The Tour de Photo Sore....

Hardly.  Charles became official photographer and took some quite stunning photos.  Although there are quite a few of them (298 to be precise), at least 200 of them are brilliant.  Click below for the link and watch the slideshow (in reverse order, which is why I usually appear first)....


http://s1222.photobucket.com/albums/dd491/charlwahg/

Mr Robinson reflects on a job well done...

A cycling adventure – from Geneva to Nice: a guest blog from Nigel Robinson

Sep 23rd, 2011

If cycling from London to Barcelona in 2009 and around (and over) the French Alps last year raised questions about my sanity, my recent Geneva to Nice trip certainly did.
450 miles over eight days, and numerous steep mountain climbs – the French call them Col – took me to the limits (and beyond) of my physical and mental strength. Plus, I nearly came a cropper. More on this later.
In a way it was a bit like working for Camden – an uphill struggle (at times) and challenging, but never dull and ultimately satisfying.
Our route took us south-east from Geneva, across the Alps to Nice, through lovely alpine towns and villages and breathtaking scenery – not that I had any breath to take.
It was a dream start. The sun shone on Geneva and the righteous ten cyclists (I’m not the only nutter) on Saturday 3 September, as we set off for La Clusaz.

The next seven days saw us wend our way through a series of long, steep mountain climbs that have tested the mettle of many a Tour de France rider. Beautiful verdant valleys flush with colourful wild flowers, snow-capped glaciers and the occasional glimmering glacial lake in hot late summer sunshine. ‘Lovely’, I can almost hear you saying.
Lovely it was, and it certainly helped take my mind off the pain and lung-bursting strain of the monster Cols. Alpe d’Huez almost did for me. A 10-mile, 2,000 metre climb of a one-in-ten gradient – that’s steep – in searing heat.
So, why did I do it? Mid-life crisis, sadomasochism, love wearing lycra (ahem!)? None of the above. It’s because where there’s an up there’s a down, and boy the mountain descents were absolutely awesome. Ten to fifteen miles of high-speed adrenalin rush. Like downhill skiing on a bike – only a lot more dangerous as I almost discovered to my cost.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBTDXu_aV2s
This video below was taken on day five – Wednesday 7 September. The weather was fine and bright at the top of Col Du Lautaret, 2,000 metres up. I set off downhill and soon reached 40 mph as the first bend approached.
Luckily for me the cars coming in the opposite direction were able to veer off the road and on to the run-off as I careered (out of control) round the bend on the wrong side of the road  – well, I’m English and this is France, so I have an excuse, right.

Unscathed we arrived in Nice in glorious sunshine. Never has a beer tasted so good. Next year Marrakech to Timbuktu (possibly).
I raised a fabulous £500 for Sport Aid – thanks to everyone who sponsored me!

Day 6, conitnue...

So there we were in St Ettiene, following a magnificent descent off the mountain, averaging around 30mph the whole way down...confidence is a great performance booster. We stopped at the first bar we saw (of course). The locals, sipping their Pernod and water and dragging on their Gauloises, surveyed us carefully: "vous etes veloistes?". Well, yes, we don't usually do the Lycra thing in a bar and the matching shirts really should be a giveaway, and no we are not gay. So we settled into a much needed beer, and then the dreaded text arrived from Charles: " you are 30 kms from your destination. Go to Saint Saumeur maintenant". This was a blow; the light was fading, we were knackered and the van wasn't even going to where we were. Very reluctantly we got back on the bikes and started a slow uphill out of town, cursing everyone and everything. After a mile or so the climb stopped, we found the Nice sign, and went for it. Nice? It was bloody marvellous: an A class road with not a single car, a wide sweeping boulevard of a road, and would you believe 29kms DOWNHILL! Just like the rest of the gang before us, we nailed it in 45 mins. We stopped at the first bar (again), had another beer, and then got a call from Paul, who was 200 metres up the road. So, off to another bar, where Paul, Brucie and Duncan were relaxing. Charles arrived shortly with the bad news: it was another 30kms to the hotel, and the van had a maximum of 20kms of juice, and there were no petrol stations open this side of Paris. We weren't this side of Paris, so what to do?

Day 5; Dunc starts hallucinating

At dinner Duncan let the power gels, suntan cream, protein drinks and other non-performance drugs get to him as his mind began to wander.  Thinking about his childhood TV watching he suddenly revealed about Lady Penelope:  "you must admit, she was hot for a puppet" Eh?

Quote of the Tour

Breakfast, Day 6:  Mr Von Schilling to the boys: "What's the biggest thing you've swallowed this week?".  Stunned silence all around.

Day 6 - It doesn't get much better than this

What an absolutely stunning day of full-on cycling', mildly amusing mayhem (at the end of the day) and minor catastrophies. The latter came courtesy of our beloved friends, messrs Walsingham and the Fip Flop Kid (Tim - for he occasionally wears them while cycling).

Walsy hit the tarmac on the descent from Col Du Vars- a stylish fall from which he emerged (thankfully) relatively unscathed. The climb itself was another 13 miler in searing heat but wonderfully challenging all the same. Thankfully the form book was restored to some semblence of normality as I (Big Nige) cruised home in second place [Editor's note: really? What form book? What normality is he talking about?].

Cole del la Bonnette followed and was more demanding, in the way that the delightful 2 year old ends up sapping your life blood and making you want to murder the little darling.  It started ok, gorgeous Alpine scenery, moderate climbing, but the kilometre marking posts carried a theme which became slightly unnerving.  They went 5%, 5.5%,6% - you get the picture.  By the time they were saying 8.5% it was hot, 15km into the ride, and the rolling pine forests had become a lunar landscape.  We had sheep for company as Nigel and I rolled gently up the ever increasing incline.  Almost at the top we found a bereft Tim, sitting on the side of the mountain counting the Marmottes on the hill.  Either he had come over all David Attenborough, or he had shredded his tyre to pieces qnd was waiting for the van.  In true Top Gear tradition, we left him to it and carried on.  After the last Km sign we arrived at the peak: except we didn't.  It should have been over, but instead of the gentle 5% Charles had promised we were confronted with a 1 in 5 slag heap for around 900 metres of absolutely brutal climb.  At the eventual top the ubiquitous German bikers had crowded around the altitude sign, denying us our final pleasure.  No matter. With Tim swept up in the broom wagon we had the best 24km descent of the Tour - absolute bliss with rolling turns and a great road surface.  No Porsches to overtake like th emoring, but a majestic run off the mountain with simply stunning scenery for company (and Nigel's Kamikaze descending).  A beer at the bottom to wait for the van was interrupted by a text from the boys:  you are 30km from your destination.  More adventures were to follow...

Col Du Glandon and Alp d'huez - hell in paradise

Tuesday 6th September was a memorable day. Col Du Glandon was stunningly beautiful - glorious sunshine, blueist of blue sky and breathtaking alpine scenery. And for once I didn't bring up the rear - in fact I was on for a a top 4 spot when with only a few kilometres to go 3 of my 'buddies' sped past - with not so much as a by your leave. Still, I got to the top (13 miles and 1500m height gain later) in fine fettle and in a positive mood for the BIG ONE - Alp d'Huez.

Misery - no other word for it. Steep, hot and loads of cars and it took forever. I reached the top a good stone lighter and a broken man. Suddenly a sedate game of bowls in Lyme Regis (I occasionally go there for the weekend, with my gal) seemed a far better alternative. But (and its a big BUT) where there's an up there's a down and the descent from Alp d'Huez was, er, more climbing! How did that happen? I wont bore you with the details. Onwards and upwards.

Nigel

Madeleine, my kinda girl

Let me tell you about Madeleine.  She looked like a nice girl, all 26kms of her - attractive, comely even: available, which is always a plus.  And very easily do-able, if you forgive the crude vernacular.  But there's always something about these kind of girls isn't there?  You think you've done all the hard work, think you've got a result (it always works for a friend of mine when he says "my Porsche is outside", or so he tells me)...and then she turns into the b*tch from hell.  This is also true when the Madeleine in question is a famous, iconic, Tour de France climb.  She looked innocent enough: the plan said she only started to get a bit tasty at over 22km.  Well, plans can be wrong.  Like some other women I have met, she went on and on and on and on, seemingly never to end.  4% became 5% became 6, then 7, then 9%, and it was game over. I no longer liked this date, and it had promised so much.  The worst bit should have been the best: at 4km to go, the Col flattened out and became 1km of flat.  Except, at that distance, I died...I simply could not continue.  So there I was, stuck 1,900m up a mountain, with sheep and grasshoppers for company, and couldn't move.  Even getting out of the pedal clips was a monumental task.  So, for five minutes I sat and wheezed and drank loads of water, and recovered.  4km and around 20 minutes later I conquered her.  So there was a happy ending.  But I won't be seeing her again any time soon - too much of a challenge for me this time around.  Thankfully there is no photo of a sweat-drained, emotionally dead cyclist at the top, as everyone else had gone.  As usual...

The Col with no name - Monday 5th September

Forgive the delay (its the 7th September today) but our last hotel was somewhat low-tech where internet access is not a frequently used term. Monday started with prospect of 2 "relatively short and easy climbs" - roughly 6-7 miles a-piece and nothing too steep. This is a relative term. The first passed straightforwardly enough and all was going well - and then we hit the second climb of the morning - the 'Col with no name'.

It was STEEP and it hurt like hell. And it really didn't have a name, at least that's what our leader claimed. I could almost hear strains of Enrico Morricone and could have sworn I saw Eli Wallach and Klaus Kinsky come flying down in the other direction while shouting "hey blondie".

For those of you that have never seen a 'Few Dollars More' or the 'Good, the Bad and the Ugly' you won't have a clue what I'm talking about. Tough. These are classics and you should have seen them. To make matters worse we took a wrong and ended up climbing higher than necessary. The normally calm and collected Duncan snapped and tore a strip off Dalton who shrugged it off with his usual indifference to human suffering.

Col De La Madeleine was long (16 miles) and steep in places. I was last up and proud (well, almost). Col Du Glandon and Alp d'Huez next.

Nigel

Location:Route d'Huez,Huez,France

Day Two of More Rain

Great day yesterday - a lot of rain but fantastic views. Our stop at the sweet chapel at the top of the Col des Arravis did not prevent Young James coming off in a tunnel 10 minutes later after skidding on some desiel. The motorbike following close behind almost ran over him and came off too! Loss of dignity more than some nasty grazes was the upshot and thankfully no concussion. A tremendous descent followed into Beaufort - a lovely looking town at the bottom of the valley. Last of the day was Cormet de Roselend - a Tour de France Cat 1 climb of 20km and average 7.7% gradient. Stunning scenery near the top around the man made lake and well above the tree line - very barren and forbidding looking. The descent from the 1958m top was awesome - at times at 36mph - and one could discernably feel the temperature increase as one entered the valley. Bourg St Maurice is a large town but we finally found the hotel. Off now for Day 3 - into the rain. Do we care? Non! Eric the O (using Mike's login)

Nobody mentioned Aravis or Saisses

Nobody ever expected the Spanish Inquisition did they?  These days I can't differentiate between the A level syllabus and Monty Python.  Who cares?  Well, sometimes these things matter; such as listening to Dalton when he says it gets "easier near the top": they probably told Edmund Hilary that as well.  There was also the small matter of the days' itenerary; Roselend anyone?  Well, to take us back to the theme of this post; no one expected Aravis or Saisses: two "pimples" in Dalton speak: two evil, energy-sapping monster Cols as a warm up if you ask me.  So, despite Andy's brave team talk about Roselend, first we had to leave the Chalet (thanks guys, it was great) and go straight uphill for 12kms.  Following that we did it all again on Saisse for some 16kms.  At some point the ghastly reality of the 24kms of the Col de Roseland would hit; and it wasn't long in coming.  However, it was long in going; 2 hours in fact, for those of us at the derriere of the gang.  The Gods smiled on us too, but in that Dr Evil sort of way, stroking that white cat as they called on the heavens to give it all they had.  So it was 2 hours, all achieved in the pouring rain, until we saw the 1,958m summit.  Bliss, though normally I would see that kind of thing from a ski lift.  The photies are good though.

Day 1: Geneva to La Clusaz, via the monstrous Col De Colombiere

It was a dream start. The sun shone on Geneva and the righteous ten cyclists as we set off for La Clusaz (a mere 50 miles away - a breeze, stroll in the park, etc, or so we thought).

After a prolonged and seemingly circuitous exit from Geneva (and our first puncture - Duncan!!!) we hit the open road and the early form became apparent. Von-Schilling, James, Brucie and Oliphant all showed a good turn of pace, including a 30 mph run in to our lunch stop. Then came the pain - a ten mile climb up the unforgiving Col de Colombiere. James made it to the top first (but then he is only 12) and Mike and Nige brought up the rear, but in some style - without question the 2 sexiest bikes on the tour.

To say it rained as we ascended the 'beast' would be like saying Brucie has an appetite - IT POURED and what's more the mist came down and visibility dropped to 3m. At times like this; soaked, cold, breaking back, sore butt - you question your sanity. Then you reach the top, sail down the other side and arrive at a fabulous chalet and a sumptuous feast. Bourg St Maurice tomorrow. Bring it on.

Nigel

Can't wait....

Daily Weather Forecast in Geneva, Switzerland

Today | Tomorrow | 10 Day | Monthly | Seasonal

Sunday, 04 September

High
24°C
Heavy Rain

Wind	From South South West at 11 kmph
Maximum Humidity	78%
UV Index	4
Chance of Precip.	60%
Avg. High.	23°C
Record High	N/A
Sunrise	06:59