CHUTE!

Friday morning, 6.15am, a short, simple ride up Mt Butler and the Peak awaited. With the sun yet to make an appearance, I met JK at the normal spot and we headed off down Kennedy Road as usual. 

As we descended down to the base of the morning's first climb, the ride was cut dramatically short... a scooter had pulled out directly in front of JK and she had smashed into it at approx. 35km/h - sending her flying through the air like a rag doll and then sliding 20 metres down the (fortunately slightly wet) road (principally on the left side of her face). Poor light, a general tendency of motorists not to look for cyclists and no front lights on the bike had meant the driver had simply just not seen JK coming. 

Before we knew what had happened JK was laying in the middle of the road, screaming like a banshee (JK's words, not mine), with her bike sporting a seriously mangled front wheel.

This doesn't really do justice to how much of a pringle shape the wheel has...

JK was pretty bashed up - scraps all down the side of her face, lacerations on her knees, bruised hips and hands, and what we would later find out was a fractured right wrist. With a little bit of calming she was convinced that she hadn't broken both of her legs, despite their limited movement.

General chaos ensued, people milled around whilst I shouted at them to call an ambulance and several cars tried to just drive over JK rather than make the small diversion around her.

A very worried scooter driver quickly called the police and within 10 minutes half of Hong Kong's constabulary appeared to have arrived to ask each of JK and me the same questions over and over, continually request the HKID card that JK didn't have with her and generally just mill around a prod the bikes.

JK was bundled into an ambulance which was driven off at great speed only to be parked just 10 metres down the road, where JK was treated and the police continued to question her. Vicky then meet JK at the hospital whilst I again explained to the police that I didn't know JK's HKID number and got both bikes into a taxi back to my flat. 

JK arrived back at the flat a few hours later all patched up, with a cast on her right arm and pretty concerned that not being able to get on a bike for five weeks would mean that she would need to spend a lot of time on her turbo trainer.

Most cyclist have had some sort of crash (I have slid off the side of mountains at great speed, front flipped into a Clinton Cards and gone over the roof of a cab to name but a few), but this was pretty dramatic and everyone is just really thankful that a fractured wrist was the worst of it.

Heal fast JK!

Lantau 100

The holiday period over Chinese New Year provided the first real opportunity of the year to head out for a long ride and get a decent number of kilometers in the legs in one hit. Lantau Island would provide some (relatively) quiet roads with a number of challenging climbs. As with most climbs in Hong Kong, what they lack in length they certainly make up for in gradient!

JK and I were joined this time by Pt and Janice who were keen to give themselves a 'wake up call' and to kick start their training (having been focused more on running and other sports recently) - it certainly was always going to be a very challenging day so early in their training (not helped by Janice being under the weather too). Sacha and two friends (Casey and Dave - Dave only having bought his bike four days previously) also joined us for the majority of the ride.

Pt and JK getting ready for the big day...

Following what these days could be considered a lie-in, we all meet at Sunny Bay MTR at 8am to head off on the planned 100km ride (with ~2400m climbing). The first 12km along to Tung Chung was an easy warm-up along the gently rolling flats and a chance to get the blood flowing through the legs before we hit the bottom of The Beast - the most feared (although not the most difficult as it later turned out...) climb on Lantau. We had warned Pt and Janice that it was pretty brutal but I dont think anything can really prepare you for the relentless steepness of the climb - between 13-16% all the way to the top. The Beast will get its own blog entry at some point in the near future...

Taming the Beast... a view from the top

Once at the top I was shortly followed by JK, with Sacha not too much further behind (slightly surprised that he had been so comprehensively schooled 'by a girl'). Casey then followed, but it was a while before Pt, Janice and Dave emerged - shoes in hand and pushing their bikes having been beaten by The Beast.

Sometimes its quicker to walk...

From the top of The Beast we all took the awesome decent down to Lower Cheung Sha beach and then another 10km of rolling terrain towards Shek Pik Reservoir. From Shek Pik we then headed up towards the Big Buddha - 4.5km at an average gradient of 8.5% but with long sections at over 15% - a real grind! It was beginning to get really hot and sunny too. Again I hit the top, shortly followed by JK and then Sacha, with Casey and Dave not too much further back. We waited, and then we waited a little more, but still no Janice or Pt. After weighing up the options we decided to head back down to see if anything had happened only to find Janice and Pt just around the corner with 100 yard stares and shoes in hands again. Janice was really not well!

A painful pilgrimage

I had been keen to try a climb up from Sham Wat that I had never done before, but it was pretty clear that, other than JK, I was alone in that wish. As a compromise everyone except JK and me headed down the decent to Tai O to get a little extra rest. We headed down the narrow decent to Sham Wat.... only to meet around 150 mountain bikers in various stages of delirium weaving wildly up the single track road as they winched themselves up at an achingly slow pace. No idea what was going on, but they were everywhere!

On hitting the bottom, and having seen how steep the decent was, JK and I headed back up the Sham Wat climb knowing it was going to be tough. It was definitely the toughest climb of the day - no wonder only a handful of people have been up and down it! We really had to grind our way up (JK managing to shake off the crazy guy on a Brompton-type bike that seemed hell bent on not being overtaken by a girl).

After pausing for breath we headed down to Tai O, collected the others (asleep on the seafront) and headed through the narrow and winding streets of Tai O to the most amazing coffee shop (name unknown, but not sure I would mention it if I knew), which much to my dismay was shut for the 'holidays' despite there seeming to be some fat gweilos in there... we settled for a place across the street (Melt) and tucked into pies/cheese toasties.

Melt... an aptly named cafe

On trying to leave Tai O we had to battle through Lion Dances and more smelly mountain bikers. At this point Pt and Janice jumped in a cab (sensible given how unwell Janice was at this stage) and Sacha, Casey and Dave said they would be heading back to Tung Chung meaning that JK and I could head off at our own pace - which we did, leaving Sacha (mistakenly) grinding up the climb out of Tai O in his big ring, heading towards Mui Wo.

A money hungry Lion

The ride to Mui Wo was pretty uneventful, tracking our route back to Lower Cheung Sha and then taking in a couple of additional minor climbs along the way. On arriving in Mui Wo and JK getting 'another' sugary drink we bumped into Pt and Janice waiting for a ferry back to Central. After a brief chat we headed back to Lower Cheung Sha beach to meet Vicky for a well deserved late lunch at The Stoep (a pretty hit and miss place in my opinion - for a place that specialises in BBQ meat they seem to cremate most of their menu... - cant argue with the beach side location though).

Vicky and JK eating burnt food

Photos only girls take....?

After inhaling some food, drinking a sizeable amount of sangria and having a snooze under the afternoon sun on the beach we set out again leaving Vicky (to a pretty arduous journey home, involving buses in various directions, taxis and the MTR) and headed back up the 'Reverse' Beast - the slightly friendlier sibling of the first climb of the day. A fast descent down the other side towards Tung Chung and then a final 12km along the flat back to Sunny Bay to break the 100km mark and we were finished for the day. 

A brilliant day and the first real big training ride of the year. Over 100km covered with more than 2400m of climbing in glorious sunshine (but not the too hot and humid Hong Kong weather of the summer). Glad I am not in the UK right now suffering in the snow and cold - Hong Kong is offering the best base miles right now...

The Dark Knight and Ida get a well deserved rest

For those that may be interested the Strava link of the ride is here. JK's slightly more witty blog of the day can be found here.

The Green Power Hike (or 'Race')

So, this last Saturday (2 February) was the annual Green Power Hike in Hong Kong. Below is an attempt at a race report, pretty rambling and a bit of a stream of conscious but hopefully readable.

The hike itself is for charity (although the charity itself is pretty questionable - they appear to only "promote environmental education"...) and takes place on the Hong Kong Trail, which is essentially a 50km footpath (a mixture of concrete/steps and rocky dirt tracks) from Victoria Peak to Big Wave Bay on Hong Kong Island - passing through each of the five country parks of Hong Kong Island.

The event took place over two distances, the full 50km and a slightly more manageable 25km. Vicky had completed the 25km distance last year as part of a Linklaters team, albeit with more walking than she was happy with, and was keen to try and run the majority of the course this year and I was keen to give it a go after missing out last year. The idea of running 50km across mountainous terrain was a complete non-starter for both of us so we would definitely be sticking to the 25km distance.



We took the 'easy' 25km option



Despite having left registration too late for individual entries I was fortuante that Linklaters had a number of corporate entries and that there was a space for me on one of the 25km teams. Vicky would be on another 25km team.

After seriously considering whether or not I could bring myself to don the magenta of Linklaters in public I decided that it would be a good challenge and a welcome interlude from the cycling. Having made the decision to enter, no real training plan was ever considered or actioned. In fact the last running I had done was almost two months earlier at the Angkor Wat Half-Marathon (another running based event that sounded great on paper, and it was great fun, but for for which I was woefully under trained).

The team that I found myself part of consisted of PT, Coups, JK and me. A solid team, although there was perhaps a slight difference of interpretation amongst its members as to how this event should be viewed. Was it simply a ‘Hike’ (as the organisers and the name itself would seem to suggest), or is it a ‘Race’? Clearly, viewing it as a race required an entirely different mindset and approach to preparation and training….. Having neglected to specifically train for this I was fully intending to approach it as, the slightly more enjoyable version of the event, a hike.... this would obviously change on the start line.

 

Getting to the start line, PT had been banging out decent length trail runs (even doing the whole thing a couple of weekends before as a dry run... verdict, it was going to be 'tough'), Coups had been working all nighters for the best part of two weeks and was looking seriously sleep deprived and JK and I had pretty much only been cycling for the past two months. Anything could happen. 

The Lynx Effect (questionable choice of name)

Power Rangers - rumours suggested they had juice'd...

The start was in Tai Tam Country Park, on a road about 600m down from Park View and the start of Stage 5 of the Hong Kong Trail.  An initial pretty steep incline would lead us up to the start of Stage 5 and a single-track climb to Jardine's Lookout (at the dizzy height of 433m). Knowing that hundreds of people were about to try and get on a single file trail going up a steep set of steps that were already full of people doing both the 50km and earlier waves for the 25km meant that when the gun went.... everyone started sprinting up the hill like madmen. Before I knew it half our team and Vicky were up the road and I was already involved in a race (at this stage, merely to keep up with everyone).

Starting at midday meant that we had to battle our way up through the crowds in the baking sun and it was pretty clear that it was going to be a long, hard day.

After 15 minutes of climbing (mainly fast walking rather than running) we hit Jardine's Lookout (from where, in the days of the sailing ships, watch was kept for the first glimpse of the sails of clippers coming from India and London) and barely paused to take in the view before dropping back down and on towards Mount Butler. Running down the steps being just as challenging as marching up them.

Running through Tai Tam Country Park

Once over Mount Butler we hit the first check-point where, after being promised they would have bottles of water available, it was soon apparent that they were only able to fill up waterbottles if you had your own. I guess they are an environmental charity after all... I had a camelback so was ok; JK and Coups had to share PT's spare waterbottle for the remainder of the day.

From the checkpoint we sprinted down a paved road further into Tai Tam Country Park and towards the network of reserviors. I was more used to cycling up and down these roads (and being shouted at for doing so), but the the reservior dams provided some nice flat and well paved terrain.



Posing in Tai Tam Country Park



After 1hr 10m and around 8.5km, we finally hit the section of the run that none of us had been looking forward to. On paper the flattest and easiest section of the run; mentally a horror show. 6.5km running in single file along a storm drain in the heat and with little to keep your mind occupied was going to be no fun at all.

JK immediately sped off. Coups, making what proved later to be a critical error, followed shortly behind. PT and I knowing our limitations settled into a slightly more sedate (and sustainable) pace. With PT leading the way I settled into 35 mins of just following and staring almost entirely at PT's calves. I am pretty sure I was slower on this nice paved and flat section that I was over some of the more up and down rocky sections that came later.

It wasn't long before Janice flew past us both. As we got closer to the end of the storm drain I took my turn on the front, only to turn around 5 mins later to find PT totally out of sight. We didn't see him again until the finish.

Coming off the storm drain it was straight up a wall to the Dragon's Back, a ridge running between Shek-O Peak and Wan Cham Shan and voted as the best 'urban hiking' trail. It is a great trail to walk, being so close to Central but yet feeling like you are so far away. Plus it has some great views over Shek-O. It wasn't exactly secluded on the day though, being littered with people in various states of exhaustion (and a few tourist walking the other way looking slightly bemused by the crowds of people running)

On finally getting up onto the ridge I bumped into Ollie (who had started earlier, but was taking it slightly easier than the rest of us as a result of being in a team of 'old guys'). Apparently JK, Coups and Janice were 'just ahead' and I would 'catch them easily' if I 'jogged a bit'. I am not sure how long Ollie was waiting where I saw him, but it seems that he told something similar to everyone that passed him... (we ultimately all finished within 20 mins of each other, so he probably wasn't exaggerating)

I wasn't too sure how close the others actually were given how much faster they had been on the storm drain, but I finally saw them ahead about halfway along the ridge and busted a gut to catch them on one of the downhill sections.

On the Dragon's Back with Shek-O in the background

Once I had caught them we ran together and descended off the main ridge to a long flat tree covered section which felt like it should be near the end but seemed to go on for ever. By now I was really starting to get tired and beginning to drag my feet - something that is pretty dangerous on a section, although flat, covered with rocks and tree roots. Concentrating on not falling over was becoming mentally tiring too. Coups finally exploded and wasn't seen again until the finish line.

More interminable concrete road followed and I was really beginning to flag. Janice stormed off and JK humoured me by waiting to run with me (despite me continually cutting her up as I tried to take all the shortest lines between corners - desperate times). Coming off this section we were finally into the last downhill section into Big Wave Bay and the finish line. With the finish in sight and my knees screaming at me with every step we sotrmed down the final section. JK and I finishing together (3:03:00) with Janice a minute ahead (3:02:00).

Janice, JK and me at the finish

PT was next to finish a further 5 mins back (3:08:36) having reeled in both Ying (3:10:44) and Coups (3:14:04) in the final few kilometers to finish strongly.

PT with a strong finish, being beaten by two girls was enough...

A broken man...

Next over the line was Vicky with an awesome time (3:25:48) and a huge smile (of relief?) on her face. Only Nicole remained and she had emailed for us not to wait at the finish for her - having endured what sounded like a grim day of suffering.

Once we were all together and bags had been collected we headed off to Shek-O for a well deserved beer and pizza at Black Sheep. Great pizza, despite the totally unacceptable decision on the menu to add pineapple to a pepperoni pizza.

A pretty sleepy cab ride back to Central followed, getting us back home just in time for my legs/entire body to start to seize up. I could barely walk for the next 3 days!

Here is the Strava link



A bumpy day



TL;DR - An enjoyable 25km trail run, pretty hot day, happy with time given the lack of training. Could barely walk for days.

Doing it again?! (Part II)

Having done this before, I come into the challenge of doing the Tour de Force 2013 with my eyes very much wide open, but for those of you that were unfortunate enough to miss the blogging back in 2010 (or being subjected to approximately 80% of my chat for that entire year), it is worth setting out again exactly what it involves.

The Tour de Force is a charity event created by and for the William Wates Memorial Trust and is their main annual fundraising event. It offers mere mortals the opportunity to cycle all 21 stages of the Tour de France route, staying 7 days ahead of the professionals and finishing approx. 3500 km later, in Paris. The majority of cyclists participating ride a ‘Tour Taster’ package of between two and nine days – a true test of stamina, on average burning 7000 calories a day – with stages ranging from the shorter, flatter time-trial stage to those with 30km climbs, 12% hill gradients and up to five mountains! A smaller number of cyclist (‘lifers’) will take on the staggering challenge of completing the entire route.

The Tour de France 2013....

I was a lifer in 2010 and know first-hand what an awe-inspiring, and rewarding, challenge that is! However, having completed the full route in 2010 I was originally looking for new (cycling related) challenges. I had signed up for the Cent Cols Challenge (Pyrenees) in 2011, but the move to Hong Kong made it a logistical nightmare. There were a few trips that I contemplated in Asia, but the opportunity to travel to so many amazing new places, and not enough holiday, meant that beaches and diving holidays largely trumped cycling holidays. A UK return date during 2013 had meant that I was seriously considering having a crack at the Cent Cols Challenge (Dolomites).

All the while a good friend and Hong Kong cycling mate, Dan, was in my ear about perhaps getting involved in the Tour de Force 2013, if not for all of it (as he planned to do), then at least for a ‘Taster’. I wanted to get involved, but equally wanted to try something different (and doing just some of it after having done all of it previously felt like a bit of an easy option), so I sat on the fence for a long time.

Ultimately, the decision to commit to doing as much of the Tour de Force as possible was made shortly after Dan's sudden and tragic death last October, where his heart stopped just a metre before the finish line of the HK international triathlon. This cause is personal to me (and to each of the Hong Kong pariticipants) as having not only been there on the day, and seen just how sudden and unexpected it was, Dan was such a fabulously great and generous guy with so much more to give. Losing Dan has been an indescribable loss for all of his family and friends and somehow taking part in the Tour de Force in his memory, and raising money for the charity set up in his name (more on which to follow), seems fitting. A large contingent from London, including his brothers, will also be riding in his memory.

A good group of Hong Kongers, with a diverse mix of cycling pedigree, have all committed to taking part in the Tour de Force to varying degrees. Vicky, Caroline and Nic will be doing the final stage and will ride into Paris and take part in the final day celebrations. PT and Janice will be joining from stage 18 for the trilogy of mountain stages and the finish in Paris. JK (Dan’s girlfriend and my principal training partner in Hong Kong) and I will be starting in Givors for stage 15 and riding all the way to Paris, taking in Mt Ventoux and the Alps along the way.

It is really only work commitments (plus a two week honeymoon!), and some uncertainty at the time about my potential return date from Hong Kong, that prevented me committing to the entire thing again (not being inclined to do things by halves where possible) - however, things being as they are, of all the Tour Tasters available Tour Taster 8, the one JK and I have gone for, is definitely the most challenging. The Tour is all about the epic mountain stages, right?

Doing it again?! (Part I)

So, after almost three years of complete radio silence, I have decided to try and kick start this blog again. I am sure the lack of activity has left a huge hole in the readerships’ lives….for that I can only apologise. Please start checking back more frequently.

You would assume that the lack of reporting on here is indicative of a dearth of interesting events to report over the past few years. That couldn’t be further from the truth, but the working assumption is that they were of little interest outside of my immediate circle… perhaps they still are.

Since finishing the Tour de Force in 2010 many things have happened. Most immediately, I finally had an operation on the collarbone that was broken for the duration of those three weeks in France, only to find upon opening me up, and much to the surgeons embarrassment, that it had fully healed and the proposed bone graft and pinning was no longer necessary. A result of sorts.

Probably the biggest event, and that which has shaped much of the ‘lost years’, has been Vicky and I moving to Hong Kong. [EDIT: we also got married, which I am informed should also be mentioned here]

Life in Hong Kong has presented lots of interesting opportunities, many of an eating, drinking and junking variety, but also a surprisingly diverse range of sporting and outdoors activities too! Given the purpose of this blog is not to document my social life I will spare you those details and focus on the healthier aspects of Hong Kong.

Although Hong Kong is regarded as one of the world's great cities (and it really is!), out of the total 1,092 km² of land, about three-quarters is actually (usually very hilly) countryside. That coupled with the fact that the water/beach is never far away and the consistently better weather than the UK makes it a great place to spend a lot of time outdoors.

Wakeboarding at Tai Tam, HK

Since we have been in Hong Kong I (and Vicky) have spent a lot of time wakeboarding, hiking, cycling, competing in aquathons and triathlons (in Hong Kong and further afield), half-marathons, trail running and even some swimming.

Paragliding in Bali

Whilst I may touch on some of the other events or activities I will be undertaking over the coming months, the primary focus of this blog is cycling and will be to document why I am doing (some) of the Tour de Force again in July 2013, my training leading up to it and then the event itself.

You can expect upcoming blog entries to include, training ride reports, the challenges of cycling/training in Hong Kong, planned cycling holidays/trips, Strava (and not Garmin Connect), some of the more geeky power meter related elements of my training (it is genuinely interesting, I promise), how to fight back the urge to kill yourself when using a turbo trainer, a short series on the “Hills (or more like Walls) of Hong Kong”, Mt Ventoux (the TdF and beyond), my new (modestly priced) custom built frame and perhaps even a short film (or two).

Hopefully it will be interesting enough to secure more regular readers than just my mother (I do need to call you more often, I know) and my (understanding) wife. I actually enjoyed reading back over some of my older blog entries from 2010, so if nothing else, I can look forward to a similar experience at some point in 2016…