Properly closing CCC

In English, so that the friends I’ve made in the past ten days can read it as well:-)

What a journey it has been…104 cols in 10 days of cycling in the Pyrenees. It would have been 106, if it wasn’t for the Tourmalet being canceled (no regrets at all given the circumstances), and me not going up Pla d’Adet anymore on that same day.
After this unforgettable trip, I feel I should properly thank a number of people who have made this trip to what it was. First of all of course race organizer Philip Deeker. An extraordinary cyclist, strong, that knows his routes by heart. His drive and motivation is legendary, and he is the one making it all happen. I’m happy to believe him if he says that some people of the CCC Pyrenees group 1 (I was in group 2, that started ten days after the first) declared official hatred towards him on some of the climbs, but to be honest, although at times it surely was a bit over the top, I never once felt like this. On the contrary, I could only feel this enormous gratitude towards him and his wife Claire (who signposted the entire route!), for making sure all we had to care about was riding our bikes and enjoying the beautiful scenery. I have to admit, I would never ride up 4-5-6 cols in one day on my own, but in such a group, with arrows showing you where to go and people around you that love cycling just as much as I do, you just go for it, col after col, no matter how hard and long it may be.


Next, much respect for both the strongest and the less faster riders. Jen, Kelvin & Scott (thanks again for the Jack Daniels buff!) never lost their motivation, although I believe on average they spend around 2 hours more in the saddle per day then I did, I therefore honestly consider their performance bigger than mine. Talking of performance, I have never seen riders ride up cols the way Mike & Tim did. As I said during the trip as well, these two were really “Hors catégorie”, in a league of their own! Lenny for me personally was untouchable as well, although I did manage to only finish 1 second behind him on the Burdinolatze, a beautiful climb in the mist in Basque Country.


What I consider to be the “core-peloton” also deserves a special mention here: “Patron” David, Jonathan, Dave & Dan (Team Pill, of which my membership application is pending) & Stuart. All very strong riders, that stayed together most of the trip and often caught up with me after an early “breakaway”, or that happily took me along when I had rough moments. It has been a pleasure guys!

Bob (lives in Sienna Italy, always wearing a very nice Italian kit but suffered from a bad achilles) ,“Doctor” Dave (this year’s oldest participant if I’m not mistaken) and Chris (experienced Audax rider) often left well before dawn to tackle the challenge ahead in their own pace, but once again, this deserves even more respect to my mind. Bob surprised me in the last days, by being able to keep up with the fast group if the climbs were no steeper than 5%. Great performance!

Andy, thanks for fixing my bike whenever something went wrong (and unfortunately my rear wheel did give you a lot of work), and buying the stuff I needed. We couldn’t have wished for a better mechanic/motivator when things got rough. Your hints & tips on what was to come were also always nice to hear!

Doctors Sophie & John, thank you for standing by should anything happen, and Lee & Helen from Claud the Butler, thank you for those wonderful meals, always 100% adapted to our needs! Delicious hot soup on cold days, refreshing yet strengthening salads on hot days,… A cyclist’s engine needs fuel, no matter what, but the meals you prepared where much more than just an escape from the waffles;-). The fact that you always tried to serve us some sort of local specialty was much appreciated as well! And of course the relaxed chat when we were filling yet another plate was a welcome pause in between the col-climbing as well;-).

On a personal note, although Strava might show otherwise, I consider myself to have finished fourth. I think over the past ten days overall, I was the fourth best climber. In the second week, I fought out some fierce battles with Rob (which I all lost, although rarely with a big time difference), but I had clearly distanced him already in the first week. These battles with Rob also gave me a comfortable margin on Paul, who seemed to become my closest competitor in the first week. I have to add that both of these gentlemen are well over 40, and I can only hope that I’ll still be as strong and motivated to race as they are when I’m at that age. In addition, both Rob and Paul did ride up the Pla d’Adet after that horrible stage 6 over the freezing Aubisque, and therefore will finish in front of me in the Strava standings, since they did one climb more than me. I’m very happy with my performance overall, especially since particularly in the first few days, I found it very difficult to still race up cols after already having spent a couple of hours in the saddle. Also, my legs, back and neck hurt like hell in those first days. Strangely enough, that feeling went away as of day 5, but slowly but surely it made place for overall fatigue. On days 9 and ten, racing or just keeping the pace up became very hard, and I hope this can still be improved by training and aging, and events like these;-). But in all honesty, this event was about a whole lot more than racing!
Last but not least, a personal word of gratitude towards roomie Mike. We had some great laughs, put up some hairdryer-constructions that would make many engineers jealous, but most of all, I feel I should thank you for making the trip so easy on the mental front. Watching movies or just sharing cycling & not-cycling related stories & experiences was the ideal way to relax and get ready for the next day. Thank you Mike, you truly are a wonderful person and a phenomenal athlete and I feel privileged I got to know you!


In the good spirit of British Humour (cfr; Dan, who held on to saying “Well done Dave”, when the group of David Evans, David Ward & Doctor Dave arrived on the breaks), let me end this closing blogpost on the CCC Pyrenees by saying that I felt “like a Guinea-fowl in the water” in this group, I often “slept like a rose” and some of the cols made me “sweat like a rapist” (or was that a horse? Or a pig?).

Thanks guys! I’m pretty sure it will take some times before everything is given a proper place in my memory, where it will stay for a very long time!