Days 3 and 4 / Stages 12 and 13

Combining days 3 and 4 into one post really doesn't do either of them justice, but I won't subject you to an unnecessary extra post. They were both brutal but beautiful stages and I enjoyed them far more than the "flat" transitional stages that preceeded them.

Stage 12 was the longest of my four stages and stage 13 was the shortest (at least in distance).

It became quite clear during the previous day that the demands of the Tour and the heat were taking their toll on my body. So it was that Thursday got off to a really bad start.

The slower riders among us were advised to set off early for stage 12. Unfortunately my roommate and I both woke up with a start at 7 having overslept by about an hour.

I quickly got dressed and sorted out my luggage before trying to cram as much food into my uncooperative body as I could in the few minutes I had available. I did have time to make a cup of tea - but started making it with coffee instead of water (it really was a bad start). Not being able to find somewhere to dispose of this, I decided to suck it up and drink as much of it as I could. To top it off, I burned my tongue on the foul concoction!

Once again my very kind roommate turned domestique and basically carried me the first 50km to the first feed stop. This portion of the ride contained two massive hills that would be notorious in Britain but were not even categorised climbs according to the Tour de France - that didn't bode well for the mountains!

As I approached the Pyrenees mountains I was struck by just how beautiful they are. The Dordogne could go do one, I had a new love now. 

It was another 54km or so to the next feed stop, much of which was ascending. At the feed stop I was faced with a dilemma - I could take a short cut straight to Poles Des Bales or I could climb the Col Des Ares and the Col De Mente first. On any other day I would have gone for the long route, but I wasn't sure I could do it today. On the basis that I might only do this once, however, I decided to go for it and set off on the full route.

My first taste of ascending a mountain was a gentle, but not insignificant, introduction, with amazing views and a nice descent to follow.

My second taste was altogether more challenging. As I fought my way up the Col De Mente, being savaged by horse flies, everything caught up with me - anxious nights not being able to sleep, the previous two days' rides, the lack of proper breakfast, my lack of experience and general nervousness about what was to come. Nonetheless I made it to the top.

Once there I had some soul searching to do over my cheese sandwiches, as to whether or not I could manage any more. I was pretty sure I was spent, but I had to give it a go. I descended and made my way to the Port Des Bales.

I knew this was going to be a tough climb, but this was something else - 19km of ascent, some of which was at a hideous gradient. About halfway up, everything caught up with me again. I managed to keep going, but I didn't see how on earth I was going to reach the summit. My GPS had already died (I had only turned it on 50km into the ride) and I was cycling on my own. About 7km from the summit, with an eye on being able to ride the next day, I decided that I was going to have to call it a day. At that moment the TdF bus came up behind me and I decided to jump in.

I was so gutted that the day had broken me. My frustration and self-loathing continued late into the evening when I was given a lift to the end of the route. This only subsided when the brutality of the Tour meant that despite arriving at the hotel just before 10pm I still had to force some food down my throat and start preparing for the next day.

Friday started much better. Perhaps it was knowing that I only had one more ride left - after all it was only 100km long. Perhaps it was the messages of support that I received from my girlfriend and my family, who persuaded me that I hadn't let anyone down. Perhaps it was waking up in a ski lodge in the stunning Pyrenees mountains on a beautifully clear day. The view from my window was incredible.

It was easy to underestimate stage 13. It was only 100km, but there were three categorised mountain climbs crammed into that. Bearing in mind there was a 30km (gradually ascending) ride to the foot of the first of these, and a 27km (!) descent at the end, this meant that the three climbs were going to be quite condensed.

The first mountain was another tough reminder of the pain involved in ascending mountains, but thankfully it was relatively short. A tricky snaking descent was not my favourite, but at least it was going down and not up!

The bottom of the second mountain, Col D'Agnes, was another horse fly paradise - with all the sweaty cyclists they could eat. Somebody overtook me at one point and said "Tom, if you are able to slap your left leg, you might want to get rid of a few passengers. Yeah, try higher up, there are still a couple on your hamstring". Nice!

Struggling up the Col D'Agnes, I started to get into a rhythm and then something strange happened - I started to really enjoy it. It obviously helped that I had such incredible views to distract me, but I actually started to like the pain in a ridiculous way. Don't get me wrong - the time I spent climbing it will be quite embarrassing compared to the pros next week, but I felt like I had finally found something I was not bad at.

What goes up must come down - and what a beautiful descent it was. Open enough to feel safe getting some speed up, but circling a valley (sorry geography buffs if that is not the correct term) it was simply beautiful.

We sat and leisurely ate lunch and ice cream in the valley (as I am going to call it). It was great.

After lunch I set off for my final major climb of the Tour. Before that, however, I got my first ever puncture on the road bike and had to stop to sort it. Fortunately my roommate was once again on hand to help me - and his hand-holding work was still not yet finished.

I stomped up part of the final climb until I reached the base of the Col de Peguere - a 3.5km climb which averaged 16% gradient and also a ridiculously narrow road (this bit is going to be really exciting to watch next week). I took a quick breather and then got going. About 100m up the road a car wanted to overtake and I had to stop to get out of its way. In truth, I probably could have cycled on the very edge of the road, but I was panicking a bit I think. 

Trying to start again at that gradient is not easy and it was at this point that I threw my first strop - but fortunately not my bike! My roommate tried to calm me down and reassure me that I could do it and I managed to get started again and find a slow but steady rhythm - then another car came along and this time I definitely had to stop. At this point I threw my second strop - although this time it was probably more of a tantrum - and got off to walk. 

I walked for nearly a kilometre before deciding that wouldn't do and that I needed to give it another go - no matter how much it hurt. Again I managed to get back into a rhythm and I actually overtook a couple of other riders as I made my way to the summit, to the sound of applause from the people taking a rest at the top. 

The final 27km descent started on a winding bumpy road. The views were amazing, but the vibrations from the road started to numb my fingers - not ideal when I need them to brake! I also had a scare as I turned a corner to be confronted by a camper van overtaking another vehicle on my side of the road. Fortunately I avoided incident and, after taking a break to shake off my hands, settled into the descent. 

As I approached the end of the route it occurred to me that I had nearly finished perhaps the toughest challenge of my life. Everything that I have gone through over the past six months or so ran through my head and the emotion got the better of me. Descending with tears in one's eyes is not ideal, but it felt good to let it out. I had managed it and I knew I should be proud of myself. 

There are a number of people that I still need to thank for sponsoring or helping me, and pictures that some people may be interested in seeing, but I will save that for another post. 

Thank you for reading. 

Day 2 / Stage 11

I am incredibly tired and have a really long ride ahead of me tomorrow, so I will keep this quite brief, but I managed to complete my second stage of the Tour de France!

The morning was mostly cycling along straight roads (including 60km on a single road!), which was heavy going. Fortunately, as I was trying to tackle it on my own, I passed my roommate taking photographs. He caught up with me and offered to "domestique" me for a while - basically letting me draft behind as he bore the brunt of the headwind. We managed to pick up a few stragglers along the route and at feed stations - even slowing down later on to help some others keep up.

It was really hot again. I realised at lunchtime that I was either dehydrated or suffering from heat stroke, so I necked two bottles of water. It is amazing how difficult that is, but also what a difference it made! I also made a conscious effort to keep eating regularly - even when I didn't want to.

The afternoon was more winding and more hilly, but that is the type of cycling I am used to. There was a beautiful 2km descent towards the end - but sadly it wasn't captured by my Garmin as the battery had died by that point.

I have another animation of the ride (again up to the point my Garmin died) - available at: https://www.relive.cc/view/g12701953016

Wow, this post is longer than I expected it to be, but I really need to sleep (I didn't sleep well last night) so I will leave it there.

Please do visit my fundraising page if you have a few pound to spare - it will find its way to a great cause! I think it is  Virginmoneygiving.com/TomHoldaway - you will know if you are in the right place because it has a picture of a dog on a bike.

Thank you for reading.

Day 1 / Stage 10

First things first - today I cycled a whole stage of the Tour de France. That is a pretty bonkers thing to be able to say. It really wasn't easy, but then it isn't designed to be - and the 35 degree heat just made it tougher.

You can watch an animation of my ride online here.

I flew to Bergerac yesterday (which is enough of a challenge for somebody who is scared of flying) and discovered when chatting to the guy sat next to me on the flight that he was also riding in the Tour de Force, along with a group of his friends. That made getting to my hotel at Perigueux a lot easier.

Upon arrival at Perigueux I was introduced to my room mate and, after dumping our bags in our room, we decided to take a look around Perigueux. This is not a travel blog, but if you enjoy wandering through narrow pretty streets and looking at the remains of (I think) a fort, Perigueux is worth checking out. Presumably that's why Le Tour starts there in stage 10!

Stage 10 itself is supposed to be 178km long, but we were told that we would instead be cycling around 190 - 195km to include getting to our hotel.

I won't bore you with a blow by blow account, but in summary the Dordogne is absolutely beautiful. Cycling through and around the valleys was breathtaking at times. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures on the route to share as I was generally trying not to get left behind by whichever group I was cycling with - or later on just trying to finish!

I also learned some important lessons, partly about cycling as part of a team, but most importantly that I need to take precautions against myself.

Shortly after I left the first feed stop, I looked down and realised that I had been so preoccupied with applying sun cream that I had left my water bottle behind and had to go back and get it. That meant the group I had left with went ahead without me and I had to try to catch up with another group who passed me as I was on my way back.

To make it worse, I left the final feed stop and realised that for the same reason I had left my gloves behind. That was more serious, though, as I couldn't catch up with another group and had to cycle the last 30km or so on my own. About 10km into that the battery in my Garmin died and I was just following signs with little idea how far would be left.

There isn't much I can do about my Garmin, but I have hopefully come up with a Tom-proof system for not leaving things at feed stations.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow!

If anybody would like to sponsor me, please visit one of my previous posts, where you can find a link to my fundraising page.

Thank you for reading.

Ready, set ...

Here we are. The training is done, my bags are packed, my bike serviced, I have reached my fundraising target (although any further donations would be a welcome boost as I struggle through the next 430 miles!) and I am on my way to the airport. Understandably (I hope) I am feeling a bit anxious - but excited!

To anybody interested in following my ride, or concerned about my welfare, you will be able to track my ride in (almost) real time online! Here's how:

1. Visit the Tour de Force website;
2. Click on the green "Live Tracking" link;
3. You will be magically transported (by the power of the internet) to the Map My Tracks website. Hopefully this will have been updated to show that day's route and will display some coloured squares - one of which should be labelled Tom_H.

If everything is working as it should, and if I have remembered to turn my GPS on, it should update once a minute to show where I am. If it doesn't work, though, please don't panic!

I am also going to try - if I have the energy - to update my blog after each stage.

So watch this space and I will let you know how it goes!

To update my last post, I have now replaced my girlfriend's epilator. Being a generous chap, I also let her use it first.

Finally, I know there is going to be a lot of time for getting emotional (and I almost certainly will do), but I really couldn't have got this far without the support, kind words, help and generosity of so many people. You all know who you are and I really appreciate it.

Fundraising
To anybody wondering what I am banging on about, this summer I will be riding 670km (430 miles) in four days as I tackle four stages of the Tour de France. 

It has been a real slog just to get this far, having only cycled on a road bike for the first time last October and needing to spend a fair chunk of each weekend for the past 6 months out on my bike to get my body used to long rides.

All of this hard work is to raise money for the fantastic William Wates Memorial Trust. WWMT gives funding and support to organisations and projects which help disadvantaged young people by keeping them away from a life of crime. 

Please visit my fundraising page at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TomHoldaway. 

I have now reached my fundraising target. Thank you so much to everybody who has sponsored me, shaken a bucket or shared links to my blog or fundraising page. I am grateful for every single penny donated and am pleased that it will be going to an excellent cause.

Shout outs
A big thank you to my big bro Rob, Anna and Steve, David, Jen, Mark and James, who got me over the line to my fundraising target. Thank you also to Ben for taking my bike to Swindon last week for collection by the Tour de Force transport.

Thank you for reading!

Tom

Bluffer's guide to Tour de France (AKA the perils of committing to the cause)

Some readers will have followed this blog since November. The great news is that I have nearly finished (I fly out to France on 3 July) so you won't have to read much more. The bad news is that my posts from hereon are even more likely to be about boring cycling stuff.

Bluffer's guide
For anybody who unwittingly finds themselves involved in a conversation about le Tour, here are some pointers to help you sound like you know what you're talking about:

What is going on?
The Tour de France is a 21-stage (one stage per day, with two rest days) mix of normal stages, time-trials and mountain stages, covering about 2,000 miles.

How long have they been doing this?
This year's event is the 104th edition of the Tour de France. The first was held in 1903 as a PR exercise for L'Auto newspaper. It clearly worked - circulation doubled during the event.

Why is the Tour de France starting in Germany?
Every other year, the ride starts outside France. This year's event starts in Dusseldorf. The Tour always finishes on Paris’s Champs-Elysées, where the leader is traditionally allowed to coast home in the final stage.

What is a peloton?
A peloton is a group of riders cycling very close together to reduce wind resistance and save energy. Riding in a group works brilliantly, but you do have to rely on the people in front of you to point out any hazards (and similarly do the same for people behind you).

This energy efficiency makes it difficult to judge whether or not to make a breakaway from the peloton. It is much easier to ride as part of the peloton than out in a small group and this is why breakaways are usually chased down.

I know it's the Tour de France, but do we need quite so much French?
For some reason, cyclists like to demonstrate their knowledge of the sport by using unnecessary French (why do we have to refer to cobbles as pave, even in the UK?) and sometimes Italian too (such as grupetto, used to describe the bunch of riders bringing up the rear).

So it's all about the yellow jersey, right? Oh hang on, what are these other colours?

The yellow jersey is worn by leader of the general classification (the GC) - i.e. the rider with the shortest total time. This is the real prize, but there are also others.

• The green jersey is awarded to the fastest sprinter (sprint points are awarded at key points during each stage).
• The red polka dot goes to the awesomely-named King of the Mountains!
• Belgian Eddy Merckx is the only person to have won all three of the above jerseys in one tour.
• There is also a white jersey for the best young (under 25) rider.

So that's why they aren't all trying to win?
That's right. Teams tend to comprise the star riders (the likes of Chris Froome), plus specialists in mountain stages or sprints (think Mark Cavendish), but they also include a number of domestiques, who basically act as human windshields for the riders with aspirations of winning.

They're all cheats aren't they?
Cheating in the Tour de France is not a modern phenomenon. Early tactics included short cuts, getting towed and boarding trains. Apparently the first four finishers in 1904 were all disqualified!

Drugs. painkillers, stimulants and performance-enhancers have always featured routinely though:

• Early on it was wine, strychnine and ether;
• Post-war, it was cocaine and amphetamines;
• In the late 1900s and early 2000s, riders turned to steroids, hormones and EPO (in 1998, riders even staged a two-hour sit-down strike in protest against drugs testing);
• Lance Armstrong’s seven chemically-assisted wins from 1999 to 2005 have all been removed and not re-allocated.

The important one - how do they go to the toilet?
The first thing to say is that (contrary to some stories I have heard) they get off their bikes first! Bib shorts (think a cross between cycle shorts and dungarees) make it all a bit tricky, but you just have to find a way to get around all of the lycra.

Peloton etiquette dictates that when the yellow jersey stops to take a "comfort break", no one overtakes him. Cyclist Tom Dumoulin got upset during the Giro d'Italia this year when the peloton took the opportunity to get ahead while he stripped off for a number 2 - cue plenty of toilet humour from the Twitterati.

Finally, why do they shave their legs?
Four reasons are generally given:

• The least likely of these is to gain an aerodynamic benefit (some studies have suggested that leg hair actually helps with aerodynamics).
• The two more believable excuses are to aid quick healing of cuts and road rash after a tumble, and to make life easier for post-ride masseurs.
• More likely, however, is just that everybody else does it! 

Commitment to the cause
I decided some time ago that if I am doing this, then I should do it properly - with all of the awful things that might entail.

That is how I found myself on Saturday evening with an epilator in my hand.

Anybody who has seen me in shorts will be aware that my legs are naturally quite hirsute. I have generally been okay with that, although at times I have been a bit self-conscious about it. This has been a particular concern when on cycling events, so I decided that I was going to get rid of the hair before I got to France.

I decided against shaving (mainly because of the risk of ingrowing hairs), and was not sure about waxing, so decided to try my hand at epilating. 

To anybody who hasn't tried it, here is what to expect: On bony bits (e.g. shins) it was fine - just a bit prickly - while at others it hurts like a machine trying not only to rip your hair out, but also take your skin with it! Eventually you reach a point at which it just gets boring as you try (and, if you're anything like me, fail) to cover every centimetre of your legs - imagine how tedious it would be trying to colour your legs in evenly with a painful marker pen.

I won't post any pictures - partly because I forgot to take a side by side picture when I had only done one of my legs, partly because once you have seen it you won't be able to unsee it, and partly because it just looks weird.

One final word on this is that it was my own stupid fault. I decided to sign up for the charity ride and I decided to commit far more than I actually needed to. The real victim of this story is my girlfriend, who had to spend a Saturday evening teaching her boyfriend how to epilate his legs. I am not sure she would ever have imagined having to do that, even in her worst nightmares, so I am very grateful. I am also very sorry for breaking her epilator with my masses of leg hair.

Fundraising

In case tearing my own leg hair out is not enough to warrant sponsorship, in just over a week I will be riding 670km (430 miles) in four days as I tackle four stages of the Tour de France. More information is available here.

All of this hard work is to raise money for the fantastic William Wates Memorial Trust. WWMT gives funding and support to organisations and projects which help disadvantaged young people by keeping them away from a life of crime.

Please visit my fundraising page at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TomHoldaway. 

I am now just £120 short of my fundraising target. It would be awesome if I can get to my target before I leave for France!

Thank you for reading!

Catching up

The end is nigh!

As I write this, I am less than three weeks away from catching my flight to France to start the Tour de Force. The panic is starting to set in.

It has been over a month since my last post and a lot has happened. Mostly, it was moving house that got in the way, but there is also some other stuff to catch up on.

Eight hours at The Galleries, Bristol
On 20 May, I spent eight hours on my bike attached to a turbo trainer at The Galleries shopping centre in Bristol. When I was arranging it, I briefly considered doing two consecutive days there - I am glad I decided against that!

To anybody who doesn't know what a turbo trainer is, it attaches to the back wheel so that you can pedal your bike without moving (much like an exercise bike). I borrowed one from somebody at work (thank you Richard!) and set it up like this:

It turns out that eight hours sat on a stationary bike underneath a skylight on a hot day, in a very public setting, is really sweaty work. I felt pretty gross for most of the day!

Most importantly, though, I managed to raise £164.20. It felt like I had to work really hard to earn that, but in a way that took on its own importance. Nobody had to donate any money, so the fact that anybody at all did felt pretty amazing. The people who donated often appeared to be those who would have had good reasons for not donating. It was also nice to hear people's good wishes and stories of their own fundraising experiences. I will definitely be more generous when I see other people in similar situations.

Thank you to everybody who came in to say hello and wish me luck. I am really grateful to those people from work who came along, but special thanks go to my family, my girlfriend and to my friend Rob for coming along to hold buckets and tell passers by what on earth I was doing.

Tour of Wessex
A few months ago, I signed up for the Tour of Wessex, which takes place each year over the spring bank holiday weekend. I signed up the whole event, which would see me ride around 320 miles over three days. Part of the appeal of this was the opportunity to go on back to back long rides and get my legs used to it a bit. It was also going to be another opportunity to ride with some of the other Tour de Force riders that I will be riding with in France next month. Unfortunately, after a hectic couple of months, I decided that I would benefit from a day off, so decided to skip the Saturday.

In fairly typical fashion, I woke up on the Saturday (my rest day) and decided to go for a ride anyway - just not such a stupidly long one! I cycled from Bristol to Bath and, once there, decided to try to find the Two Tunnels route. I eventually found it and quite enjoyed what is both a cycle route and an art installation.

Stage 2 of the Tour of Wessex took place on the Sunday. The route went from Huish Episcopi to Corfe Castle and back in a loop. Unfortunately, the battery of my Garmin isn't good enough to last the whole day - it made it as far as 174.6km (108.5 miles), plus about 5km (3 miles) that I didn't record because I forgot to unpause my Garmin at some point. I think the ride was around 189km (117 miles). It was a pretty exhausting ride, but made much easier by Gareth who spent the day "riding slowly" with me to keep me company.

Just to cement my novice status, I was booked in to get a sports massage after that ride to prepare me for the next day. I was introduced to the masseur, who asked what I would like done. "Er, I don't really know", I said. "Well, what hurts the most?" "My shoulders, I think". Good skills, Tom. To be fair, though, it did really help my shoulders!

On the bank holiday Monday, I decided I wanted to get home early as I was moving house a few days later, so I rode the shorter (102km / 64 mile) route. This was still quite challenging, with some steep hills, but it meant that I finished at lunchtime. As I sat there chatting, about 45 minutes after finishing, David Kinjah (Chris Froome's mentor and training partner in Kenya) crossed the finish line. Wow, I thought, I finished before him! Then it dawned on me that he had almost certainly just finished the 104 mile route - although he probably (hopefully) had a head start.

Fundraising
This summer I will be riding 670km (430 miles) in four days as I tackle four stages of the Tour de France. More information is available here.

All of this hard work is to raise money for the fantastic William Wates Memorial Trust. WWMT gives funding and support to organisations and projects which help disadvantaged young people by keeping them away from a life of crime.

Please visit my fundraising page at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TomHoldaway. 

Alternatively, if you would like to sponsor me but do not want to do so online, let me know and I will cycle over to collect your donation in person (within reason obviously - I am not cycling too far!).

I am now just £120 short of my fundraising target. It would be awesome if I can get to my target before I leave for France!  

Shout-outs
I am really grateful to everybody who has helped or sponsored me. Special thank yous go out to Sasha, Rachel, Charlotte, the generous shoppers of the Galleries and some very, very kind anonymous donors.

Thank you also to The Galleries for letting me fundraise in their shopping centre, to Richard (again) for loaning me his turbo trainer, to Hannah and Sarah for all of your help and support with setting up the event and to everybody else who came along and helped or said hello. It really was a team effort and I am grateful to everybody for their help.

Thank you for reading!

Not much about cycling

After a really difficult couple of weeks for my family, cycling training has understandably taken a bit of a back seat.

It is only this weekend that I started to think about getting back out on the bike for anything longer than the commute to work. Unfortunately I had far too much planned for the weekend and none of that involved cycling.

Instead, my main exercise for the weekend was running the Bristol 10k. I signed my brother up for the run as a birthday present, to give him something to aim for when he started running last year, so decided to act as pacemaker to help him run it in under an hour (a pretty awesome feat that he did well to achieve).

There is something quite exciting about lining up alongside thousands of other runners, knowing that much of the route would be lined with spectators - something I have not seen on any of the cycling events I have taken part in to date. Disappointingly the bib I was sent by the event organiser showed my name as Thomas, which meant that the calls of encouragement I received were a bit formal for my liking, but it was very nice of people to try! 

Putting the "fun" into fundraising

Ok, let's not get carried away, but I have lined up a fundraising day on 20 May 2017 at the Galleries Shopping Centre in Bristol. Please come down and say hi.

I will be cycling for 8 hours attached to a turbo trainer (to offer resistance and stop the bike moving). This will be a challenge, but will give me an opportunity for some indoor training and show people how tough this summer's Tour de Force is going to be. As a real bonus, I will get to spend the day indoors at the Galleries listening to whatever dreadful music is being pumped into the centre.

I am also planning a couple of other challenges for myself during the day to mix things up.

If you are able to come along and say hi and give me a high five, I would be really grateful for the support.

Also, if anybody can spare half an hour or so between 11 - 3 to hold a bucket and say hello to passers by, that would be fantastic.

If you are not able to make it, or you just fancy sponsoring me, please visit my fundraising page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TomHoldaway. A donation of any size will help a lot. 

Thank you for reading!