Greg Keers

Route des Grandes Alpes

committee.web@fulontri.com — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I am a bit of a Tour de France fan and so wanted to have cycled all the famous cols to experience it for myself. Not wanting to take years over it I looked into doing all the Alpine cols in as few days as possible. What I found out was that there route called La Route des Grandes Alpes which is promoted by the french tourist board: http://www.grande-traversee-alpes.com/je-voyage/par-la-route/la-route-des-grandes-alpes.html

It is recommended as an 8 day route and misses a couple of TdF classics like the Col de Joux Plane where Lance Armstrong was in all sorts of trouble in 2000. There is a complication in that the climbs of Alpe d'Huez and Col de la Croix de Fer are stuck out on a loop in the West so I decided to save those for another time. The standard route also missed the Col de la Bonette which was on the 2008 tour and as the highest road in Europe really had to be done.

It was brilliant, I loved it. It is so do-able. I had the luxury of Tess her mum and baby Alice as support crew for the cycling team of me and my friend Clive. However, with 4 cyclists and a rental Citroen Picasso (pick-up from Geneva airport and drop off at Nice) it would be easy for all to enjoy cycling up all the cols (each team member takes turns to set out by car, park at the top of the next col then cycle back to join the others and cycle back up the col with them).

Cycling from North to South turned out to be a great decision since you do not get too hot on the way up and you get warm sunshine on the South facing descents.

It would be difficult to do the route much later than we did at the start of September since the weather gets a bit cold and risky and the season for the hotels comes to a end. The earliest it could be done would be around the start of June though there is always the risk of a snow storm closing any of the high cols.

The thing I really love about cycling in France is the contrast of the attitude or car drivers and pedestrians towards you. In the UK I might expect a few shouts of something along the lines of "get off the f#*cking road you lycra fa*#ot". In France every day you get a few shouts of "Bon Courage!" and "Bravo!".

5 days - 660km - 15 big cols - 15,000m+ of ascending

Col de Joux Plane 1691m (10.9km avg. 6.5%)
Col de la Colombière 1613m (16.3km avg. 6.8%)
Col de l'Aravis (11km avg. 5%)
Col des Saisies 1657m (15km avg. 6.4%)
Cormet de Roselend 1967m (20km avg. 6%)
Val d'Isere 1850m (15km avg. 5.8%)
Col de l'Iseran 2770m (15km avg. 5.9%)
Col du Télégraphe 1566m (11.8km avg. 7.3%)
Col du Galibier 2646m (18.1km avg. 6.9%)
Col de l'Izoard 2361m (20km avg. 5.7%)
Col de Vars 2111m (19.4km avg. 5.7%)
Col de la Bonette 2802m (24km avg. 6.6%)
Col Saint-Martin 1500m (16.5km avg. 6.2%)
Col de Turini 1607m (15.3km avg. 7.2%)
Col de Castillon 707m (7km avg. 5.1%)

You can view my information about the route and accommodation here:docs.google.com/View?docid=ddg9mgw6_17g28ppqd8

Detailed info on the climbs can be found here: www.climbbybike.com

Perranporth Triathlon - Are you tough enough!

committee.web@fulontri.com — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 09:01:34 GMT

After what feels like a lifetime of trying I finally got on the vets podium at the Perranporth Triathlon this year. I can’t remember the first year I did this classic event, it was certainly before recorded history began, perhaps 1997. For many years it was the only triathlon I would do all season. A September event that gave me an incentive to do a bit of exercise throughout the year before I would cram in a few weeks training to make sure I was capable of finishing. I don’t remember the first few times I did it but I know I was on a heavy steel hybrid bike and was disgusted by all the “cheats” overtaking me as they rushed through transition while I struggled to get a t-shirt on over my head and sort out my socks!

The years I remember well are 2003 and 2004. As a keen surfer Cornwall can be frustrating for the poor reliability of quality surf. But the 2003 race was held in conditions that surfers dream of. A light off-shore breeze and a glassy 8ft swell with lines going out as far as the eye could see. I was super excited that this might be my opportunity to pull off the ultimate surf race trick that I had seen done in Australian ironman races. On reaching the final buoy the wily old pro simply stops swimming and lets the field race away back to shore while he studies the incoming sets of waves. Picking out the best wave he sprints up to speed and casually rides it all the way to the beach with one arm stuck out in front whilst smiling as he zips past the hard working field and exits the swim with a 30 second lead. Unfortunately it is a much harder trick to pull off than it looks and I simply didn’t have the confidence to stop, get my breath back and wait for the right wave. I could just imagine the likely outcome… stop, look around, wait for a big set… wait some more… getting a bit desperate, try to catch one but get dropped off it… wait a few more minutes for the next big set… see the first swimmers exiting the water in the distance… miss another one so give up and start swimming again and slog all the way to the beach 5 minutes down on the field. No, I could not risk such a disaster so I just kept my head down and hoped that I could catch a wave as I swam in. But trying to catch waves whilst swimming at race pace just does not work because you do not have the ability to sprint up to speed and hold your breath to catch the wave. Instead you end up getting a nice speed boost before getting dumped and bashed around while trying to gasp for air. I do remember one great moment on the swim out to the first buoy though. Swimming out in big surf it is vital to keep an eye out for big breaking waves and to have enough breath to dive down underneath them just before they hit you. I was in a close race with 3 other swimmers when a big outside wave approached to break right on our heads. I swam underneath and got going again on the other side with all my close competitors having vanished. Presumably they were now 25 meters behind me going through an intense washing machine cycle. It is important to watch out for waves in a surf swim!

2004 was a classic in different ways. The weather was wild with a howling onshore gale and a big messy sea. With the wind drowning out instructions it felt very chaotic on the beach looking out at the mayhem of the surf. Surely we could not race in these conditions. We could barely hear the starter barking instructions. “DO NOT ENTER THE WATER UNLESS YOU ARE AN EXPERIENCED SURF SWIMMER” repeated a stressed megaphone voice. I wanted to back out of it but decided I could survive as long as I saved enough breath for the inevitable washing machine cycle from the dumping waves. When the swell is this big you have to time your sighting views for when you are on the crest on the swells since in the troughs you can see nothing but the wave approaching you. I remember finally sighting the first buoy when I was about 30 meters from it and getting a big view out to my right where I could see half the field heading for the second buoy without even realising the first one existed! I reckon that there were only about 10 of us who got around both buoys that day so I felt a bit aggrieved when I didn’t even get a top 20 finish! But in such chaotic conditions there is no way the swim could be policed any better and it was a major achievement that no one got into serious difficulty. The other thing I remember about 2004 was the wind being so strong on the run that I drafted a big guy and every time I tried to overtake him I couldn’t hold it so had to tuck back in behind him - hey, drafting is legal on the run. Then after the turnaround point I pulled out and blew straight past him!

2006 saw freaky calm conditions and 2007 turned out quite gentle too with just a bit of on-shore breeze and a slightly choppy sea. The thing I love about Perranporth is that it feels like a real adventure with every leg having its only special challenge. There is also nothing like a single wave mass start from the beach. The 2 lap 40k bike course starts immediately with a 20% climb, has no real flat sections and can be tough in the wind. The 8k run is to the end of the beach and back with a detour over a 150m cliff on the way out. Most of the sand is damp and stable but the start and finish cover a section of 500m of soft sand which always makes my legs buckle as the finish line approaches.

A great, great triathlon event that everyone should do at least once. But best keep an eye on the surf forecast as race day approaches!

London Paris Cycle Tour

committee.web@fulontri.com — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 07:00:00 GMT

Stuart Dillon, Richard Bulkley and I just completed 543km of cycling of the London Paris Tour over 3 days and here are a few notes about how we got on (yes that is Sean Kelly with us in the photo!)...

We had a fantastic few days of road racing over closed roads with a full support service of lead cars, 10s of motorbikes operating rolling road closures, mechanics and masseurs. There were around 150 riders in 3 groups from fun riders through to competitive road racers. We started in group 2 but after Stu and I eased to a 1-2 finish in that group's first hill climb competition we found the confidence to move up with the big boys of group 1 for the afternoon of the first day (well actually I had to nag and persuade Stu for about an hour before he gave in and agreed and then Richard jumped in the deep end too). Within a few kilometres of fast rolling with a much more disciplined peleton we had big smiles on our faces. It was quite unbelievable to take a look to see who was on your shoulder only to find it was Sean Kelly or Johan Museeuw. As we approached the end of the first day in Portsmouth Stu and I found ourselves on the front doing a big turn going uphill into a stiff wind. Stu just kept accelerating… "Easy! Stu Easy!! Easy Stu!!! Steady!!!" With Stu's impressive show of power it actually seemed that 2 cheeky triathletes with no road racing experience had earned some respect from the race hardened roadies. Maybe I was imagining it but I am sure there were a few comments going around about those triathlon boys in black and yellow.

A nights sleep on the Ferry to St Malo followed by 2 big breakfasts (we didn’t realise that breakfast was laid on in a restaurant by the Marie so had packed away a fully fry-up before getting off the boat!) and we were off again for a full day of competitions for sprint, climbing and general classification (GC) jerseys. Knowing we were clueless but keen to get stuck in anyway we decided that Stu was capable of a sprint to match anyone so the plan was for me to lead him out in the first sprint competition at 41km. The peleton speed built to about 55km/h with about a kilometre to go and I decided it was time to make our move. I lead Stu up the outside and around to the front of the peleton to the sound of a few sarcastic whoops from the top teams. Then with about 400m to go about 15 more followed our move and came around in front to leave us boxed in with no where to go. Grrr!! with about 200m to go I managed to upset a few people trying to fight a route out for Stu and within a few seconds he had launched after the leaders making up about 30m in the last 100m to get up to about 10th on the line. If only he had been given a decent lead out he could have been in with a chance! We thought we had learnt a lesson for the next sprint but what it turned out we had really learnt was that if you go deep into the red in the first 41km then your legs hurt a lot more for the next 163km!

Next came 25km of "yellow" section which was lost on us. All we knew was that suddenly the pace got crazy and we were hanging on for dear life. What we realised later was that in between these starting and finishing sets of yellow flags spaced 20 to 25km apart the competition for the yellow jersey was fought out. In this first yellow section rain had started to fall, riders were attacking off the front continuously and we were repeatedly having to drive our lactate soaked legs to the limit to close the gap on the riders in front. Amazingly we survived to the end with the front group of 15 or so riders and therefore managed to only loose a few seconds of GC time to the winners. At our lunch stop we packed away every calorie that we could to get ready for the afternoon's program of sprint, climbing and GC competition. It was all a blur as we quickly learnt road racing skills in order to hang on to the leaders over the continuously rolling and twisty route. The final rain soaked yellow section was furious but agonisingly a small group got off the front with a few km to go and our tired legs just could not close the gaps. I moved onto Sean Kelly’s wheel in the hope that he would conjure up some magic to bridge up to the leaders but even he had no answer. Still Stu and I were pretty pleased to have only lost a minute or 2 and to hear later from the experienced racers that they were surprised by the intensity and speed of the racing.

Massage, lots of food followed by a packed morning of a sprint, 2 climbs and 2 yellow sections. This was now about survival but at least we now had dry roads and some sunshine. We no longer had any thoughts of contesting for sprint and climbing points, everything had to be saved for the crazy intensity of the yellow sections. The first included many twisty little lanes with short sharp ups and downs. In this terrain being near the front was essential to avoid the energy sapping fast-slow yo-yo effect of being at the back. Again, we managed to loose just a few seconds to the leaders. All too quickly came the final yellow section, immediately after a climbing competition so that the peleton had no chance to re-group. The race splintered as Aussie ex professional Jerone Walters (who has previously mixed it with the likes of Stuart O'Grady and Robbie McEwen) set-off on a solo effort to haul back the time the climbers had taken. Stu and I found ourselves in a chasing group of around 8 working a chain gang to try and bridge to a group ahead. Though we made no progress we managed to limit our losses to around a minute. We had survived!

We enjoyed a relaxing lunch in the sun and apparently it was just going to be easy riding with no competitions for the final 100km+ to Paris. As we set off we had sunshine and a decent tailwind but within minutes my legs were screaming as we got stuck into probably the fastest 50km of riding I have ever completed. Now surely we had made it! Well actually the last 50km of slow riding with groups 1,2 and 3 united just went on too long. My bum had had enough of my saddle and I just wanted to get off but we got there in the end.

Great event, an amazing unforgettable experience. Next year we think we should get a proper team together and see if we can move from survival to actually competing for jerseys. So make sure you get in some big training miles and sign up: http://www.londres-paris.com/

South Downs Adventure Race

committee.web@fulontri.com — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 08:00:00 GMT

Nik Haynes and I entered the South Downs endurance adventure race as a team of two, both keen to have our first play at an adventure race (www.dynamicadventureracing.co.uk).

We had a lucky break in the weather. Lots of rain leading up to race day guaranteed a very muddy experience but the wind and rain backed off for us as a perfect window before gale force winds and rain were to arrive the following morning.

We turned up nice and early, registered in the village hall and picked up our race map and race numbers.

Both Nik and I as complete adventure race novices immediately started to learn about things that adventure racers do and the kit they have. Many competitors had a clip board attached to their handlebars for easy viewing of the map. It is amazing how much time we would end up wasting by messing around with our maps, tucking them away, getting them out again…

We sat down at one of the many tables to study our map and work out what we were about to do. The map had marked on it 18 check points each for the bike and the run (at each unmanned check point location a little patterned hole punch was to be found and used to mark the appropriate place on our score card). There was no obligation to get all the check points but any time taken over 8hrs was subject to heavy penalty points. Everyone else seemed to be studying intensely and noting down planned race routes with distances and direction notes. We were not sure what to do but thought we would be ok making it up as we went along, it didn’t seem too tough and we judged we could cover all the check points on the map reasonably comfortably in the apparently generous 8hrs. A few minutes later Nik flipped the map over to discover the second side of the map. Ah, no, we can’t cover all THAT in 8hrs. Oops!

We spotted fellow Ful-On Tri member David Pattison and team-mate studying their map, went over to say hi and maybe get some clues as to what we were supposed to be doing to prepare. They seemed to only have a little more idea than us but now we had a little bit of intra club rivalry to spur us on!

The start made us smile. We were set off in bunches of around 8 competitors at 1 minute intervals but there was no rush, just a gentle diffusion with competitors electing to go off in different directions, most choosing to bike first and a few to start on foot. The bike/run order was your choice but a key factor was that it was going to be dark for the last couple of hours of the second stint. Insufficient bike lights and our thinking that we could navigate better in the dark when going more slowly on foot made us decide to bike first. As we set off competitors were handed the last key bit of information, a little card with a one line description of where to find each of the coded hole punches at the check points and how many points each was worth. A few were worth only 10 points (no point taking any time out to collect those) and a few were rated as highly as 55. We immediately spotted the surprising fact that some of the most distance check points were 10 pointers. We changed our rough route plan immediately to miss those out. Then we spotted that one point out on a limb which we were keen to miss out was a 55 pointer so that was back in our plans.

In general we had a sensibly paced muddy bike ride in the sun with a short break every few km to punch our score card and take a bite to eat. No punctures and no significant crashes. After a lazy start we seemed to be scything through the field and after the first few check points we started to see much less of the other competitors as the field spread out and people selected different routes. Nik took control of the map reading and did a great job as I guessed he should, being a geography teacher. In fact we only made one navigational error all day. Along with several other teams, we were running around in all directions near the top of a hill, scratching our heads and wondering where the check point was. Then we cracked it! We were not where we thought we were having missed a turn at the foot of the hill (tired legs were not pleased to learn that the 10min grind up the hill was completely unnecessary). We shot off down across a field and found the check point within seconds. The other competitors must have wondered what on earth we were up to as we disappeared over the horizon.

The rest of the bike route went reasonably smoothly until what was to be the last easy dash to base camp. Some nice helpful chap informed us that the smooth tarmac road through a posh private school was out of bounds to bikes so having considered being rebels we set off instead on an undulating, muddy, tortuously long route around the edge of the school grounds. Then we got our last disappointing realisation on the bike leg. The easy, close to base check point we thought we would quickly pick up on the way back did actually require a detour up a 120m climb. We decided to get it anyway and got back to the village hall base for a transition in around 3hr 45m. A quick bite to eat, a change into running gear and we were heading out on our run with 4hrs left and no real route plan. 15mins of running and I went to fish out the check-point description card. Gone! Not in my back pockets or back-pack. We had to go back and find it (lots of swearing and gnashing of teeth, I think Nik might have wanted to kill me). Heading back we spotted it just 30m back on our path (it had clearly fallen out as I had tried to get it from my back pocket). Phew, just 5 minutes wasted. But no, the next disaster was that the early enthusiastic running had rubbed the card in the sweat from my back and half of the check point value information was obliterated. Still maybe that wouldn’t matter (or maybe it would!)

With Nik once more in command of the map reading and navigation we were 1hr into the run and picking up check points nicely in the fading light. The freedom of being on foot allowed us to make short cuts off the main paths and tracks. But with 3 hrs to go my legs were starting to grind to a halt. I had no idea how I might be able to keep going for 3 more hours. However, Nik was bouncing along clearly frustrated with my lack of pace (my suggestion that he might have to carry me if we went much further and faster was turned down, where was his sense of teamwork!). We were pushing on in a determined effort to bag the two highest value check points (worth 55 each). 1hr40mins to go and we were at our furthest from base and still going away. Now the sun had gone down but clear skies and a full moon meant that we could still see clearly without our head torches. We got one 55 pointer and then got going again for a few km to reach a key junction and decision time. Do we take a hefty detour to try and get the other 55 pointer? It was clear that if we did then the only chance we would have of getting back in 8hrs would be to go directly and miss out on picking up 60+ easier points close to base. We made the right decision to skip it and instead to head towards base and try and pick-up 4 check-points that were roughly on the way. I knew that three of them were worth 25+ points each, the fourth I could not read on my mashed up card but we went for it anyway. A tough 3km out and back slog across a field and up a track in the dark (Nik leaving me behind again). I could see his light bobbing around up the way. He found it! We had the points (how many points was a mystery to us). Now we had to run like crazy to try and get back in time and pick up the 3 check points closest to the finish. Being forced to push the pace because of an impending deadline is not what you want after 4hrs of running. Pain, pain, pain… easy check-point, just 2 to go… more running way faster than our legs wanted to go…cramping legs... 15mins left and another junction and decision point. Do we run out and back 2km for a 30 point check point or skip it and just pick up the last easy one on the way back. Tired and under pressure we made the wrong choice. We went for it! Nik did another brilliant job to get the 30 points with me unable to match his pace. Now we were in a frenzy because 8hrs was already up and the finish point was just a distant lighted building across several dark muddy fields. We set-off on a steep, muddy track, legs cramping and sliding around… Nik’s phone ringing with the organisers wanting to know we were safe…yes, safe but running a bit late… a grim run up a path that seemed to go on for ever, desperately trying to keep up with Nik but not having the legs to do it… where is the last check point… it is by a style around here somewhere… …further up the road…got it! Now just 500m to sprint for the finish (well shuffle enthusiastically anyway). We staggered to a warm welcome from the finishing marshals with Nik joking that 8hrs was a bit short for us so we just wanted to run around for a bit longer. We hobbled in to join the tired muddy rabble in the village hall and learnt that we had earned ourselves a 55 penalty points for being late. Our last decision to go for the last 30 point detour had cost us 55 points!! But then finding an intact points card we learnt the really tragic news that the 3km slog for the 4^th from last mystery check point was in fact worth just 10 points!!

Still we were chuffed with picking up 4^th in category in our first ever adventure race. And I picked up a PB too, that is the muddiest I have ever been!

I had imagined that it was going to be 8hrs of messing about in the country rather than 4hrs of cycling followed by 4hrs of running. Especially as I do not do long, an Olympic distance tri is enough for me! 8 hours of eating energy bars and gels is just not sensible.

We really enjoyed the event though which was relaxed and smooth running. If some of the fast guys in the club can read a map then they would be well placed to pick up the prizes. In fact if a pair of tri ladies had entered then I am sure they would have won their category. Highly recommended!