| Title: | It was a cold misty mornin |
| Athlete: |
Slogfester
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| Sport: | cycling |
| Route: |
no matching route or competition was found
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| Location: |
Collonge-sous-Salève (France)
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| Description: | What a bizarre day. In preparation for my upcomming Tour de Haute Coffee et Donut du Suisse I thought it would be a good idea to test the bike and touring gear (and rider!) up probably the steepest climb in the area the Col de Croisette which averages 12 (see http://www.cycling-challenge.com/the-dauphinee-libere-visits-me/). So after fiddling with the bike for days and loading the panniers with c. 15 kg of books, I finally set off to meet Will at the base of the Saleve on a freezing cold day with the top of the mountain shrouded in cloud. First I got lost getting there, then T-boned a girl on a bicycle who pulled out in front of me without looking (I guess she wasnt expecting a 80 kg + 40 kg touring bike to be going past her driveway, fortunately we were both OK) and then I dropped my gizmo going up a c. 20 dirt track that my TomTom navigator thought was a good idea as a walking short cut (and hence I lost the record of that part of the route, so Ill undoubtedly get lost again.... just how hard can it be to find a 1200 m massive the size of Ayers Rock!).
So by the time I finally arrived at the bottom the climb proper, poor Will was freezing his butt off. The climb up was hard yaka and reminded me not to pack that set-of-12 picnic dinner plates for the upcomming tour, but we finally made it to the top only to be greeted by the 21st Century equilvalent of chain gangs of youths repairing the road under what we assumed was community service (see photo). It was too cold to hang around, so we quickly went back for a coffee at the pass at Le Croisette. No sooner had we started the descent when I look up to find Will sprawled all over the road 200 m down the hill. It wasnt even the technical part of the hill, so I immediately suspected a mechanical. Indeed it turned out to be a human technical, i.e. critical mass of gizmos overiding inbuilt (personal) saftey features leading to pilot error. Dont believe a word on Wills blog (http://www.cycling-challenge.com/broken-nose/) about him paying for the coffee ;) Of course, there was absolutely no one around to help get Will cleaned/warmed up and administer ice, so we were forced to descend back to his house. Hes evidently a hard nut, and too his his credit made it home OK from where we set off to the clinic to get him fixed up. Latest damage report gives a broken nose, sprained shoulder and various cuts/bruises/scrapes. Ouuch :( |
| Additional Information: | http://www.cycling-challenge.com/broken-nose/ |
| Distance: | 17.86 km
(11.10 mi) |
| Date/Time: | May 20, 2008 1:05:00 PM |
| Duration: | 0.01:00:12 |
| Active Time: | 0.00:57:53 |
| Total Average Speed: |
17.80 km/h
(11.06 mph) |
| Active Average Speed: |
18.51 km/h
(11.50 mph) |
| Calories: | 551 kcal |
| Min Altitude: | 662 m
(2174 ft) |
| Max Altitude: | 1241 m
(4072 ft) |
| Ascent: | 567 m
(1860 ft) |
| Descent: | 623 m
(2044 ft) |
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2-wheel library
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The before picture. Will inflicts some discipline on todays hooded youth.
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Will remodels his face in a bid to stop his sunnies slipping
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