On 1^st July I completed the first stage of this years Tour de France – the British Cyclosportive - in 6 hours and 58 minutes and my official time was 7 hours and 47 minutes, including all stops – refreshments, toilet, traffic lights, mechanicals etc! I placed 1,988^th out of the 3,748 that finished and 5,000 in total that started the race. The event consisted of 5,000 amateur cyclists, but the route was the same as the pro’s Le Grand Départ leg of the Tour de France. Starting at Greenwich and finishing in Canterbury , the route is 200km (120 miles) long.  In addition, I took part on my fixed gear Specialized Langster. For those of you who don’t know, these bikes have only one gear and since the gear is fixed, you cannot freewheel – making steep descents almost as painful as uphill climbs! 

Full race report and training updates follow underneath

I have chosen to donate all sponsorship money to DebRA. Please visit the DebRA website to see the invaluable work they do supporting people with Epidermolysis Bullosa.  

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Thank you for all your support  

Chris  

Race report

I did it! I met my first goal, which was to complete the course. And I smashed my second goal, which was to complete it in 9 hours. I did in 6 hours and 58 minutes and my official time was 7 hours and 47 minutes, including all stops – refreshments, toilet, traffic lights, mechanicals etc! I placed 1,988^th out of the 3,748 that finished and 5,000 in total that started the race. Read on for the full race report…

The day started at 4.30a.m with a cycle down to Greenwich Park , in which I passed 2 house parties spilling onto the streets and it dawned on me just how early I was up! I passed the start line at 6.20a.m and we made our way through the busy (at 6.20a.m on a Sunday!!!) streets of London . It wasn’t too long before we got into and the congestion eased, and I lost everyone – it didn’t long before the lack of gears became apparent.

The first test of the fixed gear came coming out of Greenhithe. To my surprise, I seemed to do better than most at storming up the hill that leads to Higham. And further hills confirmed that fixed gear, or could be 2,200km of training, is the best way to accomplish Tour de France climbs. However, as soon as I reached the peak of each hill, I was soon lost by the lycra-clad brigade on their geared machines.

The first refreshment stop was at 40km just outside of Higham and I pulled over to get some Soreen malt loaf and top up my Camelbak with water – we were told energy drink was available, but sadly it was not on offer at this pit-stop. The next 60km was an annoying stop-start affair to take off and put back on my waterproof jacket.

Coming out of Tonbridge (at 80km) was the first King of Mountain (KOM) climb – so called as, by Tour de France standards, it is officially a very large hill! Again though, the fixi was more than competent at going up the hill and, to the annoyance of many riders, I sailed past the pack. What the fixi didn’t enjoy so much however, was the downhills. Not being able to gain any speed approaching descents, or freewheel down them, was a complete pain and I was passed by everyone, despite my best attempts at spinning!

The next 80 or so kilometres is a bit of blur to be honest. Its amazing how you can block out much of the pain and get into such a rhythm that long distances just seem to happen! At the last refreshment stop (with 35km to go), everyone was talking about the 3^rd KOM climb and with such a build-up it but some butterflies in my stomach. I remembered the steep section in the hill from the training ride I did and it made the rest of the hill seem like a flat. After getting to the top of the KOM climb I knew there was only 20km to go and I went for it.

I averaged over 35km/h for the last section and it may have been this pressure on my trusty stead that brought on my only mechanical failure. With 7 km to go – SEVEN KILOMETRES!!! – I was belting down a long hill at 53km/h, gripping like mad to my drop bars, when my chain came off. Now, when a chain comes off a fixi, it’s a bit more serious than a normal bike. Luckily, it didn’t get tangled into the bottom bracket axis – as that would have thrown me off the bike. Just after it happened, a guy cycled past me and, seeing what had happened, expressed his horror in a string of expletives. I was also initially perturbed, until I realised that it meant I could freewheel. This brought a massive smile to my face, and after hooking the chain into a safe location with my foot (whilst still going over 50km/h) I happily freewheeled over a kilometre to the bottom of the hill where I wrapped the little fella back round both cogs.

As soon as I set off again it started raining, which I didn’t really care about too much, as I knew there was less than 10 minutes before crossing the finishing line. On crossing the line I heard the reassuring the sounds of the transponder chip registering my finish time and quickly nailed 2 bottles of water.

I would like to say a massive thank you to all my sponsors. With less than 12 hours to go, I made it past my target and was able to start the race knowing I had raised £1,001 for the worthy cause that is DebRA. That money gave me a huge incentive to pedal as hard as I could and pushed me right to the finish line in Canterbury . Big thanks also to Sarah, Nic, Tom and Emma, who drove round attempting to watch me at several stages – never making it because I was cycling too fast! However, they were at the finish line, waving the homemade banner and making me feel like Lance Armstrong. Most of all, I would like to thank my extremely patient girlfriend Naomi, who hasn’t seen me much for the past 12 weeks and hasn’t moaned a dot about me disappearing at 5.30a.m at the weekend to get some training under my belt. And of course for coming to see me race yesterday and ferry people around !

So that’s it for my Tour de France escapade and its bring on next weekend to see how the professionals do it.

Training update (30/04/07): I’m running the fixi into the ground training hard - I’ve done 750km in the last 4 weeks and have a vigorous training programme ahead. On Saturday I did a 135km loop to Tonbridge and managed to hit 64km/h down a steep hill. If you’ve ever seen anyone ride a fixi, you’ll know how fast my legs were peddling and how funny that must have looked!

Training update (20/05/07): The fixi has recently been treated to some new parts (including a lovely drilled salsa lever and fi'zi:t seat) and some fresh pink bar tape! Following a blown tyre after only 3 miles, yesterday's ride was eventually a 100km loop round Klevedon Hatch secret nuclear bunker. On the 9th June, training will really come into its own, when I cycle to the Download festival at Donnington Park . Wish me luck

Training update (26/05/07): Todays ride was going so well until, after 96km, and at 35km/h, I blow another tyre on a busy dual carriageway. Not ideal and I had to walk 3 miles to the nearest train station. I think I'll take a spare tyre with me on Le Tour!

Training update (03/06/07): I've just cycled to Cambridge and back (167km) and have the worst saddle sore! The training has been going very well though and I've now done 1600km (960 miles) in total.

Training update (11/06/07): Last Saturday I cycled to Nottingham from Stevenage (164km) - no further than my Cambridge ride, but I had a very heavy rucsack full of my stuff for the Download festival - back-breaking!! Im telling myself it must have been good training, but Im hurting... 

Training update (18/06/07): This past weekend I cycled a total of 250km, doing a practice run of the route, getting to/from the start and finish, AND getting lost, lots! I hope the route is well marshalled on the day... On the plus side, I'm pleased the 3 King of Mountain climbs arent as bad as they could be, but on the downside, I really didnt appreciate how far 200km is! I'm now aiming for a race time of 9 hours - 8 may have been a tad ambitious!!

Special thanks to: Everyone below who has donated, and my offline donators David Kilvington, Grandma Fieldsend, Judy & Mike Price, Neil Pengilley, Mark Torokwa and Chris Gee. Also, special thanks to my cousins, the Price family, for putting me up when I cycled to Nottingham, and ferrying me to and from Donnington Park . Cheers Tony!