to ride light and took only a small water bottle and carried no snack bars.

Back to the ride:

We started off really slowly, no more than 14 -15 mph which suited me greatly and gave my aching legs a chance to loosen up.

After about 20 kms with the speed slowly being ratcheted up I mentioned to the T.C. rider next to me, Vincent (nice chap, loves VVTs), that we were already over half way and the going was really comfortable. He gave me one of those quizzical looks, shook his head in that particularly Gallic way, you know, where the shoulder shrug is included for free, and said that this was a 90 kms ride!

Well, I nearly fell off my bike!

Had I misunderstood what Daniel had said – not out of the questions considering my miserable French language skills? I confirmed what Vincent told me with a couple of the other guys, just to make sure I wasn’t being the victim of a ‘wind-up’.

When I mentioned that I was ‘sans repas’ (without food), a couple of guys immediately reached into their back pockets to offer me a food bar – have I mentioned what great guys they are? Anyway, I accepted a rather appetising and energising apricot food bar from my old mate Mickael Crete (previously mentioned in the Lamballe report), and was set fair until we reached Taupont, where I knew there was a refuelling station waiting.

The course was hilly (more bloody hills), but, despite the misunderstanding, I managed to stay with the bunch. At one stage we worked together in a chain-gang for a few miles. We were on the D764 (if you have your Morbihan roadmap handy); a major road into Josselin with a long, slightly downhill stretch of straight road which today was downwind. We really built up the speed here and cruised along at speeds in excess of 30 mph. At one stage, the speedo clocked 66.4 kph (41.5mph) and we weren’t exactly descending the Alps either!

For the non-cyclists who think 41.5 mph is a bit sedate, try sticking your head out of a car window when it’s going at that speed and feel what the wind is like as it drives into your face. That’s the power of chain-gang road cycling.

I have to mention here that during this stage all of the work was being done by the T.C. riders, seven of us in all, working the chain, whilst the other 12 or so riders in the group clung onto our coat-tails. Wheel-suckers, they’re sometimes called (at least they were in that great 80’s flick with a pre-stardom Kevin Costner – America Flyers – one of the ‘best’ sports movies ever made in my humble....).

Where was I? Oh yes.... I was a bit pissed off later in the ride when a couple of the wheel-suckers who had managed to keep with us until the end, tried to out-sprint us to the finish line. You might call it good race tactics; I call it a bloody cheek, almost cheating – never done it myself, never would either (if you believe that,....).

Once through Josselin (a picturesque town with a beautiful old Chateau that clings to the side of a steep valley, and yes, you guessed it, more bloomin’ hills), we made it to the refuelling station in Taupont where the group magnanimously agreed to stop and allow me to wolf down a couple of slices of cake and load up some cereal bars and more water.

By this stage (32 miles), our group had dwindled down to ten or so riders; 7 from T.C. and 3 ‘guests’; the others, including Daniel I noticed, had either been dropped, or had decided to take a shorter route.

I won’t bore you with details of the rest of the ride, but the second half of the course was even hillier than the first. We worked hard, with the usual little hill sprints and fast descents; including a climb up the tortuous and extended hill into Quily, and on until the final long climb into Geugon.

I kept up and eventually finished 4th of the bunch - not bad for me considering the terrain. We had a nice post-race beer and sandwich and I toddled off home to my ice bath and afternoon snooze in front of the TV.

“Ice bath?” I hear you guffaw! Yes, ice bath.

Training notes:

The theory has it that post-exercise ice baths speed up the removal of lactic acid from the muscles - the effect of blood-shunting facilitating transportation of waste material from muscle cells - see my upcoming exercise physiology blogs (you know I’ve a doctorate in exercise physiology don’t you?).

If you have any training questions or tips, please feel free to post a reply on this blog-site.

Generally, I run a cold bath, put a few of those freezer packs in the water and sit there for the length of time it takes me to finish a cup of hot tea (10 – 15 minutes). Try it, it’s not as devastating as you might think – and it works.

I utilised the same treatment after all my long summer rides although I find it unnecessary during the winter; the legs are cold enough after a long winter ride!

Anyway, that’s all for now, my next race is a 130kms Sportif at Malestroit on 4^th July. I guess it’ll be an independent sort of affair (see what I did there?).

Keep visiting this site for the next race report and the occasional bits of training advice.

By the way, I can't tell you how well I slept that night after a total of 130 miles of cycling at race-pace that weekend.

Take care, and Bon Velo!, K.