Great ride all in all. Well signed, good feed stations and hilly as it said on the tin. Great little leg stretch for the Raid and the longest ride I’ve done this year. Got round in 6.22, which is silver standard. Could have been better but not too bad all the same.

Good to meet Alan, Helen, Nick and Aaron. Rode the stage with the Mac – check out his stats.

So… got into work at 7AM to cook up a massive spagbol for people. Simered away for four hours, served with pasta (can’t believe i cooked that much without it turning  to mush) and went well. Guests were asked to pay what they thought it was worth… as long as it was more than £5 (I’m not as confifdent as Radiohead!). Lowest payment was £5 (obviously), the highest £20 (cheers Henrietta).

Next up, cake baking and a car boot sale!

Here’s a message of support from author, playwright and keen wheelsman Graeme Fife. This will get the Fairbridge Raid team through those last training miles!

FAIRBRIDGE RAIDERS

You have a great ride ahead of you and I wish you all the very best. Ejoy it. There will almost certainly be times when enjoyment seems to be and entirely alien element in what is going on. Feel free to complain: it will clear your mind. The mountains you are going to cross are magnificent. If you haven’t been there before, be prepared to be intimidated just by the look of them. They are, though, full of grandeur and wild beauty.

 I can’t stress enough the importance of preparation: put the miles in. It doesn’t matter about riding hills. The mountains are so much differen from anything we have

in the UK that distance and endurance training is what counts. The cols simply go on for a long time. The gradients are generally not severe, it’s just that there is a lot of them.

 Eat before you are hungry and drink before you are thirsty.

 My own feeling is that it’s better to keep going rather than stop frequently. Rhythm, above all, and, having stopped, you have only to start again: better, I reckon, to stick with the business in hand and shrug off any temptation to be done with it.

 A nice idea, if you can, is to have a dip inthe sea at the start – Bayonne or Biarritz – because the QRaid finishes in a tiny bay and the sea is right there, beckoning your tired body and legs.

If any of you wants to contact me to ask for any advice I can give, don’t hesitate. Encouragement, too, but that is why I am writing this: have a good time, grasp the adventure and, important, help each other.

 All the best. Yours, Graeme Fife

Treated myself to a new pair of shoes a few days ago… and what a pair of shoes they are – Sidi Genius 5.5 Carbon.

Never owned a pair of Sidis but know plenty of people that swear by them… devoted to them even. Once worn you never stray elsewhere they say. Hand crafted in Italy, fit perfectly… a shoe moulded on the feet of champions. Was never  sure though… and they were always just a bit more expensive than other non-Italian makes.

So I was in Condor returning a pair of pair Adidas Pro Road that I’d bought on sale the day before, hoping to get a pair of Specialized but none in my size. Just about to go for a refund when the guy offers a pair of discounted pair of ‘09 Sidis. Skeptical at first, they looked good but not a full carbon sole. Tried them on, fitted like a glove (a slipper perhaps) and almost as stiff as the Specialized (comfort over power is a good trade) – happy.

But the proof as they say is in the pudding. Went on a four ride yesterday (and five hours today – Monday$) and they were awesome. Comfortable and stiff… and looked top (not important I know but hey). Now shoes are a personal thing, one brand fits well for one and badly for another. But if you have feet like mine then I’d definitely recommend these little beauties.

It’s always good to keep a track of how many miles (or KM actually) you’ve done in a month… gives you a goal and keeps you motivated.

I’ve got 584 KM under my belt in the last month. Mosty commuting and 60KM hilly rides at the weekends. Nothing over 3 hours yet and not too strenuous. The plan for April is to up the miles and pace and push things a little bit more. The longer days will help.

I’ve got Good Friday booked in for A 5 hour ride into Essex and Easter Monday for the London Phoenix Spring Classic (114KM). That plus the commute, Regent’s Park on a Tuesday night and other weekend rides should see the miles fly by… might even try a race or two at Hog Hill.

Would be good to hear how other people are getting on…

PS: if you’re planning to get on the turbo at all you could do a lot worse than At the Drive In for iPod inspiration. Check them out live… and check the HAIR. How good?!

Here’s an email that I sent out to work colleagues. The grub will cost me about £20 and take 4 hours to cook…. in return I stand to make at least £150. Wouldn’t have raised half as much if I’d just have asked people to JUST sponsor me… give it a go if you’ve got a kitchen.

If not, bake a cake and take it in to sell… in fact why not bake one a fortnight until we leave for France… willpower is a must though – don’t go eating it yourself. Every calory counts in the mountain (ahem… rubbish if your training then eat cake).

Dear all,

Instead of asking you to JUST sponsor me to ride the Raid Pyreneen (714KM in 100 hours), I’ve decided to prepare a special cycling meal for you and then charge for it. In simple terms, this means that you get a slap-up meal and I get another step closer to achieving my sponsorship target. It’s just poetic really, isn’t it…

On the menu will be my now-perfected signature dish, Spaghetti Bolognese… simmered for hours until it reduces into a lip-smackingly tasty sauce that sticks like glue to the pasta. Talking of pasta, I’m planning to use a medium length Fettuccini… the connoisseurs choice.  

For dessert, I’ll be serving some form of cake… probably French as that is where the Pyrenees are situated.

For this I only ask a minimum of £5. However, should you wish to pay more that is fine. In fact, that would be really good. And don’t worry, this is not the Fat Duck. I will not poison you!

Date – Tuesday 12 May 2009.

Location – Fairbridge board room

Please let me know if you’d like to attend by replying with an Allez, Allez (that means go, go in French)

 Cheers, Mark  

PS: I will also be screening Hollentour (Hell on Wheels), a film that documents the T Mobile team’s assault on the 2003 Tour De France. You lucky, lucky people!!

Hello, I’ve been thinking… I write this blog and no one (apart from Steve W) comments. I’m sure/hoping it’s not a personal thing – I mean you lot are nice people right. So why?

1. The content sucks? (hope not… I do try)
2. You don’t really look at the site (I know you do – I can see it from the stats)
3. I don’t make it easy enough…)

Well on point 3 things just got easier. Scan to the bottom right of the page and look for meta section. Click on that and it will give you two options: either save the feed to your Google page or Google Reader. I’ve gone for the Google page, which slots post updates into my igoogle page. Igoogle is just amazing – let’s you set up your own cutomised search page (saves as my homepage) by dragging and dropping modular content. Even Pacman…

Get signed up and get commenting… it will make me feel a lot less lonely here in Raid Towers.

One of big George Hincapie’s favourite sayings is that ‘his chain is broken’… it means that he’s going so well that turning the pedals feels effortless… no resistance, no effort – the chain has snapped – he’s free-wheeling. It doesn’t happen a lot (especially not when he turns up for Paris Roubaix) he admits but when it does boy does it feel good. It’s what getting on a bike is all about.

Now consider the video below, a short film about Eddy Merckx in training. Eddy didn’t need a chain, he was just too good. The greatest ever.

Me, Steve and Nick had pizza with writer, broadcaster and all round top bloke Graeme Fife last week. He’s done the Raid and then done it again (a few years later that is…) and here are his top five tips for the ride.

• Get used to being on a bike. Sounds silly but only being on a bike for long periods of time (7+ hours) will get you used to the Raid
• Pack clothes for the cold and rain. Weather in the Pyrenees can be unpredictable, even in June. And those mountains are high… cloud high. It gets cold up there… and colder still when you’re coming down the other side at 70KPH, drenched in sweat. Arm warmers, knee warmers and lightweight rain jacket are a must!
• Eat before you get hungry, drink before you get thirsty. It is so important to keep yourself fueled and hydrated. If you don’t, you’ll bonk and feel like shit. You’ll be burning a lot of calories when climbing and it’s important to put them back in – when riding and resting at the end of the day
• Keep a low gear and spin away. It’s really important to select the gear you really need early on when climbing rather than save something for later. Climbing is all about the rhythm as the great Van Impe said. And don’t stand up when climbing as you waste another 12% of energy when you use your standing up muscles!
• The Raid is as much about psychology as it is physical capability. There will be times when you really want to STOP and you’ve got to be prepared for that. The will to carry on is just as important as the miles you put in during training

T-shirts…. are like sneaks (that’s trainers to you and me) are essential. Forget any other item of clothing – leaving  the house in nothing but a good a T is forgivable. So you might get the odd look and perhaps arrested if you’re really unlucky but hey…

So now think good T-shirts that celebrate the best sport in the world and you get something like this.

Doesn’t really much better does it?