My new bike has arrived. Below is the inspiration. A stealthy cross beast, top end kit, no doubt ridden by a top athlete at the edge of human athletic excellence. www.rapha.cc/333-fab-cross-bike

This is the reality.

An orange bike outside a shed. Ridden by a chap seriously short in fitness riding cross for the first time sans gears. An early ride has proved that jogging is no way to produce race fitness. This is my training route, http://www.roadcyclinguk.com/event-news/rollapaluza-urban-hill-climb/5358.html I shall be weaving and panting like a dray up this for the next few weeks in an effort to gain some semblance of race day form. Onwards, my friends.

Peak X 3

Summer holidays in the South of France revisiting old climbing haunts in Provence. What used to be the sport climbers' Mecca of the late eighties, Buoux and its attendant campsite in Apt, have now become cycle tourist central.

The cycling indulgence for the holiday was to do a triple ascent of Mt Ventoux the aptly named Cingles de Mt Ventoux. The Geant of Provence actually has four potential routes to the summit but the 4th is the so called 'Forester's Road' would need a cross bike or at least big tyres and scant regard for paintwork - neither of which I possessed;-)



Bedoin ascent. This is the classic ascent and regarded by some as the toughest. It is the climb which saw Wiggin's impressive efforts last year, Pantani and Lance's controversial duel, Eros Poli's unlikely breakaway win, and perhaps most (in)famously of all Simpson's death in 67. An early start in Bedoin saw warm lower slopes but a summit cloaked in cloud. I joined the very egalitarian crowds heading up on everything from the latest offerings from Colnago and Pinarello through to two young ladies on Dutch 'town' bikes - I kid you not! Once pass Chalet Reynard the issue of the 'vent' became apparent. What had been a steady ascent slowed rapidly but 1 hour 35 after setting out I crossed the summit. Now it was time to feel cheated as I was forced to pedal down some 9% slopes to make headway toward Malaucene, chilly enough for a touch of the Roger Riviere's on the fingers. At the bottom there is a nice shady spring to replenish bidons, today it was still blowing a gale so much so that I had to lay the bike down rather than prop it up as I wobbled over the stone slabs to the water.

Malaucene ascent. Having only ever come down this way the ascent was a new experience. Personally I'd rate it equally as tough as the Bedoin ascent though it does lack the demoralising 'limestone desert' drag to the summit. Even the summit sweet vendor was struggling with the wind as I crossed the top. The descent to Sault was punctuated by a stop at Chalet Reynard to replenish the bidons at the water pump - unfortunately it was dry and the cafe was packed so I foolishly pressed on with the descent.

Sault ascent. The final ascent was the easiest but longest. Things seemed to have warmed up lower down and it was nice steady tapping away up to Chalet Reynard. However the Mistral seemed to have upped its game. Past Simpson's memorial I noticed a number of riders descending in a cross style, one foot unclipped, as if the road had developed a bad 'off camber' and it soon became apparent that the wind had increased even more. The summit was chaos; riders being blown off bikes, one lad had even taken his shoes off and was dragging his bike down after nearly being blown over the low wall. Even the sweet stall had shut up shop! A final sweeping descent back to an ever patient Jo in Bedoin.

The rest of the holiday was spent enjoying the less extreme hilltops and their villages around the Vaucluse, including Lacoste, whose erstwhile resident had some appropriate comment about hill climbs...



"It is always by way of pain one arrives at pleasure." Marquis de Sade

Otleyrich

Here comes the Belgian training camp: London

You know: After the race is before the race!

So what would be a good place for a real hard training camp?

Right, it is London - a city known for such things as

tilting towers or hidden Norman Forster eggs:

But there is more to London. It is a place with 20.000 people with a licence to kill! The untrained eye might get the impression of a harmless cab, but this can be turned into a deadly weapon and explaines the warning in the first picture.

Just kidding! Apart from a few most cab drivers were doing fine in sharing the bus line. Better watch out for those soon to be drivers on their scooters, learning the streets or those pre-hire taxis.

No, no this is not a Rijs style survival camp, at least the hotel is very decent, although only four stars. So I waited five minutes outside the hotel with my bike in one hand and the keys in the other and nobody come to park my cycle!

Actually it turned out there is no special bike parking, imagine the friends of Boris would come to this hotel. So best option was to store the cycle in the room. Some news paper to prevent marks from the bar tape on the wall paint. (Of course most of the newspaper ended up in the shoes to extract the wet). Outside parking was not that easy but I found a nice parking place at Victoria docks at a crane. Just 10 miles off the city centre.

I should not complain about too much about the hotel, they provide a very nice breakfast buffet, lots of fresh fruits on the healthy right side and full blown english breakfast less healthy on the left. My favourite: combine the waffles from the left with yoghurt and red fruits from the right.

To make sure the breakfast is well mixed I rode from Carnary wharf to Wapping, pave can be found on Wapping Wall and Wapping High St. (pictured). Problem is not to hit the speed bumps, apart from those difficulties 1.5 stars. After passing the park on your left follow Thomas More St., turn left into East Smithfield for City and Tower bridge. (Non-belgians can simply take the pave-free CS 3 to reach the same location .) From there to the west simple race along the Thames to the Big Ben, pick a tourist bus for wind protection. (Non-belgians could cross the river via Tower Bridge turn right into Tooley street, which feels like a bus only street. Carefully pass London Dungeon and London Bridge, watch out for monsters or pedestrians. Turn left at the end and stop at Borough market for energy refill. Follow Southwark st./Stamford st for London Imax, into York Rd. for Westminster Bridge. Although shorter in distance for sure slower than the race along the Thames. But could be an option to extent CS 3 to the west.)

To add some culture I went to Tate, which was closed. Next try in fine arts, I turned north to Islington or more exact Angel for Paul A. Young, like a good museum on the continent closed on Mondays:

Real Belgians always check on the chocolade if they come to a different town. Best brownies in town, three quid will get you a lot of taste and only 25% of the calories the same amount of money would get you at Borough market invested in Brownies.

Please note: in London money is not spend it is invested! You know this city is about business. I was so bloody close to a fine sponsor deal with a company from Springfield. Just that moment Duncan said, that we'll not sell out to an investor. Look what I could have had as team car:

Not a Mondeo labelled as a Jaguar, no a real fine car. But so no Porsche, all I got was a 30% discount on a jersey from what could have been our sponsor:

Talking of investments I came across these Burglers cycle shame stands:

Don't love it to get stuck behind a bus which is stuck behind one of these bicycles on Tower Bridge? I got the impression many were used by tourists. With a race bike it is quite nice to draft in the bus lane at around 20 mphs floating works quite nice, these bikes will not get you there. The risk is that car drivers might get used to these slow moving objects not being aware of regular speed cyclists. Of course one person decided to put the bikes to selfish use without dropping a drip of sweat:

It is too soon to comment on the success of the cycle related actions. Unlike the old cycle path the CS routes are easier to follow although in Canary Wharf east they saved blue paint by just painted small blue 10*10 inches squares. Never the less compared to the old bike paths like 1 or 4 is for sure an improvement, saving a lot of time wasted on searching. From Thamse barrier to Greenwich on the old system was enough to make me happily use the bus lane from Greenwich to the Tower bridge. The alternative is to walk through the tunnel to the Isle of Dogs, use Westferry Road to connect to CS 3.

So wait and see, hoping the cycle actions will not end in a dead end:

New Signings...

So it's the silly season in the Pro ranks with various riders transferring, dopers being unwelcomed back into the fold (come on be fair, being ginger doesn't deserve that abuse) and the rumour mill working overtime. With that in mind following the recent successful kit order (thanks everyone for making it possible), I've some new names to introduce.

Andy Anderson - "Oh no, now I'll have to race cross"...oh yes, now you'll have to race cross. Having made that statement Andy quite easily justified it in my eyes by using cross as a way of burning off the Belgian beers... or giving him room to consume more, I can't remember which.

Andrew McPherson - Gravitating to HCtB via the virtuous route of Velocake and a very good cakey route it is. Does anyone else have misty eye nostalgic memories of coffee flavoured swiss roll? I digress.

Damon Largent - Bought a shirt, snagged a nice cross bike, all ready to race... apart from needing to fix two punctures on his first foray. Goes without saying he's feeling pumped about the whole team thing.

Gavin Long - Second year Cross campaigner. It's like your favourite band, can he surpass that breakthrough first album, will he be wearing KISS style facepaint to go with the spandex?...(spandex? sorry I meant Lycra and was getting all carried away).

Jason Miles - endurance racer who's probably ridden more in one race than some of us have ridden all year. Racing 8, 12, 24 (and more) it's all there... hours that is... I'll repeat that HOURS! He's a wrong un, well, maybe a right un as we might be able to learn something from him that's for sure. Fair play, Chapeau!

Jonathan Day - If you need a set of wheels consider giving Jonathan's site a perusal. Jon's getting his business, STRADA WHEELS, up and running and his handbuilt wheels look worthy of our interest. Welcome to the gang.

Mark Bradley - An Enigma. Can I buy a shirt? Yes. Here's your money. Thanks.

Murat Tasan - I'll admit it. Initially we were inspired by HUP United's style and antics...and now we converge. Murat, HUP rider and Boston, USA (soon to be Toronto, CA) resident joins the team. He made reference to Ex girlfriends, log distance classic riding and style in his emails so sounds like a strong candidate for the VDB character on the team. If the white oversocks and cut off cap comes out to play we know we need to employ a head doctor.

He's giving D2R2 a shot this year. I'm quietly jealous.

Nick Jardine - Another enigma. Greetings to the little isle from the big island... How's it? I feel like we're on Dog the bountyhunter. Actually we aren't and Nick's on the Isle of Wight. So there.

Richard Knowles - A strong rider with the air of just turning up and riding, without the sufferance of training miles...only to leave you behind. I know, I got left behind.

Russell Robson - Off to ride some Flandrians bergs, or so I've been told... make sure you tell us some more.

Steven Treanor - Is single speed cross a good idea?... Any cross is a good idea in our books. Welcome on board.

So there we have it, I need a sit down and a tea with 2 sugars. Blimey.

Sundays

In the absence of my homeboy Crossjunkie I found myself out on my own on Sunday morning, Al was visiting "that London" and having a biking treat with Gary (well having his legs ripped off).
A rare sunny morning greeted me, which since the hosepipe ban has been a rare visitor to these parts. Sunny Sunday mornings never fail to put a smile on my face and the thought that toady's ride would be a good one.
Early Sunday mornings are a treat for me, getting up while the rest of the house is still sleeping and clicking effortlessly into my pre-ride routine.

1. coffee machine on
2. milk onto bowl of high fruit muesli
3. radio on
4. juice poured
5. bread into toaster
6. bottles made up
7. paper

Then just sit sipping coffee before setting off, you can't beat it!

The route was a good 43 miles on quiet lanes and included Waddington Fell, as seen on the Tour of Briton, which is a nice leg burner but rewards your effort with stunning views and a 50 mph descent into the very pretty village of Waddington. Here you will find a very cycle friendly cafe that has great coffee and lovely cakes, cycle locks are even provided if you need to shackle your trusty steed.
Not a bad way to spend a Sunday morning

Public Service Announcement

My original-design Belgians jersey has started to fall apart at the seams - well the join between the top of the pocket dividers and the jersey at least. I contacted Shutt VR about this and they said that it's a known issue with some of their jerseys. A quick tweet revealed that it's not only my Belgians jersey which is suffering. There is some good news though: in their reply to my e-mail Shutt said that if the afflicted jersey is sent back to them they will repair or replace it.

So if your black-and-white running-Belgian top is destroying itself through no fault of your own, you might want to post it back to: Shutt Velo Rapide Limited, 35 The Grove, Ilkley, Yorkshire LS29 9NJ.

A Belgian on Islay and Jura

On the last Friday in July, my wife and I headed over to the Isle of Islay for a week of, as Brian Palmer might say, "cycling on the outer edge". The main event was the Ride of the Falling Rain, a 100-mile or less tour of the island. This year Brian P and his fellow organiser (and fellow "Belgian") Jez Hastings chose to add in a prelude with a very informal hillclimb on the Saturday afternoon to supplement the Falling Rain. I've put a full report on the weekend over on the North Cheshire Clarion blog.The presence of HCtB team kit over the weekend drew questions from prospective members, and some obscure looks from real Belgians to boot!

Spending the rest of the week on Islay gave us the chance to spend a lot of time riding, and we managed to get over to Jura for a day - which is even further from the beaten track and the rat race
 than Islay is.

My thanks go to Jez and his family for hosting us during another great week on Islay!

Belgian Continental...

I'm proud to announce another addition to our continental cycling family, one Michael Frank, who skillfully answered the questions posed by our mainland Europe recruitment officer (that's Wolfram to me and you).

Do You ride a bike or more? Too many.

Do You drink belgian beer? Too many

Do You eat Belgian chocolade? Too many.

Do You like this Jersey? (I was wearing the 2009) Too much.

There....done. He's a team member, we're a happy team.

Team Kit - Autumn/Winter 2010

Here we go, winter kit with a more dirt friendly colour scheme. Expect to see this colour way tearing through the mud this winter.

PRICES:

Shortsleeve shirt: £38.50

Longsleeve shirt: £45.00

TechFleece Jersey: £62.00

ThermoShield/TechFleece Jacket: £76.00

ThermoShield Jacket: £87.50

Gilet: £37.00

Wind Jacket: £47.00

Bibshort: £50.00

3/4 Bib Knicker: £60.00

3/4 Fleece Bib Knicker: £67.50

Fleece Bibtight (no pad): £71.00

Skinsuit short sleeve: £73.50

Skinsuit Long sleeve: £78.50

Skinsuit Cylocross (fleece): £95.00

Euro style race cap: £8.50

Order book closes Wednesday 11th August 5.00 pm prompt - Be late, lose out.