The Mountain Journey
Everything you need to know about the Traverse 66 with Cent Cols founder Phil Deeker
Words: Richard Abraham
“This will be my way of thanking life in the mountains and thanking the riders who have been a part of it”
In 2023, Cent Cols Challenge founder Phil Deeker will ride the Traverse 66.
From Italy to Spain, the Traverse will be a ‘greatest hits’ of the Cent Cols and Phil’s valedictory thanksgiving to 14 years in the mountains as he marks his 66th year.
His retirement ride will comprise six ‘Chapters’ that revisit the pages on which the stories of the Cent Cols have been written. Four of these Chapters will be 10-day Cent Cols events; start and finish towns have been picked to be close to airports while luggage and bike boxes will be transported between them.
The Traverse will be a goodbye to the Cent Cols community as well as to its landscapes. Cent Cols staff member and cycling journalist Richard Abraham spoke to Phil about his last ride.
Photo: Jered Gruber
Richard Abraham: Phil, I’ll start by asking you to explain the Traverse 66 in 30 seconds.
Phil Deeker: The Traverse is a line across my favourite areas of high mountain roads, from the Dolomites to northwest Spain. The line mainly consists of the roads and the climbs that I've loved the most over the 14 years of running events, but there will be lot of new stuff in there as well, mainly because I’m not doing loops, which Cent Cols Challenges usually are. It's designed to be a journey from A to B.
RA: How did it come about?
PD: In 2017, when I turned 60, I did this crazy Ride of a Thousand Cols, 10 Cent Cols Challenge events back to back. There are some parallels between that and what I'm doing this time.
I saw 65 coming. I thought; that's the retirement age and this time, I really am going to wrap it up. Covid-19 messed the plans up when it hit everyone in 2020 and hence in 2022, which was my 65th year, we were catching up on the events that were due to run in 2020 or 2021. Therefore, we ran into my 66th year, and here we are with a thing called Traverse 66.
I didn't like the idea of just fading away, not trying to ride all the events or riding every other day.
“I wanted to do something to really mark the end, something that would give as many customers who I have come to know and ride with over the years – plus new CCC riders, I hope - an opportunity to be part of it.”
RA: The Traverse links up, from east to west, almost everywhere that has been a key constituent of the Cent Cols Challenge. So was there a seed of that idea back in 2017?
PD: I suppose the seed really germinated in 2017 when I realised how different each range of mountains was. Not just in terms of geography, but in terms of culture and actually, what interested me most, in terms of the connection and exchange between bike and landscape.
“The Traverse is all about this journey of different forms of connection between you and the landscape on a bike.”
I repeat ‘on a bike’ because the fact is there's something that is unique about the bike. We could speak for days about that. I suppose it’s a kind of legacy that I want to leave about what I discovered.
RA: Is that journey about ‘road language’? Or culture, or environment? Or all these things?
PD: Often I find myself talking about my love of the mountains but I'm not a mountaineer. I actually have no desire at all to climb to the top, above road level. What fascinates me is the roads: the way the roads have been built to go over these mountains.
“The road is our medium. It's our white page. The line has been traced and we follow it. It’s about what happens to us when we follow it.”
What I discovered is that the Traverse line from east to west represents a really interesting development of road language, let’s call it, or this connection between bike and landscape.
There’s the contrast between the operatic drama of the Dolomites - it's Italy, it's loud, it's big, it's emotional, it's in your face – and Galicia in northwest Spain, which hardly anyone has ever been to, in relative terms. It's a fantastic evolution of road language, in a way.
RA: What are the six ‘Chapters’ of the Traverse 66?
PD: Chapter One is essentially the Dolomites. Day one finishes with the Monte Zoncolan: what a way to finish having done the Monte Crostis! We go from the Friuli region through to San Pellegrino Terme, a place very close to my heart. We will have included all the big names of the Dolomites there.
We’ll also climb the Passo Stelvio on Chapter One, the first time that has been included on a Cent Cols event. We're going to go into Switzerland first (which I've never done) and come around and do a loop from Bormio. That’s useful because on the stages that are a little bit excessive in terms of climbing metres, I’ve tried to give riders the opportunity to choose a slightly easier route.
Then for Chapter Two we go into Lombardy, which is a really interesting progression from the big, high, dramatic mountains into another form of Italian drama, which in some ways is even better. It's the area where you find the relationship between culture, religion and racing.
The Madonna del Ghisallo is one of the best-known examples of this, but what I’m really talking about are these tiny roads, often really well kept. You start climbing and you wonder why the hell they are well kept and where they are going, until you get to the top and there's a sanctuary. I find that absolutely fascinating and quite exciting to discover. From there, we go into France via Briançon and Barcelonette and over enormous, iconic passes like the Col de la Bonette.
After the Bonette we come back to Italy over the Col de la Lombarde and then go down to Liguria; this is really exciting for me because I've ridden in the Ligurian hills just once and was blown away by it. And this is the first time we'll be exploring it, coming down almost to San Remo, then ending up in Carros near Nice.
Then come the two chapters that I will be riding solo with my wife Claire as support. The first, Chapter Three, is a very alpine journey with all the main climbs of the Alps: the Galbier, Alpe d’Huez, and then the final climb of the Chapter, the Mont Ventoux. I must have ridden that something like 70 times; don’t get me started on that climb or we’ll never finish! After a break of three weeks we’ll head off into the Cevennes Massif, the Ardèche, for Chapter Four and work our way down via the Montagne Noire.
“This is not a suffer challenge. It’s a tribute.”
I hope I will really be living it: thanking the mountains and these regions for all the great times I've had, and sharing that. But obviously, Claire and I will be doing the two middle ones just on our own, as it was when we started out in 2007.
That takes us to Perpignan and the start of the Pyrenees and Chapter Five of the Traverse, which is a Cent Cols event again.
The beauty of the Traverse is that I have never been able to design a route that goes across the Pyrenees from A to B. This time we’re going from the Mediterranean across to Bilbao, coast to coast, which gives me twice as much scope of roads to include and where to go.
“We're going to see even more variety of landscape and roads than ever before.”
And of course, we will go through the French Basque Country. We could also have another interview about that, so I won't explain too much about that other than to say it is my number one landscape of them all.
Once we finish up in Bilbao we continue across Northern Spain for Chapter Six, from Cantabria and the Picos de Europa into Galicia. That riding is something else, it really is. We haven't been back since 2017. It's going to be enormous. A really big, big moment for me.
“It's a little bit like having a whole buffet of desserts. I don't know about you, but I would always save the best one to last. I might not be hungry anymore by the time I reach it, but I will still enjoy it. No matter how great the others are, you know, the last one's got to be the best.”
RA: The Cent Cols Challenge concept began in 2007 when you rode your first 300 cols with your wife Claire. Why did you want to open up four Chapters of the Traverse to other riders?
PD: It's one thing being on your own in these mountains. But when you've got other people with you - living it in a different way yet still connecting with each other really intensely - it changes everything.
That's part of the story of the Cent Cols all these years. It's the people I've ridden with. It’s faces and voices as much as it is views of mountains.
“If this route has any meaning and true context, it has to be related to the riders: either ones I've been lucky enough to ride with on past Cent Cols Challenges, or new ones.”
RA: Let’s go back to the basics of a Traverse event. Are you doing 100 cols in each event?
PD: That’s the other big difference between the classic Cent Cols Challenge and the Traverse. The line has already given me enormous creative space but I also wanted to release myself from the challenge of the ‘kilometres to cols’ ratio.
When I've designed routes in the past, I had to be really careful that I didn't exceed 180-200km per day too often. Within that, obviously, I have to find an average of 10 cols per day. That has, more than anything else, determined where we held Cent Cols Challenges.
The Traverse is about the journey. It is a different way of exploring the regions in which we've done Cent Cols. It's not about a challenge, although it's going to be just as hard as a Cent Cols, and possibly on some days it'll be harder. It’s about paying tribute to the regions that I've discovered with the Cent Cols. The number of cols isn't important.
RA: There have been so many events and so many climbs that it can’t have been easy to compile a ‘greatest hits’ of the Cent Cols…
PD: Inevitably there are some mountains that I will be leaving out. You're never going to be able to do the ultimate greatest hits of nature and landscape. But if you're in your favourite area, you know that you've got about five different ways of going across that area. And they're all amazing. I've tried to choose the route that I prefer to take to say goodbye.
“I realised early on that the perfect ride doesn't exist. It's just that we'd always like to think that maybe we're going to have it one day.”
RA: What was your raw material for the Traverse? Did you go back to old route files or did you cast your mind back to particular events; stories, people, moments, memories?
PD: It seems crazy but it's all in my head. If you if you give me a year and an event, I could probably tell you most of the people who were there, and I can probably navigate you through a stage, in my head. I'm as amazed about that as anyone!
It's a great thing to have because it's really like my inner visual library of the best times I've had. And to be honest, it's usually thanks to the guys I'm riding with.
“I would never have done all this riding on my own. I just get bored. But you know, when you're riding with company, everything is more intense, more memorable, more enjoyable.”
It's not all enjoyable – it might be pretty worrying when I see some people descending thinking, goodness gracious when we're going to pick up the pieces of this one! – but it gives me great memories one way or another.
RA: It’s that old saying; the events where things went to plan are the ones you don’t remember…
PD: It’s also what I’ll miss the most when I stop doing this: that deliverance from our routine and our normal life into a situation where all we deal with is the present moment. Because however well we’re prepared to do this, we have no idea what’s going to happen in the next ten minutes.
You don’t know, driving your feed stop van, if you’re gonna get a phone call saying there’s been a crash or the vehicle has broken down or we have two riders stuck in snow. We all know anything can happen. Instead of stress it has to be a mixture of confidence and belief this is going to be ok.
We know as organisers that we have done everything we can do to make the event safe and do-able, even though we’re pushing boundaries. I still hope that I’m not going over the edge with people. I’ve had years of that responsibility and experience, and the burden of that I won’t miss!
“What I will miss is the situation where you are pushed to stay in the present moment and connect with your environment and the bike and the road and the sensations and the people you’re riding with.”
RA: What happens to the Traverse 66 after 2023?
PD: It would be amazing for me to think that the Traverse could be seen as a special route (the way I see it through my own eyes) and one which a Cent Cols rider could collect by riding a Chapter or more at a time over a number of years.
I know there are many customers who have come back and done several Cent Cols Challenges because they want to feel that they've ridden the regions that the Cent Cols Challenge has been held in.
There's definitely something that can be built for the future here. It's a journey that has an evolution in my mind. A journey that, in future years, riders can very easily pick up on and follow.
RA: What do you think it will feel like to ride in places on a Cent Cols event for the last time?
PD: I hope it'll be very much in line with how it felt on the last Cent Cols event in 2022. That was the last event where I was central to the logistical and organisation side of the everything, which will be a huge difference to me this year.
You know, I was a little bit apprehensive about that. But in reality, on that last event, I felt no sadness whatsoever. It was just a great feeling. I don't know what it was exactly but there was a peace of mind within me, which I wasn't expecting. And it was just gratefulness. That's probably the best word.
“This will be my way of thanking life in the mountains and thanking the people, the riders, who have been a part of it.”
I'm sure that I'm going to be in a similar state of mind: one of appreciation, and being able to look back on all the great moments with no nostalgia and certainly no regrets.
RA: Old habits die hard, Phil! Are you sure you might not be tempted to tinker with the routes 10 o'clock at night in the hotel lounge?
PD: I will promise not to, now you've got it on record! Really. Of course, there are going to be things I will miss. Whatever you've done for years, your work of passion, you're going to miss. I've been lucky to have done it a number of years. But I've done it. The time is right.
