Kate M

That's a wrap!

Thursday 9th Jul

Well that’s a wrap. 3 amazing days of cycling in France done and dusted, plus some mini adventures in low key touristing at either end. The weather was fantastic (if a little hot the first day), the hills were manageable and the organisation was superb.

 

I arrived in Carcassonne after a flight into Toulouse, checked my bag and had a little wander around. It was exciting to see all the Tour de France bits and bobs everywhere, and to admire the lovely castle. I also met a delightful man on a pilgrimage who saw my fundraising sign on my bag and stopped me to give me €20. Merci Timo! Then I made my way to the team hotel and very bravely Met New People. I really shouldn’t have worried because everyone was very nice and welcoming and we were promptly whisked out for dinner at an ENORMOUS Chinese buffet restaurant, where I promptly had to confront that I could be vegan, or I could be nourished, but not both.

 

We got up bright and early on Tuesday for my first day of cycling. I did the ‘lite’ version which was still 80miles of cycling and 2000m of climbing. I should really have done the full stage, but didn’t know at that point that I could, and once I’d decided to ‘go lite’ I felt I needed to stick with that decision. It was terrific though! Great riding through beautiful fields and villages and then a few tasty climbs up the Cols. It turns out that sort of long steady 5% ish climbing suits me well and everything felt manageable. I also had the great pleasure of riding with Will, one of our charity riders, and hearing about the great work his organisation, XO Bikes, does. We were kept fed and watered by the wonderful Le Loop crew and made it to Foix in good time and good nick!

 

Wednesday started with a coach transfer and the opportunity for a bit of a nap en route to Lannerzeman for the start of day 2. I rode the whole stage as it was ‘short’ (100miles) and ‘flat’ (1600m). I made the mistake of thinking that 1600m was 1600feet which it clearly isn’t, but again, it was a terrific day. I did one section in a road train of 8 or so chaps who looked after me very well and whisked me along for probably the fastest 20 miles of my life. Terrifying. I had to have a little lie down in the car park at the final feedstop to recover, and then did almost all of the last 25 miles on my own (which was fine – no complaints at all!)

 

Thursday was the luxury of a slightly later start and no transfer, just straight out of Pau and onto some slightly scary big roads for the first section. Again, I was doing the ‘lite’ version, which missed out Col de Aspin, but still included Col de Tourmalet. Lots of cyclists seemed very apprehensive about this, and said it was a ‘total sufferfest’ or ‘like being punched in the face’ which psyched me out quite a lot. I shouldn’t have listened! I had a great time. I went slow and steady up the hill, and stopped intermittently in the shade to get my heart rate down, and made it up very happily. Down was a bit scary but again, slow and steady and down in one piece. I had a slight collapse of morale when the town I thought was the finish wasn’t, but an emergency caffeinated gel saw me right, and I was buzzing at the finish. 85 miles and 3000m of climbing.

 

I can’t thank all the crew enough for all their support and the quite extraordinary logistics that go into putting the whole thing on. I can’t wait to go again. There were some extraordinary athletes there. I’m not one of them, but I ride solidly and consistently and I’m not afraid to be uncomfortable. I think a lot of people could do it (maybe not immediately) if they put their minds to it and it would be great to see especially more women out there. The 3 days I did there were 8 women in a field of 80+ riders, and I was the only Brit. I have also just tipped the scales to hitting my fundraising target, so an extra big thank you to everyone who has supported this trip and the charities involved. 

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Locked and loaded

Sunday 28th Jun

The week after our cold, wet foray into Wales seemed to bring an immediate heatwave.  Possibly it was 2 weeks later, but the weather seemed to go from unseasonably cold to unnecessarily hot within a matter of days. I was trying to maintain the momentum of back to back rides, and managed a couple of weekends by going out on my own once, with a child for a shorter (but still reasonable time in the saddle) ride and then once with Kirsty. Again, the long way to work proved something of an MVP and I racked up another couple of 100+ mile weeks without too much bother.

 

We also had a lovely ride up to Tetbury, somewhere I’d ridden past but never quite too. We hit our coffee stop just as the parkrun crowd were leaving, and I was annoyed to realise that if I’d run it that week, I possibly would have been first lady, and my son could have won it outright (based on his increasingly good form). It was a very slow week. We vowed to go back again, but a quick dig into the stats suggested that week was an outlier, so whilst it looks like a fun course, maybe we won’t make a point of it. I practised my descending on the hill down to Wotton and was, for me, quite brave. I would very much like to be braver though.

 

The last big ride on the plan was Dragon Ride Wales, which starts down the M4 in the very scenic Margham Park. It’s just a shame that the first and last 5 miles of the ride are dual carriageway. Not so scenic. It was a great ride though. Perfect conditions, and we had a little gang of 3 which was fun. As well of course as the other 4,500 new cycling friends we hadn’t met yet. There were some great climbs, some descents to be even braver on, and a surprise sighting of a Le Loop alumni, Ceri, who I now understand is quite famous. At least in Le Loop terms. I did get off and walk a bit of the Devil’s Elbow (no shame) but got to the end feeling pretty fresh, and would have happily either carried on further or gone out again the day after. Well actually I did – cycled to work and went to the gym – but nothing much. But it was a good confidence builder. And whilst I definitely could have been braver, I managed one of my 5 mile laps in 13 minutes – an average of nearly 25mph.

 

Then after a little trip to my office, I took my bike up to the bike hub (Giant in Bradley Stoke – very nice people if you’re passing) for a service and to entrust it to the Le Loop van. Safe travels bike, and I’ll see you in Carcassonne on Monday.

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Spring miles

Friday 19th Jun

The first few weeks of spring ended up not being great weather wise, and there was lots of coming and going with kids activities. But there was a strong May goal to aim for so I started going the long way to work and back more often as well as getting some decent weekend rides in with my pal Kirsty. I’m lucky (or am I clever…) where I live as I have a pretty straightforward 4 mile bike commute to work on roads, big roundabout then parks. It’s not really doable in the dark, so the way home is slightly shorter but goes past a couple of schools where the parents are absolutely feral drivers. To be avoided at drop off and pick up at all costs. But what makes it really good, is that the Bristol Bath Path (the Sustrans OG) is a mile from home and connects to work via the Ring Road cycle path (recently upgraded) so I have a12 mile off road alternative route. I can’t always go there and back, but with my lap top, change of clothes and crap commuting bike, it’s a solid hour of cycling and just adding it a couple of times a week can quickly turn a 100k weekend ride into a 100mile week.

 

Kirsty and I also did some super rides, with a highlight being Bristol – Abergavenny – Monmouth – Bristol. We’d found an excellent bakery* en route to Aberystwyth last year and were keen to revisit it. We met another cyclist there from a local club, and were chatting with him about the road we were planning to take to Monmouth. I’d spotted it driving in Wales at Easter and thought ‘ooh that looks like a fun road to cycle down’ so planned the route around it. Bike Man however didn’t think we were up to it and tried warning us that it was very hilly. Well more fool him, not only was I right, and it was a lovely road to cycle down, turned out I’d cycled down it before, with my pals Gareth and Trist, who is sadly no longer with us. Funnily enough, once we’d done the ‘hilly’ road, we got lost in Monmouth and ended up outside Gareth’s office.  

 

The big May goal was the Pauline Porter Populaire, which is the companion event to the (in)famous Bryan Chapman Memorial. Both start in Chepstow and go to Anglesey and back over the weekend. PPP though you get your bag taken to a youth hostel and sleep there 2 nights. It was always going to be ambitious, but we were confident we could at least get through the first day. Hahahaha. Oh my goodness. Broadly the hills and route were ok. What was not okay was my kit. We had a headwind all day and it was FREEZING. I hadn’t realised how stressful I found being cold. We also had something of a collapse of morale at mile 130 when we realised that the last hour was going to take two and a half hours, owing to a 900foot climb which we had to walk up in our socks and then a lovely sweeping road which would have been glorious had there not been a gate. Every. 300. Metres. And then the road down to the youth hostel was so steep and gravelly we had to walk that too. But hot curry and bags with our dry clothes in awaited and morale was restored. Mostly. Saturday it poured with rain and we didn’t do so well. We managed 100k, broken up with 2 cups of coffee and 3 hours eating chips and playing dominoes in a pub. I had to buy an emergency fleece and we didn’t make it to Anglesey. But we did ride 100k. Sunday we totally sacked off, cycling 50k to the railway station and getting a train home. Zero regrets. It actually ended up being a 250 mile (400k?) week and quite an adventure. Next year though Pauline, we’re coming for you.

 

* Angel Bakery. 

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Cycling season has started!

Sunday 19th Apr After a couple of winter trips out, I managed a solid 50miles or so a couple of weeks ago. Enough, I thought, to get me to Rhayader in mid Wales for our Easter hols. I'd ridden there last year en route to Aberystwyth, and figured if I took it steady and had enough marmite sandwiches, I should be ok. My bike had other plans though, and about a mile in, I realised it was making an alarming rattling noise. Some quick roadside diagnostics deduced that the front mech had come loose so I wobbled home, decided not to risk it and drove there with the rest of the family, with a good stomp up the Skirrid to make up for it. Share

Still running...

Thursday 12th Mar I'm still very much in the 'running' phase of training (although I have added a couple of long ways to work on the bike). I've got one more running event (Bath Half) this weekend, and then the road bike comes out! Last weekend was the wonderful Round the Lakes 10k in beautiful Rhayadar. I cycled through the Elan Valley last year and am looking forward to visiting again! Share