For my readers outside France - General notes and thoughts

A rare shot of me leading a group on a climb - photo courtesy Eric Coue 

If you fancy coming over here to race I couldn’t recommend it highly enough.

Racing here is a real blast! Whether you are a budding professional, a keen amateur or even one of those lunatic Triathletes, you’ll love racing over here. The French have been organising local and regional cycling events forever and have it down to a fine art. Races are always well organised, laid-back, and professional. Town rides take place on closed circuits for security, and Open races (Sportives etc.) are always well marshalled with support vehicles (cars and motorbikes) escorting all of the big groups to make sure other road users are well aware of the oncoming cyclists. This is a real bonus for those of you who face the ‘gauntlet’ of cycling on the crowed UK road system.

So, if you fancy joining us, here is some information that might help:

Those with British cycle race licences:

·         You will be able to enter any Cyclo Sportive or Randonées (less serious ‘fun’ events)

·         Depending on the type of licence you have (you might be a serious Category rider for example) you will be able to enter the Pass’Cyclisme, Category races, Criterions, etc.

Those without licences:

·         You can enter Sportives and Randonées, but you will have to produce an up-to-date medical certificate

·         Be warned though, my son has just paid his GP £25 for a medical certificate so he can enter the Quiberon Olympic Triathlon in September (yes, like his dad he is one of those nut-jobs who enjoy the pain of multi-discipline events), so it isn’t cheap!

Things you need to know:

·         If you want to make a holiday of your trip over here I can put you in touch with gite owners (holiday homes) who’d be happy to help

·         I could also recommend a couple of reasonably priced local hotels and B&Bs if you fancy shorter stays  

·         I know it’s a little late for this year (I don’t know why I didn’t think of this earlier), but take a look at this site for Sportives in France and fill in you race calendar for the rest of the year: http://www.velo-cyclosport.com/agenda/cyclosportives2011.html (Tip: you’ll need to turn on your Google translation programmes if you don’t read French).

·         Do you need to sharpen up your race performance? I can highly recommend the Flamme Rouge website: http://www.flammerouge.je/content/0_home/home.htm. This is run by my mate Tony Williams who is based in Jersey. On this site you’ll find some very useful training drills to help you up your game. Go on, give it a go and see your race times improve.

Finally, you can drop me a line at: Kerry.donovan@sfr.fr if you have any questions or comments. Better still, add a comment to the bottom of the blog and we can have one of those new-fangled on-line discussion thingies.

Keep cycling, and have fun.

Tra for now, K

“La Ange Roussel” – Rumengol (56)” – Cyclo-Sportive - 24th July 2011 - (100kms)

I did this race last year – to see how I fared take a look at the blog. Suffice to say, my goal was to finish the bloody race this time - there, gave the game away didn’t I?

It was a cool morning with a touch of drizzle in the air so I wore detachable sleeves and leggings, rolled up to just below the knees. I kept the sleeves on for the whole race as it didn’t warm up much at all.

Start: About a hundred of us set out to face a heavily undulating course. I managed to stay with the lead group for the first hour or so but was cast adrift after a long climb that was followed by a fast descent and then another long drag. I spent a couple of kilometres on my own cycling through a quiet valley with wooded slopes before I noticed a small group  of riders behind me.

I did the clever thing this year; I slowed down a little for them to catch me before latching on to the back wheel of the last man. See? Hit me over the head a few times and I’ll finally get the message - it's easier to cycle with a group than to slog it out on your own.

My new friends were at a very similar level to me – that is to say, average! However, one of them was quite a good climber so I stuck to his wheel on each climb. It turned out that I was a better downhiller than him so he took my wheel for the descents - quid-pro-quo. Our four-man group worked well together and we soon began to sweep up stragglers and our number eventually swelled to ten.

Cows: A herd of cows stopped us in our tracks just like one did last year! It was almost as though the farmer had deliberately planned it. Luckily we were on a straight bit of road and could see them early or we would have run right into them at 35kph. We slowly picked our way past the herd and carried on along some very uneven and badly pitted roads (unusual for Brittany). Then it happened! At exactly the same point in the race as last year I was dropped. Dammit!

Deja vu: We had just crested a long hard uphill climb and I was preparing myself for a nice rest on the downhill when a corner revealed one of those bloody false flats. Instead of levelling off the climb continued, unrelenting. I dropped further and further back. I was absolutely gutted.

This year though, I’m stronger. I dug deep and slowly managed to close the gap. Then, mercifully, just before I my legs were completely fried, the road dropped away into a lovely, long, fast downhill. I let the bike run free, relaxed down on the handlebars and flew down the hill at over 55 kph. I soon went to the front of the group; spinning my legs gently to keep them loose. The next climb soon arrived but my impetus took me most of the way up before I had to work the pedals hard. We even had a tailwind which helped immensely.

After about 60kmps we formed into a chain-gang and really ate up the miles. At one stage we were cruising along the few flats at over 45kph – exhilarating.

Success (of sorts): The rest of the race is a bit of a blur. I started feeling cramp up in my left quadriceps with about fifteen kilometres to go but managed to continue through the pain. Mercifully, it was downhill most of the way home and I survived.

As a group we agreed not to contest the finish and crossed the line in a bunch – all done!

I was tired but quite happy with my performance; a massive improvement on last year. My average speed for this hilly course was 31.9kph – not bad, for me!

“Saint Armel (56)” – 15th July 2011 - (4.3x13) – D3/4

Saint Armel is a quiet little town on the coast of the Gulf of Morbihan. The course was fast and flat. Mercifully the rain kept away for the race, and the wind was the merest zephyr.

Overview: This was my first evening race with a 20:01hrs start time to allow the D1/2 race to begin first. An 8 o’clock evening start time in July is not as late as it appears to those living in the UK. Remember, we are an hour ahead here so it doesn’t get dark until late these days, so at least I could be sure of finishing before night-time.

Along for the ride: The start was fast and furious but I managed to stick with the group without much distress. A few guys tried to break clear early on, but were reeled in by the pack fairly quickly. Surprisingly, my English mate Bob Jones tried to attack on lap three, much earlier than he usually kicks, but his move was covered. The other riders had marked his card and did not want Bob to have it all his own way.

My wife, Jan, had made the trip down to the coast with me and spent the race with Bob’s wife Vicky. She cheered me on from outside the bar in the village every time we passed the podium. Some people have it tough, eh?

I grew more confident that I’d be able to stay with the pace as the laps ticked by; I even covered an attack in the middle of the race. I struggled a little on the slight hill at the back end of the course, but always managed to close the gap before the little rise into the finish.

Jan still cheered me on at the start of every new lap. Maybe she would finally see me involved in a sprint finish after all my poor recent results. Optimism again Kerry?

Lap 7: I missed my gear on one of the small climbs, dropped back a few metres and had to work like stink to rejoin the pack – quads on fire again, a familiar feeling these days. Then, just as I closed the gap, some arsehole on the front kicked, the group sped up and I lost my recovery time. I hung on and managed to stay with them but the effort was beginning to tell.

I kept with them for another circuit but had to work really hard to do so and had no recovery time at all.

Lap 8: I was still with the group but working almost flat out to stay with them. Then, on the last left-hander my back wheel lost grip and slipped from underneath me. I didn’t fall, but lost impetus and by the time I regained full control of the bike (and my nerve), a gap had formed. It was only a ten-metre gap at first and I managed to hold it at that for half a lap but it was too much for me and I cracked with just three laps to go. Dammit!     

Laps 9-11: I only lost about 3 minutes on the pack by the time I’d finished. I did keep up the effort though, and managed to pass a few stragglers on my way home.

There’s no doubt in my mind, I’m nearly, nearly there. Another couple of percent improvement and I might be competitive. More targeted training is needed I think.

Result: Position: 29^th, Distance: 53 kms, Time: 1:28:40, Average speed: 35.8kph.

And finally: Jan, not the most supportive of my sporting efforts, (she has after all, seen me fail at cricket, football, triathlon, golf and now cycling, in our 36 years together), gave me a “Good effort Kerry!” when I finally finished. She had seen how hard I’d tried and at least could applaud a gallant effort! 

The Bruise!

I was taking a shower the other day – no, it’s not one of those stories – and noticed a dark mark in the centre of my chest. It was the grey, the colour of cement. I’ve been building a stone wall recently and I thought the mark might be the result of splashed cement so I tried scrubbing at it with a sponge; it wouldn’t budge.

After the shower I put some glasses on and checked the mark again and discovered that it was actually a bruise! I was somewhat surprised because I couldn’t for the life of me figure out when I’d hurt myself. The wall I’m building is still quite low, (building stone walls is a very slow business), so it wasn’t the result of a stone falling on me or anything like that.

I was baffled. Spontaneous bruising can be symptomatic of some very nasty conditions – oh, I can be a real hypochondriac sometimes. One of the down sides of doing a degree in human anatomy and physiology is that you learn just what a complicated and delicate thing the human body is. Mine, of course, is more delicate than most; I’m such a wimp!

I took me a few days to figure out the cause of the mysterious bruise and it was just a simple bruise. It wasn’t anything like purpura, leukemia, thrombocytopenia, or vasculitis. No, it was none of those horrible-sounding diseases. It was caused by, and this is the reason for this entry in my Cycle Race Reports blog, my cycle water bottle! Yes, the simple bidon; (did you know that the French have a special word for cycle bottles).

How can bruising be caused by a plastic water bottle? I hear you ask.

It’s simple really. When I take a drink during a ride, I close the little plastic stopper by banging the top of the bidon against my chest before I replace the bottle into its cage. The stops joice spilling all over my nice clean bike (honest), and saves me losing valuable drink over bumpy roads.

Now, the cyclist riding position means that I am often bent over on the bars when I take a drink. So I end up closing the bidon against my breastbone. This is the least padded place on my chest – hence the bruising.

Case closed!

Unfortunately, I don’t know of a better way to close the stopper, the rest of my torso is so flabby that the stopper won’t close on anything else other than my breastbone. I’ll have to put up with the bruising I guess. Hey ho!

Next blog: Saint Armel (56).

“Maure de Bretagne (35)” – 10th July 2011 - (5.03x11) – D1/4

In case you forgot what I look like, (pic courtesy Eric Coue, Taupont Cyclisme).

Overview: I travelled to Maure de Bretagne with ‘strong-man’ Ian Cushway. The day was warm with a slight breeze that seemed to increase in velocity as the race progressed (honestly). Maure is another beautiful Brittany village – there are hundreds of them dotted around this wonderful part of France. However, after the first warm-up lap I knew the course was not for me. A 270 degree right turn immediately after the start was followed by a 1km uphill drag, then by 3kms of undulating narrow roads and a fast descent into an uphill finish.

Start: About 65 of us set off, all four groups together (D1-D4). The first lap proceeded at a fairly reasonable pace and I managed to stay bang in the middle of the group without too many problems. In fact, I stayed in contact until the middle of lap three when the main group, led by (former mate) Ian, chased off after a nine-man breakaway. They left me for dead.

I found myself wallowing all alone at the back of the race - just like old times!

I contemplated dropping out, but decided I needed the training and continued on as best I could. I tried to delay the inevitable but the race caught me up on lap 7 and swept past in no time. I didn’t have the strength to try and latch on for a tow so I let them go without so much as a whimper. The nine leaders were not too far ahead of the chase group which still included Ian. He looked to be mixing it up well with the best of them.

Company: A straggler who’d been dropped from the chasing pack caught me up soon after the peloton passed and I had some company for the remainder of the race; 3 laps to go for him, and 4 laps for me.

It’s amazing what a fillip it is to have someone to ride with after an hour and a half on your own. I managed to do my fair share at the front even though my legs were burning and I was a little light-headed. My companion stopped at the end of the race and I carried on alone to complete my final (11^th) circuit; I’m nothing if not a glutton for punishment. I’ve begun calling this my ‘lap of dishonour’; it happens so bloody often. 

By the time I crossed the line for the final time the award ceremony was already taking place. I half expected, hoped, to see Ian on the podium for his share of the D3/4 spoils but no.

Puncture: I learned later that Ian had suffered a rear-wheel puncture near the finish line on lap 5 or 6 and had hot-footed it back to the car to change wheels. Luckily, I had brought a spare rear wheel for just such an emergency.

Ian was allowed to filter back into the race and attach himself to the chasing group by missing out a lap. This is perfectly acceptable and is not as advantageous as it might appear. During an enforced one-lap ‘rest break’ your legs will stiffen up and it will take some time for you to return ‘race-pace’. Ian managed this really well – I did say he was a ‘strong man’ didn’t I!

I finished last and I don't have Ian’s final position, but he must have figured quite highly in the D3/4 race. I averaged a pitiful 30.9kph (1:53:02 for 58kms), I guess Ian was nearer 36kph.

Overview: I’ve decided to put more time into hill training; I really need to strengthen my legs now that I have finally improved my stamina. I’m fed up with struggling so much on the hills.

Training drills: I have recently found an excellent website which includes training drills for keen cyclists. The Flamme Rouge site is run by my new mate Tony Williams and the link is: (http://www.flammerouge.je/content/0_home/home.htm).

I would highly recommend the site. 

Next race: Saint Armel, Friday evening (apparently its pan flat - we'll see). 

“La Coeur de Bretagne” at Malestriot – 3rd July 2011 - (130kms)

A slightly long blog this time, but then, so was the race!

08:40: To tell you the truth I was just a little nervous as I lined up for the start of another broiling hot day in the rolling hills of the Morbihan. I felt decidedly under prepared for this race.

Since completing winter training my rides this season have largely been limited to the 70-to-90 kilometer mark. Admittedly, my training and racing speeds have been higher, but as I waited at the starting line I didn’t know whether this would stand me in good stead for a 4-hour undulating ride; time would tell.  

About 150 riders lined up for the start, somewhat fewer than the 200-odd that started in 2011. Another change was the 20kph speed restriction that was put in place for the first 5 kms; a safety feature installed to protect us from all the street furniture that littered the roads throughout Malestroit. This suited me, and allowed me plenty of time to warm up properly before the start of the climbs on the first circuit.

Circuit 1 (48kms): A few long slow climbs, a couple of sharp bumps, fast descents but nothing too serious.

When the lead car and safety-motorbikes eventually pulled away to allow the real racing to begin I felt strong. The main group stayed together for about 20kms until a detachment of strong men (including my mate Andy Shaw) pulled away on one of the long uphill drags towards the brewery town of Le Roc St-André. I worked hard and, to my surprise, managed to remain in the middle of the second 30-strong group.

By the time we completed the first circuit and found ourselves back in Malestroit to start the second circuit our average speed had clicked up to over 34kph; not bad considering the earlier speed restriction. This shows the advantage of being able to stay with a pack. I was pleased at my progress and still felt quite. There were only two things of concern during Circuit 1.

The first was a couple on a tandem that kept being dropped on the climbs and then overtaking us on the flats and descents. That wasn’t too much of a problem, but they kept cutting me up as they overtook me. The ‘Captain’ (the guy on front, the one in control), obviously didn’t realized that he needed to give more room before cutting back onto his racing line. Unfortunately I don’t have enough French to get my point across without using hand signals (if you see what I mean), so I decided to keep my council, and my hands on the bars.   

The second thing was the sharp little climb into the village of Caro. I regularly train on this part of the course so I knew that the preceding descent was fast and a little technical (twisty). I managed to get to the front of the bunch and attack the hill to give myself the chance of staying with the group. I knew I’d be caught before the top and that’s exactly what happened.

However, as we swept through the village at the top of the climb I had managed to stay with the group; success. My quads were on fire as we sped through the villange and onwards into the countryside, but I recovered over the following few kilometers by staying at the back of the group and doing almost no work. I like it when a plan comes together, (I don’t know who said that first[1], but it’s true).

Circuit 2 (50kms): Gently undulating and quite fast.

This was the long, fast circuit, identical to the 2010 race. We motored along and our average speed ramped up above 36kph. Nothing of note happened until were caught by the leaders of the 98kms race a couple of kilometers before the race split onto the 130kms circuit. They had started about 15 minutes after us and were motoring.

Surprisingly, as they reached us, it gave me a real boost because I was able to measure my progress from last year. There were a couple of reasons for the uplift in my spirits.

Firstly, when they joined us our group doubled in size and our speed immediately increased. Secondly, in the 2010 race, I had been caught by the 98kms leaders a hell of a lot earlier than this, confirming that I was riding so much better, and what’s more, I still felt really strong. I was riding well within myself and felt confident of being able to put the hard miles in towards the end of the race.

All too soon though, the bifurcation of the route arrived and the 98kms riders turned off to the left while my group turned right onto the final loop of the course.

Circuit 3 (32kms): Fast, undulating and, the return of an old ‘friend’. 

This is where the organizers changed the route from 2010. They more or less reversed the loop from last year and added a nice little surprise 15kms from the finish.

We rode through the pretty villages of Treal and Reminia and I was able to keep towards the head of the group, covering any potential breaks and looking forward to the sprint finish. How’s that for optimism, eh? Then the course took a sharp left up a hill and a road sign told me we were 5kms from, yes, you guessed it, Caro.

We were on our way back to bloody Caro again!

The race organizers, acting out of a particular form of sadism had included a second bite of the Caro cherry; the ‘friend’ mentioned in the section heading! I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach.

As we approached the descent before the climb I tried to attack again as I had on the first Circuit, but this time I simply didn’t have the strength to break to the front of the group. I tried, but there was just no real strength left in my legs and by the time I crested the hill into the village I was well off the back of the bunch. My hopes of a grand sprint finish were shattered, as were my poor old quads; on fire again. With fifteen kilometers to go I was on my own; just like old times really.

This year though, I am stronger so I buckled down and punched the pedals. Before long I actually had a couple of stragglers from my splintered group in my sights. This spurred me to make a greater effort and I actually managed to pass half a dozen riders on my way to the finish. I can take some solace in that, but I am still disappointed in failing to keep with the group.

Falling back like that probably cost me about 20 places and about 5 minutes. Such is the help you get when riding with a bunch. Hey ho!

Round up: Position: 107^th (out of 134 finishers) - Time: 3:43:32 - Average speed: 34.9kph (official).

Compared with last year’s race this was a real success for me despite the hill-climbing blunder. I was faster, placed higher and if you do a little bit of ‘Top Gear Maths’ (the winner’s time was 9 minutes slower than 2010), I was some 18 minutes faster than last year, and the weather conditions were about the same!

Reasons to be cheerful then!    

No race next weekend, but the dreaded sportive, ‘La Ange Roussell’ in Remungol is coming up on the 24^th July – my nemisis! (See last year’s blog for reference).

---

[1] Hannibal from the ‘A’ Team – Ah, the memories of a misspent youth - Ed