Author: frankkinlan

Monday:L’Etape du Tour. I can see why it has a cult status. The whole sportif scene has largely passed me by until now but to a whole class of people this is a lifestyle and they take it seriously. Very seriously. Felt like a black sheep for wanting a beer after being up for 20 hrs on the way down and nstill not getting one. Saving all the Etape stuff for the write up which may take some time.
Tuesday:Etape rest day. 20 km ride out to a village and back then teamed up with the  group to watch the Tour on Eurosport in  a bar. Don’t feel too bad, others are hurting but it does seem all or nothing for them. The results are now posted so it is time to generate a results list for the 30 of us based on age categories. Flicker pictures to upload and started on the ride write up. Pictures are going to get tagged with rider numbers and I didn’t see anyone else doing what I was doing, certainly not on the moonscape.
Wednesday:  Ardeche gorge. 97 km , 1200 mtrs of climbing and some great sights to see. Better on a bike as it is more rewarding. Got baulked by a Johnsons coach on the way down. Decent lunch stop icluding a humongous pizza that wasn’t finished. I do have a picture. Group split on ability and water.
I stopped at a village fountain on the way back as I was nearly out and it is very hot.
Bar in town for the stage finish, hotel and shower for dinner.
Thursday: A ride to Orange, a bit more laid back today, 63 km loop with a stop at the ampitheartre.
More good food with more pictures. It is dear if your going from £ to Euro but is generally worth it. Food is great at the hotel too. Very hot on the way back with me going thru water at a great rate of knotts.
We had great fun getting some Graham Watson ” Sunflower” shots. Harder than you would imagine, you can’t go into the sun, if the sun is at the wrong angle the sunflowers point the wrong way and it goes on.
Graig dived into a field of them but it didn’t work.
Plans are forming for the next 2 days. It isn’t straight forward, it may sound great to ride to a stage but the reality can be a bit different. The Ventoux is the worst possible case. Too many people, a narrow road. a bike is going to get swamped. Above Chalet Reynard, dream on.
Friday: Coach trip to Aubenas to watch stage.  Site has been down a while, plenty of time to catch up.
Cav does the business and I was there@ 350 m mark.

Monday:  Spinning class then the gym. Weights and a few cardio machines. Exercise bike at level 25 is just under 300 watts. Cadence is about 50 rpm which is what is was when I was going up the Shoe later.
Drove to the Ponderosa with the shoes this time and went down the Old Shoe and up the Shoe twice in 50+ minutes. The idea was to get some climbing in look at the gradient and the speed.
On the Ventoux next week if I make it I’m looking at just over 6 mph. So the 2 hours on the Tacx is real enough. On the second climb the sweat is pouring out of me, running down the peak of the cap and all over the Edge. 39×27 is doable at 8% for the Ventoux but 13 miles is iffy. Good job I’ve the buzzsaw (26) to fall back on if I blow up.
Dined out.
Tuesday: Brimstage 7 in the evening, probably the gym in the morning. Nothing daft now as I’m not looking at picking up an injury.
Hill repeats up Grange Road after the gym as I was bored. Gradient is around 7% but it’s hardly the Ventoux. Did 9 reapeats which is a couple of miles of climbing and 1045ft.
Bought a map of the area from Goulds.
Brimstage 7, which was the last one in the series. Took the tri bars off the other day and it showed. 9min 16 seconds this week. I did welcome the ability to shift gear on the drops this week.
Got soaked on the ride home.
Wednesday: Bought some decent tyres, conti Attack and Force. Fitted some new bar tape and brake pads after giving the bike another clean. Sorted the bike bag out, no seat and no bars to make the size restrictions. 20 miles on the bike but all of it flat.
Thursday: Winding down now, Gym for half an hour then a spinning class. New cleats on the shoes and a dress rehersal for what I’m going to take on the ride.
Some last minute shopping and thats me done.
Final results for the Northend Time Trial League results are out, finished third in the B league behind the two girls, Vicky and Janet.
Last minute flap, punctured a tube putting the tyre on.
Friday: 5 am start from Manchester. Going to be a long day.
Arrived in Paris at 10.30pm, no evening meal, bike bag spent the night in the room because of possible bike thefts. 
Saturday: Travel down to Montpelimar. Another long day on the coach with traffic delays due  to a caravan accident and a motorcycle crash. Hotel seems fine and the food is good. Been out of the loop tour wise for 2 days now.
Sunday: Rode 27 miles to Registration at the Etape Village. Our group of 20 split and split again and I ended up signing on on my own and the finding the others when they had booked their bikes in to the overnight bike storage. This was later abandoned in favour of returning to the Hotel with the bikes in the trailer and taking them to the start. If we get caught in a jam, just unload the trailer and ride to the start. Weather was scorching and is going to be a problem on the day.
Another good meal at the Hotel. There is a lot to catch up on but it’s time to sort things out for the big day.Rise at 4 am, breakfast 4.30, start 7.00 am finish whenever.
Monday:  Etape update: Finished around 17:12 so inside the time limit, didn’t get over the line until 7:30 so I was up against it all day. The Ventoux is just out of this world as a climb, it’s hard to comprehend how tough it was after 150 km. Big write up coming up along with the usual pictures.

place	Pl.AC	number	name	ac	top of Mont Ventoux	brutto
6663	1305	8480	» KINLAN, Frank	D	03:20:56	10:12:39

3:20:56 to get up the Ventoux. There is a tale to tell there.

Monday:Spinning class and the gym at West Kirby. Had 1/2 an hour on a exercise bike to see what wattage I’m comfortable with. Took the front wheel to Colin  to get it trued as a spoke is continually loosening off.
Gave the bike a good dose of looking at and found the bottom bracket shot so it was off to Deeside for another.
Watched the Tour then got a refund on the fan.
Tuesday: Late morning spinning class. Fitted bottom bracket only to find I’d put a lip seal washer on the wrong way around so it was my fault it was shot. Found the chain was shot as well, so I,m litterally wearing the bike out. 2.5 hrs on the Tacx with The Giant of Provence while watching the Team Time Trial. This is one of the best starts to a Tour for ages.
Northend 10 time trial from Pulford. A strong sidewind has me loosing a minute and half on the last one. 26.38 minutes this week. Dropped to 5th in the league with the scratch riders getting 6 rides in.
Can’t complain really having mucked around on the trainer for over 2 hours.
What I did notice on the DVD was the lack of places to get water, the available ones are going to be programmed into the Garmin.
Wednesday: A damp start had me staying in. Lunch at the Eureka and then off to see Keith at Eureka Sports who is doing his Ironman this weekend in Switzerland.
Price of bike bits has shot up, £37 for a chain these days.
Fitted chain using a split link only to find most of them were 8 speed so that needs sorting. The shimano pins are a right pain. Had a look at the bottom bracket again as I noticed a creak. Next up is a new pair of Look Keo’s. They still function OK but are a bit sloppy.
Thursday: Spinning class and a session in the gym, mainly weight machines this time.
Picked up the comic on the way home along with fruit. Been checking out climbs on WWW.Climbbybike.com .
The split link wasn’t agreeing with the front mech on a test ride. Found adjuster seized so fitted a new cable adjusted the stops on the mech and that improved things.
Friday: Time to get a ride in. Drove to the Horseshoe pass only to find I’d left my shoes at home.
Tea at the Ponderosa and a slow drive home.
28 miles around Wirral after watching the Tour.
Saturday: Was going to be a ride day, but it’s time to start getting sorted for the Etape.
Manchester to sort out drop off for Friday. Saw all the direction signs for the Manchester to Blackpool charity ride.
Sunday: Marshall duty for the Open 25. Missed the 10 oclock ride from the Eureka so went out with Barry and Vickey to the renovated ICF. One hour twenty two for the outbound 25 miles meant the pace was high.
Just what I needed. 43.3 miles at 17.6 mph. The Ice Cream Farm looks realy good now, cycle racks where the hedge was and no one trying to nab a disabled space 10 ft from the door.
Incident on the way back with Vickey touching my wheel and ending up on the deck. A lad on a mountain bike confused things coming across our turn in in point. Thankfully no damage, got put on the front so it wouldn’t happen again. Led Barry out for two signposts and enjoyed the sun at the Eureka again. Meanwhile Keith is doing his Ironman in Switzerland in the rain.
Things are hotting up in the Time trial league with me going backwards having done my best rides.   I’ve gained points by doing poorly attended rides in bad weather, if 10 turn up and you finish 10th you still get 15 points.

Monday: Ride day 82 miles up Moel Y Parc which I ‘d like to show you but it’s stuck in the 705. Version 2.80 software upgrade has been a complete waste of time. Scorcher of a day, no pictures.
Tuesday: Wasted 2 hours with 2.80. went for a Spinning class then wasted more time on 2.80 .
DELETED yesterdays ride AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH. Going back to 2.60.
Found I had no History Folder so the rides would not upload as they were in memory somewhere and not the folder. Contacted Garmin support after I’d made a new history folder and lo and behold it worked. Went for a drive to Eureka Sports to give it a try and it was fine. Unit is still 2.80 as I couldn’t get the 2.6 downgrade to work.
Time to head out for tonights 10.
What a day this turned out to be, finally got the 705 sorted which was just as well as it was eating me up with the Etape coming up. Mondays ride data that was lost had me doubting I would be up to the challenge. It would be borderline the way went on Monday where the idea was to see how I went up comparable gradients.
Bottom line is 6.6-6.9 mph up an 8% gradient, a good 2 hours on the Ventoux IF I make the cuttoff.
Northend 10 from Pulford, cutting straight to it 25minutes 5 seconds which is a PB by 1 second.
Can’t seem to crack that 25 minute gold standard but it does seem to confirm that I’ve platauxed.
What’s missing these days is the amount of riding I do.
What has set the alarm bells ringing is having to get off and walk last month on the Aquaduct Challenge. Ok it was 20% and was at 100 miles but I just wasn’t up to it.

So I’m no better or worse than I was last year.  Which is comforting in some way.
Wednesday:  Work, only four days then I’m off for the rest of the month. Some big rides to fit in.
Had a look at Motionbased reply and I could have saved my Monday ride by saving it as a Course. If only I hadn’t done a Hard Reset.
Booked a ticket for the last day of the UCI world track championship at Manchester.
Thursday: Work. Been reading up on the Etape tips, one of them is not to start at the back. Not knowing if I had an entry I did a search on the Etape site. Guess what number I am: 8480 out of 8500.
This set the alarm bells ringing, with me just in front of the broom wagon never mind making the fixed cuttoffs in checkpoints.
Going to have to get some similar length and gradient climbs no matter what. Monday was too steep in places so nothing over 10%.
Slipped 2 places down the TT Handicap league with the women giving me a good hiding.

Lot of conflict coming up Sunday, should I do Liverpool Chester Liverpool, an Etape training ride or play with the grandson and watch the Tour.
Fan that I bought Monday is way too loud, It’s like a turboprop on takeoff. Going back asap.
Friday: Work. Measured the bikebag up and it’s Ok. Downloaded the route off BikeHike.
Saturday: Work. Last day for the rest of the month. Would have liked to have seen the Prologue today  but bigger things are coming up. Planning an early start in the morning whether it is a park and ride or a straightride out into Wales again.
Offical entry for theEtape came through.
Sunday: Rode out to the Eureka via Parkgate after getting directed by one of the marshalls on the Liverpool Chester Liverpool ride. Turned off before the next marshall came up.
Only Peter there but we were soon joined by Vicky. Dave Large got caught up in the ride telling of how the marshalls were sending them through red lights.
Ended up going out with Tempo’s group to the fisheries. Got dropped on a few of the climbs around Cilcain but they were steep. Got caught in a shower and took a picture of the Northend hiding in a bus shelter.
This was the point where a few dropped off the ride. Namely Newby ,Vicky, Andy, Tim and AN Other.

Service at the fisheries was slow with such a large group coming enmase. A couple gave up after we had ordered. It is nice but having such a long break means  that other options on the ride back are a bit limited.

Managed to stay with the group on the way back (must have been the pancake). Set off the speed camera,s at (god knows where) with the group flashing through at 36 mph.  At least four flashes.

Eureka had all the usual groups finishing there, Leisure, CTC, Club and solo groups. Grabbed a wheel off Allans group after having a look at Steve Cummings bike on the rail.
63 miles.

Monday: Spinning class then the gym. Had a good go. A good 500+ calories worth. 180 watts on the stationary bike in the gym gave me the idea of setting up the Tacx for the Ventoux ride on the new PC.
Now for where it went wrong. New computer upgrade did not go to plan. spent at least 4-5 hrs of riding time pratting about with keyboard. Upgrades galor and I’m still no nearer getting on the bike.
Tuesday: Work, home early, sorted the Tacx out in a few minutes. Northend 14 mile TT tonight. Weather doesn’t look too hot with heavy showers forecast. Tour Series is at Chester tonight so it’s a low turnout.
The heavens opened as I was taking to the line, Barry went off 10 seconds late. Sunglasses in this weather wasn’t a good idea. I couldn’t see anything.
The carbon fibre Nike shoes with vents in the bottom had water coming in the vents,  the bridge at Aldford which should be flat out had me wary of the grid on the apex of the bend.

Andy Walsh passed me at Farndon so he has put 2 minutes into me and effortlessly pulls away. To be club champ he has to win all the remaining events.
Fibrax 10 is running at the same time and John Lyth comes unstuck with them. He’s on a flyer beating me this week and has a good decade on me. 
38 Minutes 44 seconds so I’m 36 seconds slower this time. Surprised it wasn’t more.
Wednesday: Work. Still struggling with the 705 history upload. Saturdays ride and yesterdays time trial don’t want to upload.
Thursday: Work
Friday: Work. Northend Time Trial League results came through with me leading the handicap league.
Mainly down to doing all the events and doing events with  low turnout thus increasing my points. 
Saturday: Work. Problems with Scenic got me home early and I know all about window regulators now.

Monday: Work.
Tuesday: Work, team building day at Daresbury. Team came 3rd in the afternoon game which was hard to master. No TT and I missed the TLI Oulton Park race.
Wednesday: Work. Tour Series on ITV4 when I got home.
Thursday: Work. Got knocked back on my redundancy application.
Friday: Work, overtime. Spinning class at West Kirby, shower, home to watch the end of the Tour Series. It’s at Chester next Tuesday. I’m doing the Northend 14 TT starting 13th again. Think this is my seventh of the series with the best six counting.
Saturday: Waited in for Parcelforce who didn’t turn up. Rode out to the Eureka which was empty as everybody had been and gone. Keith was closing up Eureka Sports for the Triathlon Exhibition.
Along the Dee to Chester, called in at the Bike Factory and had a look at the £10,000 Pinarello with electronic Dura-Ace groupset. The front works very well, which it should do for the price of it. Home via the missing link. 40 miles.
Sunday: Jack day. No ride, less than a month away from the big day, I need to get my act together.

Monday: Work.
Tuesday: Work. Northend Club 10 from Pulford. 25 minutes 36 seconds for this one which was my first 10 of the year. The elusive sub 25 minute 10 still evades me. Still fairly happy, especially when you look at the age of other starters. No Janet this week but I’ve got Vicky hot on my tail, the gap is down to 6 seconds over 10 miles. Put it into perspective, she has no fancy wheels no aero helmet, no garmin on the bars. She just turns up and rides. Barry did 22min 58 seconds.
Talk was of the club weekend which was wet, hard, and a bit of a leg breaker.
Wednesday: Work. Last day and a bit of a conflict. No Lifestyle and weight management class.
Thursday: Spinning class then the gym. Watched the Dauphine Libere go up the Ventoux. Went and watched the Tour Series at Southport. Chester next week clashes with the Northend 10. Great racing.

 
Friday: 28.28 miles  around the Wirral.
Saturday: Steve Cummings training ride, my first of the year. 63 miles.
Sunday: Jack day, a trip to Llangollen again. Email has been playing up so have noticed that I had a few comments in backlog. 84.5 Kg for the last two days so I’m slowly getting back to my fighting weight. All the less to lug up the Ventoux.

Previously ran as an Audax but now a challenge ride Stans Aquaduct Challenge ride ticks all the Hilly boxes.
I’d rode this event as an Audax last year along with 30 others last year. As a challenge ride it had 109 entries from far and wide, the only difference signs and timing to the second on a challenge, a brevet card on an Audax. More navigation skills are required on an audax but it’s exactly the same ride.

The car park at Trevor slowly filled up as the ride start approached, with it dawning on me that I didn’t know where the start was.

I took some other pictures with the Aquaduct in the background but the sunlight made the lane look gloomy.

 At 8 o’clock Stan sets us off have scanned the bar code on the riding number with his bar code scanner.

The start is just up the road from the River Dee under the shadow of the Pontcysyllte Aquaduct.

Phil from Chester Road Club stuck by me to the end.

The first test comes straight after starting, Methodist hill.  Marshalled across the A5 and you’d better be in a low gear  as it’s straight up. A husband and wife team had to walk near the top  as you can see in the picture.

This is the flat bit after the initial climb as it rounds a bend an heads up under the trees on an equally steep ascent. Once out of the trees there is another turn and an ascent but it is a bit more open.

Once your up on the ridge you  get the benefit of great views on both  valleies.
The chap above punctured near the descent to Vivod  but passed us as I stopped for Phil.

You’re now overlooking the Llangollen Valley at the end of the ride you should be ridding across the other side of it.

 

 

 

 

 The above is descending the Nant y Garth pass , the old one. Spectacular views if you have the time. Out of sequence with the later pictures. Road surface bad under the trees.

 

Phil picked up a puncture on the Vivod descent which is steep and rough in places. He was using lightweight tubes and it seemed to be a concussion puncture. A fair bit of the field passed us here but the sunlight through the trees was tricky  for a lot of the shots.

I don’t profess to be a photographer  but I like the above. Someone enjoying their ride.

We where probably about 100 metres from the A5.  Next up was the  Horseshoe Pass with the  Old Shoe if you wanted a bit of extra punishment. Got  passed by a fair few here so the form is not great.

 

This is the first control and feedstation. A bit further on from Ruthin and I was asked if this was the  Cloecaenog climb which was only paritially true as the first control was at Bontuchel.

On the climb from Cloecaenog and the service station the Liverpool Mercury passed us and gave us a wheel which proved to be shortlived.

A wheel of this size whould have been welcomed but as it termed out they where not doing the full ride and opted to turn off at the Llyn Brenig junction.
Don’t for one instance think things were easy in the Liverpool Century ride, come the hills they were suffering just as I and Phil where. If not worse. For whatevrer reason they took a different route to a cafe at the junction , even calling back a rider half way up the hill….?

Pity as they would have been a good group to latch on to.

This picture of Llyn Brenig has the windmills in the background, if you’ve rode up the clocaenog valley you’ll have seen them at close hand.  A bit further on was a North Wales Police officer with a speed camera waiting to catch speeding bikers on a twisty bit of Snowdonia.

Not too many pictures now until the end, after this shot I found that gear and rythem that I like and made up some ground on those ahead.  Climbed past the Sportmans and then it was a rollercoaster of a ride with a new Max of 42.1 mph.

There was a relentless climb from Yberts Isfan that was also compounded by a lot of holiday traffic including a fair few caravans on a road with passing places. They only seem to turn around and pass us again,  it must be those damn satnavs.

No sheep problems this year, only problem that this year the cafe was shut due to a water pump problem.

This was a bit of a blow but worse was to come, a bit further up the road Phil had another puncture, this time self inflicted as he had managed to kick the valve out of the tube. He had had a rear mech problem but was unlucky this time.

There was another stop on the run to Bala that was welcome, with most of the climbing done it was time to have a bit of fun on the descents and see if you could maintain the momentum up the other side.

The road out of Bala seemed longer than I remembered it but onve you’ve reached the turn off it’s fairly flat back to Corwen. The route takes the Old Coach road back to Llangollen which is by no means flat.  We had a run in with a black 4×4 driver on one of the descents with him passing comments to us.

I’d had my eye on the time and had thought about a 5 o’clock finish.
We also came across a guy on a cheap mountain bike holding a pedal wanting some advice.

Past the motor museum we saw the red route to the Panorama, glad I didn’t tackle it in light of what happened next. We crossed the canal to climb up to Panorama Walk. I’d stoped at the bottom of the 12% bit to let traffic past and then had a go at it. I had a good go and then blew up for the first time.
This was with the Ventoux to climb in the back of my mind.

I stopped had my last gel and started walking, this is a first. I walked up a stretch that was 19% and then got on the bike and rode up to the turn at Panorama walk. It was an expensive walk, £15 for a pair of Keo cleats and 20 odd minutes of precious time.

Two guys at the junction were also waiting for a walking rider and a bit further on Phil was waiting for me.The above picture was the view.

This was taken up by The Panorama near the end of the ride with only a short hill to go.

This is it the final climb of the day with Phil in the foreground and two riders just about to go over the top.
From then on it was a fast downhill ride to the finish, I found my second wind in knowing it was do-able in under 9 hours 30 minutes. Had a flyer across the bridge and up to the finish. 9hrs 24 minutes 59 seconds.

Mistakes, not enough water and too much electrolyte in the bottles. Not enough solids to eat during the ride. Took too many pictures, stopped for Phil twice, granted he stopped for me when I needed it.

Factor 50 and Sudocrem won out at the end of the day.

Nice tea and a piece of cake for £1 at the end of the ride.
Oh forgot to mention Dave Llyod of Mega Challenge and a lot more besides, got lost , had a mechanical or something else failed to finish.

Monday: Work.  One mistake I made on yesterdays ride was to remove my sunglasses for the final climb around Panorama. I suffer from hayfever around this time of year and I’d been alright until the end.I was in a bad way by the time I got home, that along with a chest infection meant I’d really slowed up near the end. Other than that I felt fine Monday, no aches so to speak of  and only a bit of sunburn on parts that hadn’t had factor 50 on them.
Tuesday: Work, Need to get the bike out of the car as it is ride day tommorow.
Found the camera so will start on the Aquaduct ride write up.
Wednesday: Stan posted the finishing times for the Aquaduct Challenge. I spent a bit of time seeing where I lost time. Phils punctures took about 25 minutes maybe but it took over 20 minutes to get from the canal to Panorama Walk as I had to stop for a gel and walked up the two steepest bits. Wrecked a pair of cleats in the process.
Eureka and back for a sandwich, Dave was leaving as I arrived.  A chap that I met on the start line of the TLI Oulton Park roadraces came across and introduced himself, he was recovering from a broken back then and is now back on the bike after a broken femur,(ouch). 16 miles via the missing link.
Munchman flapjacks are back in stock at the Eureka so I got a couple for the rides. I could have done with these on Sunday rather than just the gels.
Thursday: Sort the house out day, missing out on great riding weather. Hot spinning class at West Kirby, shower and home. Much the same tommorow, got to be done. Saturday is ride day this block.
Friday: Another sort the house out day. No gym , no spin.
Saturday: Rode to an empty Eureka in the rain. What a weekend for a Northenend club weekend. Rode home in the rain. Pissed down all day, went to Chester and came home with nowt.16 miles at best. Will cycle another time. Blog and little else.
Sunday: Work.

Monday: Work, last day. Hutch from the comic is 10 time trial champ again, it’s not a bad read. Got to finish his book yet. Giro, best day yet. Popo went off on a lonesome bid and blew up less than 2km from the finish. Lance had to go back and pace Levi to the finish.
Giro is blown for Astana so who are they going to work  for now, Levi or Lance. Lance might own the team by the end of the week.
Tuesday: No TT.  Giro rest day. Spin then the gym. Cleaned the bike after last Wednesdays ride. Sorted the heater fan out on the car. Replacing a fan resistor pack is one of those jobs you only want to do once.
Had a trip out on the Toy making the most of the sun. If I’d listened to the forecast I might of put it off but it was fine. Had a trip out on the Colnago Carbitubo, no hat, computer or bottle in fact zilch and it felt great.
Thinking of running it in Keith Boardmans retro time trial series which is for straight bikes with no aero aids.
Wednesday: Throwing it down come ride time meant it was time for a lie in and start another book. Read four chapters of Lance Armstrongs War then found the rain gear to head out to the Eureka. Bits of me were still sore from yesterday. Talk in the Cafe was of Wilco’s time for the 100 mile TT on Sunday, 3hrs 42 minutes, it doesn’t bear thinking about.
Spoke to Keith Boardman about the 5 mile TT series, no disc wheels or tribars and no fancy helmets.
Dave joined us and gave me an update on GPXX routes on Bikehike. The CTC mag was there with a OS Mapping software reveiw. Dave also told me about routable OSM maps.
Home for the Giro, good to see Lance having a go.
Had a look at the Astana website and they have withdrawn all the clothing for sale so it doesn’t bode well.
Good to see over 100 have signed up for Stans Aqueduct ride, was an Audax, call it a sportiffe and triple the entry.
Thursday: Spinning class then a short session in the gym. No comic in Tescos for some reason had me come out empty handed.
Pauls set up the following site http://frank.kinlan.me
Friday: Final fettling of the bike for Sunday. The Tri bars are coming off, the chain is getting a clean and the jockey wheel on the rear mech wants looking at. Giro in the afternoon.
Bought a pair off BBB ceramic bearing jockey wheels. The Ultegra ones have a ceramic bush and although OK there was enough side to side play in it to have it replaced, Things are steadily wearing out, the rims are next, along with a front tyre.
Going to have a play with BikeHike for Sundays ride.
Saturday: Work. A busy day and it over ran. Saved a GPXX route with BikeHike for tommorows ride. Sorted the kit out along with some factor 50 as I’ve been indoors all day looking at the brilliant weather.
It’s going to mean an early start but the bikes loaded up and I’m ready to go.
Sunday : Aquaduct Challenge, 105 miles 3000 mtrs of climbing, hottest day of the year.  What a day, did the full route which had me walking at one stage. An unbeleivable ride topped of with the fact that Dave Lloyd got lost and did not finish which made my day.
9 Hrs 24.59 for me which was a difficult ride. Must thank Stan for a great ride, got to revieve my Etape prep.  The heat was there today,  the climbs good. It’s opened up another level of cycling to me and I’m at the bottom of the pile.
Update in a day or two.
I did ask myself who on earth would want to be a professional cyclist. Why would you want to do what we have done for  20 days.

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