Cycle to Barcelona the Final Countdown

There are just a few days to go now until we leave for Barcelona. All the prep is done, all that is left is to rest and check the packing.

The bike is fully prepped and gleaming ready for departure. At the weekend after the deepest clean it's had for years, I fitted a new chain, cassette and cabling for silky smooth shifting. The brake pads were replaced in expectation of the long final Pyrenean decent into Spain. During the previous week the rear wheel and the Eggbeater pedal bearings have been replaced and I've overhauled the headset. The finishing touch was a brand new set of Pirelli P-Zero Race TLR 28mm tyres. Throwing a leg over the Scultura this afternoon, it flew up the road, as the gears were purring contentedly beneath me. Seems a shame to weigh it down with all my bikepacking clobber!

Towards the end of lastweek I had fitted all my storage bags for a trial ride with the team. The Topeak Backloader under the saddle was full of clothes and was supported by a Wishbone to stop it swaying from side to side. We've all bought a Wishbone and mounted the bottles on either side. I was initially concerned about having the weight of all that water so high on the bike, but actually it didn't feel unbalanced on the test ride. The Topeak Midloader sits inside the frame, stashed with all my food, which consists mainly of Clif bars and GO Gels. The bag hangs above my tool kit which is fitted to the seatpost bottle mount. In fact it rests on in slightly, causing the bag to gape slightly, so I do occasionally brush my knees against the material. It didn't really bother me on the test ride, but I'll see if I can eliminate it with clever packing or taping it together. On the top tube is a small bag for easy to reach nibbles and treats, while out front the bar bag houses everything else! Wash stuff, spares, chain lube, power leads and all the other small essentials you need for a week.

I've done all the training I can now. The last few weeks have been a bit frustrating, as the weather and life have meant I wasn't been able to finish off with one last big ride. It does mean I'll set off without having ridden 100 miles in training, causing a slight nagging doubt in my mind. On the other hand I did ride 1000 miles in March. In my many years of cycling it's the first time I've ever reached that milestone, and in fact the first time I've cleared 900 miles! The last time I topped 800 miles in a month was in the summer nine years ago, when I was regularly commuting 100-120 miles a week to Portsmouth, on top of my weekend social rides.

The truth is I've put in a lot of hard work, about as much as I could around my job, kids and family commitments. I lie in bed every night stressing about all the things that could go wrong; getting enough to eat, saddle sores, bonking and letting the team down, mechanical failures, the weather. I should instead be looking forward to a week with nothing to do but ride my bike and make memories.

Cycle to Barcelona route finalised !

Nigel has been pouring over Google maps making the finishing touches to our route to Barcelona. Now he has shared it with the rest of us, the trip feels very real. There are definitely butterflies in the stomach looking at the maps of the French towns and cities on route, some unknown and others vaguely familiar from school text books and years of watching the Tour de France. Dropping the little yellow man onto our route in Google Street View and taking a look around, it's very weird to think I'll be there in just a few weeks time. 

What Nigel has done for us is link together the AirBnB bookings we have for each night. These were selected based on our original outline plan of 100 miles a day which was plotted in Komoot. Nigel has then tweaked it further adding food stops along the way, hunting out local Lidl or Carrefour supermarkets. As part of our trip is over the Easter weekend, we'll be relying on the major chain stores when local pâtisserie and other shops may be closed.

There is no doubt the 110 miles a day is intimidating. To put it in perspective I averaged 116 miles and 8.5 hours cycling a WEEK over 2022 as a whole. We're going to be doing that a DAY in April! For seven days in a row!!

In preparation for this challenge I have increased my training since Christmas and so far this year I'm averaging 11 hours a week, covering 160 miles! (I do a lot of mountain biking so mileages can be deceptive as you obviously don't go as fast or as far off-road.)

Day 6 is looking especially EPIC! 124 miles climbing 3000m into the Pyrenees. 

Also!: The recent news of snow in Barcelona gives me the jitters with just 5 weeks to go. Imagine what the mountain passes will be like! Storm Juliette: Cold snap leaves Barcelona covered in snow - BBC News

Here is a day by day break down of the route (including ridewithgps.com links):

Day 1: Caen to Laval 

Day 2: Laval to La Coudre

Day 3: La Coudre to Chateauneuf-sur-Charente

Day 4: Chateauneuf-sur-Charente to Marmande

Day 5: Marmande to Toulouse

Day 6: Toulouse to Alpe

Day 7: Alpe to Barcelona

Training not racing!

There is no race report from the first XC of the season. Instead of racing at the Gorrick I was knocking out 70 miles on the road bike. Conditions were perfect for mountain biking too and I'll admit my heart yearned for the trails every time I passed a Bridleway signpost at the side of the road pointing off into a dry and inviting wood.

Since I lived at home with my parents I've always dreamt of just riding away from my front door and exploring Europe on my bike. My dream was to cycle to Monte Carlo, tackling some alpine climbs on the way South. I have a route planned from a year 2000 road atlas and about 15 years ago I even booked Ferry tickets, but fear of all the things that could go wrong (common sense) meant it never happened. Then family and kids did happen and the plans got filed at the bottom of my sock draw. 

Occasionally I'd get out the plastic folder of the printed route and flick through it longingly. What I needed was a ride buddy (or two) to give me the confidence to know that if something did go wrong in the middle of nowhere there was somebody else there to help.

I shared my idea with Chris and Nigel 4 years ago when we were laying in our hotel room the night before we rode Chase The Sun. Without the Covid pandemic it might have happened the following year, but the idea again got moth balled. 

Then a year ago Chris sent me a link to a story about a group that had cycled from the UK to Barcelona. It looked very appealing and reminiscent of my original plan. 100 miles a day for a week, with the Pyrenees to conquer before finishing on the Mediterranean coast.

Neither of us could do it that year as we already had family holidays planned, but we promised ourselves we would commit to book it in the Autumn. We enlisted Nigel again and got together in October and made our plans. That evening we booked the Ferry from Portsmouth and flights home from Barcelona for the following Easter, giving ourselves 6 months to prepare.

Since then there has been some preparation and we've enlisted Craig to join our band of brothers. However, this week was the first time we have all ridden together and with less than two months to go it's now beginning to feel very real!

I'm riding 10 hours a week and have put in two long rides (70+ miles) on the road bike. The others have completed a couple of century rides as part of their prep which I still haven't done. Which is playing on my mind slightly, so is the next monkey to get off my back. I have ridden every day since early January and I'm making an effort to put in back to back long rides on consecutive days to get used to riding with fatigued legs.

Brass Monkeys Round 3

Sorry Rob but the highlight of my race on Sunday was catching and passing the blue and red stripes of the national champions jersey. (Twice! - since his pitstop was quicker than mine!) Even if he was on a singlespeed it still felt good.

Sheer determination to get to the finish in appalling weather had seen me into the top ten at the previous race. This time however I was going to need some speed if I wanted a similar result. I threw caution to the wind and took no spares with me. Deciding to travel light and take the chance. I took the same attitude with clothing trying to save weight and drag. In my last blog I criticized riders I thought had under dressed for the conditions. That almost came back to haunt me when the un-forecast persistent drizzle started to soak through my clothes. Luckily the weather dried up before it became a serious issue for me. I'll admit however that back in the car at the end I had difficulty pulling socks onto the numb frozen stumps where my feet should have been!

My result at the first round had been a big disappointment to me, but the points I'd earned at round 2 had placed me 11th in the series. I've regularly challenged for a top series position in previous years and if I could get myself into the top 10 overall this season that would be an achievement I could be proud of. So with that aim I had decided to go all in.

I started near the front of the pack instead of my usual policy of loitering mid-field. Historically I've used the midfield congestion to help pace myself early on, before moving forward as the race progresses. On Sunday I went for it right from the starting horn and bombed down the initial blisteringly fast descent. Elbows tangling dangerously with other riders as we fought for grip and for space on the sandy, potholed gravel fireroad.

The track was dry and grippy to start with, the drizzle added a slippery sheen to some sections, but overall the course was flat and fast. As I will tell anybody I need a good hill in a course to really make a difference so I had to make do with really attacking the couple of small short gradients that there were. 

Like the first round I seemed to be completely missed by the commentary and so had no idea of my position during the race. All I knew was I felt really good, was eating went well and I needed only one pitstop on lap 4. I dug deeper as the 3rd hour drew on, passing riders, including the national single speed champ! I'd paced it well and was still able to push hard as I began the final lap. There was an open section where I could see a minute or two ahead and there was sadly nobody to chase. Equally glancing behind there was thankfully nobody chasing me either. So I was able to relax. Physically it had felt like a good race, I had same sort of feelings on the bike as previous years when I'd be in the top 5. So the news I'd finished 19th was like a punch in the gut.

Analysing my lap times when I got home, I can see the stamina is still there. I hadn't tired, all my lap times were within a minute of each other. Trouble is that they just weren't fast enough! Those I'm racing are several minutes quicker at the start and then they slow towards the end. Some I catch but others have built up a big enough margin that I can't reel them in. I need more speed! 

It's not like the heyday of mountain biking, but there were the most entries I've seen at a XC race for years. Perhaps lured by the better weather some of those ahead of me hadn't competed in the previous races. This meant that when the points were tallied up for the 3 rounds I was 11th. Frustratingly close to my goal.

However, I can't hide the fact that this winters 18th and 19th are two of my worse results in 13 years of Brass Monkeys races.

Brass Monkeys Round 2

I was disappointed with my result at the first round of the Brass Monkeys. I moped around the house with a face like a wet weekend when I got home, feeling generally demotivated about life. Historically I've raced in the top ten for over a decade and the reality of 18th actually came as a bit of a shock. I'd known my fitness wasn't where it has been and my weight was 4 or 5 kilos more than it used to be, but here was the stark evidence of my decline. 

Round 2 was my first chance of redemption, but with Christmas in-between there hadn't been any time to make much difference to my physical form. In fact I'd only managed one long ride over 3 hours in the month since the previous race. I'd certainly not lost any weight either!

Conditions out on course were what you would describe as "Character Building"! The weather had been pretty grim for several days and although there was a momentary break in the rain for the start, we were soon subjected to a complete soaking. I had a sinking feeling off the start as I watched guys I'd hope to be racing disappear ahead of me. However, I knew it would be a day of attrition. 

As the laps wound by conditions got worse and worse. It was so slippery the rear wheel fishtailed left and right and steering was like a constant controlled accident! It was physically hard going too, gloopy trails and soaking clothes sapping my strength. I plodded on, not really racing, nursing the bike all the time, knowing that making it to the finish line was going to be an achievement. 

I'd seen people in shorts and a standard jersey on the start line. A brave decision anyway in January but surely bonkers if you are cycling for 4 hours in the rain and a blustery northerly wind. Experience had told me I needed to wrap up, so I wasn't initially affected by the windchill inside my waterproof jacket, leggings and overshoes. Eventually however the water leaked in. Trickling down my legs into my shoes and down my neck and inside my jacket. As it did my core temperature began to drop.

For the last lap it decided to totally piss it down! The big fat drops hammered on my helmet and the trail turned to porridge, oozing under the tyres and offering even less grip. Although I'd been as economical with the brakes as I could, the combination of wet sand and mud meant I now had no real way of slowing the bike down. Luckily I wasn't building up much speed anyway as I forged an furrow through the sludge in front of me. My vision started to black out with the effort, I didn't care about anything but reaching the car and putting on some dry clothes.

Then I crossed the line in 10th and realised I really did care. With the euphoria of finishing, and the exhaustion I actually shed a tear when they announced my position! In my age group only 28 people made it to the finish. I'd used experience and sheer bloody determination to get the result that I had wanted. Benracesbikes was back in the top 10!!

Brass Monkeys Round 1 - I've missed racing

On Sunday I took part in what was only my third race of the year. Not great for a blog called Ben Races Bikes I admit! This is the lowest number of events I've entered in a calendar year since I began racing way back in 2003. I've ridden at least 5 races every year since then. 

Sundays result of 18th was my worst for some time which perhaps shows a bit of rustiness. So why haven't I raced more?

One factor is there are less XC races to enter. The reduction in the number of the local Gorrick events and cancellation of some of my annual regulars like the G100 and Brighton Big Dog is a factor. However the Southern XC Series is still going strong, but I didn't even bother with the Southern UK Championships this year. I think a large part of this is that I don't have anything to prove to myself any more. I know that if I train regularly I can be a competitive top 10 age group racer locally, but I'm never going to qualify for the Olympics! More importantly though, with two kids growing up fast it is harder to justify taking an entire day out of the weekend and having to pay for the privilege to do so. 

I still love the buzz of racing however! It was great to be back between the tape on Sunday, pushing myself to the limit and challenging myself against those I was racing. The camaraderie of racing is also something that can't be replicated. After 4 hours flogging yourself trying to beat them I love the Adrenalin fuelled laughter and excited debrief amongst competitors afterwards as you all gather behind the finish line sharing stories of how your races went and how you could have finished 30 seconds quicker if only.....

I'd definitely missed it, so I'll certainly be aiming to race the remaining Brass Monkeys winter series. That should be 2 events by the end of January, lets see what the rest of 2023 holds in store! 

My new ride - Specialized S-Works Epic Evo

 After more than 10 years riding hardtails I've made the switch to a full-susser. The last time I had squish at both ends of my bike was when 26in wheels and double chainrings were still in style! 

When 29ers first appeared on the scene their bigger, better rolling wheels made full suspension redundant for the XC racing I was doing. The bike was lighter and the large diameter rubber rolled over roots and rocks without needing 100mm of extra travel in the frame. I also love the purity and lightweight nimbleness of a hard tail, giving a telepathic feel and connection with the terrain beneath you. 

The geometry of 29er's progressed and the technology too making a full-suss 29er the most common bike out on the trails and at races. Still I stayed loyal through three generations of S-Works hardtails. So why the change now? 

The marketing says that bikes need to be more "capable" for todays riding, but that isn't true for me. I'm still riding the same trails I always have and the race courses aren't so challenging that I've ever felt uncomfortable on a hardtail, even without a dropper post.

The truth is age has caught up with me. Gone is the confidence of youth when I used to plough over roots as fast as I dared. A bit of my brain now wants a slightly larger margin of error, which I hope the suspension will provide. Riding with friends I can see I'm loosing ground when the trail gets choppy, and in races I'm unable to hold the wheel ahead when there are lots of roots to navigate.  

Also my worn out body needs the comfort. The long training rides preparing for and then riding the South Downs Double ruined my back. I've never had problems in this area before, but this year has seen months when I've been unable to sit down comfortably in a chair.

So here she is my new Epic Evo.

I've gone on a slightly different path with the set-up. By using the frame with a 100mm Rock Shox SL fork, I've basically ended up with a standard XC race Epic but without the Brain. That's an intentional decision. Remembering back when I did have suspension, I wasn't a fan of the Specialized Brain's automatic lock-out. I liked a suspension bike to feel like it had suspension! Undoubtedly the boffins at Specialized have developed the technology since then, but I also didn't want the hassle and the complexity. 

By fitting a 100mm fork, the head angle drops back a degree to the same 67.5 degrees as the race day Epic. It also drops the bottom bracket height to a few millimeters above the regular bike despite having 10mm more travel.

So how does it ride? After two rides I love it! Riding along is so smooth it is like cheating. I admit it felt so different to start with that I actually stopped after 100 meters to check everything was tightened up! But after tuning the pressure there is almost no bob from the suspension when pedalling, but it smooths out the trail beautifully. Coming from years on a hardtail I do feel a bit disconnected from the ground. So I haven't really pushed my boundaries with the bike yet. The most noticeable benefit so far is taking a step up on a climb over a root or rock. There is much more traction as the rear wheel hugs the ground, plus there is the chance to stay seated.

The slacker head angle is what has actually taken the most getting used to. At the first slow speed tight turn through a gate onto the local disused airfield, it felt like I was steering one of those bendy buses you get at the airport. Slow and ponderous. Then when I reached some faster single track I was constantly turning in too late for all the corners.

So some practice and more time in the saddle is needed, but the bike fit itself is perfect. It's taken me a while to get comfortable on new bikes previously, but I just slipped onto this bike like a silk glove. At 5ft 10" I'm exactly on the cusp between a Medium and Large according to the Specialized website. I've got a pretty average 32" inside leg measurement for somebody my height and there is absolutely no way I needed a large. I've fitted a 70mm stem to match how the XC Epic range is supplied from Spesh and feel like I'm sitting perfectly 'in' the bike, not perched on top, or too stretched out.

The weight? 9.8kg or 21.6lbs. 

Let me get some more miles under my belt and I'll report back again.