dimanche 30 août 2015

I don't want to be the weak (Transcontinental Race 2015 part 2)

I'm not WEAK !


The public start the count down

5 !! 
........4 !!
...............3 !! 
......................2 !!
.............................1 !! 
....................................GOOO !!

I wasn't far from the race car, but it took me a long time before starting pedaling because of guys who couldn't start cycling on the cobblestone. Rushed through the crown and started the long descent in the city, 50 meter of race and i have to start spinning my leg to reach the race car, i found the french guys, Alex, Sam, Clem are right behind the car and a small peloton start to pack behind, we arrived at the bottom of the Mur, and the peloton start to push hard on the pedal to climb. Samuel is just in front of me, i push on the pedal, expected to do the whole climb on the bike, but my plan to use the right side of the road was screwed by the presence of people. Well let's change, quick jump off the bike, run the hardest part of the climb, jump on the bike, keep going. At this moment about 10 people are ahead of me, we were riding fast, we were in the race for real. Our friends cheered us in the climb "GOGO SAM ! GOGO KIWI !". At this exact moment I pushed harder and wanted to show one last nice face.

From the top of the Mur, we are free to take any road and aim for the first Checkpoint The famous Mont Ventoux. I turn on my GPS, we started to do again the descent, Sam and Alex still in front of me, All the peloton in front of me take the same road, but my GPS tell me to don't follow them, i must stick to my plan, i dive in Geraardsbergen for the second time to reach the beginning of my route. 
Far away i see bike lights, well looks like i didn't took the best way and there is a lot of people in front of me already, well ... no problem :D .

My GPS route start, i take my aero position, and start spinning leg at my natural pace. The chase start, i like seeing people in front of me, it naturally stimulate me, I feel GREAT ! Rapidly I overtake 3, 4, 5 and more rider. Until the moment i see no more guys in a while, i must admit for a moment i had doubt about my route, "if there is nobody i must be on the wrong way, even if my GPS tell me i'm good", i stopped and checked the tracker on my smartphone, i had to understand what happened.

And the fact was, if i didn't understood the situation, it was because in my brain the probability of what happened was 0%. I was leading ... ME ? ! in front of everybody ? I couldn't believe it !

Me #152, first crossing the french border ? Really ?!

Ok keep calm it's just 60km since the start ... I just had to keep riding at my pace. 


At a moment, two guys caught me, one of them had a full time trial bike, i didn't knew who was this guy at this moment. But getting caught by these guy, i wanted to fight them, Sometimes they where in my wheel, sometimes i put distance between us, and came the moment they overtook me. In my head started a fight between the TT bike and the Fixed gear bike, We where in a section where we had some rolling hill, I focused on my best pedaling technique, push and pull all the time, giving a 100% efficiency in the transmission. At a moment i saw the opportunity to leave a message in a uphill, Mad in my mind, I overtook the TT bike, pushing hard on the pedal, and tried to gave my best poker face. 
I wanted to leave the message: "I don't have a TT bike, BUT I'M NOT WEAK"
I was so focused in what I was doing i can't remember what he said at this moment. But he got the message... very well... and he's going to give me an answer too...
Few kilometers after, a false flat, I was happy to see on a radar that I was riding at, 35 kph. But my smile disappeared instantly when I saw the radar changing a 42kph and the TT bike overtaking me at the same time. I got the feel he was saying to me: "Let me show you the difference of speed between me and you"
The only thing I could do was to admit my defeat. I ride a fixed gear bike, and I assume my choice even if that leave a bitter taste in my mouth.
That's how I met for the first time the TT bike guy, #59 Ultan Coyle, this guy will finish in 4th position.




#59 Ultan Coyle, Finish in 11day +

Hours after, i saw somethings I really hate to see, the huge wind turbine of the first flat land in France, and with it came the f*ck*ng huge crosswind. I know it well for already having bad moment there. With my low weight and the big surface I exposed directly to the wind, I rapidly get shaken.
With my fixed gear, could do nothing but trying to push hard, but I knew it's a long route to get out of this wringer. Then a rider overtook me spinning his leg with his gear, and another, again, and one more .... I was seeing them flew away, and i was totally helpless.

At moment I started to think, why ? Why am I here ? Trying to ride though this wind. I think it was my very first mental test. All my thinking was about this wind, I had to change my mind. And the only thing that came was to imagine an interview on the finish line between Mike Hall and me. It happened during something that feel 2 hours, in reality just enough time to get out of this windy path.



Few hours after, going down to Dijon, I started to do more and more gravel road. Until the moment I went into a forest, the track disappeared little by little, at a moment I realized I couldn't ride more and had to walk, following my GPS I had to walk 500m, but the road on my GPS was misplaced. I walked for 45 min on a horrible horse path. That kind of situation makes me really angry. When I reached the road, I had to leave that shitty path, in exchange I did a detour to reach the road I wanted. I was really angry, feeling miserable, loosing a lot of energy for nothing. My goal to be after Dijon at the end of the day failed.

At the end of the day, I started to doubt about my final target, will I be able to do it before the finisher party ? What should I expect ? A lot of question you start to ask yourself, but the most horrible thing is, you are alone to answer. You had a bad day on flat road, so all the answer you get are "it going to be worse, you never going to make it though the mountain, you should stop now, plus you are not so far from Paris (my home), easy back up". Well before giving an answer, I'm going to sleep. "Don't get important decision in the night, when you are exhausted", that what I remembered from Mike Hall advice from the manual. He's 100% right. Bad physical and mental condition will lead you to a bad decision.

Next day was better, I reached some road I know, going full south on N7, I've been there 2 years ago for a Paris-Marseilles. I was happy to be there, I would have regrets if I had scratch last night, Mont Ventoux at the end of the day was the daily goal. I tried to spin the leg fast to catch the time lost, and the first pain came. My left Achilles tendon started to burn, probably because my saddle broke 2 weeks before the race, had to buy a new one but i didn't paid attention to the thickness. The new one give me a higher position so I should have put a lower position to my seatpost (I completely ignored it). I never had pain there and decided to ignore it and expected the night rest will help to recover.
At the end I didn't reach the bottom of the Mont Ventoux. I was paying the time I lost the precedent day in the wind and the forest.

Before the Mont Ventoux, I checked the tracker, and I saw Sam on top, I started to calculate how far he was ahead of me, humm about 6 hours, Shit !!
Everybody have an idea about what is the mont Ventoux:

21km, average climb 7.5%
Ok, it climb, and so ? 150W on flat are still 150W on climb. It's easy or hard because of what ? The speed ! Obviously you are not going to climb Mont Ventoux at 30km/h. I prefer to think with power ! If you power out over your average for crush your personnal best on the climb while you still have more than 3000km to do, is it wort it ? I don't think.

You see ! It's flat !

Magic ! Same effort than if it would be on flat, the only things who change is the speed, so why saying it's hard ? Especially if you are on gears, you should be able to turn spin your leg, it's a really nice road, this is not a technical mud climb coming from CX.
The timing for climbing was still good, I expected the evening or the night, I have the morning. At least the sun should not burn me hard.
I switched my gear for the 19 tooth sprocket, and started to climb. The first section is quite fast, then started the middle section. Climbing on a fixed gear bike is more like going upstairs. You go on a pedal, then the other slowly. In your brain "Left", "Right", "Left", like a clock, Surprise ! I'm having a good pace, I'm not overtaken by the million guys riding there. In the hardest part I try to push as hard as possible, but I feel I'm wasting a lot of energy for riding at 5km/h, going to walk a little. Finally I get out of the forest for a martian land, rock everywhere. When I look to the top, I can see thousand of riders climbing like a horde of ants. A guy tell me "2km and we are to the top !", 2km after in my head "YOU LIED B****". I will never forget the wind, the higher you get, the stronger it is ! Even hiding being a massive guy was pointless and at every turn there is more wind waiting you.

After 21km of climb, I'm in front of the sign "Mont Ventoux", Yes ! First Check Point !

Checkpoint 1 : Sommet Mont Ventoux 1911m


Samuel 6h before me on top of Ventoux, looks fresh for me.


The legendary Mont Ventoux was done, a big part of the Alpes. I'm around 25 to be there, slowly concurrent overtook me, Sam did the climb in the early morning, 6h before as I calculated before, and he's 11.
"Climbing in early ! Insane Samuel good job !".

Now a big descent, 5km and I broke a spoke. I took it off and tighten the spoke around, With a fixed gear bike, descent are more painful than climbing, you spin leg as fast as you can, your leg rub on your saddle, and even if you decide to unclip your shoes (in my case the last shoe I could clip), all your weigh is on the saddle and your hand so it means that you have more risk to be victim of saddle sore or numb hand problems.








Pain in the hand


The road was globaly going in descent, it was nice to be able to spin the leg easily after the Ventoux. At a moment I saw a rest area, i plan you rest for 30 minutes, I couldn't stay more for sleep, prefer to ride for keeping warm. that 30 minutes rest lasted 6 hours .... It was impossible to get up and move, I was freezing dangerously, I suppose the lake (50m from me) was absorbing all the heat. Had once experienced this before in my life. It's so horrible, I get on my bike and stop in the first bakery, there i met #126 Felix Burkhardt, he told me the temperature fell under 5°C. Thanks to my survivor blanket, I could stay warm enough and survive this night, at the morning wasn't sure to continue this race.

I hate being cold....






Well, I don't give up, let's go to checkpoint 2. My Achilles tendon pain come and go. I'm at midway of the Alpes, my first goal was to pass the Alpes, if I do it, I will go to the finish.

In the Alpes you meet a lot of local rider, In the last climb before CP in the col of Montgenevre, two girls passed me at the speed of the light, they were doing a special training. Having them in "front of me was a good motivation", I had someone to "hunt", Little by little I shortened the distance, until the top where my ego helped me to overtake them "YEEEAAAHHH".

At Sestriere, a lot of bike were in front of the hotel, I validate my brevet card, and the staff told me i was 37th. One more time I'm paying for all the stop and the 6 hours sleep I had, but I'm fresh and ready for the next stage. When i see the others guys around me, a lot of them are sleeping, or look not well. I decide to take a good pizza before going on this little gravel road.



The strada del Assiesta is the kind of path where you usually take your mountain bike, and the fact, the only people who was there, where riding DH bike or 4x4. It wasn't the kind of path you take with your road bike, all the climb were as steep as the mont Ventoux, with gravel... huge rock. It was impossible for me to climb with just one foot clipped, and I know I wasn't alone to walk and push my bike, There was some road clip footprint. Things didn't change, descent were such a pain but this time it required all my concentration and mountain bike skills to control my trajectory. Each rock could produce a puncture or worst, I was still riding with one spoke missing, I didn't wanted to waste time there. At the end of the strada del Assiesta, I found maybe one of the best asphalt a ever saw. I was so happy, I climbed to the top of the col del Finestre, and there was something I couldn't expect, MORE GRAVEL, RAAAGGGGHHHH.


Strada del Assiesta: You think it's a wonderfull place to ride ? NO IT'S NOT !!

The darkness of the night was there. and I used my brake so much I started to feel cramps in the hand, more all my weight on my hand gave me pain in the palms. The only things who gave me hope was the heat rising when I approached the city of Susa.
I finally managed to get through the Alps, so happy, a deliverance of my body and my mind. A long straight and flat road to rest as a reward for getting through this sh*t.


Trying to fix my tendon ...

I will always remember the Alps as a test for me. Am I tough enough to deal with mountain with my fixed gear bike ? Everybody told me I could not, no one would bet 1cts on this, for many months I dreamed about the race,  about the Alps, about each stage, and in my head, even if I had some moment were I doubted, I never thought I couldn't do it because I use a fixed gear bike. Maybe I go slower, walk or push my bike, if I still have strength to get up, I will keep going forward.

Failure wasn't an option.

I did it. My moral was 10/10, I supported the pain through my whole body, and it was time to speed up and catch some concurrent. I knew there was 40 guys ahead of me, so I changed my mind from "get through the Alps" to "hunting mode",

13km and then ... Another spoke broke ... The condition for riding wasn't good, so I decided to get 3hours rest in a warm 24/7 bank agency. We will think tomorrow about the plan to follow.

dimanche 23 août 2015

The Transcontinental Race

The Transcontinental Race #3 




Why such a race ? Why i'm doing it ! Because welcome back in the world of old school races,
where men fought each other on big stages, with no support, had to do everything themselves.
Because it Welcome back and let's talk about huge ride ! Yeah the one with 4000km ! 40 000m Elevation ! Epic gravel AND Epic climb ! and no support (ho no !) ...
Hell yeah ! Welcome in the Transcontinental Race, this race is about crossing old Europe, for its third edition the race start from Geraarbergen (Belgium), and finish in Istanbul (Turkey), the rules are really simple, reach Istanbul through 4 check points:
Mont Ventoux (France)
Strada dell Assietta (Italia)










Hotel Lav - Vukovar (Croatia)

Mont Lovcen (Montenegro)















Some beautiful sights all over Europe, well known climbs, epic bits
( like a Tour de France we have the Mont Ventoux !)

and some others rules like:
- No drafting other participant
- Ferry travel only on approved route
- All forward travel on overland must be self powered
- 2 days inactivity = scratch
- Ride with the spirit of self reliance and equal opportunity for all

Why such a race ? Why i'm doing it ! Because welcome back in the old school race, where men fought each other on big stage, with no support, had to do everything themselves. Because it's more like going on an adventure than really going for a race. The first time I heard about this race was from my friend Samuel (aka Sam or Wichlor), he went on an epic trip that made me dream until i participated. I have red a lot of stories about what happened during this race,and everything was like ... unreal. The fact is, in this race, you only understand what happens, after it happened.
So, why am I doing this race ?, you must think the first prize must be insane ! 100 000 $ ? And a car ? Contract with internationals sponsors ? Maybe podium girls ?

Guess what, there is nothing to win, just the privilege to say "I was here, and I did it in time, I beat the clock.
And a jersey for the winner.

Josh Ibbett with the winner Jersey, Josh's blog here


As far i can remember, i always enjoyed pushing my limits, and i was thinking this one is really going to push my limit very far. Now i will tell you my story , I hope you will understand a bit more what this race really is about. Never forget, things can go really bad during this race, more than what you can imagine just reading blogs, and the pain... You can understand the pain only by living it, so see you next TCR :) 

samedi 22 août 2015

Keep calm, and wait for the raging storm. (Transcontinental Race 2015 part1)

Get ready for Istanbul !



Friday July 25, we are about 170 riders, here, on the top of the Mur of Grammont in the little city of Geraardsbergen not far from Brussels (Belgium).

The atmosphere is changing as fast as the sun fall behind the horizon. Even if some guys chill with some beer at the bar, the other walk through the alley and check the bike of the others, and a lot of them stop at my bike, weight it, check the luggage, speak, laugh, I don't like it. But I must admit, I don't have the classical bike fitted for this race. Around me, a lot of bike made of carbon or titanium, equipped with latest group, I think a lot of money have been spent in these bike, and I'm here with my daily fixed gear bike that do not even worth a wheel on others bike. I'm pretending to finish this race where half of these guy will not finish. Finally I'm just a fucking arrogant guy. "Look this race is so easy I will do it on a shitty bike". Well maybe I'm this guy... but I always have done long ride with my fixed gear bike, ok it's getting old, but why I couldn't do this one ? Look my bike is still rolling nice !
 Since I signed for this race, people tell me "you will not do it to Istanbul", the more they say me that, the more I'm determinate to go to The Cafe Hisar with my fixed gear bike. When I see guys laughing at my bike on the Mur, I imagine I speak to my teammate bike "we will show them all what we can do". 

I chill with the French guys, I never saw some of these before the race or maybe on Facebook. I know Sam since few years thanks to the fixed gear community, he is a veteran of TCR (looks awesome said like that). I know Clement too, a well know but discreet rider of SSCX and good friend of Sam, Gregory from French FG community, I met the others guy here, Alexandre, the mega prepared guy, Patrick "old" but still strong and Phillipe the guy who waited 6 months for not getting his frame on time (fuck Sky.. !), we discuss and laugh, the ambiance between French is as good as it was on Facebook discussion. I'm happy to be there with theses guys. It's awesome. We try to rest before the French briefing from race director Mike Hall, but it's pointless, we are too excited. Mike did the French brief... in English, well no problems we are prepared. We decide to enjoy one last good meal at the bar, feel like the last meal of a death sentence prisoner. We ate it without knowing when we will get our next real meal, Delicious. Suddenly, some wild friends appears, they came from Brussels or Lille (France) to cheer us on the start, the French community is small, but awesome ! We don't realize it's our last discussion all together until the finish.


Great adventurer Mike Hall, also the race director of the TCR
The clock approach 00.00, and people start to gather on the starting line. It's like in an alleycat (race between bike messenger, an article coming soon), but this time I really don't give a fuck for starting in front, there is a neutral lap in the city of Gerrardbergen, and the race will be very long, the position doesn't matter. The atmosphere changed, people realize they are going to try something huge. I cheer the guy on my right "let's go to Istanbul" with my French accent, then left, at that moment, I didn't realized that one of two will scratch before Istanbul, I yelled one last time through the crowd to check where are the French guy, Sam and Clem are in front of me, I already lost Alex, Greg and the others.
Tracker ? Check !
Fire is set to the torches. 
The Mayor speak, a funny guy entertain us. And then a moment of silence, midnight approach, and the raging storm is coming.





The public start the count down

5 !!
                  *Silence in my brain*
........4 !!
...............3 !!
                                 *Heavy breath*
......................2 !!
.............................1 !!


                                            *My head, the scene of an upcoming storm*


....................................GOOO !!



Welcome new people ! A bike life is starting here !

Hello people ! First, let me introduce you the heroes of this page, Kiwi !



Yeah ok it's me, i'm Stéphane, also know as Kiwi. Frenchman bike messenger in the most beautiful city in the world, Paris ! I love so much riding my bike in Paris that i have left my old job as a designer to become a Bike messenger. My bike entertain my life so much, I meet new people, travel through countries, and so much more.

I'm going to share you some part of my bike life (and probably more), the struggle on a bike, some tips, about some race, and why i'm doing it. Don't be rude with me about my english, i'm trying my best.

Ho one last thing, here is my Strava because you know, if it's not on strava .......