For those of you who have been following the progress of Paul and Giles in Pontis Mountain Triathlon, or indeed for those who have donated to the cause – here is an update. If you haven’t heard about our fund raising event please have a look at www.pontismountaintriathlon.com
Well, what a day. We were rolling by 0945, slightly behind schedule but we can blame Justin for that!
The ride along the valley flew by; a 400m climb but very gradual and the boys were all riding well. Some beautiful scenery and some welcome cloud cover as we made our way towards Bourg St Maurice for a quick sandwich stop. We had been joined by some new recruits John Langridge and Paul Alcock who both rode impressively. John being less experienced and with fewer miles in the legs set off before us. Not knowing quite what to expect he showed great form and put in a sterling ride, finishing well before the rest of us. We quickly worked out that Paul had some pedigree when it comes to endurance events and were very grateful to ride in his slip stream until Bourg…then he was gone!
Piers and Tom joined us at Bourg (great effort Tom…first alpine col and in trainers on a hire bike, very impressive) and then locals Jules and his mate Nicholas rode the final leg from Val to the col to add a Gallic flavour to the day.
We always knew the climb would be hard and it didn’t disappoint – it was gruelingly long. Just shy of 50kms of steep alpine road from Bourg to the col, everyone fighting their own battle to arrive exhausted at the top.
We had some great support on the road and in the pub afterwards, which really added to the occasion. We’re looking forward to the run now…after a little bit of a rest! and look forward to seeing many more friendly faces in Malvern on Saturday 9th October.
Thank you, thank you to everyone who has donated, we can’t believe the total and with two events still to go hopefully we’ll smash the target. Keep an eye on the blog for more photos and training stories and finally a big hand to Jon who rode like a Trojan and then drove 16hrs back the UK today, I bet the hamstrings has something to say about that!