Weekend Watch: Fast Forward



As my 'Coasts and Cols' tour comes ever closer, I found this an inspiring story.
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The Hansen's Cykelløb - Ice Cream, Gravel and Good Friends

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Good friends, great ice cream and gravel adventures. The Hansen's Cykelløb was a unique and special Danish experience, with the fantastic team from GripGrab.

Riding your bike should be fun, revitalising and memorable . It should bring excitement, adventure and reward, in equal measure. A gravel ride in the Danish countryside; with ice cream, fresh coffee and great company, sounded like the perfect warm-up ride before my #7Countries7Passes tour.


A Danish celebration Hansen's are one of Denmark's most famous ice cream producers; creating beautiful fresh dairy ice cream, from the local herds of cattle that graze on the country's fertile grasslands.

The Cykelløb highlights Hansen's love of the Danish countryside, and of their prized ice-cream. 130 kilometres of gravel tracks; taking you through the green pastures just north of Copenhagen. With fuel stops featuring fresh 'Hansen's Ice', coffee, Danish sandwiches, and plenty of friendly conversation.

This is…
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#7Countries7Passes Day 9 - From Lake Como to Turin

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Yesterday, I was blessed with challenging climbs, incredible descents, and secluded traffic-free bike paths. Today, had many good highlights, but it also unfortunately featured many opposites of the above.

The day began with a ride down the western edge of Lake Como. I have always loved the Italian lakes, ever since visiting them on family camping holidays.

The lake sat beautifully quiet and still in the early morning, and although my legs weren't being overly energetic, it didn't matter too much, as the route was flat or downhill for the most part.

I stopped once at the side of the lake, for a coffee and Italian pastry.

On reaching the southern end of Como, I turned south west. Suprisingly, my route actually took me back into Switzerland for a half hour. Thankfully I was quickly returned to Italia.

The afternoon was mostly spent on quite busy B-roads, and navigating through cities like Varesa.

Once out of the Lombardy region though, and fulled by some afternoon Gelato, th…
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#7Countries7Passes Day 7 - Flüela Pass and Pass del Fuorn

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My legs felt like hollow frame tubes as I left my wild camp near the bottom of Flüela Pass this morning. One more big push required; to get to Merano (Italy), for my rest day revival.

I had slept in my leg warmers, and full kit; so getting ready was a bit quicker than usual, at least. The chill remained in the air though, and a cold drizzle accompanied me for the first 1.5 hours of climbing up to the top of Wolfgang Pass.

From Wolfgang, it was a short descent to Davos, before beginning the Flüela Pass proper.

The rain abated momentarily, as I swung onto the climb. Then, the snow began...

I was already in the lowest gear, and crawling up into the snow line. Once into the banks of white stuff, I felt very much alone on the hillside.

Passing cars shot me shocked glances; as I counted the kilometres to the summit.

At the top, I pulled off my gloves to take a quick photo. They took a good 5 minutes to get back on, with my hands like frozen claws; but it was worth it (it's the most lik…
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#7Countries7Passes Day 14 - The Final Climbs to The Finish Line

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The final day of a challenge often seems to be either a jubilant parade, or a fight of fortitude to reach the finish line. The final day of the #7Countries7Passes tour was very much the latter.

Starting out from the Corbieres, the route would take me deep into the Pyrenees; to the finish line at the top of the Port d'Envilara, at the Andorra border.

The day started out damp, and it wasn't five minutes before I had pulled on my waterproof.

The first few climbs in the Corbieres were nothing compared with what was to come; but they served as a warm up for the legs; as well as a reminder that those legs have done close to 3,000 kilometres in the last two weeks.

Today I had Gus following me in the Land Rover, to capture the spirit of the trip, on the final day of the challenge. I was super grateful to have a friendly face accompanying me.

A café stop, a puncture, and road works all slowed progress a bit, and it was 14:00 before we hit the long dragging ascent to the foot of the Co…
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#7Countries7Passes - The final preparation

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Copenhagen to Andorra, via some of the highest mountain passes in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and France. 3,000 kilometres. 50,000 metres of climbing. The #7Countries7Passes tour is imminent.

The bike is packed, the kit list is finalised, and the route is plotted on the map. My approaching departure from the Danish capital of Copenhagen, will mark the start of my longest and hardest bike tour to date.


The Route My route plans have been tweaked and modified over the last few months, but here is the current (still changeable) plan:

Checkpoints/Passes/HighlightsStart: Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen (Denmark)Checkpoint 1: Villingen (Germany)Pass 1: Hochtannbergpass (1675m) (Austria)Pass 2: Timmelsjoch (2474m) (Italy)Checkpoint 2: Merano (Italy)Pass 3: Stelvio Pass (2757m) (Switzerland)Pass 4: Col de Montgenèvre (1854m) (France)Pass 5: Mont Ventoux (1911m) (France)Checkpoint 3: The ‘Cycling House’ (France)Pass 6: Col de Pailhères (2001m) (France)Pass 7 (Finish): Port d'Envalira (…
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