A personal Tour de France
In 2007 I began road cycling. I quickly fell in love with the sport and made lots of wonderful friends. I also began watching the Tour de France each July, an epic three-week bike race. It is probably the best-known bike race in America, thanks to Lance Armstrong, who won it a record-breaking seven times. It is well designed for television coverage, with beautiful countryside, a variety of stages — flats for the sprinters, mountains for the climbers, multiple prize categories, and dramatic battles between several sets of contenders. Each year I set the TiVo and watch most of the stages, often with my daughters as well.
I eventually decided that I wanted to participate more directly, and began to research. Last fall I signed up with Trek Travel for one of their Race France packages. Trek has a team in the race (Leopard Trek) and they have Madones for riding, the same type of bike that I use. They also have nice options for viewing the Tour, meeting riders, and different weeks of the race. There were well over a dozen choices. After a lot of thought, I chose one that was in the Alps, had several race finishes for us to see including the grand one in Paris, and four days of riding.
To prepare, I hired a coach and began training 5 days a week. This was a good investment, as my recreational cycling immediately began to improve. I was able to do events I could not have done before, such as the hilly Mountains of Misery. Although my primary focus was on climbing, the training helped with the flats as well, as I discovered at the Bay to Bay Century where I finished with an 18.7 mph average (helped by a strong paceline). The only disadvantage is that this cut into my social riding, as I had to stick with prescribed workouts most of the week. And it’s the main reason the LED stairs took so long to finish!
Exactly two weeks ago I sprained my left ankle. It was unable to tolerate any weight on it and I thought the trip might be over. Fortunately nothing was broken, and after a week off the bike I was able to ride again. I am not fully healed. But cycling seems pretty painless now — unlike walking — so it will do. I am using SpiderTech pre-cut tape, and that seems to help.
Tomorrow morning we meet our guides in Grenoble, then shuttle to Bourg d’Oisans for a bike fit and the first ride. We will be tackling the Col du Lauteret. This day is only 25 miles, but with 6,500 feet of climbing. Hopefully there will be a little bit of flat to warm up, as with all the travelling I haven’t been on a bike since Sunday! I am eager to get started.