Tour of Britain!

Mad person that I am I had signed up for the most difficult stage of the 2011 Tour of Britain, some 140 km around the hilly and windy Staffordshire Moorlands. So last Sunday morning at 8am saw me reluctantly at the star tin Stoke on Trent with ominous clouds looming - once underway though the first part of the course was undemanding, although too much on busy roads. After about 60 km the climbing began, as we went up and over the moors near Leek. The toughest climb was the steep 2km up Gun Hill, but those Alpine climbs meant it caused me no issues. After Leek the heavens opened - just after I had given my rain jacket to my supporters' club (Ro Nick and Izzy!) at the side of the road in Cheddleton! So in the last hour I got a real soaking - the final little rise was an amazing 30% in one place, causing traction issues and some riders to puke at the top (purple in one case!). Made it back to the finish in Stoke on Trent in just over 5 hours, quite pleasing.

Final August ride in France

Tuesday was again lovely and hot and also remarkably free of the usual winds at this time of year. I tested out the weary legs on the flat out and back to the Pujols area, a nice easy 50 kms. Turned out that I wasn't so tired after all as recorded my fastest ever average ride speed in France (with the exception of one notable descent assisted average last year). So was quite please by the time I sweated back up the 14% final gradient to Les Senies. Now up to 3,000 kms for the year so far, also a record in recent years.