Riding into Autumn.....

For me...this time of the year is one of the best for getting out on the bike for a ride.
Most of the visitors to the area have now gone home and the roads have become a lot quieter and more bike friendly. It's also a lot cooler now making the temperature better suited for cycling...

I started the week with a 38 mile spin on Monday morning on my own followed by an afternoon of bike cleaning... I get a lot of pleasure in making sure that my bikes are always cleaned and prepared before every ride and if done regularly it never needs to be a major operation....

The Felt cleaned and prepped ready for Tuesdays ride.

 I had made arrangements to meet up with Si Chapman and Jon Joynes on Tuesday for an afternoon spin... It had been a good few weeks since I had ridden with either of these guys. It was a couple of weeks after the end of the 10in10 ride that I last rode out with Si and it was in Italy during the 10in10 itself that Jon and I had been riding together.....

The Bikes taking a coffee break...

 I was really looking forward to meeting up with these fellas..... It's always great to meet up with mates for a ride and at this time of year I find the rides more enjoyable than ever....on top of that Si lives in a village in North Dorset surrounded by some great cycling country, although for this ride we had all agreed it was going to be a nice steady and flattish ride.....

Si and Jon taking a coffee break....

 Si had a bit of a cold and as none of us has been doing big distance rides lately an easier ride with a coffee and cake stop seemed appropriate... Anyway as Jon proved during our 10in10 ride back in June, his cycling ability depends very much on having sufficient cake intake so a cake stop was an absolute must.....
A ride with friends is always enjoyable with no pressure to reach targets or goals.... Si had come up with a really enjoyable route meandering as it did around the Dorset countryside. With only 1755 feet of ascent shown on the Garmin at the end of the 30 odd miles we completed, it was pretty flat (for Dorset) as well... It was an afternoon well spent and I look forward to my next opportunity to ride with these guys again......

Gareth Morns...Literally our first ride together in years....

Wednesday morning found me out on the bike again.....this time I was meeting up with Gareth Morns at the Sandbanks chain ferry for a ride over the Purbecks...

Now Gareth and I have not been out for a bike ride together for years.....and I really do mean years.....
Gareth was one of our 'Rev Pro Team'  who rode with me on the LEJOG ride we did to raise money for the Dorset Kidney Fund back in 2008....We are both pretty certain that was the last time that we actually cycled together...the years really do seem to fly by....!!
Gareth was responsible back then for getting me interested in cycling again after I'd had a break of about twenty years, so he has a lot to answer for..!!
Unfortunately with work commitments and a young family, it is not so easy these days for Gareth to fit the cycling in around a busy life but I hope that it won't be so long before our next ride together...
Gareth is a very capable cyclist and it was a pleasure to ride with him again this week......

So there we have it....riding into autumn and catching up with cycling friends.... there is not much better way to spend your time..........

Back to normal........

Well now that we are well and truly into September things are getting back to normal here at Purple Towers....
As I have mentioned before on this blog..the summer months are not really my favourite time of year, mainly because of how busy it seems to get on the local roads with the influx of visitors to the area. 

Looking back on the year, the winter seemed to hang on for ever...however we were lucky when we had our training camp back in early May. 
The weather up till then had been very cold, but for that week the temperature shot up and we had nice sunny days for our rides.. 
Following that week the weather went back to being cold again...indeed I remember the day we set off on the #10in10 ride it was bitterly cold and the ride through the Netherlands the next day wasn't much better either. 
Since then the summer weather finally arrived and we have had some absolutely stunning weather down here on the Dorset coast. 
Just checkout this picture taken from the end of our road only nine days ago........

Bournemouth beach close to Alum Chine

A beautiful sunny day and a busy beach.....Just a few days later and most of the visitors had gone, the children had gone back to school and the weather had taken on a really autumnal feel.

As I look out of my window as I type this I can see a very grey looking sea and it has started to rain. It is almost as if when August was finished and September started, a switch was thrown and nature just changed gear.....

Talking about changing gear....that is what I have done.
I have been getting back to more riding again.....

Throughout August I started back with regular use of the static bike.....I found that this bit of equipment had been a real boon for my training earlier in the year when the weather wasn't good and I was well pleased with the results that I got by using it for my preparation for the #10in10 ride.
It enabled me to focus my training on various aspects of my cycling in a way that 'going out for a ride' doesn't really allow you to do. I certainly intend to continue to factor it in to my training  programme over the coming winter.

Unfortunately at the end of August I was using the static bike and had programmed it for a very 'hilly' route. As the resistance increased as it racked up the gradient, there was a 'bang' and all the resistance disappeared. 
After investigation I found that the cable that runs from a servo motor to the resistance magnet had snapped...... I contacted the suppliers and I must say that they were first class.....within a few days the cable had been replaced and I was back training again... The suppliers told me that they had not had that happen before, so hopefully it's something that I won't experience again.

Since then I have also managed to get out on the Tifosi and the Felt as well, so hopefully everything will now get back to normal.
I hope to see some of you out on the roads around the Purbecks over the coming months......

After the 10in10....What next?

It's been about nine weeks since we completed the Ten in Ten ride....
On my return from Italy I didn't ride my bike for a couple of weeks and then I did one 50 mile ride with some friends and since then I have not ridden any of my bikes at all....

The main reasons for this are that I wanted a complete break from the bike, plus I also find that I don't get as much pleasure riding my local roads during July and August as they seem to get pretty busy with all the holidaymakers that flood into the area........ one of the drawbacks of living at a tourist spot......

Mind you at the beginning of August I did start to use my static training bike again so that I can  maintain my fitness at a reasonable level for when I start getting out on my bikes riding the Purbecks in September.....

A few last little notes regarding the Ten in Ten for those of you who might be interested....

Three of us were using Continental Gatorskin tyres....In fact the ones that I used had well over 1500 miles on them before I even started the challenge. None of us had a puncture!! Considering some of the rough sections of road we travelled  (particularly in Belgium) I think that we did pretty well...

No major mechanicals were suffered either apart from a saddle height adjustment by Lorenzo.....
A dropped chain at the lower slopes of the Splugen pass for Jon...and JD suffered a bent derailleur hanger that happened when he had his accident.
A bike shop near our campsite in Italy sorted it for him in an hour so that he could give the Ghisallo climb a go.....
All in all an uneventful ride on the mechanical side....

So......What next?
Well to be honest I have nothing in the pipeline at the moment. 
I had planned on riding the Lon Las Cymru across Wales in September with Peter Calcutt from the Backpackers club, but unfortunately he has had to pull out due to work commitments...great pity, as it is the second time that the trip has had to be postponed.  

For now I  am looking for a cycle tour or challenge ride for next year and any suggestions will be considered...... 
In the meantime as a little bit of motivation I have my 10in10 photos to keep me going as well as the Ghisallo medallions which I picked up in Italy and I have shown below...... 

Medallion from the Museo del Ciclismo

Medallion of the Santuario Madonna del Ghisallo (Rear)

Medallion of the Santuario Madonna del Ghisallo (Front)

#10in10 Storia del Santuario del Ghisallo.

At the end of my last blog post I said that I would give you some background history of the Santuario del Ghisallo........

The sanctuary of Ghisallo is a little church at Magreglio, which is 754m above sea level on the Vallassina road, which goes from Milan to Bellagio via Erba between the two branches of Lake Como. This blessed Virgin Mary is the Patron Saint of Cyclists.

The little church has no written history but according to tradition the Virgin Mary venerated on  the steep hill which it is named after and is probably of the type that the villagers used to put by the roadside to protect the villages and their religous heritage.

The holy image was set up in the woods of this area which at the time were full of brigands, who used to seek refuge here and enjoy the right of asylum.

Around the XI century it is said that in the area of Magreglio some brigands threatened to kill a certain Count of Ghisallo while he was out hunting. He prayed to the Madonna he had come across on the spot and the Virgin saved him. This is the reason why the image of the Madonna got the name of "Ghisallo" and she was soon venerated under this title.

A little church was built around the original shrine, followed after a while in 1623, by the little sanctuary which is a popular spot for visitors. 

Due to the geographical position of the Sanctuary, it has become a landmark for cycling competitions including the Tour of Lombardy in October. So the little church has become the symbol of the spiritual elevations of this sport.

On 13th October 1949 Pope Pius X11 appointed the Madonna of Ghisallo Patron Saint of Italian Cyclists.
As a result that image was and still is venerated by international cycling as it's Patron Saint and the place has become the focus of many pilgrimages and races.

In the little church there are gifts and trophies from the cycling world which cyclists have presented as a mark of their devotion to their Patron Saint from 1948 until the present day.
The 'Monument to the Cyclist' and busts of famous cycling personalities adorn the adjacent area.

Next to the Sanctuary was built the 'Museum of Cycling Madonna of Ghisallo'.
On May 31st 2006 Pope Benedict XV1 blessed the final stone of the building in the vatican, thereby solemnising the completion of the museum. This stone can be seen in the central room of the museum building and bears the inscription 'Omnia Vincit Amor' (love conquers all).
I have included below a few of the photos I took of some of the exhibits................

#10in10 Destination Santuario Madonna del Ghisallo

We had planned that our ten countries in ten days challenge would have an extra ride added on once we had arrived on the shores of Lake Como in Italy.
The day after we set up camp at a campsite at Lake Como that is what we set out to do....
I had been dreaming of doing this ride for about five years so for me it was a special day.......

View from our campsite at Lake Como

We all set off  from our campsite on a really stunning day....Lorenzo led us out as we rode from our site along the shores of Lake Como... The road conditions were variable, being rough in places....but the views were to die for.

Riding through the lakeside tunnels was really quite scary as you couldn't see the road surface. Riding from very bright sunlight into very dark tunnels was not easy but we all managed to survive it and we eventually arrived at Varenna where the ferries plied their trade across the lake......

Boarding the Ferry.

On the Ferry on route to Bellagio.

We bought our tickets and queued up for the ferry that would take us across the lake and to the small town of Bellagio which is where our Ghisallo climb would start. 

There were a couple of touring cyclists in the queue who we got talking to because JD had noticed that they were using hub gears....
JD has had a bit of a thing going regarding hub gears for some time now....He recently bought another bike that has a Shimano Nexus 13 speed hub gear so he was keen to swap notes with the couple in the queue...

View from the ferry on route to Bellagio.

 The trip on the ferry took about half an hour and the views were simply stunning....
Dave had taken the motorhome around the lake and we had arranged to meet on the Ghisallo climb.
When we arrived at Bellagio Lorenzo checked with a policeman which way we needed to go and we then set off for the start of the climb....

It was very...very..hot!! 35c+.....but hey it was better than rain.
There seemed to be a lot of climbing before we even started on the climb proper, highlighted by a white line and the letters spelling out START painted across the road........

I set off just ahead of JD and Lorenzo..... Jon decided that due to the previous days efforts on the Splugen Pass he just didn't have it in his legs to even start on the Ghisallo and he chose to head back to the lakeside and a small bar......

The heat didn't make the climb easy.....but after waiting five years to do it there was no way that I wasn't going to get to the top..... My arrival at the summit and the small chapel was a pretty emotional experience...well worth the struggle..

JD and Lorenzo managed to get almost halfway up the climb.....I am sure that if it hadn't been so hot they would have made it all the way to the top. Make no mistake they did really well to get as far as they did.....

Dave met up with JD and Lorenzo and swept them up in the motorhome and brought them to the summit where I was now waiting..... Jon had decided that he would stay at the lakeside bar so that the chapel and the adjacent museum could be seen on a future trip...he felt he only wanted to visit them if he had managed to cycle at least part of the way up......

As I said arriving at the summit was quite an emotional experience as was our visit inside the chapel..... JD left a photo of Joanne Rutherford, who had sadly died of cancer in March this year, with some other photos that had also been left in the chapel by loved ones. 

Lots of cycling history can be found inside the chapel and a visit should be on the tick list for every cyclist........

Some shots taken inside the chapel can be seen below......
In my next post I will give you some of the history of the Santuario Madonna del Ghisallo as well as some shots taken inside the adjacent cycling museum....

The setting of the Ghisallo chapel

Chapel entrance

Chapel and cycling memorabilia

Monument depicting  a winning and a fallen rider.

#10in10 meets the Tour De Suisse

 On the ninth day of our 10 in 10 ride we met up with the Tour de Suisse. 

Jon and I were heading for the town of Bad Ragaz set amongst the beautiful Swiss mountains....
From about five or six miles out from the town we seemed to be buzzed by a helicopter and I joked with Jon that it was just like being in the Tour De France with the TV helicopter flying over us...
As we entered the town and rounded a bend into one of the main streets we found ourselves right in the middle of the Pro Cycling 'village' for the Tour De Suisse....

Jon and I spent about and hour taking photos and soaking up the atmosphere of the whole event.... It was the last day of the Tour de Suisse and was a TT  day and the helicopter that had been constantly flying over us was of course the TV helicopter for the event......

Here are just a few of the pictures I took on my phone camera..... 

Fuel for the #10in10

Stopping for a beer on an easier day

 First of all I would like to apologise for the delay in getting this post up on the blog.... Since we got back from the 10in10 ride life has been a bit hectic and there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done....unfortunately the blog has suffered because of it... 

Anyway I promised to tell you a bit about how I tackled the fuel for the ride.......

As I have already mentioned in a previous post, we were really lucky having Lorenzo with us....as a professional Chef he was able to prepare for us some fantastic meals. They didn't just taste good and have all the right nutrition for us...there was lots and lots of it as well.....
I took full advantage of this and made certain that I took on board lots of this superb food...pasta...rice..etc...
It really is important on a multi day challenge ride that you eat properly...ensuring that you eat the right kind of foods and have plenty of it...Thanks Lorenzo..!!

Before we set off I had told everyone that I intended to keep my alcohol intake pretty low...in fact it became a bit of a joke with the other guy's.....
I rarely drink a lot of alcohol when I'm at home because Anne doesn't drink any alcohol at all. Living with someone who doesn't drink any alcohol makes it pretty easy to steer away from it ....however it becomes more difficult when away on a trip like this because there tends to be more drink around.

I personally find that alcohol has an adverse effect on my cycling abilities so there is good reason for me to keep it to a minimum if I can.... 
My original plan was not to drink anything other than soft drinks until we had completed the ride and then during the final five days of the trip I would be free to drink whatever I wanted..... However I modified that plan....the plan I set off with was to have the odd glass of light beer on the easier days when we took a break....also I would allow myself to have just one or two glasses of red wine with my meal in the evening. 

In the main I did manage to stick to that. 
However, there was one occasion when the one or two glasses ended up as a fair bit more and I paid the price the following day......
I found that I didn't have my normal cycling legs and for about 2-3 hours I suffered....I just wasn't feeling comfortable with my riding and regretted those extra glasses of wine. 

I never made that mistake again and was annoyed with myself that I had made such a stupid error.

Sometime Lorenzo had a night off from cooking and we went out to eat...

 During the ride I was using ZipVit ZV1 Energy Drink - Fruit Punch Flavour. 
I find that this drink works well for me and also doesn't have any adverse effect on my stomach... When it was really hot I was taking a sip every 10mins and was getting through approx 900ml an hour.

I was also using ZipVit products for my solid fuel on the bike each day.....Over the years I have tried lots of various types and makes of energy bars, but again I have found that not only do I like the taste of the ZipVit bars but they are kind to my stomach as is the drink....

I was using a mixture of flavours so that I didn't get bored eating the same flavour all the time....In fact I have to say that there isn't any flavour of ZipVit bar that I don't like..... I got through on average five bars a day.......

I don't normally use gels because apart from being sticky and messy I find that my stomach doesn't react too well to them.. Mind you there was one time on the trip that for some reason....oh yes...it was following the too many glasses of wine episode....that I felt I really needed some. 

We were cycling up a hill in the Black Forest...as I came round one of the switchbacks I shouted out to JD who was with Dave in the vehicle at this point that I needed some gels.... they then drove past me and at the next switchback JD stuffed three gels into my hand.. As I said that was the only time I felt bad on the bike and the gels did seem to help.

One last thing regarding my daily fuel plan......each morning I started the day with a double helping of porridge....that's twice the amount that I would normally have at home....and usually I added a banana to it it as well. On top of that I would eat a couple of the ZipVit energy bars and to complete my breakfast I had a couple of cups of coffee to make sure that I was wide awake...mornings are not my best time.

At the end of each days ride I would also have a 'For Goodness Shakes' recovery drink within 20 mins of finishing the ride. If it had been a really hard day on the bike I had another of these recovery drinks about two hours later as well.... 
I really love the taste of these recovery drinks...they are the only ones that I have found that I really enjoy...they seem to work pretty well too..!

Not all of us were staying off the alcohol...!!

Looking back over the ride my fuel for the ride seemed about right....There is nothing that I would do differently on a future ride other than be stricter on my self imposed alcohol ban... 

I think that it's important to make sure that everything you use on a big ride is something that you have tested and have been happy with during your training rides. 
It's no good trying something that you have never used before because if you do have an adverse reaction to it you don't want to find that out on the BIG ride.......