To celebrate the forthcoming 40th birthday of John Colman, a trip to the French Alps was organized, to ride La Marmotte, one of the toughest events of it's kind.

Originally 12 riders were scheduled to ride the event, including ex pro Dave Lloyd. We were also meeting up with several riders from the London Elite Cycling Club with whom we had ridden the event in 2004. Unfortunately Dave was to miss out due to a broken windscreen en route to the airport, and Andy McKay and Alistair Pickard both had to pull out due to knee injuries.

Good rides were produced by Russ Hepton, 221st in 7 1/2 hours and Mark Hunter just missing a Gold Standard with a 9 1/2 hour ride. Mark had found it difficult to relax after trying to keep up with Mick Kershaw's drive from Geneva airport, most of it at a steady 170kph. Russ had done a mammoth amount of training after hearing that Dave Lloyd was going, only relaxing upon hearing about his windscreen tragedy.

As for the rest, only Bronze awards I'm afraid. However, all were held up by at least an hour on the Col Du Glandon following a previous multiple accident on the descent. Dave Dixon had a few events of his own, falling into a ravine on the climb of he Croix der Fer, then 20 miles later a high speed fall on tram lines. Mark Wilson forgot to eat anything all day & blew up big style on Alpe D'Huez, taking almost 3 hours to climb it & nearly taking the honour of been last to finish the event. While Mick Kershaw & John Colman sprinted it out for the finish on Alpe D'Huez, Nigel Baldwin showed his track stand skills most of the way up the same ascent. Nigel hadn't been himself before the ride, five weeks abstaining from any alcohol had taken it's toll. His temper at breaking point, most of the ride he was muttering to himself about f*****ng French b******s whenever he was near the back of the food queue. Mike Dixon, suffering intense foot pain and losing vast amounts of time sorting his brothers bike out between falls, finished by visualizing the beer he would drink that night during re hydration. Soon to be YRC member Chris, quietly took the event in his stride in just under 13 hours, maximizing the clean mountain air after sharing a room with a flatulent Mick Kershaw for the last few nights. Full Results