This is the blog of the 2012 Road 2 Rouen Charity cycle by St Joan of Arc Catholic School Rickmansworth in aid of the Udayan children’s centre in Calcutta, India.
To read more about the Charity and to donate to you favourite team member visit www.justgiving.com/teams/road2rouen
Follow this blog to stay up-to-date with news posts and pictures from the training sessions and tour.
Here are the tour stats courtesy of Strava…
Day 1
Distance: 92.7 miles
Climbed: 3765 feet
Moving Time: 6 hrs 9 mins
Average Speed: 15.1 mph
Max Speed: 43.9 mph
Day 2
Distance: 58.0 miles
Climbed: 1840 feet
Moving Time: 3 hrs 51 mins
Average Speed: 15.1 mph
Max Speed: 43.7 mph
Day 3
Distance: 56.5 miles
Climbed: 2121 feet
Moving Time: 3 hrs 49 mins
Average Speed: 16.1 mph
Max Speed: 41.2 mph
Day 4
Distance: 70.9 miles
Climbed: 2732 feet
Moving Time: 4 hrs 35 mins
Average Speed: 15.5 mph
Max Speed: 52.1 mph
Overall
Distance: 278.1 miles
Climbed: 10,368 feet
Moving Time: 18 hrs 24 mins
Average Speed: 15.45 mph
Max Speed: 52.1 mph
First I should explain what I did say: When the Tour De France cyclists pass the crowds they shout ‘Allez!’ meaning ‘Go!’ in French. We’ve used this term a lot over the past four days to encourage and spur on each other on. I should have said more after this but the sudden rush of emotion – a combination of gratitude and immense fatigue – meant that I wrapped up there, to which Mr D’Urso said “we couldn’t shut him up all week!”
If I had been brave enough to cry in front of so many people, this is what I should have said:
Thank you for such a reception. What WE as a community have achieved is amazing. Before we have supported Udayan in many ways including buying bunk beds for the kids to sleep on, sending teachers to teach English and stocking their library with books. But this time we’ve done it differently.
In the past when we’ve raised money it’s been for something specific or to help some of our students go out to visit. This time we will be simply putting a cheque of around £8000 into the hands of James, who founded the centre, to use however it may help the children best!
St Paul wrote that the most important things in life are faith, hope and love.
So there is one ‘Allez!’ For faith – that our belief in Jesus would cause us to continually think of the needs of others.
There is one ‘Allez!’ for hope – that we would never believe we can’t make a difference, even when your doubters try to stop you.
And there is an ‘Allez!’ For love – a deep rooted love of our fellow human beings that will cause us to persevere in good works until there is an end to poverty and injustice or Jesus returns to end it himself!
So may our Road 2 Rouen (Ruin) be another’s road to life.
Vive Le Tour!
ALLEZ! ALLEZ!! ALLEZ!!!
Liam
After a shaky start negotiating the back roads of Portsmouth we’re back on track. The legs are heavy but determination is pushing the pedals and we’re just about on track to make it home for 3pm the weather has started to turn which may slow the pace so we’re not in the clear yet!
Portsmouth
Havant
Horndean
Finchdean
Buriton
Petersfield
Liss
Borden
Alice Holt Forest
Farnham
Farmborough
Frimley
Bagshot
Sunningdale
Ascot
Windsor
Eton
Slough
Gerards Cross
Denham
Mill End – St Johns
Rickmansworth – St Joan’s
Vive Le Tour!!!
Follow the link below to the article on the Road 2 Rouen departure. Please Lobby them with request for information how we got on so we get a follow-up story.
With three days of the tour complete and only 70 miles between us and victory, morale in the camp is high. Energy however is not although we managed to put the pedals down extra hard to get our average speed up to 16.1mph. The weather helped with a day of beautiful autumnal sun, minimal showers and good tarmac!
The day began with the awarding of the Malliot Jauane (Yellow Jersey) to Mr D’Urso in honour of his birthday yet there was little time to celebrate – the road out of Rouen took a vertical turn early on.
Walsh confirmed himself as King of the Mountains with a domineering performance on every incline. Despite great efforts for all the others to dethrone Mr Walsh, the Pocket Rocket proved himself just to quick – we will be testing his ‘inhaler’!
For the bike geeks the below pic shows the route profile (grey peaks) with average speed (blue line). The cups at the bottom mean I’m second best rider to have graced those climbs (using Strava!).
Now time for a nap, some dinner then sleep and a huge day tomorrow.
Vive Le Tour!
Allez! Allez!
If you like your cycling then this post is for you! If not…
Cycling in France has been great. Not only do the people seem more accustomed to seeing groups of cyclists, motorists give ‘toots’ of encouragement and waves when they eventually get past.
The roads them selves are better in France then at home. Even the rural roads have very fine tarmac from curb to curb allowing a cyclist to always have good road no matter how wide they ride. With less rolling resistance we were able to up our average speed.
As for bikes everyone is riding an aluminium frame with carbon forks except for Walsh’s all carbon Focus. The German made Focus is also the only bike using the full range of Sram components (levers, brakes, mechs, cassette and freewheel). The Focus is by far the lightest bike and therefore it’s not surprising to see Walshy’s carbon wheels flying past on even the toughest climb including Day 2’s Category 4 ‘Route de Duclair’ which featured in this year’s Tour De France.
Specialized are the most popular brand in the peleton with three bikes: D’Urso’s Secteur and McLaughlin and I both on Allezs; 2013 Elite and a 2010 16 respectively. Simpson and Sweeney are both on Cannondales whilst Mr Reilly is riding a Scott.
Despite the all-Shimano set ups of most the bikes, the majority of riders have opted for Sram Power-Link chains for their ease of use, although Walsh still needed to use a chain tool to release his on Day 2. Other than that none of the bikes have presented any technical issues at all.
I’ve been the only one to experience any tyre issues. On our last training ride before R2R my front went, and at the start of Day 2 it was my rear that blew. I’m not sure whether to blame my ‘apparently’ impenetrable, Kevlar-lined Specialized All-Condition Armadillos as on inspection there are hundreds of holes in the tyres, many with debris in so to just have had two punctures perhaps I should be greatful?
Our riding style has also made a big impact on energy conservation. Without the luxury of a closed road to ride on full-peleton style we’ve been practising pace-lines as our type of drafting. What this means is that we are generally riding two abreast where the rider at the front of the inside line will drive forward and pull to the outside line allowing the next rider to do the same. In the outside line the rider can ease of the power allowing the rest of the team to pass on the inside. When at the back of the pack the rider will switch to the inside line and follow the rider in front until he is the front man and the ‘cycle’ begins again. This limits the amount of time each rider takes the full force of the head wind and also allows more active recovery whilst in the outside line.
Tres interesting, no?
Liam
Director Sportif
Having arrived in Rouen, a quick photo call for the team.
Mr. Walsh, having worn out one chain has a quick pit stop to put on a faster version!
There were less updates today as the awful weather kept us pushing on in the promise of a dry hotel room.
The day wasn’t without incident. Within 5 minutes we had a puncture. A broken chain followed. And the number of numpty* falls rose to 3.
To balance these misfortunes we demonstrated some excellent cycling technique with some pro-like drafting in pace lines in true peleton style.
A highlight of the day was riding a long climb passing over the still-visible writing on the road from this year’s Tour De France. Much needed motivation at the end of a long wet day!
Now back to hair-dryer-ing the shoes and gloves before we start all over again!
Thankfully the sun is now shining in Rouen so we can enjoy the sites of St Joan before and early bed time and the return leg… spoke too soon, now it’s hail stones!
Allez! Allez! Vive Le Tour!!!
*Numpty Fall – falling because the cyclist could get their feet out of the pedals before the moment of inertia!
The Road 2 Rouen 