Month: July 2015

Moules Frites, the sweet taste of success!

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So the Tour de France is over for another year. The dust has settled, the champagne has been drunk and the hangovers are gone. It was a tour where the winner Chris Froome has had to defend multiple accusations of doping, Team Sky continued not to make friends, somehow a Texan continues to get publicity and Peter Sagan continued his merging into the incredible Hulk (in colour at least), some things just never change!!

But wait!! One thing has changed, The Roly Rouleur was finally victorious!! I actually managed to beat Mrs Rouleur in our annual fantasy Tour de France competition……. She blames Quintana.

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I thought I knew hills…..

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Last night I picked up Mrs Rouleurs uncles mountain bike to use for a couple of days for one or two ‘I O U’ rides.

The Roly Rouleur and his future Rainbow jersey winner.

The Roly Rouleur and his future Rainbow jersey winner.

Tires pumped and saddle lowered (Uncle Rouleur is at least 6ft 5in, I am 5ft 9in!), I started to plan my route. From my In-Laws I planned a ride along a gravel path and then up into the Harz mountains, heading for the Josefkreuz (a large iron cross that you can climb, that itself sits at the top of a mountain!), and then back via a lovely winding descent down a mountain road, 25-30k all told and not a bad little ride.

I thought perhaps 2 hours in total and so took just a little water bottle and one gel, and with the words ‘it will be a walk in the park’ ringing in Mrs Rouleurs ears I set off.

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Day 6 and 7 – Reflections

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So its been a little over 48 hours since I arrived at the Rouleur-in-laws after having to call time on the first and toughest of my cycle challenges due to injuries to my fellow Roly.

On arrival there was predominantly a huge amount of guilt to reason with, but added to the mix was a dash of anger, a spoonful of pain and a whole heap of frustrations, which overall meant, that like a cheese that had been out of the fridge too long I was pretty stinky (metaphorically of course).

Of course no option really existed other than to abandon given the injuries my colleague suffered (I am still waiting on the finding of the Doctors report but wouldn’t be surprised to hear that he is now a Eunuch!) but it was still hard to accept.

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Day 4 and 5 – Devastation

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This has been the hardest blog to write so far, but unfortunately the ride was over before we had left Belgium yesterday.

I know some of you have been contacting me to see if everything is OK and I am sorry for not having responded so far but I will explain all.

As you will know from reading this blog for the last few days the ride has not been without incident, and it is one such of these that has ended the ride early.

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Day 3 – Cobbles, Hills and Buckled Wheels

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Good afternoon to all,

So here we are still in Belgium but closing in on both the Netherlands and Germany where we should end up in tomorrow.

Todays stats, 70 miles, 2.5km of Cobbles, four buckled wheels, and a cycle path that my good friend described with an unbroken five minute expletive filled rant.

My fellow Roly started the day (and ended the day yesterday) with both wheels severely buckled, so much so he was basically riding with the break on for 20km. Oh and a drunk past out on the concrete in front of him where his wonderful bedside manner came in to play (tongue firmly in cheek), he did put him in the recovery position and slapped him until he woke back up.

This morning was spent trying to align this and a quick fix was completed, he still had to leave the back break open though! And away we go.

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Day Two – An ‘Easy’ day

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Good evening everyone. So here I am in our tent in Belgium after a very brief interlude in France.

The morning got off to an inauspicious start with a chat with possibly the most grumpy customer service representative in history (sorry to name and shame again DFDS ferries, I do understand it’s tough at the moment but…….) followed by the news that we were delayed by 20 mins (40 in reality). Not a problem normally but when you have 75 miles to cover and you aren’t starting until 1pm (actually 1.45) things start to get nervy.

Away we went in to the town (or is it a city?) of Dunkirk and it’s rather interesting cycle paths that seemed to criss cross every road and took an age to negotiate and then out of the other side in to Belgium (eventually). Talking of cycle paths by the way, we had our first run in with the Police who politely pointed out the cycle path we weren’t using and who then waited 3 miles down the road to check we used it!!

Today was considerably flatter than yesterday so the pace was much higher with the first 35 miles covered in 2hrs 45mins which when the fact that we are both rather Roly and are in no way as fit as Alberto Contador is not too bad.

As with yesterday though things then went a little down (or rather UP) hill. Yes Belgium is supposed to be flat but with a fair few miles in the legs any rise was tiring. Time seemed to go backwards and miles seemed to drag on forever!

Finally though we entered Deinze (5 miles south of Ghent) to find our campsite which once found has offered fantastic accommodation, a warm shower, beer, and most importantly takeaway Pizza. 75 more miles ticked off!

All in all a fast and furious second day through the beautiful villages and farm land of France and Belgium.

Unfortunately for us though tomorrow is looking very wet with rain forecast!!

Thanks for reading, it’s time for bed.

Day One – Hills, Wind and more Hills

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100 miles and 6400 feet of climbing, that’s how I spent my day and I can think of oh so many better ways to spend it……..

Today was hard, very hard and if I am honest a lot harder than I had anticipated. I knew there were hills but frankly it feels like all we have done today was climb (obviously not as much as the men of the tour but hey I am Roly!!!).

Oh and did I mention the head wind!!

But Day One is over and we are now tucked up in a B and B in Dover, I know I know, I said we would camp but I think we earned a little comfort tonight.

Now just waiting on a bit of dinner and then a very early night!!

In conclusion (and sorry it is short and sweet) Tired? Check. Hungry? Check. Nervous for tomorrow? Check. But just a little bit Proud too!!

Check out http://www.justgiving.com/Philip-keel.com if you would like to sponsor me for this challenge for the incredible Shooting Star Chase.

Until tomorrow! Good Night.

Team Sky, Black Sheep or a case of the green eyed monsters?

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I think I should make something clear from the beginning,  I admire Team Sky and there much maligned ‘Marginal Gains’ (which lets not forget are now deemed the norm by a large proportion of the peloton).

I do not however care for Chris Froome, which I am sure is a statement that will be devastating to him …………or perhaps not. Ever since his attack on Bradley Wiggins on the climb to La Toussuire on stage 11 at the 2012 tour I have had no interest in the exploits of the Sky team leader.

Mrs Rouleur on the other hand is even more clear, she doesn’t like Froome and she doesn’t like Team Sky, but like a lot of other people who feel the same she can’t really pinpoint why.

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Preparation is nothing, stubbornness is everything!!

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So with just over a week to go before my very own Grand Depart I have realised something, something important, something profound, something down right shocking…………….. I am not even nearly ready for this challenge!!

Its in my name, ‘The Roly Rouleur’ not ‘The Incredibly Fit and Featherweight Rouleur’, oh why oh why do I get myself in to these things!!

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I blame Sagan

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Almost every year since we have been together myself and Mrs Rouleur (no I am not calling her fat!) have had a mini Tour De France contest that has become more competitive and complicated with each passing year. As for the points allocation, well they are something that even ASO would be proud of and have been changed almost as much as those for the Green Jersey!!

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