1. I have ridden up Ventoux, Hautacam and Alpe d’Huez…
2. My first memory of watching competitive cycling is watching Hinault and Lemond hand-in hand at the top of Alpe d’Huez…
3. I don’t race, but I do still ride randonneur events from time to time (up to BRM400 so far)…
4. I am not sports scientist, but I do have a background in empirical and theoretical psychology…
5. My identity at my day job is not really compatible with this blog, hence the anonymity…

This blog is named after the Col de Spandelles (the shorter but harder side), which was my nemesis during a holiday in the Pyrenees: many climbs are harder, but on that day the man with the hammer came for me at around the 1000 m point. It is a beautiful and quiet climb, with some really steep sections at the bottom. On the same trip, the objectively much harder Hautacam (we continued up the Tramassel, another 100 m of altitude) seemed much less daunting. Climbing is an unpredictable business…