Dan Osman shows us how its done today. Speed free climbing totally mind blowing. RIP Dan.

If anyone can think of any other wicked videos please let me know.

From Absinthe Film’s optimistic. Mikey Leblanc takes snowboarding in a new direction.

A funny time playing on a big ropeswing in London. Please ignore my embarrassing yelps.

This is old news, but if like me you are updating an old rubygems installation because it is sucking up memory when you are installing stuff, the following upgrade command will work for you.

  sudo gem update --bulk-threshold 10009 --system

Chevrolet Apache

Little example config for SSL on a server running mod_rails (passenger).

  <VirtualHost 222.111.143.223:443>
    ServerName www.website.co.uk
    DocumentRoot /var/www/apps/website/current/public
    RailsEnv production
    SSLEngine On
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/certs/website.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/certs/website.key
    SetEnvIf User-Agent ".*MSIE.*" nokeepalive ssl-unclean-shutdown downgrade-1.0 force-response-1.0
  </VirtualHost>

I am starting up a new weekly series called wicked wednesday where I upload something that I think is wicked. I first saw something like this on the nonimage blog so its not totally fresh!

This week we have one of the best trials mountain bikers I have ever seen, riding in my ex home town of Edinburgh.

Danny Macaskill : Next level street trials from brainchild-films on Vimeo.

Off to club med!

Some quality Toyota Landcruisers in Nice

Left the super ghetto hostel. I wish I had got a photo of the owner and the flies in the morning. Went to the boulangerie for a top class croissant breakfast. Got going pretty early enjoying the ‘littlest hobo’ feeling once more. I thought it was going to be a super easy cruise into Nice.

Last ski resort

However I missed the 1500m col that I had to do out of the box passing the last ski resort of the trip. Squeezed that one out (THE LAST COL!) in the morning sunshine then descended for like 30km making really good time.

Col Saint Martin

Stopped for lunch at a top class viewpoint with some friendly tourist information people who listened to my story and gave me free coffee. You could see they thought I was a little odd tho, lycras n all.

Then some further hillside roads and then lots of speedy descending into nice, got a nice photo of some trees.

Long line of trees on the way into nice

The outskirts of nice are traffic hell, there is an insane amount of motorised transport kicking around. About 50% scooters! I thought I was making a mistake coming into nice; tried to get into the youth hostel; it was full. All the hotels were also booked up for some conference. I tried a couple, all booked up.

I thought screw this and found a posh hotel on the sea front. Much more upmarket than I am used to and I had to get a deluxe room also. I did have the best sleep I can remember and the air conditioning was premium.

Going to spend a few days on the mediterranean cost now. Still cycling tho, through Monaco to Menton then onto Italy.

Geneva to Nice! DONE!

A mediterranean sunset

Tanned, bearded and happy

Can you tell me who this is?

A few cheeky extras

Fiat Panda 4×4 Quality Mountain Machine (can you spot the interesting thing?)

Did some extra cols today (which were actually part of the official grand traverse of the alps but not the route I was following.) As arguably its better to do the bonnete as its the highest paved road peak in Europe.

Big day today – 120km over three cols. Col de Cayolle (2310m), Col de Valberg (1672m) and Col de la Couillole (1678m). Probably, biggest day so far actually. The Cayolle had come ace canyons on the way up. On the way to the summit it started properly raining. I chatted to a dude at the summit who said that he thought the Grand Traverse of the Alps is the best cycle route in Europe. I think I agree in my limited experience. A few other people I have spoke to have thought it funny that in my first venture into the alps I am doing the beast.

Go hard.

I descended from the summit in the rain and cold and sheltered in a cafe where I could use my shit french to get some food.

Self photo!

Stopped of for lunch later in the valley but I was too late for anything. So bought shit-loads of chocolate instead. Then polished off the next two cols in the sunshine.

Col de Valberg

Final col of the day

The final descent of the day was fighting for the descent title. It almost took it but didn’t manage due to the road surface.

Look at the original for the road on the other side of the valley!

Tonight I am in a real ghetto hotel. Most crazy so far. I found eye lashes in my starter tonight (a pile of weird looking spam type meat.) I wrapped it up in a napkin and deposited in my room to avoid problems with the other meagre courses.

I hope I don’t get the food poisoning tonight. Met a swiss cyclist who had a pretty serious crash today on the descent from the bonnete. Something about a stainless steel bridge in the rain which made a mess of his face and head. Helmet saved him; No hospitals here so fire brigade sorted him out!

A cheeky wee stab at the bonette

High altitude graffiti

Amazing sleep in Guillestre then up the Col de Vars. Feeling the strains of eight days cycling in a row. The climb out of Guillestre was immediately viscous.

Living life without a watch right now. Its surprisingly relaxing and everything just seems to fall together. I get to turn my mobile on once a day when I can check the time and often along the way I can check clock towers etc and listen for the number of rings of the bell in the mornings.

Raced an old man to the summit of the col de vars. Smashed him. He was over 60 though Met an english couple and spoke to them about the wonders of carradice saddle bags and got them to take a photo of me at the top.

On the summit of the Col de Vars

I also spoke to them about my plans of tackling the bonnete that day and of going to Italy instead tomorrow. They said that the road into Italy was proper busy and that my plan B of 3 extra cols to the east of the bonnete sounded better. I agreed.

Then I strapped my camera to the front of my bike and filmed part of the descent. I think it turned out fairly well. Next time I do this I will cycle closer to barriers and walls to make it feel faster.

Cruised into Jausiers for about 2pm. It was a cycling town and there was a lot of evidence that the tour has been through here just a couple of months previously. Booked into a hotel, and got some soup and coke to fuel myself up for what lay ahead.

I took the bare minimum up the bonette. Not even tools!

Its the highest paved mountain pass in europe (2802m) although the Iseran is the true king as the built an extra loop around a mountain to take the title. It was a 21km straight climb out of Jausiers; made easier by a lack of touring load but still hard enough! Altitude doesnt seem to be affecting me now.

Summit shot on the bonette 2802m

7.5 hours on the bike today. The descent was amazing, great road surface. Although lower down I was in agony, my hands and back were very sore. The forces that the body absorbs when braking for hairpin after hairpin is quite a lot.

I came my closest to crashing today. A marmot ran out in front of me when I was doing about 50kph but luckily I braked in time.

Tomorrow I am going to sneak in a few extra cols that are not on the official route I am following.