Where are they now?

Day 1 22 June 2012 Porto-Vechio to Bastia 212 km with1x 4^th cat mountain climb

Day 2  23 June 2013 Bastia to Ajaccio 154 km 4 mountain climbs 3x3 cat and 1x2 cat

Day 3  24 June 2013 Ajaccio to Calvi 145 km 6 mountain climbs 1x2 1x3 and 4x4 cat

Day 4  25 June 2013 Nice to Nice 25km time-trial no mountain climbs

Day 5  26 June 2013 Cagnes-sur-Mer to Marseille219 km 4 mountains, 1xcat3, 3xcat4.

Day 6  27 June 2013 Aix en Prevence to Montpellier 176 km one cat 4 mountain

Day 7  28 June 2013 Montpellier to Albi 205 km 4 mountains 1xcat4,2xcat3,1xcat2.

Day 8  29 June 2013 Castres to Ax3 Domaines 194 km 3 mountain passes 1x4,1x1,1xHC

Day 9  30 June 2013 St-Girons to B’de Bigorre 165 km 5 mountains 1xcat2, 4xcat1

Day 10  1st July 2013 Rest day

Day 11  2 July 2013 St Gildas des Bois to St Malo 193 km 1 mountain pass

Day 12  3 July 2013 Avranches to Mont St Michel 33km time trial no mountain passes

Day 13  4 July 2013 Fougeres to Tours 218 km no mountain passes

Day 14  5 July 2013 Tours to St Amand-Montrod173 km 1 mountain climb category 4

Day 15  6 July 2013 St Pourcain sur Sioule to Lyon 191 km 7 climbs 5xcat4 and 2xcat3

Day 16  7 July 2013 Givors to Mt Ventoux 242km with 3 x 4^th cat 1x 3 and 1HC climb.

Day 17  8 July 2013 Rest day

Day 18  9 July 2013 Vaison la Romaine to Gap 168 km 3 climbs 1x cat3, 2xcat2

Day 19  10 July 2013 Embrun to Chorges 32 km time trial. 2 climbs, both cat 2.

Day 20  11 July 2013 Gap to Alpe d’Huez 168 kilometers 6 mountains, 1xcat3, 3xcat2,  2xHC

Day 21 12 July Bourg d’Oisans to Le Grande Bornand 204 km 5 climbs 1xcat2, 2xcat1, 2xHC

Day 22  13 July Annecy to Semnoz 125 km 6 mountains 3x cat3, 1xcat2,1xcat1, 1xHC

Day 23 14 July Versailles to Paris!

Day 12, Stage 11. Time trial from Avranches to Mont St Michel

Day 12,  3 July 2013, Avranches to Mont St Michel, 33km time trial no mountain passes

Time trial route passed through Juillet

The riders started with another transfer from the hotel to the start in Avranches, leaving at 07:00. Security arrangements at the Mont would have prevented the Tour de Force riders from following the official route after 09:30 so the riders needed to be beyond the security before that time. It was rather like a military operation all riders slipped under the radar and by 09:30 all were in the café having second or third breakfast by the time security clocked on. The café owner seemed remarkably grumpy when faced with a full café and 60+ customers. He gave the impression he would rather we were not there! All other cafes were empty.

The day was grim, all the riders were soaked, some stopped to snap the second most popular tourist attraction in France which looked like a massive building site.

Looks like a building site

Once the 33km task was complete it was back to the hotel for washing, lunch and a bit of downtime for blogging before the massive task of riding the next 4 stages of 824 km(515 miles) in four days.

All riders are intimidated by the prospect of stage 15 – the last before the next rest day it is the most frequent topic of discussion amongst the riders. Matt was not so happy with his performance today and he is showing increasing anxiety about the next four stages. He has needed regular physio and pressure stockings to control his leg swelling, but now he has tendonitis with crepitus making his ankle movements painful.

Last night there was a very light atmosphere in the whole group and almost universally the riders seemed to be almost celebratory. Matt had a few beers and he thinks this adversely affected his stamina today so he will be on water only tonight.

Those riders who have just joined have fresh legs but they are yet to experience the feeling of riding hundreds of miles in a few days and then having to cycle over a massive mountain. Tomorrow morning everyone will doubtless take one large deep breath to calm the nerves before setting off on what will be a four day blitz of riding, eating, washing and early morning transfers, all will be accomplished with severely limited time for sleep and recovery. It is hardest for the slowest riders as they get the least amount of recovery time.

Tonight at dinner Phil Deeker informed us all of the deaths of 2 cyclists. They were in collision with a lorry whilst riding Lands End to John O’Groats as a fund raising venture. He reminded us of our responsibilities to be safe, to reduce risks to a minimum.

Not the Time-Trial winners



Day 11, Stage 10. The old legs are getting a bit tired

St Gildas des Bois to St Malo, 193km, 1 mountian pass

Easy day today, back by 4-30 and in the supermarket in St Malo buying beer and peanuts by 6pm.
Nick is feeling fine at present, glad not to be at work in theatre when he often doesn't get home until 10pm on Tuesdays. Matt has also been cheerful today though his feet are still swollen. However, there is a feeling that they are heading for a storm and this period is like a big breath before the big ride on Thursday, big ride on Friday, bigger ride on Sat and a monster ride on Sunday.
In case you are wondering, they haven't run out of Sudocrem yet and are faring pretty well in the bottom department though apparently there are some serious bottom problems in the group. I'm wondering why Tour de Force don't get sponsorship from Sudocrem, seems like a missed opportunity!

Day 11, Stage 12, 2 July 2013 St Gildas des Bois to St Malo 193 km 1 mountain pass

The riders all felt much better after their first rest day. Only the lifers are left as the other stage riders all went home at the end of the trip through the Pyrenees. Today the ride followed the 193km (120mile) Stage 10 route.  This was a fairly straight route across Brittany to St Malo. The terrain was undulating with scenery much like parts of the UK and unfortunately so was the weather when we reached to Northern coast. The roads were relatively quiet and so the riders broke into groups of 8 to rehearse team working and riding as a peloton to reduce the workload.

Weather a bit overcast again today

Later the TdF cyclists practised working as a “chain gang” to further increase the speed and reduce the work of riding. The riders formed two columns one riding slightly faster than the other. If there is a crosswind the slower riders form the windward column the riders in the sheltered lee-side ride are able to ride faster (because it is sheltered by the other column) and when they emerge from the shadow of the first rider in the windward column they move across to the head of the windward column and then are subsequently passed by the next rider from the leeward column. Eventually each rider drifts backwards as other riders pass on the leeward side until there is no rider in the leeward column then last rider moves sideways from windward to leeward and follows the last leeward rider until at the front once again. This creates a continuous circular motion of riders hence the name chain gang.  The chain gang moves 4-5kph faster for the same amount of effort but the process requires practice and a lot of concentration. This is a technique they will need on the very long straight roads from Fougeres to Lyons on stages 14-16. Towards the end of today’s stage Matthew was showing great promise and was riding with renewed vigor but Nick appeared to be dropping off a bit and for several times went off the back of the pack, his excuse was that he was taking photographs, but 1700km (1100miles) from the start his legs are probably getting a bit tired.

 



Day 10 Rest day - 400 mile drive!

Hmmm, I expected the boys to be all happy and jolly having rested all day on the coach journey up to Brittany however, not so unfortunately (mind you it didn't help me winging on about not being able to print out some rail tickets I need this week. My new computer is so good I couldn't for the life of me find which particular phrase in the email to click on and that is on top of having to phone the TV arial man this morning to be talked through how to get ITV4 back so I can record the Tour de France for Nick to watch and reminisce over when he gets back and that is on top of phoning Zbys on Sunday to get all my computer libraries working again. I didn't realise I would miss Nick so much! Hope his machine is ok when he gets back because I pressed one hell of a lot of buttons trying to get the printer working and all that was needed was to click on 'get tickets' .........grrrrrr!)

Matt is now having trouble with his feet now which are swollen so he's back to the physio, but most people's would be I think after along journey like theirs today. My poor baby, he needs his mummy, I wish I could help.

Nick has filled in some more detail on previous blogs so have a look back.

Day 10. Transfer day by coach, a 400 mile journey leaving at 07:00.
We arrived in St Gildas just in time to catch the end of Stage 3 of the Tour on TV. Fascinating stuff and even more interesting to know that they did it twice as fast as our riders. The hotel was nice with an outdoor pool but the bikes needed to be washed, lubricated and Matt needed to change his brake pads after the wear they received on the descents through the Pyrenees. Tomorrow is a 193km route(120miles) from St Malo and we can do this from the hotel and no transfer is required so we get extra time in bed. Up at 06:30, breakfast at 07:00 then on the bike at 07:30.

Lifers at St Gildas

Day 9 Sunday Sweat evaporates quickly at high speeds.

30 June 2013 St-Girons to B’de Bigorre 165 km(103miles) 5 mountains 1xcat2, 4xcat1.

Today the riders covered in total 116 miles (185km) with 4,197 metres of climbing as a few extra miles was needed to get to the hotel. The riders got to the hotel at 7pm yesterday (day 8) but were up gain at 05:15 today to load up luggage then have breakfast prior to the transfer to St Girons all in time to start riding at about 8am. An early start was essential because the day was going to be really tough. At the briefing the night before cyclists were warned that Bagnores de Bigorre was a real dump and that it was necessary to cycle to another town – Odor, to the hotel, adding another 22 km. The day was a bit gloomy when we arrived at the carpark in St Girons to find our bikes out and ready for use. The riders prepared themselves for mountain riding. The weather had been forecasted to be overcast becoming sunny and hot later. When riding in mountains it is essential to have access to the cold weather gear in case the weather changes suddenly. Nick set off with arm warmers, leg warmers, gilet and full finger gloves, Matt was similarly dressed but without leg warmers. As they progressed up the first mountain to the Col de Portet D’Aspet their work rate dictated that they needed to strip off a bit. During the climbs the riders get very very hot and sweaty but on descents they freeze as sweat evaporates quickly at high speeds particularly if their muscle activity drops, the final result is that they get very cold as they hurtle downhill. Lots of dressing and undressing is required.

Today’s descents were particularly challenging. Although the roads are generally quite good and pothole free there was a lot of debris and gravel. Gravel is the last thing a rider needs to meet on a corner whilst coming down a mountain, so extreme caution was required. Three lifers had problems, Peigi locked up a front wheel and went over her handlebars and really shook herself up. Matt was first on the scene to help her out and to get her out of her pedals. Amazingly he said she was fully conscious and had hardly a scratch on her. Perhaps even more surprisingly an AE consultant – Dr Sarah of the TdF team was on the scene in less than one minute. By the time Nick got there all appeared to be OK so he sailed on past. Elsewhere there was another incident involving Shen – another lifer, he came off his bike when a car backed out in front of him and he broke a collar bone. Donald who has already been mentioned in previous reports had a front wheel puncture on a descent and so he too came off. Fortunately it is a rest day tomorrow so Peigi and Donald should be fit to continue, however the ride is now over for Hsien. The cycling was a major challenge today but the weather was georgeously sunny and the views have been truly spectacular. When studying the pictures taken by the riders the valleys below look so low and far away. It seems a little difficult to comprehend that the riders have cycled all the way up one side and all the way down each of the five massive climbs today.

It is essential to maintain hydration under these hot conditions. Matt refilled his 800 ml water bottles 5 times each, making 8 litres consumed and Nick did much the same. Matt’s knee is much better now that he is taking regular ibuprofen. Some of the support team will be leaving tonight and Matt will need to say goodbye to Jen the physio – she has given a great deal of attention to his knees and to his swollen legs, all the riders will be sorry to see her go.

Tomorrow is a transfer day where the riders will be carried 400 miles to Brittany. The announcement of breakfast at 06:00 and coaches at 06:30 was met by a somewhat muted groan. It is a day off the bike tomorrow and some of the part-tour riders are leaving. This combination triggered a need for beer amongst the riders at dinner but the restaurant first ran out of glasses! Paper cups were used then they ran out of beer, but perhaps it is just as well otherwise there might have been a few thick heads around on the coach.

30th June, St-Girons to B'de Bigorre, 165km, 5 mountains, 1xcat4, 4xcat1
Do not despair if you are reading this and groaning when you see it is me writing again. They have had a rest day today while they travelled the 500miles up to Brittany through France by coach to the start of the next leg so Nick will have prepared a lot of stuff ready to upload when they arrive at the hotel. (You can stop drooling now.)
Anyway, they were surprisingly upbeat when they rang last night, it had been hard but they are getting used to it now (or it could have been the prayers working but I didn't tell Nick!) It had felt pretty good today and he had been tanking along, his bike running like a dream and he even got a second wind towards the end but it could have just been the thought of not having to get back in that saddle the next day. Matt did really well again and they have helped each other by working as a team. They are actually the oldest and the youngest lifers (ie doing the whole route). The roads themselves have been worse today with a lot of loose gravel and there have been two bad accidents with one guy going over the handle bars and ending up with concussion and another broken shoulder blade......eek, why am I letting them do this????
Unfortunately, the physio Jen, who has been brilliant working wonders with Matt's knees, is going home tomorrow but there will be a replacement coming in her place.
Hopefully they will be well rested after their journey north and ready to take on the challenges of the next stage which will be flatter but, as we know only too well in Norfolk, windier. It will be nice to have a change of scenery anyway.
From your own correspondant. Michelle 

Day 8 Saturday - A special award

Castres to Ax3 Domaines, 194km, 3mountain passes, 1xcat4,1xcat1, 1xHC

I feel like the support act here trying to fill in until the main act comes on. I know Nick has been blogging but it doesn't seem to have appeared, perhaps he was so tired he forgot to press publish which would be a bit of a shame.
 Actually, that is one of the difficulties Nick says, there is so much to do as well as ride, so for example they were up very early, breakfasted and on the coach so they would be ready to start cycling the next leg by 8am. They rode all day and finished at 6-30pm when they had to lubricate their bikes, do their washing, stuff down as much food as possible, have a meeting, blog and finally get some sleep.
 He summarised today as 'desperately difficult' and he sounded desparately tired, so bad in fact that I felt I had to go to church this morning to get everyone to pray for them. They need all the help they can get! Having said that Matt did really well today and was ahead of Nick, boosted no doubt by being awarded the Chapeau d'Honneur on Friday evening. There are two awards which move on a daily basis and this one is for, well, being a real soldier really, for carrying on without moaning in a gentlemanly way in the face of adversity (I feel really proud). I think the other hat is for the opposite so not so desirable. The current wearer gets to choose who to pass it on to next.
The Tour de Force are also writing a daily blog so if you would like more details of the ride, map etc just go there and you will see some horrifying gradients etc, makes me feel a bit sick just looking at them.
I'm afraid I haven't been able to put any more photos on as my new computer's libraries seem to have locked themselves up and my computer consultant is buggering about in France!

Day 8  29 June 2013 Castres to Ax3 Domaines 194 km 3 mountain passes 1x4,1x1,1xHC

A massive day today the riders were up at 05:15, had breakfast at 05:45. They then travelled by coach from Albi to Castres to start stage 8 of the Tour.

Effects of sleep deprivation

It is a real hassle getting everything ready to leave by 05:45, everyone needs to be super well organized but all riders made it onto the coach on time. Some had had visits from their partners – just like real lifers and one guy had gone off with his wife’s hire car keys! It is for reasons such as this that partners are not allowed to accompany riders.

Guess who?

We started riding on time. The cyclists covered a 120 km flat stage before the climbing started. At the nightly briefing the riders had been advised to organize themselves into groups to ride in a gang to reduce energy consumption.(as we had done on previous days) Our group was effective was expertly organized and disciplined by Neil and Lee but as we moved along others tagged onto the back (some not intending to take their turn at the front) and unfortunately this interfered with the smooth running of what had been an excellent unit.

The workload today was shocking. Nick and Matt simply did not feel like it as there is just too much to do. Getting up at 05;15, packing, breakfast, transfer, plus 10.5 hours riding, washing , dinner then blogging and bed. Nick is finding it is starting to get a bit too hard but fortunately, as we all expected, Matt is getting stronger and he can now take more of the strain. Nick helped Matt for the first week and it is likely that the favours will be called in when the riders get to the Alps in 9 days time. Our riders do more miles than the real professionals as today they had a mountaintop finish but still had to ride their bikes down the mountain to the hotel only and extra 8 km so in total the Woodall’s did 125 miles and gained 3,800 metres of altitude!

They cycled up here from down there.

This made today the biggest day so far- again! Nick hit a new maximum speed of 43 miles per hour. One rider Donald got back at 8:30 so he had been on the road for over 12 hours.

Nightly there are awards for good behaviour and for bad behaviour too. Matt won the Chapeau last night for his determined perseverance even with bad knees and so tonight he needed to select a new winner of his choice and present the chapeau to the new award holder tonight – he did this very well with good fluency and a bit of humour.

The chaps have now completed their first HC climb that makes it one down with only 6 to go!! Tomorrow will definitely be as tough as today, if not even tougher, with 5 major climbs none of the highest category but nevertheless all are tough, so we will need to get up early set off early again, and to expect a very long day again.

Day 7 Le Col de 13 vents lived up to its name

Day 7  28 June 2013 Montpellier to Albi 205 km 4 mountains 1xcat4,2xcat3,1xcat2.

 

 

The rider’s hotel was in Montpelier which is quite a big city and so it was necessary to get to the start of stage 7. Phil Deeker used an excellent system to move all 60-70 cyclists out of the city this was called the man mark system. The leader rides in front and all follow in single file. If the progress of a rider is blocked or interrupted the person who is prevented from moving shouts wait. Then at the next junction the last rider waits to show subsequent riders the correct direction.

Moving a mass of cyclists through Montpellier

When those second riders stop they too shout wait to the new last rider who will wait at the next junction. These individuals wait and indicate the direction of travel until all other riders have passed, then they tag on in front of the back marker cyclist. In this way all junctions eventually are covered by cyclists indicating to the following group where to go until the entire group has passed.  The last person needs to be clearly identifiable as the end person so that all the marker riders know it is time to re-join the group rather than to wait for more stragglers.

Today was a long day with cool weather. The riders were caught in rain, with howling winds. In an attempt to get cover behind another rider Nick was trying to catch Rob but as he stopped at a junction Nick expected him to keep moving and he crashed into him and Matt fell on top of his father. Fortunately little damage was done but Nick picked up some road rash on his left knee, hip and elbow.

Because this region is flat it is also windy and their first limb was over the Col de 13 vents which certainly lived up to its name.



Peter and Chris at the Col



 

I was really surprised when Nick rang at 6pm. After what he had said yesterday I didn't expect them to finish riding until late so I thought I wouldn't hear from them at all because they would be shattered and indeed it was a difficult day. Nick crashed and came off the bike at one point  because he wasn't paying attention and went into the guy in front. Fortunately, he is ok except that his Tour de Force jersey got ripped which he is disappointed about. But Matt was riding really well today which has been the hardest day so far with (in addition to 4 difficult climbs) high winds and horrendous bad weather. (Am I the only one who can't see the fun in this!!!) It was much colder than expected and they weren't prepared for it so they were forced to cycle faster in order to keep warm and finish as soon as possible which is why Nick phoned sooner than expected.
210 km with 4 mountain climbs all bigger than Cheddar Gorge but Nick says he is enjoying it!!!!!! He feels that it is getting easier and Matt is getting stronger as expected because he is young, but Nick doesn't think he will get stronger now. At the end of every day Matt is relieved that he has managed to complete it but nervous for the next day because they know the next day it will be even harder in the Pyrenees and indeed tomorrow is a monster with 110miles, 1xcat4, 1xcat1 and one off scale!!!
 Oh why did I let them do this! I should have said no right at the beginning when Matt suggested doing it during his 5 week sabbatical from Nandos and if anyone has any more daft ideas after Nick gets back please keep them to yourselves!
You will notice that older ladies don't feel the same need to push their bodies to the limit as older men and the reason is, as a friend of mine pointed out, if you've had a baby you've already done that, several times in some cases!! I think you'll agree ladies, that is if there are any ladies reading this as I should imagine it is of limited interest and as my son Chris said makes pretty grim reading at the moment!
To compensate I am going to try to put in more details of Corsica and Open Gardens which incidentally raised over £4000 so it was well worth having to cope with that as well as setting off for the bike ride the same weekend. There will be more photos going on as well so do look back on occasions.
Starting to ramble a bit now so better sign off................................more tomorrow daaa,da,da,da................... daaaaaaaa!