There’s been a lot of climbing this week, and a lot of it wasn’t very social.
12 Wheelers got out onto the terrible tarmac or mostly climbed on bikes virtually. First and second place this week went up Alpe D’Huez 4 and 5 times respectively, albeit virtually. It was Shawn Gray’s journey up Mont Ventoux which sneaked him above Vince Hounsome. Second to fifth all climbed more than 5,000 metres and were separated by only 500m (half an hour on the appropriate route) whilst 8th to 10th were separated by less than 100m.
Shawn has eased above Michael Sleeman to the top of the series. Chris Giles chose the wrong week to concentrate on swimming and Wattbike riding and so has slipped from the podium, being replaced by Vince. Last year’s champion, James Little, was remiss in booking a skiing holiday in a week built for his skills. But at least he maintained the international element to the challenge with a (very flat) walk in France.
Melanie Birch maintained her strangle hold on the Women’s series with 1,400m of outdoor climbing.
For the week commencing 17 February the challenge is a 10km walk or run as fast as you can. Will we get a rearrangement of the podium?
Full results can be found here (from row 55) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xObuEB3punf3SXStfRJ0YH_nUdgBMlL6CGpRbg90qIY/edit?usp=sharing
Its not too late to give it a go. Good luck
