Author: Cris Bloomfield

More photos from Sleepless in the Saddle have been posted up and about on the internet, a few even featured the rothar.com team. I haven’t thanked our support team yet, so this is a big thanks to Jo for being there. Nick B was riding in the pairs category too, he and his team mate were the numbers preceeding us and he had this to say:

From: Nick B
Subject: Sleepless in the Saddle

I know how hot it was out there, that heat wasn’t funny at all. I drank my 2 litre Camelbak dry after a lap and a half, just trying to wash the dust out of my throat. Was going at what I thought was a comfortable speed for the first couple of laps, but by lap four I slowed right down because I felt so shaky. Couldn’t believe I felt so bad after just 30 odd miles, it was quite depressing. Started to pick up again once things got cooler though, but really for a long long time it was more about surviving than enjoying the thing. Hard bloody event…

I think that pairs was an evil category to be in with those conditions… a lot of the pairs riders, myself included, started off at a pace closer to what they’d have ridden at in a team rather than solo speed, if you know what I mean. Really hard to judge things right when your brain has started melting!

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I’m getting ready to head off to the Channel Islands on Friday at the moment. There’s not going to be much happening on the site until I get back, so don’t be expecting any updates for a while. This is where I’m going.

If I ever manage to get over to British Colombia, this site could be damn useful. Loads of trails mapped out and plenty of local knowledge on offer. Seems to be pretty up-to-date too. The Numplumz team were out in force at Sleepless last weekend, this is where you can find them lurking.

And following news of the recent rejiggling at Titec, more news reports of the loss of what had been a rising star within the British component manufacturing scene. Forge’s mountain bike parts arm has been folded following the loss of their product developer. That is a bit of a bugger, because they were doing some really nice kit.

Sleepless in the Saddle proved to be my nemesis this year. I don’t want to complain about the weather too much because it was fantastic, but just a bit too hot. We were sweating just standing around in the campsite, let alone out on the course. It was damn hot. Results can be found here.

Jed and I had a plan, to ride two on, two off until about 8pm and then start doing three on three off night laps, to maximise the burn time from the lights. I still stand by this plan as a good one, but I now have to admit it might not have been suitable given the heat.

The course was fantastic with a mix of fast track roads, single track, climbs and descents. There was enough technical content to keep people occupied and enough fast bits to make up time if you were caught in an early bottleneck. Having arrived after sunset on Friday night, my first chance to ride the course came just after 9am on Saturday and I clocked a 39 minute recce lap and rode the entire course. The start and finish area allowed the sponsors to do a bit of advertising. and there were plenty of trade tents (more here).

After a bit of fettling and preparation, the rider briefing was soon upon us and we stood and sweated in the heat while we were read the riot act and told to expect to drink 15 litres of fluid a day I this heat. We didn’t need to be told, we were drinking like fish already. The new race kit was donned in preparation.

The Le Mans run from the start seemed to last forever, but was a reasonable way to spread the field out over the course, the run through the single track sections certainly narrowed the running field down to single file at times. Having picked the bike, camelbak and radio up from Jed back at the transition area, I set off on two laps.

The first was incredibly dusty with a high concentration of riders on the loose gravel road tracks kicking up the dirt. There was plenty of opportunity to pass slower riders and those that had gone off too fast in the run and were now paying the price. The heat was stifling and the humidity in the wooded sections was stifling. A few people rode in a fashion unbefitting of the spirit of the event, with one guy running into the back of my bike on three occasions on the same single track section where I was being held up by a queue of riders in front. Words were said.

I turned down Jed’s radio offer of a change over and stayed out for another lap and rode at a steadier pace managing to clean a lot more of the course which had earlier been clogged with riders. By the end of my first stint I was quite happy to hand over. Jed managed a good couple of laps but picked up a puncture on the curb of doom at the top of the campsite early on.

My next two laps were a bit more comfortable, but after them I was pretty iffy and ended up seeing the contents of my stomach, which was a nice touch. Following rehydrating and getting some food I felt much better and recovered enough to do my night laps.

These went well, except for the fact that it was frequently the case that you would get stuck behind a slower rider and not be able to find a safe passing point for some time. The first two laps were dispatched without too much problem, but lap three was the final nail in the coffin. I started feeling ill about a mile it the course, had to stop and lie down for five minutes, managed to get up and keep going and then was ill. What followed was a painful crawl back to transition with a few more sickbag stops on the way.

At the transition Jed and I decided to call it a night and I crawled back to the tent and died a thousand deaths. Heat exhaustion had taken it toll (and a certain energy drink may have been partly responsible). We will be back…

Ordered some Eclipse sealant from Jon over at Just Riding Along. I’m hoping it’s going to do the business for the UST tyres at Sleepless, after my first puncture using UST tyres (took over 500 miles) I’m hoping that this will mean no more punctures for a very long time. Jon is racing in a pair too, so Jed and I have some very strong competition.

This is just typical of this bloody country, during last year’s British round of the World Rally Championship, a large number of the drivers were busted by speed cameras and now are all being prosecuted. I don’t know how many tens of millions the events generates for the local economy and aids the community, but last time I looked South Wales was in need of all the investment it could muster. If this legal action leads to the region losing the competition some heads need knocking together.

Remember that pick of Dave Watson’s jump over the Tour posted last week? Well the word is it’s a fake. The real photos haven’t been published yet. More news as and when.

Following on from yesterday’s post about the Simplon race, the Trans Alp race finished at the end of last month. There’s another Trans Alp report here. That and the Grand Raid Cristalp is also on the way. There’s some good riding out there in Europe and the World Champs are in Lugano. It’s all very Swiss on the mountain bike scene at the moment.

Some disappointing news in the world of road bikes. ONCE have decided to pull out of sponsoring a pro team from the end of this season. It’s going to be a shame to lose a team which has always seemed to be very popular with the followers of the Tour. I’m sure Beloki and the rest of the team will soon get picked up by a new major sponsor.

The chain gang tonight was assisted greatly on the return leg by a fairly strong tail wind. We were cruising back at about 25-28mph. Must admit I’m a bit gutted not to have set any speed cameras off. There were a few opportunities, but I just didn’t have it in my legs.

It’s getting damn hot. Apparently it’s going to get even hotter by midweek. Predictably Britain has been thrown into chaos yet again by the weather. You might think that after several thousands of years our society might have adapted to our maritime climate more effectively. This from Private Eye, continues to remind me that at least we can appreciate the ridiculous state of affairs.

Today I spent the day in the bike shop and the next too days are going to see me stuck inside at home and the office working. Both are hot enough to induce meltdown. Tomorrow night I’m off out on the road bike and out of Manchester, which like London has a geographical position that encourages the formation of high pressure air zones above the city that allow things to get pretty uncomfortable. Up in the Peaks things get a bit cooler.

As Sleepless approaches the surrounding hype is beginning to grow and people are getting set for this weekend. Jed and I are hoping that things will go according to plan, but you never can tell with these things. Preparation has to help. Talking of preparation Biker reports that getting the energy intake sorted definitely helped him in his recent efforts offroad in Switzerland. He rode the Simplon Race, which started in Brig, Switzerland at the weekend and had this to say:

From: Biker
Subject: Simplon Race

Patient beat me by a couple of minutes. I creamed everyone on the descents! Fucking whacked now. Need about a week of sleep. Managed to eat – definitely helped.

I’ve been promised a bit of a race report, if a recollection can be pulled from what was sounds like one hell of a race and undoubtedly caused a mental blur. This is the same race that kiwi Tim Vincent came second in last year. Full results from this year’s event can be found here. By the looks of the map, the course had a fair bit of climbing involved. I want to do that next year, looks like fun.

I reckon there’s about 2000m climbing on that course

I learnt today that a rider was knocked down and killed at the weekend whilst riding a time trial on the A50 and it just reminds you about how susceptible cyclists are to serious and fatal injuries following accidents with other road traffic. You can understand why raging bike is such a popular site. So popular I’m going to make it site of the week.

Here’s the evidence for Dave Watson’s jump of the Tour peloton, full story is here. Pretty goddamn badass. I’m look forward to seeing the footage on New World Disorder IV.

Biker’s on the hunt for sponsorship this coming winter season and is now on the web. Check him out over at chris-thorne.com. Those videos are looking good.

This is Trek’s new carbon road bike. Guess you’ll either like it or loathe it.

So the biggest event in the cycling calendar is over for another year, but the cycling season is far from over. Here’s just some of the racing that the pro’s will be doing over the next few weeks. And there’s some riding going on indoors in Germany too, good to see the British riders getting up there in the medals.

What’s new on the site? Well there’s now a page of desktop wallpapers available for download from here and there’ll be more when I get back from my trip to the Channel Islands at the end of this month.

I’m getting ready for Sleepless. There’s been a few issues, but I’m on track for getting everything ready…

Back to work today and exhausted after a few days in Norfolk. Getting out of bed this morning was a struggle. It’s a good thing that snooze buttons were invented otherwise I’d be stuffed on many occasions. The drive back last night was long, especially with the dense mist over the Pennines. I felt sorry for the poor soul who had rolled their car onto it roof up on the Snake Pass, visibility was about 5 metres when I crossed over about 1am.

There was so much post to be taken today I resorted to the trailer. As the hitch couldn’t be fitted the whole affair was held in place by a toe strap to the back of the singlespeed. It’s probably the most unstable trailer I’ve ever used, the thing has a tendency to roll and keel over at random. Its high centre of gravity and narrow axle just make that thing crash and burn. It did four times. If I ever need one, I’ll be wanting a BOB Yak.

The rothar.com team jerseys are ready and look mighty fine. I’m pretty stoked that they’ve come out so well, given that the design aspect was pretty much scribbles on bits of paper and a few photocopied graphics. Big thanks to the the T-Shirtman printers on Oldham Street.

The quick release and suspension fork saga continues. James Annan doesn’t feel that things are necessarily going in the right direction on Singletrackworld, but in my mind the poor people bouncing ideas around the better and it does seem now that a few people are working on identifying the factors that need to be considered in the situation. There’s more in this article from Phil Osman and this subsequent forum posting.

Talking of postings this was up on the STW forum too. Sad news if the JMC foundation has folded.

Sometimes when I’m back at the family home, I just don’t have time to get out and ride. It’s a bit of an annoyance because there’s loads of places that I want to go and explore on two wheels, but most of the time I just don’t have time to do it, being kept busy with work around the house. This time I was pretty determined to get out and about and so announced my intentions to get out and ride in advance.

Jed and I managed to get a bit of pre-sleepless in the saddle training in down in Thetford and we’d hoped that the Chillmeister might have joined us but when couldn’t make it on the day. So anyway despite the forecast of imminent rain we headed down to the A11 with his Volvo loaded up with bikes and night riding kit. I think the rain dampened our enthusiasm a bit, because we ditched the Stadiums and just headed off without them.

It was pretty wet. I think this year I’ve done more wet rides in Thetford than dry, which by all accounts makes for muddy bikes to be cleaned and at times depressing prospects, that said tonight’s ride was one of the best I’ve ever had on the swoopy singletrack on the Norfolk/Suffolk border. Everything just seemed to click and the riding was good (despite a puncture towards the end) – riding the rollercoaster in the fading twilight was the highlight of the evening, it was an edgy, sometimes sketchy and jet propelled blast through one of the best singletrack sections in the UK.

At the end the light wasn’t enough to see by under the forest canopy, but back out on the fire roads we managed to snatch a bit more riding before heading back and sighting a deer on the way.

I stopped at JMC’s shrine on the Woodhead Pass last night on the way across the Pennines. I pass it too often without taking the time to do so. It felt good to have stopped and thought about things. I often wonder how Jason would have done on the modern World Cup circuit. I reckon he’d be up there tussling with Peaty, Garcia and Company.

I picked up the rest of the FSR from Biker’s parents place down in Suffolk tonight. He’s lent me his mountain bike routes guidebook to central Switzerland. It means I can crack on with the Surenenpass write up that’s been lurking in the epic rides section of the site for far too long.

Well there’ve been a few changes on rothar.com over the last few days and there’s more to come once I get my head around some scripts. Trying to simplify things and add some new stuff in at the same time. Hope it’s working.

The Tour is looking no less certain than before. Ullrich took two seconds out of Armstrong through sprint bonuses today. The time trial tomorrow looks like it might decide it, but many people are hoping that it’ll go to a show down in Paris. The rothar.com team are still lurking in the lower rankings hampered by being reduced to five men, van Bon was in the breakaway in yesterday’s stage which probably did something for the overall team status. Might have moved up a place…

Team jerseys and artwork were dropped off at the printers today and by this time next week there’ll be some kit to collect. Pictures when it arrives. Riding in Thetford at some point next week and looking forward to catching up with Jed and Chilly.

Loads of Triathletes kicking around Manchester at the moment getting ready for the World Cup race down at Salford Quays. More about the event here. Most of them are interesting, friendly and good to talk too, but in the same breath their bikes get a hell of a hammering and not much looking after. I wonder how many races are lost due to mechanical failure? I was chatting to Heather Evans who came 4th in the Commonwealth Games last year today and having spoken to people like Michellie Jones in the past, I reckon it’s just that Triathletes spend so much time doing training that they just don’t have time to get kit fixed and serviced.

Johnny Waddell is out of his coma and recovering, Dave Watson has spoken about his Le Tour gap jump over at Velo News and this these are some survival tips for cyclists from our caring government. Just don’t say they never do anything for cyclists, mmm okay?

Decent ride last night with Corty and AP, out to Whalley Bridge, up Long Hill, before nailing the decent down to the reservoir dam in the Goyt Valley. Goddammit that is one hell of a descent steep and dead straight followed by a sweeping and tightening left hander. You can get up to about 55mph without pedaling, after that it was up to the Cat and Fiddle via the valley road before racing the traffic down to Macclesfield and heading home through the lanes. Good stuff.

This morning’s breakfast ride was a bit of a joke, turning out to be a solo affair. Just call me billy. First outing that’s needed lights this year. It was dark when I left, but the sunrise was pretty spectacular.

What will this Tour produce next? First there’s been the battle between Lance and any one else who fancied a crack at the Yellow Jersey, there’s been Hamilton battling on with a broken collar bone and now the same guy has successfully sustained a lone breakaway to win a stage where earlier in the same day he was falling off the back of the peloton going up a climb. The guy is a legend. That said I reckon that there’s something missing from this years peloton in the Tour.

The familiar sight of the UCI world champ in his rainbow stripes. I remember watching Gianni Bugno, (twice World Champion in the early 90s) in the 1992 tour, getting involved mixing it up with the other big names. It was exciting stuff. This year Mario Cipollini and his Domina Vacanze team have been excluded from this year’s Tour de France. Race organisers said that Cipollini and his teammates were not considered “strong enough mountain climbers” to be consistent throughout the whole race. Cipollini’s team had been hoping for a wildcard entry, but in the end the remaining places were awarded to French teams Brioches La Boulangere, AG2R and Jean Delatour, and Spanish outfit Euskaltel. Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc told Paris reporters “It was a painful decision to make.”

The world champion broke the record of stage wins in the Giro d’Italia early this year and asked Leblanc to reconsider his position. “Jean-Marie Leblanc makes me want to vomit,” said Cipollini when he heard that his team had not been retained by Tour organisers. Days before the beginning of the 2000 Tour Cipollini crashed and was unable to start, but in 1999 the last year he rode the world’s biggest cycling race he briefly held the overall leader’s yellow jersey. In all he has won 12 stages but has never finished any of the seven Tours he entered. I reckon the racing is poorer without him.

Freeriders are in the news. John Waddell is in a serious state following his crash at Mont Ste Anne in Quebec. He overshot a jump by about 20 feet, bailed mid flight and took one hell of a tumble. He’s still comatose. Meanwhile Dave Watson did a gap jump on a mountain stage over the road the peloton were riding as they passed underneath. Although he failed to make the transition and needed to be taken off the mountain in an ambulance, the footage should be appearing in New World Disorder IV. Dave is still in custody in a French jail.

On an all together different note, raging bike is worth a look.