The Great Tour 2010

I can't have a cycling blog without writing something about The Great Tour.

This was one of my defining moments in cycling, encompassing all the joys associated with great rides - superb company, scenery, sunshine, mileage and accomplishment; just on a much bigger scale. In cycling, you have to accept that for every up there is a down, in every sense. The Great Tour also delivered the worst spill I have experienced.

In a nutshell, the 2010 ride was planned as a circumnavigation of the coastline of Great Britain in 64 days to raise money for The Prostate Cancer Charity and retail trade charity Caravan. Graeme Knott, Hugh Roberts, Alistair Cope, Mike Sweeney and Sam Mashford were the hardy souls who completed the whole thing, starting and finishing in Seaton, Devon.

My involvement was just to ride the first two weeks - Seaton to Scarborough - approx 900 miles. My trip was cut short on my home stage, close to St Osyth, when I had a nasty spill and was carted off to Colchester A&E. My focus then became getting fit enough to rejoin the ride, which I managed and subsequently had the priviledge of taking part in the final week.

It was special for me, and pulling the video clips together for this 8 minute summary of my time on The 2010 Great Tour was a really nice trip down memory lane. Sunshine, bikes, great people and an excuse to air the Superstars theme tune! My thanks go to Dan Broom for producing such a fine video record of a great event which I have randomly plundered and shoddily edited for my own purposes.

French Holiday

Well, that was a great break, but as ever, it seems like its over way too soon.

The Vendee

I love France, particularly the Atlantic Coast and we enjoyed a great family holiday. The Vendee doesn't provide too many great cycling challenges (other than wind), but this was not a cycling holiday.

Family time, rest, recovery, and moving my tan-lines - that's what this break was about.

Testing a "Lady Bike"

My son and I took our bikes with us while my wife hired a Gitane "lady bike" for a reasonable €39 for 6 days. Cycling around this area is a breeze - nice and flat, and unlike the UK, cycle paths that actually take you where you want to go. The only cycling related mishap was the theft of 4 bungees I stupidly left in my wife's basket while parked up at a beach.

I managed one "training" ride of approx 25 miles at pace while the rest of my mileage was going to and from shops/market/beaches. Its amazing how many bodyboards, deck chairs, towels and other assorted beach kit can be transported this way. I particularly liked some of the locals' trailers designed to pull full size surf/windsurf rigs or kayaks...

Merci, Thomas - indeed

 It was also great to see the locals' appreciation for the exploits of Thomas Voeckler in the TdF this summer. Bus shelter ads were most common, while there was a very impressive, huge ad on a road bridge over the autoroute on the way out of the region. They know how to treat their cyclists in this part of the world.