El Journal de Jezza

Gerry Rosen joined the club in late 2007. As he'll remind you, he's a "big boned" London cabbie but he's also got the cycling bug. He's been chronicling his conversion to cycling, beginning from his first club run all the way to the Etape du Tour in 2008 and now beyond. In the latest installment, he explains why he's been on the road a lot, but in his cab, and why he's heading to Spain.

July 2010

To coin a phrase by the great Kingston Wheeler Historian, Roger Mitchell "its good 'ere innit!!"

Well that certainly is the phrase, when the Tour De France is town and as I sit here in the boiling hot Spanish sun on my last day before heading back to London tomorrow, its time to reflect on what has been an unforgettable five days.

Now last October when I had already made the decision to move to Spain, I was booking my flights for this summer, and it was also at the time the Tour De France 2010 route was announced, I thought to myself, hmm, if I could arrange it that I could be there at the same time......and with that in mind it was the best £60 I spent with easyjet (although whilst in France, easyjet cancelled my return flight, cheers sleezyjet).

My partner in crime for this trip was James B, both of us had super long journeys to get to the Pyrenees, I was travelling from the Costa Blanca in Spain, the journey should've taken 7 1/2 hours but thanks to my sat-nav, it took me 10(where's a cabby when you need one !!), the journey itself was rather boring, arid, dry etc, that was until the Pyrenees came into view,, to say I was speechless is an understatement. I had gone from almost 100 degree heat, arid dry land to cavernous mountains, pine forests, crystal clear, sapphire blue lagoon lakes it was simply breathtaking. The only thing left to do was the small matter of a 6000 metre tunnel to drive through and then I would be in France and more stunning views, well that's what I thought, because, when I reached the open air, I was greeted with thick fog, low clouds and a drop of 25c, what a shock, at least the sat nav was going to take me over the Col D'Aspin and give me a chance to see what the roads etc are like before I rode it the following day, wrong again, the Aspin was totally covered in fog and low cloud, the road was very narrow, full of TDF spectators camped out two days in advance of the tour arriving and of course cyclists,,, and finally at 4.30pm.10 hours after setting out from Spain I arrived at the Laurent Fignon Hotel, Relief !!

Now stupidly I agreed to take James to the start of the Etape at 5am on the Sunday, although not taking part, I wanted to be there for the atmosphere and buzz, because two years ago I took part in the Etape and it was an electric atmosphere, alas, I was still very tired, so decided to go back to the hotel instead and catch up on some zzzz'zs, because a few hours later I had a hot date with the Col D'AsPAIN !

So after a hearty breakfast and talking to some crazy Dutch guys who were going to tackle the Aspin, Peyresourde, back over the Aspin, and then Tourmalet .and so at 10am I set out on a journey to see how far backwards I'd gone, from two years ago. Then I'd done as much training as I could, taking too much time off from work, and now two years on reality has taken over, virtually no training etc. Yes, I have time on my hands in Spain and yes I do go out for rides, but they don't last long as it is ridiculously hot by 9am, we're talking over 30c, you wont see many other people out at this time of year, unless you go early, something that I know I need to address, but at the moment I cant seem to get to grips with, and then whilst I'm back in the UK, I have to work literally all the time as I try to cram in four weeks of work into two, so its a fine line.

Back to the Aspin, the journey from Bagneres-de-Bigorre, where the hotel is, to the Aspin is all uphill, so you get a very small work out, always in between valleys, wonderful scenery, then you arrive at the village of St Marie de Campan where you make the choice, bear off to the right and take the long road up the Tourmalet and kill yourself over 20k's of savagery or go straight on towards the Aspin, which is what I did, much more sensible and seeing as I've climbed the Tourmalet twice before, seemed more prudent. To be truthful it wasn't as bad as I thought, the first 6k's are relatively easy, its when you get past the open area with the camping site and tat shops and you see the right turn which ramps up away into the forest does it start to hurt, and then straight into the granny ring.

Unsurprisingly I had to stop, to catch my breath, surprisingly though, only twice and then to see the final K sign was a huge relief and then bingo, I had reached the top, did I really get there, with bugger all training, weight back on, not bad !!. To say I was chuffed is an understatement and thank Christ the weather was playing ball from the day before, gloriously sunny with views to die for, over to the top of the Tourmalet where my comrades from KW were climbing on the Etape. The journey back to the hotel was fun, as I passed car after car after car associated with Etape stuck in the endless traffic jam off the Tourmalet, now I know how you guys feel whilst commuting!

And so onto watching the TDF itself, now two years ago I was stuck in the middle of Hyde Park watching the prologue on a big screen, it was pretty good, but to actually watch it live was something else, We decided to watch the tour come through the town of Argeles-Gazost which as everyone knows is at the bottom of the Soulor, the atmosphere, the publicity caravan, the entourage, everything about it made for a truly electric atmosphere, the question I asked myself was, was it worth the wait for all of 2 or so minutes, whilst they came storming through? You'd better believe it!

And as James B rightly says, its all good and well taking pictures, but try and see the steely look on the faces and it paints a true reflection, I still can see the look on LA's face to this day ! and before you know it they're gone, oh well, straight back to the bar and watch the rest of the action, amazing what a small TV screen can do, it transfixed my eyes along with everyone else in the bar,, now normally I wouldn't last two minutes watching live cycling, as 99%of the time it bores me to death, usually for me its just the highlights, but this day Bagneres-de-Luchon to Pau stage 16, was something else, was it the buzz?, I don't know. But what an awesome day Back on the bike tomorrow!!

"So what do you fancy riding tomorrow? "was the question James asked over dinner that night "well I've unfinished business up the Hautacam", but then I soon realised I climbed it on a recce trip before, so scoured the internet and decided on -Ardiden, after riding up the Aspin on the Sunday, which was akin to riding in RP on a busy Sunday with traffic, I wanted a dead end mountain to finish with. The pictures looked nice and all that, well all I can say is, OUCH!!, there is no let up in this climb with the gradients to match, coupled with the fact that the weather was not good after an overnight storm, very low clouds and fog, breathing was at a premium and when your on the big boned side, it aunt easy, and so after getting half way up at an altitude of 1000metres I could take no more, just exactly like on my recce trip 2 years ago on the Tourmalet, mind you the descent was good fun and rather hairy while it lasted, and as they say REVENGE WILL BE SWEET, I'm hoping to go back in October before the area gets closed off for the winter.

That afternoon was spent trying to rider schmooze, we came across the Footon Hotel, and as we pulled up we saw the SKY entourage behind the Footon Coach, well all I can say is "poor old Footon" no one was interested in them, it was a case of being a Japanese tourist "click click click" on all and sundry to do with Sky from Bradley's saddle, to the guy washing the jags to taking a picture of what washing powder liquid they use, even the electronic gearing system got a click and I will admit, even I was away with the Japs in taking photos, learnt my lesson though.

And that was it for the TDF 2010, one day early, sadly James B had to leave early for family reasons, which left me on my own and with the weather taking a turn for the stormy worse, my lack of French and lack of knowing the roads around the area, I thought I'd might as well go back one day early as well.

Didn't mind the fact that I was held up for three hours, as the TDF route crossed the route I wanted to take back to Spain. And so spent those hours in the rain, in the middle of nowhere waiting for the riders to come through, and when they did, there was only one person I really wanted to see the mad Manxman, to see the look on a very exhausted Cav's face was priceless. (Very true James) And within a minute they were gone. gutted to say the least, but it had truly been a brilliant time, with one more fly in the ointment....my route back to Spain took me over a mountain called the Col du Portalet, which is part of the Quebrantahuesos Sportive route, which I shall be taking part in, next June, all I can say is SHIT ! 30kilometres long with some very long unrelenting sections, but on the other hand, rewarded with some wonderful views...

And so that was it, was it worth the 6 tanks of fuel to get unto France and back to Spain, all the toll charges, the 950 mile round trip, the drop in temperature from 35c to 12c, the 5 hour delay with easyjet to get back to the Uganda the M25...YOU'D BETTER BELIEVE IT !!!!!

I write this in the middle of a 25 hour fast to commemorate the holiest day in the Jewish Religion Yom Kippur, where Jewish people are not allowed to eat or drink and also repent for their sins throughout the year, I am suffering, big-style!!

Back in May 2007 I asked somebody about cycling and joining a cycling club and 2 names kept cropping up Kingston Wheelers or London Dynamo, it was suggested to me, to meet up in Richmond Park for a few laps, to discuss all things lycra/2 wheeled., Could a 21 & 1/2stone bloke cope with 3 laps of the park and people young enough to be my son overtaking me and leaving me for dust, well the answer was yes, even a group of chavvy girls in a Vauxhall nova going from Roehampton to Richmond gate shouting at me "yer fat w*****r !!! " didn’t put me off and as for which club to join , that was a no-brainer, after a small incident in RP that day, I also remember travelling around the North Circular Road going home that day absolutely aching from every orifice, still wasn't put off.

It took a further two months for me to pluck up the courage and go to a pub night, at the Brave New World pub, I shouldn't of been worried as I remember meeting Rob Leslie, Chris H, former member Svilen and the one and only Badger Mark Briers for the first time who couldn’t of been more friendly and discussed with me the virtues on the Shimano/Campagnolo debate or whether helmets are a good thing, all over a pint or 2 of Guinness...

It then took till the middle of October 2007 for me to pluck up the courage and join the Sunday club run, which I will admit has been my only one to date, as the realities of life dictate and I have to work, Sundays as they are a busy day for me. But that Sunday I couldn’t have been in more better hands, even though I kept people waiting with my slowness, everyone rode with me, asking if I was ok, even the fifteen minute ascent of Box Hill, someone was with me...

As most of you know I had suffered from Testicular Cancer back in 1998 , 10 years on, in February 2008, it was to be my last check up and out of remission, I wanted to do something to say thank you and it was decided I would do the 2008 Etape from Pau to the summit of Hautacam, you all know about what happened with the training , overseas recce trips and exactly what happened on the 6th July 2008.Three weeks later I entered the last club 10 of the year and duly dispatched the A24 in 28m 55 secs., and let it be known, I suffered more after the 10 than the Etape, so much so I spent the following day in bed, not being able to move !!

I had great plans for 2009, but mid-September 08 was to see a dramatic downturn in my fortunes, for which I am only slowly recovering from, We had the start of the recession, my taxi was taken off the road for 7 weeks through no fault of my own, costing me in the region of £5000 there was also family illness, too much time off for all the trips abroad, the amount of times spent traveling South from Hertfordshire, Hotels, pub nights, Saturday rides which left me tired and unable to work afterwards, you name it, it cost me, something had to give… and that was most trips to Kingston and the Surrey Hills and cycling in general, for which unfortunately is still the case, but I hope that will change in the near future.

In April this year I joined a club near to me, they are the North Road CC www.northroadcc.org.uk they are 2nd claim club (feel like a pro saying that) and when I joined them, I turned up to their first evening 10 (F7/10 course) and within a week I was designated their push off man, it took a few more weeks before I was cajoled into taking part in a TT, I will say it makes yours look like child’s play, its certainly not A24-esque standards, as a matter of fact its pretty rural , and it takes me just under an hour to get there on my bike , , it starts and finishes on an uphill section , part of the course is uphill for a mile, think of Box Hill but without the hairpins it is certainly tough and the quickest time this year was sub 21 !, my time though was considerably slower , but at least it was sub 30 !

I've been out with them a few times on a Saturday ride and its opened up to me the countryside of Hertfordshire which I have to say is totally different to Surrey, much more rolling then hilly and more akin to Northern France/Belgium. I have also discovered this great place for a cake stop called Emily’s Tea Shop, its set on a farm , near the town of Knebworth, where they specialise in serving cakes made with fair-trade ingredients(thoroughly recommend the Chocolate Brownie) and as Watercress is grown in abundance in the area they make the most deeeliciouso Watercress soup. One last thing on North Road CC., every February they organise a Hardriders 25 around little Switzerland (Potters Bar area) and teams like Sigma Sport/Team Corley Cycles enter, now I know its not exactly near to Kingston, but it would be great to see some Wheelers enter, i'll put a shameless plug on the forum nearer to the time. On a personal note they will never replace KW.You are the club that gave me the start in cycling for which I'll never forget.

I've also got something else to say to you all, I was contemplating moving to Spain to live, I've got some taxi driver friends who've made the move in the past few years and watched how the quality of their lives have improved considerably (apart from their smoking) so I've decided that from next March I'll be moving to Spain as well and join them, not permanently for the time being I shall add, but along the lines of working two weeks solidly here in London then returning to Spain for two weeks of chilling out.

I'll be about 40 minutes North of Benidorm in the town of Denia with the backdrop of the Marina Alta Mountain range, so not bad for a spin on a bike, if it’s good enough for Indurain & co, than it’s good enough for Gezza, there is also a good ex-pat community out there who like their cycling , so it should be good, and once I’m settled in you'll more than be welcome to come out. In truth I should of made the move ages ago, put it this way when your mortgage is over £900 a month and you can get a 2 bedroom appt for 450 euros with swimming pool overlooking the sea, it’s a no brainer really, and I honestly don’t think I'll regret it And that is, I doubt there will be another Gezzas journal until Spain next year , by which time my Knowledge of the surrounding mountains will be good and not take the amount of time it did to learn the roads in Surrey.

Click here to read previous entries in Gezza's Journal.