Story
Update 28 July: I don't think I really had any idea what I was taking on when I applied for a place on the Sky Etape Team. My thoughts in early July: “I think I'll take it easy and just have a nice day ouy” seem utterly naive in retrospect.
We did have a leisurely ride for the first 100km. Riding backwards through the pack until we had an open road, a great view and chummy conversation with new friends. However, 5km outside Sault, we were informed that we had 10 minutes to reach the town before elimination. It amazes me what human strength can be called upon under urgency. The cramps in my feet were suddenly immaterial. I was able to force myself to eat when before I just hadn't felt like it.
We rode on the rivet for 70km. Seizing water where we could and concentrating on just getting through. As the gradient on Ventoux reached 12% I really considered whether elimination was preferable but Kilian made me see sense: “you have a choice - stay on your bike or be eliminated”. It seems very simple when put like that but at the time putting one foot in front of the other seemed an almost impossible task.
As I was fighting with my conscience, others around us had lost the battle. A retreating army of Lycra-clad zombies marched towards Chalet Reynard and inevitable elimination. You really need to be in serious pain to consider taking off your shoes and walking barefoot for 10km up a vertiginous hill. But as only 1 in 10 were riding up Ventoux, it seemed that the mountain had won the war.
At 3km to go I needed an extra push and put on my iPod with some carefully chosen tracks designed to help me regain my rhythm. As we passed Tommy Simpson's grave, the stark first notes of Mozart's C minor Mass sent a lump to my throat and tears welling in my eyes; exhaustion emphasising every emotion: pain, elation and even sadness that the epic was almost at an end.
We crossed the line under duress, officials calling out that we had only two minutes before elimination. As others around us fainted, threw up and collapsed I shed a few tears of pure joy, hugged my fellow team mates, lost my breath at the awesome view and then started the stiff descent towards food and a clean jersey.
To the French, cycling and suffering are synonymous. As Tim Krabbe says “if you are not in pain, you are doing something wrong”. For Team Sky, some suffered more than others and some only suffered frustration at having not given their best. It is, however, testament to the magic of the event that even before the sun had set, before the bikes were packed away and before any of us had had a chance to peel off our salt-incrusted second skins that we were thinking about next year and the next Etape.
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joannaosullivan/sets/72157621870316328/
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Update 7 July: Okay, so I have made a little detour on the way to France – the Suffolk coast, via Hackney. I have developed an addiction to night riding. I’m sorry to all my close friends and family who I know I will hurt and disappoint but I cannot control the cravings!
We arrived at the Pub on the Park in London Fields at 8pm on Saturday night. Couriers, hip-fixies, recumbants, tandems and commuters crowed the tarmac jostling for space. We picked up Graeme (he of Edinburgh Nocturne folding bike fame) and headed out into the night, trusting that the route I had downloaded into the Garmin was going to work.
Once past the flotsam ofEssex; the chromed-up muscle cars and beery pavement cafes, the sky turned indigo and we headed out into the countryside. It’s dark for longer in the UK; properly from about 11pm to 3:30 am. But the night was clear, almost warm and we had a full moon and Graeme’s super-charged floodlight to guide us.
We stopped twice: once for pasta salad and copious cups of tea at midnight amongst the other steaming and stunned riders half way along the ride; and at 4:30am when we realised that we were going to arrive stupidly early at the finish. We stopped in a corn field at the side of the road, ate fig rolls, joked about the files who seemed to be swarming around Graeme and watched a breathtaking sunrise as the continuous flow of cycle traffic behind us wished us ‘good morning’.
We arrived at Dunwich at 7am, just as the sky started to darken and promise rain. I hastily unpacked the bikini bottoms that had been pressed up against my tyre-levers in my saddle bag all night, changed and jumped in the sea. Cleansed of my Dunwich virginity, the caked on salt, the road grit, chamois cream and other detritus of the ride, I shivered in the brisk morning air and went in search of a very large and greasy breakfast.
This may not have been the best training for the Etape, but two days later I feel a certain sense of calm as if I have emerged from a meditative trance. I am almost looking forward to the Ventoux – to having to escape from my own body for two hours while it tears itself apart. If Dunwich was training for anything it was for leaving any sense of competition by the side of the road and truly relishing the purity of the ride – the tyres on the tarmac, the rasp of breath under exertion and the feeling of camaraderie between fellow cyclists. Bring it on!
Coverage: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/ethicallivingblog/2009/jul/07/bike-blog-dunwich-dynamo
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joannaosullivan/sets/72157621121775868/
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Update: 22 June: They say that while the Vätternrundan may start in Motala, it really begins in Jönköping at the 109km mark. We rolled in to Jönköping at 11pm just as it was getting dark. It had been raining constantly since the start and the sausages and mash they were serving were a welcome relief, giving us the chance to warm up (slightly) and wring our socks out. As it got light (about 1:30am – nothing dramatic, just a smear of grey in the east) we seemed to get a second wind. The rain eased up and by the time we crossed the finish line, I could almost detect sweat beneath the grubby, smelly lycra. Our final time – 10:45 ride time; 14:30 total – has been deemed very respectable by our hosts and sufficient to justify lying around drinking schnapps for the rest of the week. A defining feature of the Vätternrundan (along with gruelling length, invidious rain, friendly Swedes and pickled gherkins) was how flat it was. I think I will be seeing much more of the Surrey Hills before 20 July. Next stop Ventoux!
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joannaosullivan/sets/72157620990483361/
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Update 9 June: The Smithfield Nocturne folding bike race was a glorious success. After placing 6th (out of 40) in the opening heat, I went on to a respectable finish in the final - first girl across the line! After sitting on some poor bloke’s wheel for 3 laps, making an epic break in the final lap and not quite catching the leading group, I may be looking for a rematch. The highlights of the night included being awarded the prize for ‘best dressed folding bike rider’ by Sir Paul Smith, being hugged by Eurosport’s Dave Harmon and told that I was a pleasure to commentate on, and hearing my name being yelled by a crowd of 10,000 as I put the hammer down on the final stretch. Thanks to all of you who came out in support, braving the inclement weather which held out in the end. I don’t know about you, but I had an amazing night. Next stop .
Event Coverage: http://www.nocturneseries.com/smithfield/
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/roa/EventReports2009/20090606_Smithfield.asp
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joannaosullivan/sets/72157619392351965/
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As many of you know, I am participating in three interesting bike-related events this summer. I want to use this opportunity to raise some money for a charity that I feel strongly about.
Liberty, or the Civil Liberties Trust, is an independent organisation that has been campaigning for the protection of freedoms and fundamental rights in the since 1934 – celebrating its 75th birthday this year. Although in the UK we may take our fundamental rights of free movement, free speech and privacy for granted, it is important to remember that people, and especially women, in other countries are prevented from indulging in many activities that we take for granted - even such as the freedom to ride a bike.
I worked with Liberty while I was a trainee solicitor and feel a personal commitment to the organisation. The work they do is crucial, especially at times such as these when there is a danger of governments using terror as a reason to propose legislation that threatens to jeopardise certain of our fundamental rights. Liberty is vigilant and effective at ensuring that we do not lose liberties by default.
One of the greatest passions of my life is riding bikes. For me, cycling is liberation: the freedom of movement and the thrill of adventure. To imagine living in a society where I cannot choose what I wear, what I say, who I meet and how I travel is horrifying.
It is for these reasons that I am asking you to help me raise money forLiberty.
I am participating in three events and would be extremely grateful if you would consider supporting Liberty by sponsoring me in any of these events. You can sponsor me in any way you like: for a specific event, per mile/kilometre or just as a single sum:
1. The Smithfield Nocturne Folding Bike Race, Saturday 6th June 2009, from 6pm (come and watch – this is a fun event for both spectators and racers)
http://www.nocturneseries.com/smithfield/foldingbikerace.php
5 laps of Smithfield Market on my hot-pink Brompton dressed in the ‘business attire’ required in the rules of the race (see picuture): 3.4 miles / 5.5km
2. The Vätternrundan,, 12-13 June 2009
http://www.cyklavaettern.com/default.aspx?lang=1
The world’s largest recreational bike race. Starting at 8:30pm, I will be joining 18,000 people who will be riding through the Scandinavian midsummer night until we hallucinate with fatigue: 180 miles / 300km
3. The Etape du Tour de France, 20 July 2009
http://www.letapedutour.com/2009/ETDT/presentation/us/index.htm
This year, with the Sky Etape Team, I will be taking on Mont Ventoux – the giant of Provence. A few matters of interest aboutMountVentoux:
The last time Mont Ventoux hosted the Etape, riders were forced to stop before the summit due to blizzards – in July!
Tom Simpson collapsed on Mont Ventoux in 1967 and later died (I will not be trying his race diet of amphetamines with a Brandy chaser).
Lance Armstrong’s description of Ventoux: "It's just a weird place, a very weird place - It's the hardest climb in the Tour, bar none."
The Etape is a high point (literally) in any amateur rider’s career: 107 miles / 172 km
Total: 290 miles / 478 km
Donating through Justgiving.com is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Liberty gets your money faster and, if you’re a taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.
Please consider giving to Liberty this way – and thank you!