Etape 2009: Friday and Saturday

The trip started in Keston in South East London at my sister-in-laws house. I met up with Clive and Ed at Elizabeth's as she had kindly offered to put us up. It is close to the Eurotunnel and we were borrowing her car so it was helpful to get everything ready on the Friday before getting up early on the Saturday morning. We were given a lovely chilly and went to bed to try and get some sleep. It wasn't easy.


We were up at 4am on Saturday to get our 6am train. Everything was going well until we were about 30 minutes from the Tunnel. Without any warning, the rear car window shattered. Nothing hit it and the bikes were secure so were had no idea what happened.

We got in contact with Autoglass and their Ashford branch had a Volvo rear window but didn't open until 8am - over a two hour wait. It was very tense with us discussing our options.

Autoglass opened up at 8am and the man their was right on the ball. He had it changed in 30 minutes and we were away at 9:25 after it was set (but £550 poorer - fingers crossed on the insurance).

We had obviously missed the train we had booked but they put us on one at 11:50 for no extra cost. We had some coffee and breakfast and then we were off - again.

Once in France I put my foot down and we made good progress. We were all holding our breath, waiting for the window to go again. If it went a second time that would be the end of the trip and with every bump we went over, we all jumped. We were not relaxed.

The journey was very easy with no traffic and we made it down to Avignon at midnight with a bad window intact. We had a small issue with the rooms as one of us was sharing and the reps had neglected to tell the other person already in the room who was now asleep. Thankfully, he was very good humoured when they woke him up.

We were in bed before 1am and I think we all got a reasonable nights sleep.

Job done

I'm currently in the car somewhere north of Dijon with a big grin on
my face. Yesterday was an amazing day. I'll write a full report
tomorrow but I'll just say it was a fun 93 miles and then an epic 14
miles in the heat on Ventoux. I've never experienced anything like it
before. So proud of myself. Who'd have thought I could do that.

--
Simon Lewis
www.dadsandlittluns.co.uk
etape2009.blogspot.com

Race day

Well, today's the day. Managed to get 6 hours sleep. Struggled with
breakfast but finished my cereal and bread. On the coach to the start.
Its a mixed atmosphere, some very quiet, others talking nervously. I
can see the light on the top of Ventoux which isn't helping. My mate
Simon drove up it yesterday and sent me a text. All it said was "its
big".

--
Simon Lewis
www.dadsandlittluns.co.uk
etape2009.blogspot.com

Finally here

What a day. Up at 4, off in time and down to euro tunnel. Then rear
window shattered. We had to drive to Ashford and wait until 8 at
autoglass. Then another 2 hours for it to be fix. We had missed the
train so didn't get no one until 12, six hours behind schedule. It got
better after that. A clear run 650 miles through France. Got there at
11.30. Hotel is good and we all had an ok nights sleep. Off to get our
race chip now with lots of other worried looking riders. #END

--
Simon Lewis
www.dadsandlittluns.co.uk
etape2009.blogspot.com

Off we go

All packed and ready to go. Bike clean, serviced and looking good. Body in good(ish) shape and feeling fine.

I'm off to my sister-in-law's tonight as she lives in north Kent which is great for Ashford the the Eurotunnel. She is also lending us her car which is very very kind.

I can't believe is all happening now. Its been 14 months since we came up with this crazy idea and its flown past.

A huge thanks to everyone who as read my blog, left comments, sponsored me, given me great advice and listened to me drone on about cycling. Special thanks to my wife Cath who has put up with all my training, weekends away and extra costs over the past year. She has been very understanding.

I'll try and post whilst in France and I'll be taking lots of pictures and video.

Good luck to anyone taking part and I hope you have a great ride.

All the best,
Simon

Video nasty

I wanted to do a video of the 11 events I had completed in the build-up to the Etape. In my head, it was to be a montage of dramatic pictures with stirring music. What I've made looks to me like a stinky slice to cheese. I feel like Michael Bay. Great ideas, terrible execution.

Anyway, watch and laugh.

All roads lead to the Giant of Provence

With less than a week to go, I have been reading far too many reports on Mont Ventoux and scaring myself silly. These are a few quotes.

"The forest. Jesus, the forest. Nothing can prepare you for that relentless ten kilometres through the forest. There is simply nothing else like it. Double chevrons crawl like spiders on the map all the way along the D974. Looking straight up the road gives me vertigo, makes me queasy."
Giles P Croft from the Rapha site.

"The climb seemed endless. Just when you think you are near the top, the sign '11km to the summit' appears. At that point riders were starting to get off and push in increasing numbers."
Report from the Etape 2000 which went up Ventoux.

"If the legs are hurting it's a mental challenge too as each time you'll see bend in the road ahead and hope for respite but it never seems to come. Instead it is just up and up, a real ordeal. There's are points where the gradient slackens but it's relative, 7% instead of 9%."
Route report on the Kingston Wheelers site.

"With no sign posts from there to Chalet Reynard and no hairpins, the ascent is unforgiving. In the forest it is hot and humid, quiet. There is still no sign of the top and it’s infuriatingly steep."
'The Elusive Prize' on the Rapha site.

Cyclingnews asked Lance how it went on Ventoux and as usual, the Texan didn't skate around the facts, telling us, "Well, it was tough! Tough as usual (on Ventoux) and a tough day in general, because it was very, very windy. The climb is relentless; very steep at the bottom and just difficult at the top.
Lance Armstrong, Cycling News.

Ventoux Stats
Start Altitude: Bedoin 280m
Finish Altitude: 1912m
Climb distance: 21.6km (13 miles)
Average gradient: 7.8%