Start spreadin the news.... NY NY

Few shots from our trip to NY in Sept to catch up with AY and Sal, Nat, Ev and Elliot...

View from the top of the Rock, Rockafella Centre

Row ya boat in Central Park

Team dinner out

Elliot and Mum and Dad. He's a v cute little man!

and hangin out at the shake shack w auntie Em

The boys with "the naked cowboy" in Times Square

subway girls

subway boys

Ev found a good place to change Elliot...

View on the walk across the Brooklyn Bridge

Statue of liberty

Its business.....

Sicily - team fockerball Aug 08

etape 2008....check

Heres a pretty long account of our trip to the Pyraneese to do the Etape du Tour back in July. If your not into cycling, might be best just to check out the pics...


The boys pre-ride:Thomo, Ian, Tom, Billo, Gav and Dickow


pre race shave-down..

After a massive carb fest cooked up by em and annabel and a last minute decision to shave the legs to get into the spirit we woke at 4.30am to the sound of heavy rain! so all our well laid plans over the last 6 months were sort of thrown into disarray with the realisation that we hadnt bought rainjackets! Suddenly our pink and white lycra outfit choice wasnt looking too appropriate either! After some last minute kit adjustments, i filled my jersey with 9 gels, 6 energy bars and 7 drink sachets to keep the energy levels up during the ride and we were in the car on our way to the start line. 7000 riders decended on the smallish french town of Pau and despite it being just 5.30am the roads were packed with riders on flashy bikes all making last minute adjustments (and impromtue toilet stops!) before the ride kicked off from the Pau Hippodrome.

At 6am the first gun went off for the start but we didnt get going till about 6.45am, only 163kms to go... Thomo stuck in a bike traffic jam

Despite the constant rain, it was a great feeling to be finally on our way riding in a 7000 person peleton on smooth roads with no traffic. The first 100km's went realy well, i was riding with Thomo and Billo, there wern't many hills and we had all avoided punctures (we saw people get punctures as early as the first 500m of the race!).

Stopping for some mid race provisions provided by Annabel and Em in the team support car

We had been taking it realtively easy in order to try and save ourselves for the 2 big mountains coming up and after 100kms and 3 1/2 hrs riding the first one finally arrived, the Tourmalet.

The Tourmalet as it normally looks (without the cloud!) the day before the race

It was a wierd feeling as soon as you start climbing beacuse suddenly all the noise that had been going on for the previous 4 hours suddenly stopped, no chatting between riders, no gear changes (we were all in our bottom gears!), no bikes whizzing by, just an eiry quietness as hundereds of riders pushed themselves against the steep 8-12% slopes. The first few ks felt good and i was surprised and spurred on by how many people i was passing, but after 10ks my legs were starting to feel the burn! The number of people walking their bikes started to increase, and the temptation to join them increased with it! But i was pretty determined to make it to the rest stop 3kms from the top. The mist and rain also made it hard to keep going, as there were no distractions and you had no idea how many more corners you had to go.when i finally got to the old ski station at La Mongie it was chaos, people everywhere trying to get energy drinks, bananna's and sandwiches, and bikes and bodies scattered all over the place. i grabbed a bananna and drink and collapsed on a heap on the floor for some rest.

The next 3 kms to the top felt like it took forever, but finally i made it to the top... and i was stuffed! after a 5 minute break stretched into 15 i decided it was time to take on the decent.

Dickow at the top

I was pretty disapointed in how long i'd wasted on my 2 stops and was determined to make up some time. Easily said, but with just a little guard rail seperating you from a steep rocky drop off the side of the mountain it takes a while to get your confidence up! But the hardest part wasnt the corners but the temperature. After 5 hours riding i was saturated and the temp at the top of the Tourmalet wouldnt have been much above 5 degrees, so as we decended all i could think about was how cold it was! As we got further down the mountain the roads started to straigthen out and the speed increased. At one point i got up to 75 kph, but was quickly bought back to earth when 2 frenchies flew past me at what must have been at least 85. Apparently the pro's get close to 100kpm!I managed to find a mid sized peleton at the bottom of the Tourmalet and sat on the back and slipstreamed to try and save energy for the last climb. I knew i needed to keep eating and drinking to get energy on board for the last mountain the Hautacam but the taste of the my 5th choc chip energy bar of the day was starting to loose its appeal and i was so sick of the sickly sweet taste of my energy drink and gels.

Having said that i was quite enjoying the scenery as we cruised through the valley, with rock cliffs on one side and a beatiful river running down the other side, and more importantly not needing to peddle very hard and getting sucked along by the peleton .

the picturesque ride along the valley

Just as i started to feel better the Hautacam came into sight. The crowds of spectators started to grow and the early part of the climb made u feel like a pro with people either side of the road chering you on. The excitement of being almost there was dampened pretty quickly though as the road steepened. The Hautacam is a bit shorter at just 16kms but way steeper than the Tourmalet and the signs on the side of the road that tell you the gradient of the next km are pretty deceptive. We rode past one sign that said next km av 12%, thats fine except for when you start going downhill for the for the first 200m and realise that the next 800m is going to be much steeper than 12%!Despite having to stop twice for cramps in my legs i finally got to the 1km to go mark and found a sudden burst of energy and stood up on the pedals the whole way to the end. It was a great feeling to ride under the finish banner and be finally done! 168kms, over 2600m of climbing and 8 and a bit hours later its all over!

almost there..

Despite the sore legs and a mild case of hypathermia it was definately a great day.

It was great to see everyone at the end and we had a great night eating high fat food and chatting about all the highs and lows of the day.The next week the pro's took on the same course in the Tour De France with Cadel Evans taking the yellow jersey after completing it around 3.5 hours faster than us!

Bring on la Marmotte 2009!

http://www.sportingtours.co.uk/events/marmotte.html

Portugal with the Youngs

Just came back from a week in Portugal with Sal and Andy Young. Here's a little highlights vid courtesy of AY....

3 weeks to go!

Just 3 weeks to go till the Etape de tour!

Here's a few photos from our weekend away to the Sierra Nevada in the south of Spain to stay at our friend Annabels mum's beautifull hillside villa and do a bit of hill training with Tom (Annabels husband and fellow etaper), while the girls did a bit of tanning!

On the first day we decided we would take on the Sierra Nevada ski station. We climbed from 700m above sea level to 3,200m over 45km of near constant riding uphill. it was pretty tough work near the top as the altitude made it really hard to beathe once we got past the ski lifts. Our plan was to ride over the top but we ended up losing the road 400m short of the peak as it was totally covered in snow, and although we tried hiking through the snow to re find the road higher up/on the other side of the mountain, the sight of all the other hikers around in full mountain kit with ski poles and balaclavas while we were taking it on with lycra shorts, bikes and cycling shoes kind of put us off!

The decent back down was amazing, it took us over 4hours to ride up but only 40 mins to ride back down! riding downhill for 40 mins with hardly any cars, a smooth road and a beautiful view is a phenominal experience.

Second day involved more climbing, a bit steeper and a bit shorter, but really hot! touched 30 degrees while we were out there which feels very hot when you have been living in the UK for a few years! and to finish it all off we spent the rest of the afternoon playing pool volleyball, not a bad way to spend the weekend!

First blog of 2008... better late than never!

It may already be April but better late than never for the first blog of 2008!
Here are a collection of pics from the months just gone including our trip back to Sydney, a weekend skiiing in Australia and a visit from the Don.

It's been a busy start to the year in all respects but life is good. The weather is finally warming up, daylight saving has begun, Gav's sister Lysh and her hubby Tim have arrived and are moving around the corner from us in London, and we have lots of visitors and Euro trips to look forward to in summer - so 2008 is looking good!

Drinks at the Opera Bar in Sydney. The sun decided to shine which was a bit of a treat as our 2 weeks back were pretty rainy and cloudy on the whole! Not cool after we were desperate to escape the long British winter!

One of the highlights of the trip home - seeing Em and Tom tie the knot. It was a very happy day. Em looked absolutely stunning and Tom looked fab too!

After all the talk we were keen to check out the new Shore Club in Manly. The combo of sea views, warm sea breeze, good drinks and great friends is definitely something we miss! Shared a cheeky cocktail there with the Dixons.

Was great to finally meet little James Fish. He's a pretty cool little guy and Clare is looking amazing as a new mum!

Lunch at The Bower.

Another big highlight of the trip was meeting our beautiful little baby niece, Amelia and of course catching up with her proud parents, Natalie and Matt. Big Uncle Gav makes her look very small!

Amelia at her christening with mum.

Managed to squeeze in a trip up to Copa and got to celebrate Warnsey's b'day with him.

Pre-wedding girls night out with Robbo.

Lunch at the Newport Arms with Em's parents and grandparents.

We were lucky enough to be treated to dinner at Tetsuyas for Merv's belated 60th. It was gud!

Gav went for a big bike ride with the boys. Starting at 5.30am in Manly to Etalong (near gosford), across to palmy on the ferry then back to manly! It was tough, especially after a late night at the opera bar the night before!

bit of off road riding...

waiting for the ferry

Onto our ski weekend in Austria....

The Austrian Ahlberg Alps were very pictureque and the snow was good. We stayed in a place called Lech and were able to ski both the resort of Lech and St Anton.

Trying to track down a bit of the fresh stuff.

Lunch on the mountain. Good schnitzel and beer!

The Austrians get really stuck into their apres-ski which makes for a great fun atmosphere and lots of singing, table-dancing and stein-drinking at about 4pm in the afternoon! It's crazy!

This is the way they serve and sell beer amongst the crowds outside the bar. This guy has to force his way through the crowds and actually take money/serve the beer while carrying this gigantic tray of drinks (Half litre steins, shots and gluwein!). Pretty bloody impressive!

Back to London... dinner out with the Don. I tried to find some other pics to post but they all involved too many bad blue steels and too many cocktails! Was really cool to spend some time with Kate in London.