The Debora Matthews Fellowship

A big thank-you to Waitrose for donating £440 from their community fund, and to the customers of the Clapham Junction store who voted for the Debora Matthews fellowship. Each month Waitrose make a certain amount of money available for local causes and nominate 3 charities who will receive the funds. Customers then vote on their preference for who should receive it. At the end of the month, the fund is divided in the proportions of vote casts.

Massive thanks also to Lisa  for liasing with Waitrose and organising this (as well as for driving a week, and riding a day). Here’s a photo of her in Milano with Cat and Frank half way through week 3.

Frankie, Cat and Lisa opposite La Scala in Milano

We’ve been back home for just over a week now. No ill-effects apart from a bit of numbness in the hands from gripping the handlebars, and that’s pretty much gone. No after effects on the legs at all. Been thinking about things we learnt from the ride.

Equipment:

Having the spare wheels was useful in the first 3 days as it’s quicker to swap a wheel than change a tyre, but after that we never used them. In fact none of us ever subsequently had a puncture.

The cut-price tyres I bought from Decathlon (the blue ones in the “camp” photo) both failed (not punctured) within a day. They were Hutchinson tyres which are a good make, and I have used others for 000’s of km on my bike with no trouble. The ones I bought must have been seconds. Moral don’t buy bargain tyres. I changed back to the Continental Grand Prix’s which are my favourite and had no further problems at all. Even though there are two quite serious looking holes in the tread on one of them, the reinforcement must really work.

The Mavic Aksium wheels on my bike were defininitely the most free-running of all those on the bikes we had. I could always freewheel faster than the others.

If you are going to get a casette with a lower gear than your usual especially for climbing hills, then make sure it actually does have a lower gear. Guess which idiot didn’t ? The only way I could probably get a lower gear is to have a triple chainring. Up to 14% gradient I managed without. I think losing some more weight would be the better option.

Cleats. Paddy and I both wore out one of the Shimano SL cleats we use. I am particularly heavy on my right foot and nearly wore out another. Definitely worth having spares. Frankie uses Look cleats and didn’t need to replace any, but that could be because he’s about half my weight.

Nutrition / Health:

Both Frankie and I had bad days with stomach problems brought on by dehydration. It probably didn’t help that we both enjoyed spending time in the Sauna and Steam room. Whilst this certainly made my joints feel good, it probably is not a good idea after a long hot ride. Maybe we should restrict this to rest days, or at the very least be careful to keep hydrated. Even the jacuzzi can draw a lot of moisture out of you.

Our eating patterns were very different. I tended to stick to normal meals of breakfast (cerials), lunch (bread and cheese or ham) and dinner (everything), and take an energy gel if I need a quick boost. When it was very hot I used an electolyte energy drink all the time. Other days I had the odd bottle of this, but otherwise stuck with water. Over the course of the ride I lost about 7kg.

Frankie didn’t have breakfast, or use any energy supplements at all. Instead he munched (constantly it sometimes seemed) muesli bars all day. I’m not sure if he managed to put any weight on doing this, he certainly didn’t start with much to lose.

Paddy found all the days he did just normal days, so didn’t take any extra food at all. I think he may have used some of the electolyte drink when it was hot.

Packing energy drinks and supplements is like packing clothes. Work out what you need, and leave half of it behind.

Route Planning:

I think the routes in France were probably too complicated. We spent ages sometimes trying to navigate down very small lanes, which were no easier to cycle along than some of the larger roads. It was nice to cycle the canal towpaths and in particular the wonderful cycle paths in the Adige valley in  Italy. It’s definitely worth researching these, as they can add a lot to the ride.

OK, I confess the shot in Piazza San Marco was taken the morning after we arrived. This is what it really looked like. Taken by Jo in the support car following on behind.

There are 4 bikes, honest

Only one photo that matters

I haven’t given up, just having a rest. Back home now.

Well to cut a long story short we made it. All four of us this time, and again it was very wet. Arriving in a downpour is not how I’d ever imagined it, but being Friday 13th was bound to result in something unfortunate. Not as wet as yesterday in truth, although we did sit out the worst of it for about an hour in a cafe attached to a service station outside Treviso.
Mel tried but failed to become the first major casualty of the ride by attempting a bunny hop onto the pavement at the end of the causeway from the mainland. She took a nasty bang to the elbow, but she thinks she will live.
Had to leave the bikes locked up in the public bike store in Piazale Roma at the other end of Venice from where I am now. I wish I was more confident that they will be there in the morning. Then a damp water bus ride to our hotel near the Arsenal just along from St Marks square. I’ have a wonderful view across the lagoon from where I am sitting.
Well that’s it then. Tomorrow it’s time to repack the car (also at the opposite and of Venice, and with my spectacles in it, which is why there may be some strange typing in these last two posts), and head North over the Brenner pass and West through Germany.
A bit soon for final thoughts so I’ll start thinking some and blog them when I have.

The rain gods returned today, and compared to these all the previous one were amateurs. For the first half of the ride it absolutely threw it down. A shame as it is an incredibly scenic ride down from the Dolomites along the valley floor of a very steep valley, almost a canyon in parts.
Frankie started off but gave it up after getting very cold and wet when he still wasn’t feeling so good. Later on the rain stopped fortunately and Mike, Mel and I then managed to dry out a bit. A lot of downhill thereafter with wonderful views. It’s very impressive how they’ve threaded the autostrada through. Huge elevated sections on massive piers.
By the time we got to Conegliano it was my turn to feel unwell. I don’t know if it was a bug, dehydration, something I ate, or just that European non-alcoholic beer has more alcohol than ours, but I was getting very painful stomach cramps. This is why this blog is a day late – I hit my bed as soon as we finished riding.
Conegliano is famed for its prosecco and is very attractive, but do not believe it has a campsite. It wasn’t. It was some sort of camper van park for the Italian Caravan club in an industrial estate. It was also very shut with just a number to ring if you wanted to get in. We unanimously decided not to ring it. In the end we had a warm and friendly welcome from the Hotel Christallo which given the state we were all in seemed a much more reasonable proposition.
Big thunderstorm in the night. Not good portents for our last day.

Jo says “hi” She has been drinking sambucca though.
Today we did half the Sella Ronda in the opposite direction to 2 days ago. Unfortunately Frankie didn’t feel well enough to ride it.
Today’s star was Mel who came out yesterday and did this stage as her first ride since London -Dover. She did it seemingly with little effort and no fuss at all (really). And outstanding performance we are all in awe, and Mike and I have lost money.
Back to camping tonight so guess what – rain. The campsite is attached to a hotel with a superb wellness centre (we are adopting that word as it is so useful). The girls just wanted you know.
Mike and Jo would also like to tell you about the descent from Pordoi to Arabba. 35 hairpins. Fantastic. We were overtaking cars as well as the coaches. Almost caught Jo in the support car, but the hill was one bend too short. Damn
Going back down towards the coast now. Trying to work out flat routes.
Night night.

Unfortunately it hasn’t been for Frankie. He got very dehydrated after yesterday’s ride and was ill in the night. We have been feeding him energy drinks all day hoping to get him fit enough to start tomorrows ride. This has quite a tough start with 2 of the Sella Ronda passes, but in the opposite direction to the way we rode them yesterday. Even only half fit Frankie would do these better than the rest of us, but we’ll have to hope he wakes up ready for them. After that it’s downhill all the way to Venice.
Mike, Jo and I just moseyed around a bit today. Went to look at Siusi – even more stunning scenery than Selva, which hardly seems possible. Then we picked up Mel from the station at Ponte Gardena. She is going to ride the last 3 days with us into Venice.

A question…
What is the significance of the following numbers: 700, 300, 600, 400 ?
Answer…
These are the heights in metres of the climbs over the 4 mountain passes which constitute the Sella Ronda if you do it clockwise starting from Santa Christina in Gardena. (Sorry, Francesca, from Selva di Val Gardena).
It was a glorious day, but hot, so we set out early (for us) to try to avoid the afternoon heat as far as possible. First up was Passo Gardena which didn’t seem so bad. Then down to Corvara, and onto the Passo Campolongo. This is lower than the other three at 1875m, but starts off with series of hairpins which rise steeply from the village. We did that all right, and dropped down to Arabba for lunch. As some of you may know this is the Goodall home from home in the Dolomites, where we all learnt to ski and have been back several times since.
Whether it was lunch (only bread and cheese/ham/salami), or the heat, or the effort getting to us, the next climb up the 31 hairpin bends to Passo Pordoi was a real grind. I haven’t mentioned before that Mike has joined us for the ride and this is his first day! Jo is now driving the support car, which was not easy on these alpine roads. They are steep and twisty and there is a lot of traffic. It’s all tourism so not much in the way of trucks, but there are lots of coaches. Pordoi was particularly crowded as there is a spectacular cable car which takes you up to the top of the Sella massif. We may go up it tomorrow on our rest day if we get up in time.
The final climb is up Passo Sella which is probably the most spectacular of the lot (and believe me that is saying something), but unfortunately Mike and I were past caring by then. Frankie of course cannot tell whether roads are hilly or not and seemed quite prepared to go round again if anyone would go with him. They wouldn’t. Determination and willpower got us up it, and then it was back down to Selva to finish. Never has a hotel spa seemed so attractive. About 7 hrs cycling time of which probably 6 1/2 were uphill. An incredible effort by Mike.
Tomorrow Mel is joining us for the last few days run into Venice.
Did I mention the downhill bits were really good? Apart from the bloody cars that is, which go down slower than we do.

Quite a bit to catch up on as I haven’t had an wifi connection for a few days.
Day 21 was the rest day in Bolzano. Started by seeing Lisa and Cat off on the train down to Brescia to catch the plane back to England. Very sorry to see them go. Lisa was a brilliant supporter. Always in the right place at the right time with everything perfectly organised. Cat was an inspiration with her determination to finish some very hard days.
One other person I haven’t mentioned but I must thank is my eldest daughter Becca who has been manning the base camp back in London. She has done sterling work in relaying messages, coordinating people’s movements and collecting equipment and supplies to be ferried out with the replacement crews. Thanks Bex.
Neil and Francesca joined us again in Bolzano, and took us for a truly fantastic meal. Apparently there is no part of Italy in which Francesca’s father does not know a superlative restaurant. Our excuse was that we were starting to load up the carbs for today’s climb to Selva.
This had the same vertical ascent as the Galibier, but the character of the climbs was quite different. The average gradient was abut 6% whereas on the big G it was nearer 10%, but there were a couple of km with a sustained gradient of 13%-14%, which the Galibier did not have. Maybe it was the lower altitude, or just that I am now fitter, but I found it nowhere near as tough as the Galibier, and have a bit more confidence about the Sella Ronda tomorrow.
A few words about the ride from Riva del Garda to Bolzano. We started with a 200m climb out of Riva then over to the Vale d’Adige. This has a unique (in my experience) system of metalled cycle tracks which allow you to ride independently of the roads for over 200km. We used them for about half this distance up to Bolzano. They can be a bit circuitous where they have to go round things, or up side valleys to get to a bridge over tributary rivers etc, but it was an absolute joy to be away from the traffic, and cycling up the vineyards and orchards adjoining the Adige river. The whole area is not surprisingly a Mecca for cyclists, particularly in Bolzano which is a very attractive city in its own right. There are lots of cobbled streets and a very striking cathedral. Lisa and Cat were a bit sorry to be leaving just as we got to the first really nice place for ages. We were staying in what was more or less a backpacker’s hostel, so I don’t suppose they miss that. We are a bit more upmarket in Selva, so I am going to find a a spa to soothe my aching limbs.