V2XS

Winter adventure in a Quatrelle?

I find the January-February season in this part of the world to be less enjoyable that the rest of the year – it’s cold, dark and everyone seems to be hibernating. We are often blessed with great Autumn weather that sometimes seems to keep going almost until the festive season.

But once Christmas has been and gone it is back to cold reality and awaiting the first signs of Spring. For the last couple of years I have taken to being away as much as possible over this period and plans are afoot for 2020.

My old mate Dougie from the UK and myself are planning some sort of motorbike trip South in early January, with the current favourite being to fly to Morocco and do a motorbike tour on rented bikes. That still leaves several weeks unaccounted for.. For the last two years I have been away for a week with Alexander and Georgina (Pod and Gij) to Morocco (Agadir and Marrakesh). When we were there last year we got caught up in the final stage of the Renault 4L Trophy. This is a humanitarian rally/raid open to students which involves taking a prepared Renault 4 down through France and Spain and across the Moroccan desert to deliver educational supplies to schools. They usually have over a thousand entrants.

This sowed the seed of an idea – why not buy a Renault 4 and do a trip to Morocco?
How hard can it be?
Unfortunately the actual Trophy event is only open to students up to 28 years of age so I’m excluded. But we could still follow some of the route…

Went to look at a Renault 4 today (see pic above), which is a possibility but it has no CT and would require a lot of work. Need to look at some more to get a better feel for the cars…

Very early start – left house at 7am – half hour ride 25Km to get there.

John and Dave arrived as well – from the Lot of Bikes crew – John seems to be the focal point as everyone meets at his place and he has a motocross track in the garden – he organised the Treasure Hunt. Used to race speedway in the UK. Both MUCH faster and hugely more experienced than me. However, John’s knee was swollen so he was happy to stick to the “easy” route.

Loads of people there – at a guess about 200 and loads with Quads, some of the buggy/pottering type but quite a lot of racy looking machines. John had been before and suggested an early start to avoid traffic and getting caught up with quads which are fast on some bits but slow and hard to overtake on others.

The easy route was the default and marked in Blue, with some detours for bikes only (too narrow for quads). Then there were some red routes which were billed as OK for a rider with plenty of experience. Then there were the black routes declared to be challenging even for the experienced. And there was one extreme black route for the very brave which they said had spotters placed along the track to help catch you when it went wrong.

The starting procedure was to form a queue, then the front 8 or so were coralled – a mix of every type and released, then the same again at 5 min intervals or so. We were the second group away.

All OK until I took a wrong turn into a red route by mistake. Steep hill climb, got nervous so sat down (now my approach – get up the hill anyway regardless of style) but that immediately lightens the front, then hit a rock and lifted the front wheel heading off the track into a tree. Just missed it and stopped and managed to get going again with people queing behind. Doh!

Paid more attention after that. John and Dave were running ahead – as usual I found that to keep in touch with them I was going faster than my limit and making mistakes, so I just went at my pace (which seems pretty bloody quick to me) and caught them up every now and again. Then they disappeared….

I was following the blue arrows but didn’t catch up with them.

Went past a refreshment stop which may have been half way, but they weren’t there so carried on. I was now one of the front runners (but didn’t realise). Came up behind a quad who had stopped and the trail was clearly marked but someone had put a wire across. Another bike turned up with some pliers and cut through the wire and we carried on.

Went wrong a couple of times but soon realised and retraced my route to pick up the arrows. Then at one point the arrows stopped and no clear way to turn so I stopped for a break. Then John turned up and explained they had got lost, which is why I never saw them. Dave had lost it going through some ruts and fallen heavily and brused his ribs so had retired early.

Other people arrived at the same spot with no arrow and set off down each of the options to try to pick up the trail which they did and we carried on.

About 65Km in total nearly all off road and about 3 hours. Had quite a few near misses but didn’t actually fall off.

As usual when reflecting on these rides I’m just so impressed with the bike – such a capable machine and perfect for the job.

Hybrid/Trials rear not perfect on any loose stuff but worked pretty well. An enduro knobby would probably have been better but I didn’t think there would be so much loose/soil type going.

Quite a few woods sections with non stop tight S bends, weaving in and out of trees. Not something I’m familair with and hard to go at any speed. Was overtaken by one fast guy and he just flowed through them.

Had started to develop blisters again after my ride last week with Adam so was using the “palm savers” that I bought. They worked as the blisters are OK but they add bulk so I have to hold on tighter and the sensitivity to the controls is not as good. They cover the palm as well which I don’t need – just the bottoms of the fingers. Going to try taping my hands next time to see if that works.

Impressed with my fitness level – was able to do the whole thing, mostly standing up and was OK. Running/cycling good for the legs. My grip endurance is also better – been doing some exercises for that and the rowing machine should help.

Goggles steaming up – in slow stuff with high exertion – the slalom in the woods- the goggles mist up. Need to look at the options to fix that.

‘Tis the season of the Fêtês, when every little village digs out the long tables and benches, usually stored by the Mairie in an abandoned barn or church, goes hunting for the bunting and gets ready to party! But this isn’t about those because there are other events that take place over the summer of a more musical nature and here are just three of them from July this year…

CSF Picnic

This musical evening was in aid of Cancer Support France. The weather was wonderful, the food was great (well it was if you had packed something nice in your picnic basket), but the stars of the evening were the numerous talented musicians that provided the entertainment. The Free Drinks Band, Rag Mama Rag, Neil Innes, Gaynor PUGH and many more…

Stanley Sisters – Saux

The Chateau d’Aix near Saux hosts a Marche Gourmande every Wednesday evening in the height of summer, with various vendors offering food and the Chateau supplying the wine. An additional attraction is the musical entertainment that is always provided. In this case by The Stanley Sisters…

Le Boulve Garden Party

This evening garden party was another “bring a picnic” event. The stars of the musical entertainment were The Stanley Sisters (again) and a Sax Quartet. At the end of the evening all the musicians and singers got together to perform an unrehearsed rendition of Baker Street.

I’ve always had some connection with push bikes – from the early days having to cycle to school each day. I even had one at University in Durham and used to cycle in from Langley Moor when it was too wet for the motorbike.

I did quite a bit of running when living in Sussex but got into mountain biking when I had some issue with my knee. First MTB was a Specialized Stump Jumper – front suspension only and V brakes (rim brakes). This was fine, but as I used to ride in all conditions I found the brakes limiting in wet/muddy conditions. So wanted to upgrade (like you do) to a bike with discs and full suspension (as that was supposed to be better) – that was an Ellsworth Isis (a £3k bike when new) which I had for 20+ years and only recently sold. In retrospect I think the frame size was a bit big for me and I didn’t really need the full suspension. In the old days I used to time my routes and have heart rate monitor etc and it was faster than the hardtail, but only because you could sit down and keep power on over roughish ground. Brakes were great though.

Over here I did some MTB stuff but for some reason switched to road riding and put some road tyres on it.

Then when my American friend Roger GALE was selling up I found my self the owner of a “racer” – a Specialized Allez Sport with ridiculously thin tyres running at bullet hard pressures, loads of gears, drop handlebars, alloy frame and carbon fork. A kind of upper entry level road bike. Compared to the MTB this was a revelation – much lighter and easier to climb hills – but the most surprising thing was that it was more comfortable so it was easier to ride longer and further. Doesn’t make a lot of sense as everything about the road bike is stiffer and harder. Maybe just the design and I think the frame size (Medium) seemed to fit me better.

Have been using it quite a bit recently as I’m trying to keep up some sort of exercise regime and it’s too hot for running – I even find cycling cooler than walking in this 40 degree heat.

Things I don’t like about it…

It’s dangerous !
Because
1. all riding is on the road (traffic risk)
and
2. in my normal riding position (on top of the bars) it is not an instant grab to get on the brakes and when you do they have some effect on the speed of the bike, but not much.
As usual I’ve been looking at other options…

There seem to be a hybrid category of bike (sometimes called trainer or fitness bikes) which are similar to a racer but have MTB style flat bars and conventional at your fingertips controls – and are available with disc brakes. They also tend to have bigger rims and tyres.
I should add that my interest in riding is just as another form of exercise (that can be fun as well) and I never just go out for a ride – I always head to someone’s house or a cafe and then come back – typically half an hour each way (Prayssac) – Montcuq is 45mins and I think Cahors might be an hour.

So I’ve specced my new hybrid bike –

Lighter than an MTB – no suspension, not as many gears.

Easier to ride than a racer – flat bars, more upright, fatter tyres.

Plus disc brakes.

Seems like a great concept to me but doesn’t seem to be catching on…

When to a dealer today to check out frame sizes etc. They had loads of bikes in stock except the hybrid model I was interested in, but they did have one in for servicing that we looked at. Decided on spec and size and put it into their system – not available in my size in the whole of France. Possibly an issue with the French being generally smaller the XL frame size is hard to find.

Getting one shipped over from the UK…

Bike arrived more or less OK – broken reflector on one of the wheels and a couple of small dings in one wheel rim.

Looks amazing – carbon frame which looks black but is very dark purple. Other features…
Flat bars – more upright and comfortable riding position
Right size frame
1 x 11 speed gears – no front cogs to mess about with
Disc brakes
Hybrid tyres – not as chunky as MTB but a lot bigger than the “racer” rubber bands
Shock absorbing spring built into the headset

For low rolling resistance and minimum effort maintaining speed the old bike was better – mainly due to the tyres, for everything else this one is brilliant. Fantastic brakes, comfortable riding position, no bent neck, one set of gears – no fiddling about changing chain rings I’ve only used gears 4-11 (11 is top gear). Much better cornering and confidence on the bigger tyres. Better ride.
And a fantastic gear change – just flick, click, next gear – seems to be assisted going up and down. No fiddling about just click and go.