John and Alex Stirzaker – Our Haute Adventure

I’m pleased to confirm the official result was 232.407 miles and I placed 7th.

Most importantly it is on Strava! https:// strava.app.link/x3WHAbHmaZ https:// www.velouk.net/2019/09/12/result-rttcchampionship-12hr/ Will I do this again? Hell yes! I will however do some more training for it next time.

Credits to :-Bury CCC members for encouraging my bonkers idea. Mark Jones for his support and company, although he wasn’t supporting me full time on Sunday he appeared out of nowhere when he was needed. He also drove all the way back to MCR when my legs were not quite fit to do so. Joseph Cadwallader for his great training and race nutrition tips (although we did not stage events, located worldwide so riders can experience some of the finest cycling roads with a level of support way above what you would expect on the average sportive including train for long distance TTs this year) Paul Whatmough #eliminationbikefit for my bike rebuid and a spot on bike fit as well as last minute mechanical help. Peter Roscoe for his enthusiasm and ongoing race-encouragement and for following all the ladies National Clarion and NLTTA BAR/trophy opportunities.

Photos by #ridingforlove and

OUR HAUTE ROUTE ADVENTURE BY JOHN & ALEX STIRZAKER BURY CLARION

Haute Route events are 3 or 7 day, Breckland’s Michelle Richards volunteers on every junction marshalling traffic, and for us, a village complete with Mavic shop, massages, lunches and medical support on the road. But what truly makes the Haute Route experience something else is the camaraderie between the riders from all over the world sharing one fantastic goal.

After my amazing time in the Alps last year, my partner Alex and I decided to do a 3 day event together and after much debate plumped for the compact route as 2 days of 3,000 metres plus of climbing did not appeal to Alex. Ventoux seemed like the perfect start as it had been my first super category climb and we both love France and it’s culture.

Alex committed herself to many hours of training, a lot of them on the turbo as weather and work commitments made riding outside difficult at times, but after nine months she was ready to take on the Geant of Provence. The start of each stage was neutralised and keeping to the back of the peloton taking it steady, an early pee stop did have us coming across the broom wagon after just 2 km! With a steady climb up to Chalet Reynard, it was lovely being able to look around and take in the atmosphere which Alex loved. After two hills 4 and 7km long and a 10% ramp to the first feed station, we approached the Category 1 18km climb to Chalet Reynard, this was the day’s Event and a real challenge for Alex after a decent day already. Unfortunately as the road ramped up her back started to complain, we managed the situation by taking an occasional rest but she fought through it and made the end of our timed section in an hour and a half. This was the longest climb she has ever done, with an elevation gain of 700 metres, a massive achievement but there was more to come! Stage 2 was an absolute stunner and on paper by far the easiest day for us compared to the original route. We managed to plonk ourselves on the back of another couple for the start and again we paced it really well. The highlight of the day was undoubtedly La Gorge de la Nesque, a stunning 19 km “climb” of 2% that wound its way around the edge of a beautiful gorge with some amazing little tunnels through the rock at the top. We then wound our way back to Sault and a neutralised zone, so we stopped for a

toilet and coffee break of course. The route then took us off main roads on to some quite technical descents which Alex negotiated really well, it’s amazing to think that before our Mallorca trip she really didn’t enjoy descending at all. The decision to give her clean road by having me following her has really paid dividends. The timed route concluded with some tough little climbs on the way to Malaucene which were way more testing than appeared in the route book, but we pushed on through enjoying the pleasant road back to Bedoin over another Col De Madeleine!

The day finished with us leading our category by a good 13 minutes or so, but we knew that day three was going to be a new challenge with a time trial up Mont Ventoux from Bedoin. We attended the briefing and received our kilometre markers as category leaders although we didn’t win the stage as a couple had gone from Original to Compact. So having had our picture taken with the mayor of the town we went for another excellent evening meal at the hotel in preparation for the

next day. Our two main fears for the time trial were the wind and how Alex’s

back would react to so much climbing.

The forecasts were a bit mixed with wind speeds of 35 kmh forecast at the top, it’s not called Ventoux for nothing! Windy is venteux in French. We learnt, post massage, that Alex’s glutes required some tlc, two and half hours climbing would be testing, so pain management would be critical.

Nothing we have in the UK can prepare you for the physical and mental challenge of climbing for 2 or more hours. You have to preserve energy and think about little milestones not the top itself as well as drinking and eating regularly. The climb from Bedoin is 21km long and the elevation difference is 1,500 metres, it has featured on a regular basis in the tour and is considered to be one of the toughest climbs in cycling.

The plan was to let Alex off first and I would catch her up before she crossed the timing mat, she was very nervous on the top of the ramp. She set off and we met up, proceeded on to the village of Saint-Esteve which was the start of the fearsome section of 10 kilometres at an average of 10%. The approach is pretty steady allowing the legs to get warm with an average of around 5% for 4 km, but this shouldn’t lull you in any way.

The plan was always to stay steady and comfortable, taking short occasional breaks and standing out the saddle ensured that we kept moving. For the other lantern rouge riders you could see the immense effort they were putting in to just keep moving, from a German guy Jans with cerebral palsy, a British lad called Ian who was on an aluminium bike, with thick soled shoes and who weighed at least 17 stone and a young Indian girl who just kept tapping away up the mountain. All I could do was keep motivating Alex and those others around us and try to pay my part by telling her what was due up and where we were. Seeing these individual battles was so humbling and made me realise how easy it is to take for granted the ability to climb tough roads.

Thankfully we made it to Chalet Reynard and the welcoming appearance of our Sports Tours support vehicle, a quick refuel and stretch and we were off for the remaining 6 kilometres of exposed road like some kind of moonscape with the promised heavy winds. Trying to draft in these conditions is always difficult and made it hard to give Alex any sort of shelter from the elements, but it was dry and we could see the summit coming into view. The few switchbacks on this section helped us keep momentum going and when the road changed direction we used any tailwind however short.