Alpe D'Heuz Challenge 2007

Well, well, well. What can I say? A week on and it seems a long time ago. Legs are Ok, bum is fine and no training sessions planned. We worked hard for 8 months getting ready for it and it was all over in three days. So, how did it go?

T -2 Days.
Confirm Van, chase Gino for the shirts, pack.

T -1 Day.
Millerz (Andy) gets to mine for about 9am, we shoot round to Gino's (www.mgsportswear.co.uk) and collect the shirts. They are amazing. And I mean, the little bloke's pulled it out of the bag again. Three of the finest Cycling Jerseys from Speeds (www.speedscycles.co.uk) emblazoned with our sponsors logos and "CRAZY HAMSTER CREW .CO.UK" on the back. He's also done the same on four team Polos for us to wear on the last night. I cannot thank Gino enough. If you need footy strips etc, give him a call.
Right, we then scoot round to Hire-It! (www.thetoolhireshop.com) to collect our Van. Sitting on the forecourt is a beautiful 5 seater Mercedes Vito kindly lent to us by Mudie Bond (www.mudiebond.co.uk) and insured by RA Davies (www.radaviesltd.co.uk). This van was a beaut. We loaded up, got papped by Crazy Hamster Crew Chris's Mum and then set off to collected the others. On arrival at Chez Millerz, Bob and Fiona were waiting. We loaded the van whilst Andy's Dad provided a running commentary (!) and then set off for France...
Channel Tunnel... Arrived two hours early to find a line fault and three hour delay......Finally crossed and arrived in Amiens at about 9pm. Long Day. Stupid restaurant didn't want to continue serving so we hit the local McDonalds. Not the greatest pre-ride meal but it did the trick. Bed.

DAY 1
Up at 4.50 (French Time!) shower dress and get the bikes. We left the start line at 6am in pure darkness riding as a three. We span out of town and into the countryside and rode for a couple of hours. It was really cold but we made good progress. At two hours Andy dropped out to grab some rest, at three hours I dropped and Andy returned and at Fours hours it was Bob's turn. We rode with two riders out until about 2pm. By then we realised there were loads of teams ahead of us, none of whom had actually passed us on the road? They were leapfrogging. Setting a rider going, driving ten miles ahead and dropping another whilst waiting for the first. Also, ALL of the teams were relaying with only one rider at a time. We had two. Oh and the other teams had four riders, we only had three. We finished of the day riding solo but finished the last 5 miles together. The distance for the day was 200miles. It turned out that each team split this into four and each rider did 30ish minutes at a time doing 50 miles in the day. Chris, Andy and Bob finished the day having covered in excess of 100miles...EACH!!!!! We were labelled "Proper Crazy" in the bar at night. A quick group meal and then bed.

DAY 2
Riding the same as the previous day would kill us off. It also took too much time. So we decided to ride like the others. Only we did minimum 1 Hour legs each. It worked out well. We were one of the first out and were joint first home. We managed about 15 miles in every hours and there were some big hills too.
We all did the first hour together again. This was a useful warm up for us all. Bob then continued whilst Fiona dropped me off at about 15 miles. Bob was about half way by now. Fiona waited for Bob, gave him some food, jumped in the van and then overtook me. She would tell me how far I'd done and let me choose how far I wanted to go. Fiona would then run the next rider up to that point, drop him off and wait for me. This leapfrogging went on all day until the last leg which we always did together.
The route out of Auxerre took us right through the town. And we were racing along. Oh, it was pitch black again too! Riding in the dark through the woods was so exciting. My first leg was awesome. A rough lightly gravel road to begin with followed by some beautiful forest roads down into a little village. Riding in France is a lovely experience, they respect cyclists over there and there are far fewer cars. i think we did about 4 legs each throughout the day which became progressively more hilly until we arrived, cycling three together, into Bourg en Bresse. Here we got lucky as we were put in the overflow hotel and it was really posh. Not sure what they thought of us all walking round in our lycras but they didn't seem to mind too much. Dinner was funny, we skipped the event dinner and hit a little Italian Restaurant in the town. All of our French was rubbish so we ended up ordering using a mixture of Italian and Spanish! Big bowl of pasta then bed.

DAY 3
For the last day we wanted to make sure we got to the Alp in plenty of time so we leapfrogged from the start. We had a slight lie in and did a 6.30 start. It was reasonably easy going until about 11am when I hit the first of the big climbs. Andy took over half way up and nailed the downhill afterwards. This was the steepest we'd done so far and Andy made mince meat of it. On the next leg, Bob had a long slow crawling climb up through the valley on the way to Col du Coq. It was so funny when this old french guy on a 1950's racer strolled up to Bob without breaking a sweat. It was when Bob noticed his shiny blue lycra over a cotton t-shirt that Bob increased the pace and left the pack behind. I took over ahead and climbed up into the first Ski Resort. It was short but very steep and the hairpins were starting. I descended and rode round to begin the Col du Coq. A couple of k's up, the climb steepened into a forest. I was tiring so the team dropped Andy off up front. I caught up the van but Andy had not gone far. My legs had died on the start but I only needed ten minutes to recover. Andy was cramping bad having started on a climb so I got the guys to set me out again. My legs had come back and I was able to finish the first ascent, descend into the next valley and start the second part. As the van passed me I was tiring again. Andy won't mind me telling you this but here, he really lost the plot! I was tired, he had cramp bad and Bob steps up and says, c'mon guys, let me out, I'll do a bit. And boy did he go. I think Andy thought he was going to kill himself! I was a bit gutted as after three corners he reached the top of the Col and the sight was awesome. Cars everywhere with people walking to the peak to paraglide off. The towns below were miles away, and Bob got the descent.
We couldn't keep up with the cyclists on the way down and missed a sign in the next town so Bob was well on his way up the third peak and very dehydrated by the time we caught him up. Andy took over but the heat and gradient was taking its toll. Now the team work kicked in. The encouragement, clapping, cheering each other started. We were doing 750mtr runs each powering up the mountain. Fiona was zooming around leapfrogging ten minutes at a time. It was great. We flew up the peak and Andy bagged the descent through the forest. That was it until the big one. The guys let me do most of the route along the main road, I was so tired by now. We all met up in the car park at the bottom of Alpe D'Huez. A couple of teams were already starting but we gathered our things, changed lycras and donned our beautiful jerseys (www.russtler.com www.twinsix.com) and set about the climb. We all agreed to enjoy it having made it this far so Bob hit his usual pace and left Andy and I to crawl up enjoying the view. Bob finished in under 90 mins whilst Andy and I did in about 1hr 3/4ers. We crossed the line to cheers from some of the other riders and a much needed glass of bubbley. A quick phone call to the folkes and to Ruth for the blog and then we wrapped up for the descent. Oh, and I gaffer taped a handycam to my frame and started to descend.
18 minutes later we got to the bottom! Wooooooo-------Hooooooooo!!!!!!


So, that was it. It was bloody awesome. I loved it so much and credit to Andy for getting us all motivated to do it. The training was tedious at times but paid off. Fiona was brilliant and worked so hard to keep us all going. Bob, was, well, Bob and we couldn't have done it without him. By god he's fit!

A huge massive thankyou to all of you who have sponsored us. To those companies who have supported us. For the van, the fuel, the shirts, the insurance, the motivational texts (you know who you are! x x) and you reading this for all the interest. Also cheers to Lynne and the local papers for the publicity, to The Wyre radio for the shout outs, to Neil Howarth for the signed shirt, Wharton Park for the Golf Day and Creative Landscapes for the nursary voucher.

Thanks to Speeds Cycles for the shirts and bits and bobs. Thanks to Hire-It (Mum and Dad) for the fundraising. Cheers Holly for the ebaying and website support and Ruth and Jen for maintaining the Blog whilst we were away. Gordo, nice one for putting in contact with Russtler (GET YOUR ALPE D'HUEZ SHIRTS HERE) and to Ryan (shares his birthday with me!) from TWINSIX who posted an Alpe t-shirt from the USA to our hotel in France so Andy had one to wear too. If I've forgotten anyone mail me and I'll type you in. But thanks.

For those fellow Alpers who saw our shirts and want one, email the guys at RUSSTLER.COM and mention us. I'll upload the descent video on YOUTUBE soon and link it here. Photos will follow too.

Well, we'll announce the winner of the Alp T Shirt and Nursery Voucher once all of the money is in and counted and all that remains to be said I suppose is......what will we do next year......?!?!?

(Hint: Both Andy and I have just bought canoes!)

Take care, have good xmas's and keep checking back.


Crazy Hamster Chris........ hibernating...........