Staziker Jones

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Matt's Peugeot Single Speed, finally!

A little project to build myself a single speed 'hack' for my daily commute has taken a little longer than anticipated, but here it is finally after two years! Built from an old 90's Peugeot road bike I stripped it down, resprayed it and got my good mate Ade at Fresh to apply some very retro looking graphics. I tried to keep the components as simple and 'old school' as possible getting most of these from the nice bunch at VeloSolo. I rode it today for the first time and thank goodness, it didn't fall apart!

 

SNOW!

Well we've all just about made it into the office today and now the snow has stopped and the sun has snuck out, it looks great outside. One glass of wine down already with smells of Matt's cooking wafting from kitchen, we're all set for a snowed-in Friday.

In the footsteps of giants

Back in March I suggested that I might be taking on the Mt Ventoux (the Giant of Provence) on a bicycle. Anyone who knows anything about the sport will know of its mythical appeal and how it has broken many a rider, even killed the odd one (sorry Tommy!), GULP!! True to my word I gave it all I got a couple of weeks ago and have lived to tell the tale. 

We hired bikes in Bédoin at the bottom of the climb. Mine came from a gaff at the very start of the designated start/timing point before everything starts to go 23km upwards. The bike matched my kit beautifully although it wasn’t planned, honest! The early few km’s lure you into a false sense of security, easy gradient, vineyards, plenty of other jolly riders saying bonjour and smiling! And then you go round a bend and it all just starts to go upwards. The gradient averages around 9% kicking up to around 11% in places. Riding the bottom half of the climb through the trees is lovely and cooling but I took off at my usual rhythm and found myself struggling a bit. I was riding with my mate Stéphane who is very experienced on a mountain bike and he completely slowed me down to a much more manageable pace. This was a revelation, I was able to keep going, AND breath and actually felt quite comfortable. I had had a huge steak and pasta the night before, had bought myself an energy gel and bar and was surviving on pure adrenalin and excitement. We weren’t racing so I was happy with the slow comfortable pace. We made it out of the woods and had a sit at Chalet Reynard before taking on the lunar landscape to the summit. This was the worst part of the ride in that you could see the weather station, almost touch it, but we still had another 7km to go. By this time my back was giving me grief and we were both suffering from uncomfortable standard issue saddles! I’d also envisaged a much easier gradient on this section but it still snuck up to 10.2% in places. We stopped for picture taking a couple of times and to ease the ache and finally made it up in around 2.5 hours. I felt exhilarated at the top, I’m not a super fit man by any stretch and I certainly couldn’t have done it without Stéphane and a triple chain ring! 

We had a small breather at the top with all the other riders and tourists. A cold beer would have done the trick but all we could buy was cake and Haribos, not what I wanted! The decent was fun, that took just over 20mins at between 50 and 70km/h. I couldn't go any faster because I was stuck behind a Brit in a car who was obviously enjoying the views. I was pretty happy though, I'd made it up in one piece and I didn't want to kill myself on the way down. We had that beer in Bédoin, probably the best beer I'd ever tasted. Phew!

 

 
 

Velo-dramatic

Anyone who knows our Matt knows that he is a little bit passionate about his bike, and cycle racing (watching, not doing. Too old!). Last Saturday saw the pilgrimage to the velodrome in Manchester for a nights track racing with the likes of Sir Chris Hoy (see below) and Victoria Pendleton. Amazing stuff if you're in to that sort of thing. He has also just committed to a week in Provence this summer to try and get his tired body up the Mont Ventoux, one of the legendary climbs that frequently features in the Tour de France. Watch this  space for medical reports!