Amstel Gold...

Well It was Amstel Gold Weekend.  Another Friday night leaving from work straight to an event.  A quick stop at Math Salden on the way down for a look.  Always amazes me this shop.  Bike frames and wheels everywhere.  I doubt they know what they have but I'm aways sure I could find about 20 different frames to buy off the shelf.

First drama before we got there is that the wife booked the Hotel months ago.  I assured her it started in Masstricht and just to get us near the centre.  Of course the Pro's might start there but us mere rider's have to start in Valkenburg.  After the last race where the Family had to get up at 5:30am it was decided the best way was for me to get a Taxi to the start.

5:30am wake up start and meet the Taxi at 6am.  I meet another rider, Frank in the foyer who was catching the train to Valkenburg and convinced him to come with me.  Much easier.  We got to Valkenburg and set off at 6:36am.  Frank to do the 200Km and me the 250KM.  the first 10-15km were fairly relaxed before Frank realised he'd left his water bottles in the Taxi.  Not the best of starts for him.  I lost him on the first or 2nd "Burg" and didn't see him again.

Big chainringing it up over the top of a hill

It was a fairly lonely first "lap" on my own after this.  I tried to take it easy and felt very good on the hills.  I managed to get several photos all on my own at the top of hills with no one anywhere near me.  I was even in the big chain ring in that one.  It was fairly quiet and not to many people around.  Towards the end of the first lap and back in Valkenburg the signs diverted me into a car park full of cars.  How puzzling was this?  The feed station was tucked away in the corner and near impossible to see.  Grabbed a few gels exited the car park and was off again.

So passing Valkenburg I hit the stream of riders just starting their event.  It was to be the theme of the day.  Each "Burg" it seemed I passed a few hundred and then a few more on the way down.  The riders were fairly well behaved and did stay left on the Bergs which is nice for faster riders.  It seemed to be a random collection of riders and not really any groups working together anywhere.  I must have been with one group for max maybe 20-30 Km before that disintegrated.  A few close misses with cyclists coming the other way was not pleasant.  We passed both the Saxo bank Team and Nissan Trek teams somewhere here as well.

The fast lane

The food stops became increasingly worse.  The Dutch need to look at how the Belgians to this.  The Belgians seem used to use big commercial premises.  The Dutch basically set everything up in a paddock on the side of the road.  Each one was a big mud pit and it took at least 5-10 mins just to get water.  The food selection was not as good either.  The amount of people was insane and hard to just moved about.

I don't really recall much about the "Bergs".  I enjoyed both the "Camerig" and "Drielandenpunt" Climbs the most.  Not to steep and very flowing climbs that suit me.  I still don't understand your average rider that either steamrolls into the bottom in the biggest gear he has and starts sprinting before running out of puff selecting the smallest gear after 50-100 metres.  The other option is before the bottom find the smallest gear you have and hit it at a very low speed.  I prefer to get into the small chain ring keep the pace the same and change gears fractionally to suit. It works much better than putting in to much effort and not able to continue, or giving up before you have even started climbing.

The steep bit and about to hit the manhole cover

The only hill that troubled me was the Keutenberg.  I didn't know it was there.  Came around a corner, wondered why there was a load of people and bang straight into a nasty little steep section.  I managed to hit the only manhole cover in the road which was wet and slipped.  The crowd "ohhed" and "ahhed" and pointed but fortunately I had enough momentum to grind out the 100 or 200 metres of steep bit before it levels off for the rest of the climb.




We hit very wet roads about 40km from the finish but missed most of the rain.  It got very cold and I was told later it had hailed for about 20 mins in Valkenburg.  The run into Valkenburg was not very nice and the Cauberg was just a joke.  To many people to climb properly and once you hit the top they dropped us into a big tent complex.  Had to walk about 1km through this to get back onto the road before doing a loop to join riders who had yet to finish.  Not the best idea and it was so cold!!! Where can I send my invoice for new cleats?

So I finished the ride in 8 hours and 5 mins.  Averaged right on 30km/h and fairly happy with this.  Difficult with all the riders and hills I think to go much faster especially with no one to work with for a lot of the course.  I don't think I'll do this event again as there was just to many people.  The route is nice but I actually think the region is nice so It wouldn't really matter where you rode in Limberg.

Yes it's steep but still time for a smile.

I'm hopefully now in good shape for things to come.  Next week will be the biggie.  Liege-Bastogne-Liege with it's 270Km and near 3317 metres of climbing.

Late Update - Watched the pros do the last 70km and very pleasing to see some struggling just like the rest of us.  I guess I thought they are superhuman and use big gears everywhere but seeing them use there small chain ring and large sprockets on the back show they are just like the rest of us. Human after all.

One long Weekend...

The Cycling Season has begun !!!  For me anyway and judging by the numbers a load of other riders too.

Saturday was Ronde van Vlaanderen or Tour of Flanders and Sunday was the Paris-Roubaix Challenge.  Both very different and both a load of fun and just under 400KM of quality training and fun all in one weekend.

Ronde van Vlaanderen

So the first thing you do when you get to an event is get the bike out of the car and put it together.  Then you wonder why the wheel won't spin and quickly find the broken spoke.  Oh Shit. !!!  Nothing open at 8pm at night. Thank heavens for the spare wheels !!!

They moved the start this year to a stadium outside the city.  Great for them but near impossible for me.  I'd booked a hotel in the Centre of Brugge because I knew it started in the square.  So riding around at 6:45am in the dark trying to find some Stadium is impossible.  Fortunately the secret is to ride around in circles till you find another biker and ask them where to go.  Thanks to the three Dutch lads who had a map I made the start.

The first 50KM or so was fairly uneventful except for the poor guy that crashed about 3km from the start.  Never a good look.  We hooked up into a fairly large group after the first feed station and cruising at 40-50Km/h.  I skipped the next feed station because it came far to quick for me.  I don't seem to recall any hills till close on 150km. 

I remember having a chat with some anxious brits.  Never ridden on the cobbles.  Said that they were about to hit the best 100KM of cycling in Belgium.  And just around the corner was the Koppenburg. We hit it from the other direction this year.  Rounded the corner and it's a load of cyclists trying to walk up the road.  With lots of yelling from me enough space was created in the middle to let me through.  I must say this was one of the most daunting climbs for me last year.  This year it was a breeze.  Think I climbed it in my 39x21 as well and felt very good

Over the top of the hill I linked up with another chap.  Never got to speak to him but we basically rode the next 100KM together on and off.  The only hill I really recall was challenging was the Paterburg.  Seeing the Pros on TV struggling up on the third lap was good.

I finished in seven hours and 45 mins!!!  Well stoked.  I did nine hours and 30 mins last year so this was a huge improvement.  OK the course was 15 KM shorter but still.  In regards to the new course?  Well I preferred the old.  More cobbles and more hills.  Although the GPS route says the same amount of climbing the old just felt more complete.

A couple of observations.  You really want to make sure your bike is in good working order.  There must have been several hundred people on the side of the road with flat tyres and I lost count of how many chains I saw snap.  Most likely those rubbish shimano ones !!!

Paris-Roubaix

So the mad dash to St-Quentin to try and find some 28mm tyres and pick up the registration pack.  How many places does it take to visit to buy 28mm tyres?  A lot and I never found any.  A mad Frenchman trying to sell me 24mm Vittoria tyres because Tom Boonen rides them and they are the best.  I tried to point out they run 27mm Tubs but he wasn't hearing it.  In short I gave up and rode my 25mm Continental GP4 season's.  I got the Mavic service crew to pump them up before the stage. 110psi in the back and 100psi in the front.  More than I ride when training but thought they would know. 

Hotel,  Once again another lesson learnt.  Get one that serves an early breakfast and try and find one closer than a 45 mins drive away.  Saves a lot of problems first thing in the morning.  Eating cereal out of a container on the way to the start line is never good.

It was cold.  1500 people standing on the start line.  Some in shorts and shirts and others in Artic survival gear.  I dumped my overshoes and gillet right at the start and went for long sleeve and leg warmers and a hat.  Two degrees and cold !!!

We were in the 4th group to set off.  Closed roads and cruising in a big bunch at 40km for the next hour.  The police doing a great job.  We must have picked up the the first dropped riders within 10km.  The French were out in the streets cheering and clapping as we went past.  It was a blast.  Every body was having a great time and lots of friendly gestures between riders and chatting when time allowed.  I think our group had swelled to 300 riders by the time the Pave came.

The first Pave section was unreal.  I was way to far back and had to fight my way past the chaos.  Adan who I met at the hotel the night before and been riding with just took off.  The dust the noise the bikers everywhere.  The yellow mavic cars and Mavic motorbikes helping people with tyres and bidons scattered everywhere.  Chaos ensured.  We regrouped after the first Pave and suddenly there was only about 75 of us.  The next Pave and we must have been 25 riders.  I got the hint to ride at the front and choose your line and it's easier.

The Pave, Yes it's rough rocks and lots of dirt.

It must have been the 3rd or 4th Pave Section and I looked down and only had one bidon left.  So much for the steal bottle cages being better.  Of course it was the full one.  We regrouped again at a feed station and topped up remaining bottle and grabbed anything to eat and a coke or two.  I was in such a hurry I even forgot to stop for a wee.  Must have been the next Pave section and felt something hit my leg.  I looked down and my second bottle was gone.  It was going to be a long day.

Then in maybe section seven or eight after several big hits it was a fairly distinctive hiss phat hiss my rear tyre was gone.  Five mins later and I was back on the bike.  I stopped 100 metres on to grab a bidon off the ground that didn't have much in but beggars can't be choosers.  Threw my tube at a local and yelled "Merci" when I exited the Pave.  What I didn't realise was I passed Adan who had punctured about 1km past me.

I don't recall much after this.  A big group came steaming past and I latched onto the back.  I was feeling quite sore in the right quad at this point with 300km in the last 24 hours in my legs.  Couldn't get out of the saddle but fine sitting down.  I stayed with this group for a while and then we hit the Tranchée d'Arenberg section.  I hit the front somewhere here and had a blast. Picking the right line and just going for it was great.  I had a huge smile on my face

Arenberg

We finished Arenberg and the group was gone.  I hooked up with a very small group and we made some good progress.  Rode with two Americans on there very very nice fully sponsored Trek bikes with power meters.  We took turns until the next feed stop.  Some cokes and cakes were grabbed before I set off on my own.  I rode slowly waiting for a group of any sort and not much appeared.  I started to get on with in and 10 mins later a few riders appeared and we made some decent progress again.

About 30-45 mins later the Americans appeared.  Asked them were they'd been as they seemed to be the best to ride with.  Said I'd been waiting for them.  The next Pave section the three of us left the group's we'd formed behind again.  Out the other side we formed a new group of riders before loosing them on the cobbles each time.  On the last pave section one of the Americans punctured and I was on my own again.  The last 20KM was solo.  I picked up several hangers on but none could or wanted to work or help.  We turned onto the tree lined street right near the end and one of them asked me how far to the finish.  I had to laugh and say it was a long way away.  The lap on the Stadium was brief and one of the buggers I'd towed to the finish sprinted past me.

I'd beaten the wife to the finish line and had a catch up with Adan and the Americans.  I'd wondered why they had such low race numbers and had steam rolled past me.  Their bus driver was late to the start and they started behind the last group !!!  Adan said he'd yelled at me as I passed but I guess the speed, excitement and all the noise on the cobbles I just didn't hear or see anything.  He was maybe 30 mins behind me which again was not to bad.

Hint of smile and a hard days work done.

I was well impressed with my time.  5:01:11 Wow !!!  That is 164th out of the approx 1400 who started (900 or so finished).  54th in my age group.  Not bad for a first timer !!!  Maybe next year I'll get to ride with the fast guys at the front !!! Also the winner was in my age group and his time was 4:20 !!!

Brilliant event and hope to do it again.  I loved the closed roads and the french support.  If you ride on the cobbles slowly or on the grass on the side of the cobbles they ignore you.  Charge at the cobbles in the middle of the road and give it some they yell and clap and give encouragement.

Lets hope the rest of the events this year can continue in similar fashion.

The MTB

Well since my major ambition this year is only a few weeks ago it's only fair I show the bike that I will be riding.  It's just had it's major overhaul for the last few years and hopefully is now good to go.

The last parts arrived this week via Scotland.  The local shop wanted 100 Euros for a bolt kit so imported them from Scotland at a grand cost of £35 with shipping.  I spent all day Saturday putting her together again and fitting a few new parts

• Serviced front and rear shocks
• New chain and cassette
• New wheels (as previously detailed)
• New suspension bearings and bolt kit
• New gear cables
• New rear XTR mech
• New XT Shifter pods
• New handlebar grips

I got the front and rear shock push tuned a few years ago and got them refurbed again this time.  It always makes a huge difference.  The front is brilliant but the rear was a bit plush.  Great for downhill but sapping on XC courses.  I've got a new rear kaskima body and a small can fitted to my circa 2004 rear shock that should help.

The drive train was just tired.  The XTR mech I had was from 1999 and last time I replaced the jockey wheels I said I'd never do it again.  Again the shifters were just tired and would fail to work sometimes but always work on second push. The difference is great and shifting is now so slick.  Moved to KMC chains and finally dumped the last Shimano piece of junk chain I had.


So full Spec list is

• 2004 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR in size M
• 2004 Fox Talas 80-130mm Push tuned front shock
• 2004 Fox RL Push tuned rear shock
• Hope Pro 2 Evo Hoops with Crest rims
• Various Maxxis tyres (tubeless)
• RaceFace Evolve isis triple chainring
• RaceFace Deus 90mm stem
• RaceFace Deus low rise handlebars
• RaceFace seatpost
• RaceFace headset
• RaceFace isis bottom bracket
• 2004 Hope M4 Brakes 160/180 rear/front
• Hope floating rotors
• Hope seatpost collar
• XT front mech
• XTR Rear mech
• XT shifters
• XT Pedals
• Fizik Gobi XM Saddle

Bike now weighs in around 11.7kg which isn't too bad for quite an old bike.

Only had a small test ride up and down the road quickly and hopefully big ride in the next few days.  Had the front tyre blow off the rim in that small ride and glad this happened now rather than during the race.  Something to sort in the coming days...

The new bike

Finally after waiting close on a month my new frame arrived !!!  I was saving a bunch of new parts for the old bike till after the worst of winter.  Well once the frame was found cracked it was just a case of wait until the new frame arrived before fitting them.

 So I got the frame home and started the build at maybe 11am.  6pm or so I was done.  I don't think I'd make the quickest bike mechanic award of the year but hopefully make up for it with good workmanship. The hardest part was the cables and having to thread and unthread them through the frame to cut an outer was a pain.

I've been out for nearly 200Km on it today and enjoyed myself.  Not to much different from the old even though the frame is a model up on the old one.  Had to tweak the seat straight and the handlebars straight but everything else was good.

The old bike weighed about 9.4 KG and the new comes in at about 8KG.  Most of that's the wheels but the frameset and pedals dropped some as well.  The groupset made almost no difference between 105 and Ultegra.  It is smoother and the old 105 had 20,000 Km on it so was a wee bit worn, but I'm sure it will go on a donor bike somewhere in the future.

So Full Spec is

Specialized Roubaix SL3 in 54cm
Full Ultegra Triple groupset
Hope Hoops RS Mono wheelset
Look Keo Carbon pedals
Continental GP4 Season 25mm tyres
Specialized BG Romin Expert Saddle
Specialized Carbon seatpost
Specialized Alu handlebars
3T ARX Team -6 110mm stem

Hopefully this will be the last bike for a while.  Three in 18 months is a bit excessive.

The great bike diet

I've had my Mountain Bike since about mid 2005.  It's not a bad bike and I haven't really spent that much money on it over the years.  It's given me huge enjoyment where ever it's been.  I must have ridden the bike in Spain, France, United Kingdom, Solvenia and the Netherlands and probably more.

So knowing that I have up to 4500 Metres of climbing each day in Portugal loosing weight off anything is important.  I started with me and I'm the lightest I've been in more than 20 years.  So where to go from here?

The bike is a 2004 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR that I put together myself from a collection of parts over the years.  Nothing that special and it weighed in at 13 kilos.  For interests sake a brand new Stumpy weighs in at about 12 kilo for the 2012 26 inch version.  I was expecting things had moved on and they did in a way but not that much.  My bike had 100mm travel back then and this has 140mm and is lighter.

So where could I drop weight.  I'm not a huge fan of bling Carbon scatter gunned on a bike.  It costs a load and you save only a few grams here and there.  Yes it adds up but not the kilo or so I'm looking for.

So the wheels and tyres were the obvious choice.  My wheels and tyres with cassette etc were 4.7 KG !!!  Yes that's a big percentage of the total bike !!!

Well I knew that tubeless tyres were a must and that Stan's Crest rim was highly rated.  I've had Hope hubs for years and just had to go with these again.  New set of  Hope Hoops arrived along with a Stan's kit and some new tyres.  All pumped up and with a new XT cassette on they were massively lighter. 3.5 KG in total.

New and Shiny

Old and heavy

I've got some new front and rear mechs to go on but I'm not holding out much hope for these making any difference.  I'm quite happy with 1.2KG off for the time being.

Tyre Choice

Line five Mountain bike riders up and ask them which tyres are good.  Be prepared for many different answers.  In fact hopefully most will probably ask questions first.  How muddy and how technical is it?  Are you doing lots of downhill and climbing?  How much single track?  Loose over hard?

So this week has been confused week.  How do you choose a tyre when you can't answer the questions?

The short answer is I have no idea !!!  The long answer is buy 4 different types of tyres and see what you like. It's expensive and the tyres you choose may not be the best choice.

So I'm riding Portugal from one end to the other.  I've only ever been there once.  And that was to a city and no where near where I will be riding.  The only guide I've had is to look at pictures on Facebook and a few blogs from previous years.  It looks fast and fairly smooth with not to much technical spots.

I've been using Maxxis High Rollers for quite a few years.  Why?  Well they have never given me any issues and I've not destroyed one except for wearing the tread out.  They are great for all round UK riding but way to slow for the flatlands.  They are awesome for downhilling in the Alps.

I've purchased the following

• Maxxis High Roller 2.1
• Maxxis Monorail 2.1
• Maxxis Aspen 2.1
• Maxxis Crossmark 2.1

I'll be testing the Aspen on the front and Crossmark on the back very soon.  Hopefully they are nice and fast and they do look it.  They both have low treads so should be fast.  Not sure how the Crossmark will go in the mud as there is not much gap between the blocks on the centre of the tyre.  This is hopefully where the Monorail will help on the back.  In extreme wet I'll be switching back to trusted High Roller with possibly the Monorail on the front.

What's interesting is that road tyre choice seem to go along the same lines.  But isn't a road a road and surfaces fairly similar?  Not quite the same as getting the right tyre for the course on an MTB.

The Cold

Well it's cold out.  Has been the last two weeks.  I don't thinks it's been above zero for over two weeks and we have had the coldest weather in 30 years.  All the canals are frozen solid and ice skating fever is gripping the nation.

The good part is the first week was a rest week and I could afford some time off from training.  The bad part is it's gone on a lot longer than I'd anticipated.  I borrowed a trainer the first few days for some mind draining boring riding in front of a movie.  After this I just had to ride on a road or in a forest. 

So it was -19 Celsius in the morning but fortunately up to about -6 when I finally ventured out.  A blast in the forest for two hours was great.  We even managed to get the gang together for a three hour ride the next day at about -9 back in the forests..  I've managed to commute to work at down to -14 this week and learnt several valuable lessons along the way.

When it's cold and I mean really cold everything freezes.  The puddles that were in the forest that I'd forgotten about were rock hard smooth ice and now covered in snow.  Yes I bit the dust in a big heap.  No damage done but looked a fool.  Carrying water is useless as within 30 minutes it's frozen solid.  A sports drink does last a bit longer but not by much.  All week I've had ice freeze to my face.  People have certainly given me some odd looks during my commute.

I also learnt that riding harder and faster is not always the best way to stay warm.  At -6 I rode fast and starting sweating.  When we slowed down I got cold.  The next day I wore less clothing at -9 but steady all day and was warmer.

I've also learnt that it's impossible to keep my feet warm.  I tried two pairs of socks and two sets of boots over the top and still had cold feet. I've had toasty warm hands all week in Ski Gloves and the legs are only cold for 5 minutes.  My head has suffered and I've been wearing two hats under the helmet. A good base layer, Thick jersey, Windproof Jacket and Gilet has been enough for -14 and at -5 I remove the Gilet.

Looking forward we might even get above freezing by the weekend. It's been a long hard slog on the Mountain bike this week and I'm looking forward to getting back on the road bike very soon.