There is also an interesting and well informed article on Le Domestique Tours   which is based on local knowledge as they are located on the route of the Etape.

And Paddy from Velopeloton has published a page crammed with some great photos of the climbs and useful info  including a GPX of the route, see http://www.velopeloton.com/pau-to-bagneres-de-luchon-stage-16/

This looks to be a tough route with plenty of climbing involved, the estimates vary but looking at the table below which includes the ascent of the categorised climbs and also adds in the altitude difference between the start and finish locations then the minimum ascent will be in the region of 4,500 metres.

After mapping the route on Google maps the total climb was reported as just over 5,400 metres, this includes all the minor hills and gradients and the climbs up the valley floors that are not part of the categorised climbs.

If this is correct then this stage is as tough or even tougher than the Marmotte which has somewhere over 5,000 metres ascent (the categorised climbs total just under 5,000 metres depending on the route which can vary a bit from year to year).

In 2010 the Tour de France did the reverse of this route on stage 16 Luchon – Pau. See a description of the stage and photos/maps on Velo Peloton.  That was not quite as tough as this route as they benefited from the start being at Luchon which is at a higher altitude than the Pau.

There are good descriptions of all the climbs on the climbbybike website, see below for the links of each ascent, as there are several sides to each col it is important to pick the correct route as it can make a big difference:

Col de l’Aubisque – Laruns

Col du Soulor – Cirque du Litor

Col du Tourmalet – Luz Saint Sauveur

Col de l’Aspin – Sainte Marie de Campan

Col de Peyresourde – Avajan

The official L’Etape du Tour website has a profile of the stage that shows the climbs.

From 1 January 2012, Google will charge for the Google Maps API service when more than the limit of 25,000 map “hits” are made in a day.

Websites, especially travel firms, use Google Maps to link customers to a view of the destinations they inquire about.

Google is rumoured to be charging $4 per 1,000 views in excess of the limit.

Google maintains the high limit of 25,000 free hits before charging “will only affect 0.35% of users”.

I guess that is why some websites have begun offering Microsoft’s Bing maps as an alternative, for example Garmin Connect now offers a choice between Google and Bing and seems to default to Bing.

While Garmin can probably afford the charges it will be bad news for websites such as BikeRouteToaster that do not charge and are maintained by donations and a small amount of advertising, in fact it is not responding so may already have problems. This is a real shame as it was a really useful resource.

I wonder whether this is Google shooting themselves in the foot in their desire to monetize their products. If Bing and others remain free then people will change over and Google will lose the business.

Flavio Zappi has issued the following on the Team Zappi facebook page:

MESSAGE TO ALL ZAPPI’S FRIENDS!!!
FOR INSURANCE REASON WE CANNOT ACCEPT ANYMORE NON MEMBERS ON OUR CLUB RIDES.
WE ARE VERY SORRY BUT TALKING YESTERDAY TO BCF THEY TOLD US WE WILL COVERED ONLY IF YOU ARE A MEMBER.
BOB AS PRINTED LOTS OF COPIES AT THE CAFE FOR YOU TO FILL IN LAST MINUTE RUSH.
YOU KNOW I ALWAYS BEEN VERY OPEN ABOUT OUR RIDES BUT CONSIDERING THE RISKS WE CANNOT ANYMORE CONTINUE THE SAME WAY.
I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND.
CIAO
FLAVIO

Unfortunately we live in a litigious world and the club officials cannot afford to be sued if someone comes to grief during a club run.

To join the club you can arrive a little early on Saturday for the 9am club run and fill in a membership form, the cost is £25.

Cat and Fiddle climb

Last Sunday was the Brian Rourke Cat and Fiddle challenge starting and ending in Stoke on Trent in Staffordshire.  This event is run to raise funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust which is a very worthy cause raising cash to fund the search for a cure to this disease . It is also a great occasion, with Sean Kelly and other cycling celebrities riding the course alongside us mere mortals.

From Stoke-on-Trent, this 55-mile circular route takes you through Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and the beautiful Peak District National Park, including the infamous 7-mile Cat and Fiddle climb which will leave you breathless not only from the cycling, but from the stunning scenery that surrounds you.

The HQ for the event is in the Cobridge Community Centre just a few yards from Brian Rourke Cycles, early on Sunday it was busy with a thousand plus cyclists converging on the start from near and far.

This is a challenge event so there are no numbers or timing. Registration in the Community Centre was quick and efficient in spite of the number of participants and the start was anytime between 8 to 9:30 am.

The ride distance is only 85 km with about 1,200 metre elevation gain.  With my Zappi club mate Mike we left the start with several other riders and followed the route through mainly built up areas via Congleton to the centre of Macclesfield in Cheshire where the 11.4 km climb of the Cat and Fiddle begins at about the 36 km point.

The route is available at http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Cat-and-Fiddle.

This is a long climb but it is not that steep, it has sections at 8% near the beginning but thereafter is mainly 4-6% with an average gradient of under 4% so is not as challenging as climbs that come later in the day.

Compare that to Alpe d’Huez at 14 km with an average of 7.7% and a maximum gradient of 12% at the start of the climb.

The climb up to the Cat and Fiddle Inn through the Peak District National Park is very beautiful and the weather last Sunday was kind, warm but not too hot while staying dry. There was a slight headwind at times but nothing major. After the summit the route descends to Buxton where a right turn at the traffic lights signals the start of the Axe Edge climb at about the 50 km point.

The route then follows the road back to Stoke passing through Leek town centre on the way with three or four smaller steep climbs that continue even in Stoke itself to give the sting in the tail to tired legs.

There is a warm welcome back in the community centre with hot drinks and piles of sandwiches and cake to scoff on and the opportunity to shop in Brian Rourke’s cycle shop just down the road.

Visit zappisbikecoffe.com

Zappi’s Bike Café is a recently opened independent café in the centre of Oxford. We offer handcrafted artisan coffee, fantastic loose-leaf teas, homemade cakes and light snacks.

About Us

The café is an evolution from a previous café, run by ex-pro cyclist Flavio Zappi, on Walton Street in Jericho. In late 2010 Bike Zone moved premises from an old shop in Market Street to its new site in St Michaels Street, at this time an idea arose to combine the two and create a bike shop Café. The new café was opened in May2011 is now run by two local young men, both called Dan, who have previously managed other cafes in Oxford. Zappi’s Cycling Club uses the café as its headquarters and run rides from the café three times a week, which gives the café a good vibrancy and energy.

We both believe there are a number of key ingredients needed in order to have a great café. Fantastic products, a good space and friendly atmosphere are key components in order to achieve this.

We are both self-taught baristas and have a passion for creating high quality coffee. We give every coffee the care a respect a good cup should have and we believe it’s the best in town!

Dan & Dan

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/hardtalk/9571648.stm

The interviews are being shown in full on the BBC News Channel.

He admits that if the French police had not found the EPO syringes hidden in his bookshelf he might never have confessed to doping.

There is also a time trial held in the Palace Grounds as well as the Brompton World Championship.

For details see the Blenheim website

Garmin Vector power meter

Could be the ideal power meter solution as you can change your pedals easier than cranks and it doesn’t involve having to swap a wheel across bikes (which can be a faff with brakes, cassette etc.) so this can be portable between several bikes.

The Garmin website says it is ANT + compatible but to get the best data set you need a Garmin 500 or Garmin 800.  That means that to get the most data such as left and right power balance and other metrics you will need one of these units, but presumably those of us with older models such as the Edge 705 will still get the basic power data if we purchased a pair of vector pedals. These are not exactly cheap at a suggested retail price of $1,499.99 US dollars, how that will translate into sterling or euros remains to be seen.

The blurb on the Garmin website says:

Quick and easy: For many cycling enthusiasts, purchasing a power meter is an intimidating and  potentially complicated process, often involving mechanical tradeoffs for their bikes. Vector simplifies the decisions and the process. Cyclists can now walk into their local bike shop, walk out with a Vector power meter in hand, and install it themselves in minutes.

There’s no need for a custom order process, no need for a mechanic, and no downtime while their bike is in the shop. With integrated cadence measurement, there are no external sensors to install, and all calibration is performed before the Vector power meter hits the store shelves. Vector’s easy-to-install design makes it easy to swap between bikes, and easy to take to out-of-town events when renting or borrowing a bike. Vector’s light weight and durable injected carbon fiber pedals are LOOK Keo compatible, and its ANT+ wireless pedal pod transmitters fit most major cranksets. Vector has also been designed to be easy to update as software enhancements are made, thanks to its ANT+ wireless technology.

With all of that in mind I tend to ride 4 to 5 sportives a year, and my plans for the first part of the sportive season are starting to fall into place.

My first event was the Puncheur which was last weekend (at the time of writing!).

I wanted to ride the Puncheur last year but left it too late before applying and didn’t get a place. It had a really good write-up in Cycling Weekly a couple of years ago and is very popular and well supported.

It took place this year on Sunday 6th of March over a 108 km course around Sussex with a total ascent of 1275-odd metres.

The course is punchy with no big hills until the end when you have the 1k climb up to Ditchling Beacon with an average of 10% gradient. This is a really good event with a lovely course and very friendly feel to it.

My next event is the White Horse Challenge which is a 144 km circle around five white horse hills starting and finishing in the Memorial hall in the village of Shrivenham, Wiltshire.  This has just over 1,400 metres total elevation gain so it is a good early season event, which kind of puts the Puncheur in a different perspective if that figure of 1,700 metres total ascent is accurate. I have ridden all the editions of this event since it started in 2007, it is a friendly well organised sportive that always sells out. The White Horse Challenge is a charity event that raises funds for Water Aid which is a good enough reason for taking part  never mind a challenging course in the company of hundreds of fellow cyclists.

Then on to the main event for the year, I will be tackling the Dragon for the first time on Sunday 5th of June.

This is the main target for the year at 200 Km with 3000 metres of climbing. You have to be quick to get a place as they sell out pretty much overnight  although there are still places available via the Prostate Cancer charity if you agree to raise a certain amount of sponsorship. This is the official charity for the Dragon Ride as is a worthwhile cause specially if you are a man past a certain age as which is certainly true in my case.

A nice touch is that you can book a place in the La Strada Italian restaurant in Bridgend.  This was something Leek Cycling Club organised a few years ago for the Legbreaker Challenge, it means you get to meet fellow cyclists the night before the ride and don’t have to go hunting for a place to eat.

The event doesn’t need much introduction from me, it is one of the events in the UK sportive calendar, but here is the description from the official website:

The Wiggle Dragon Ride cyclosportive is a circular, 45, 120 or 200km non competitive road cycle challenge ride over the beautiful hills and valleys of South Wales. With around 3000m of climbing, the route takes in the classic Milk Race/Tour of Britain climbs of the Bwlch, Rhigos and Brecon Beacons mountain roads. The Dragon Ride was one of the first annual cyclosportives to be held in the UK and the first to gain a place on the UCI calendar. The ride is based at Pencoed, just outside Cardiff and has excellent road, rail and international air links. 2011 will be the eighth occasion this event has been held.