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By John Thomas – 2nd December 2019 Girona is now the home of over 100 pro cyclists and rapidly being discovered by amateur riders from all over the world. So what’s all the fuss about? What makes this place so good? I first visited Girona in 2014 and was instantly smitten by it’s charming, historic

  Tomorrow is race day! We’ve been based in Hualien, the host city for the event for the last 2 days. Some chilled out riding enjoying the local roads and relaxing in our very comfortable hotel. Almost time for action. First let me talk more about the event itself and how it’s evolved into a

As I write this we are on our team bus from Taipei, Taiwan’s capital to Hualien, host city for the Taiwan KOM Challenge. Last year Oliver and I came to participate in the event, this year we have a team of Alpine Cadence riders with us for a week long adventure culminating in the big

Haute Route 3 day events always finish with a time trial and this was a big one! 22km up the Bédoin side of Ventoux. 1600m of climbing in one hit. Lots of wind at the top. The leading riders would be looking at about an hour and 10 minutes of anguish with the bulk of

Stage 2 was scheduled to be 133km and 3300m of climbing, a summit finish on Ventoux via Malaucène. I woke up feeling good and confident that my cramps from yesterday were due to race rustiness, today would be better and my legs would be happier. That was my plan at least. We were greeted to

Here we go again! Another Haute Route adventure in beautiful Provence. Haute Route Ventoux is a 3 day stage race with 2 full length road races followed by a time trial on the final day. Each day would scale Mont Ventoux taking in the three classic ways up this iconic beast. For me this would

One more day, 2 more stages. For our final day the Haute Route organisers decided to throw in 2 stages for us in an event first. Stage 7a would start in Pra Loup, with it’s main feature the ascent of the Cime de Bonette, the highest paved road in the Alps at 2803m. We’d then

Briançon to Pra Loup, 104kms and 2300m climbing. Our penultimate day would see us roll out of Briançon before taking on the viciously steep Mur Pallon, then onto the Col de Vars and a summit finish up to Pra Loup. I woke up feeling good. Really pleased and relieved at how I’d performed over the