News
26th May Booked the campsite this evening, looks like we will be staying in the Sea Barn Farm camping Site just 5 miles west of Weymouth before catching the Ferry to St. Malo. Meanwhile, were sorting the route down to Weymouth out in order to ride the shortest route possible! realisation of the task ahead is starting to settle in to be honest, and we still have hell of a lot of work to do! not to mention servicing the bikes and making sure they will last the distance on the route. HD.
25th May Went for a fast, hard blast this evening with Jonathan seeing as he ditched his panniers for some freedom. 40 miles, with a headwind and some stiff climbing, namely up Pengenfordd. But with Jonathan feeling the heat towards the end we knew we had been pushing it! Easily knocked off 30mins off Jonathan's best time around the loop. Good Going! HD.
24th May Just got down to Abergavenny to get some quality miles in with Jonathan. With Andrew suffering from a toothache we have been training on our own. Today we went for a ride up and around Llangynidr mountain, Jonathan had full panniers on and I swapped bikes for part of the climb to see what a 15Kg bike felt like! Not bad... But not the easiest to be peadaling around. HD.
20th May Jonathan has just ridden from Abergavenny down to Weston-Super-Mare, 80 odd miles and not a hint of tired legs apparently!!
Rode home from work tonight, hard ride with three big climbs streching it out to 40 miles or so in the end. Suffering a bit in the heat and with the 11-21 gearing on the back up 25% gradient proving a tough ask. All in the name of conditioning for the Pyrenees! HD.
17th May Ferry is now booked for me and Jonathan, we'll be sailing from Weymouth to St.Malo via Gurnsey on the 5th June! Stop over should allow us a quick spin to keep the legs fresh (or more than likely, a pint or two). HD.
16th May Training has been going well this week. Jonathan has been training hard, 160 miles over four days just keeping the legs spinning. Sounds like hes having a few issues with punctures as hes putting so much weight in his panniers! Ive been out most days, keeping the intensity of training hard, looking for a race to do next weekend in order to get my race legs going again. HD
12th May Returned from doing some core work in the gym this morning to find a box of TORQ Nutrition products at my door. A massive thank you goes to Matt and Sasha at TORQ for helping us with some of the essentials, they will certainly help make our ride down a little more enjoyable with some great nutrition supplements.
I would urge anyone to have a look at their products, Ive used them for a few years now and feel theyre some of the most effective around, not to mention theyre completely natural! HD.
11th May Been out again in the lovely weather. Did 55 miles, again around 3500ft of climbing, took the time to do some climbing intervals to really test the legs. Felt good, had a tail wind down the coast on the way back, touching 35 mph for 4 miles was a good feeling. Will update Jonathan and Andrew's progress soon. HD.
10th May Just a quick report to say Ive been out for a hard 40 miles today, 3700ft of climbing. Felt good but I still need to look at losing some more weight to be competitive in the Quebrantahuesos. HD.
5th May Andrew and Jonathan have been out on the 3rd, 52 miles for Andrew and 59 miles for Jonathan, good quality training, at a relaxed pace of 4hrs 30mins.
Jonathan also managed to get out on the today
with a short blast up the mountains again, 20-odd miles this time, but hard climbing, yet again assuring his mountain goat-like climbing status!
Looks like we will be using Torq Nutrition Products on the way down, superb quality, natural, tasty energy snacks and recovery drinks. Should make our lives slightly easier on the way down. HD.
30th April Jonathan's training is going like clockwork! He was out on the 27th with full panniers and did 1hr 30mins on a very hilly route. Then on the 29th he was ouit again for a short 21 mile blast all out before completeing April with a full 'paniered' mountain climb ride up around llangynidr. He'll be climbing like a mountain goat in no time!!
My training has been fairly low key due to work in uni (damn deadlines! and they say students have an easy ride! not in the 3rd year they dont!) Training has been good quality, climbing plenty of short nd sharp climbs, and combining some fat loss work to get down to my race weight for training in May. HD.
26th April Training seems to be well on track at the moment. Merit must be given to Jonathan for completing 70 miles in just under 5 hours, and still feeling fresh afterwards. Havent heard much from Andrew at all so im not quite sure whats going on with his training, although I have heard that he has been very busy working long hours, so we will hopefully see him back on the bike soon!
Kit has now been decided upon, we are to use Endura FS260 bib shorts in red/white/black along with slightly cheaper jerseys from Sports Direct that will match up well, saving money on the jerseys is vital considering were getting them printed by blueprintcardiff which is great.
Ferries and B&B accomodation are now to be booked this week, and we'll let you know the route as soon as we can, with the first day almost certainly being an easy day from St Malo to Montfort-sur-Meu (48 miles) just to get the legs rolling.
Also looking at extending the ride to 11 days in order to accomodate a rest day, weather dependant and fitness dependant of course!
HD.
19th April Good news with Jonathan's new Shimano road SPD shoes and pedals, as they seem to be helping his sore knees. The extra support, stiffness and platform of decent road shoes and pedals seems to be a great option for people suffering from weak ligaments and cartilage damage in their knees. Coupled with one of the excellent new Charge Spoon saddles (in white may I add!!) his setup and ride position is all sorted for long miles in the saddle. HD.
16th April Just another quick report from a great training ride completed today. 44 miles, with some good, steady climbing; helped along by the stunning weather ! Jonathan and I completed the ride in around 2hrs 20mins, given the stiff headwind and the relaxed pace it was a very respectable time. HD.
12th April Training seems to be going well, Jonathan and Andrew having completed a few 25 mile rides and a couple of 60 milers in very respectable times bodes well for our ride down, with Jonathan especially showing signs of good form, must be the new wheels! (or damn hard work)
Myself, ive managed to get a fair bit of riding done both road and MTB for a change. Did a very hard 44 miles, two tough climbs averaging over 17.5% gradient gave my legs a good seeing to, got it all done in a bit under 2 hrs so I was very happy.
Hoping to sort a Ferry from Portsmouth to St. Malo, camping gear and a few B&B's out this week to give us some comfort on the way down.
30th March PM Just back from a horrendous ride up to Llangynidr and back (a mere 20 miles or so!) Rain, Wind, Snow and Hail seemed to make our lives a misery. Got a few little sprints done, but all in all I was looking forward to being back by the fire all ride long. Weather looks like its taken a turn for the worse, going to have to get the winter gear out again.... ohhh and re-waterproof my bloody coat!!! HD
30th March AM Kit is now in the pipeline, designs sizes etc will be finalised with a quick rendezvous and a few pints this week between Jonathan, Andrew and myself. Hoping to get out for a ride or three this week now the hour has been turned back. Will keep everything else updated after tonight's ride. HD.
21st March The decision has been made and we're tenting on the way down so now. Looking for one man tent for about 50 quid weight is now going to be crucial. One tent, gelert 1-man, 1.2Kg's! bargain for £35.95. AM
19th March Summary of Bulletin 40 now on site, follow this link Bulletin 40. AM
14th March Just completed the Caplifin loop 4001 ft of Climbing the Pengeford pitch is great for power training. AM
8th March Planning under way for a couple of real testers watch this space. AM
31st Jan. Just another quick update and an honourable mention to Jonathan for completing a 53 mile ride in 3hrs and 20mins. Progress IS being made! Not a bad time at all given the cold conditions and rather lumpy route. In the meantime im hoping that the forcast for snow dosent hamper my assault on some serious training. HD
29th Jan. First post by Huw for the website, not sure if im even doing this correctly but here it goes. Kit for our ride down is in the pipeline, its between Hincapie or Endura clothing at the moment, samples are arriving soon. Training is going well up my end, looking to get out to do some hard 60 mile rides soon to blow the cobwebs out of the system, knee is holding up well. Harry's bike is looking promising, going to have a closer look at one today, specialized allez 2001! very tidy bike. Should be heading down south to catch up on all the news and get some riding done with the lads very soon. Keep pedalin'! HD
16th Jan. New training methodology seems to be helping Tav and Ryan, Harry has bike on order from Huw, and I am planning a couple of hours on the bike after an enforced absense due to snow. race numbers have arived for Huw, Ryan and me. AM
9th Dec. 20 mile tonight
8th Dec. got a pair of those clipon pedels sorted plus some realy good help on the bristol leg of the ride down to Crediton a big thank you to
Bikeradar forums for this
Just done 40 miles with tav see training for route and details
1st Dec. route for Saturday in the bag take a look at the training page
30th Nov. another 20 miles tonight see training for details
30th Nov. sorted new blog for the website and facebook, twitter, etc. All very exiting, photos coming soon when JT remembers. See the real thing on
Training page
27 th Nov. 60 miles Clydach house Llangynidr on to Brecon on towards Glaysbury and Hay on Wye, back to Talgarth, upto Pengenford, down the road to Crickhowell and home to Gilwern in time for a pint of carbs in the Corn.
24th Nov. 20 miles Abergavenny Llangynidr and back see the route on the training page.
22nd Nov. 20 miles in the driving rain. Abergavenny Crickhowell and Home.
Been out and tested lights got heart monitor working and the vet said I'm fit to get on me bike.
New Route is now 660 miles not as originally thought 850
New lights will allow midweek training target 10 miles 3 times a week