Day 5 TdF - 2009

Today is a transfer day from the Alsace region to the Alps. Prior to transferring, we did a short 60km ride on the race route. We intercepted the race route at our hotel in the Alsace. The route today passes directly in front of our hotel. We departed the hotel at 8:30 AM, the destination was the city near today's feed zone for the pro riders. The plan was to arrive well ahead of the pros, put the bikes in the trailer, change clothes and watch the caravan and then the riders.

The tour directors divided us in to several groups, a fast, a medium and a slow group. They asked who wanted to ride in the fast group; Doug and I, of course, rolled up. About twenty four or so others rolled forward, of which only 12-15 belonged in the fast group. At about 5k into the ride, we were heading into a stiff head wind, with steady rain. Not sure how our ride director, Craig, knew this was my kind of weather, but sitting second wheel, he looked back and said, "Get up here." I rolled to the front, he said: "Keep it around 30." He meant 30km/hr, this is about 18.5 mph. So, we hovered around 32, which is right about 20 mph.

The route was full of little rollers. If you haven't ridden tempo in a group before, rollers can really begin to separate a group. Rollers are not climbs. Think of a roller as the small uphill/downhill section of a highway overpass, but longer, say a half mile to a mile long in duration. The undulating route, when you hit about twelve in 30km can really begin to break a group ride, particularly if you interpret 'keep it around 30' as do 30 even on the uphill side of the rollers.

After about 6km on the front, I motioned the next two behind me to roll through for a pull. In this way, I was trying to allow some others on the front, let them feel like they were in charge of the pace, and to get a change of view. Doug was second wheel to me. I circulated back around five riders. Doug kept the pace warm, at the 30-32 kph rate. On a particularly long roller, several guys sucking second wheel, who shouldn't have been in the fast group, indicated that they 'got stuck' in their big ring and needed to pull off. I rolled to Doug's wheel and we pressed the small riser. This was the first point where the 'fast' group weeded out the 12-15 who belonged and those who did not.

We mashed along like this for another 40 km into a stiff headwind. Doing 20 mph into a stiff headwind and rain was no fun. When Doug or me rolled off and others took a pull, it did not last long. Soon enough Doug and I were back on the front. At the 40km point, it became the "D & J" show. He and I set a 32kph (20 mph) tempo for nearly 6 miles (10 km). At the 50km point, we rolled off, filtered back to about 6th position. I commented to Doug, "Let's let the others take us the rest of the way in." All in all, for the first 50km, Doug and I spent nearly 45km with one of us on the front.

The end point for today's ride was the town near the feed zone. We had no idea whether it was before or after the feed zone. So, we did the only thing we knew to do. When the others were speculating on what to do, Doug and I rode to the front and kept pedaling. You're on your bike, the weather is awful, no bus in sight; keep pedaling. We rolled through the feed zone and a climb started soon thereafter. We kept climbing the climb figuring the bus cannot collect us in the feed zone, so it must be after. This roller was different, it felt more like a climb. After 2 miles, or so, of riding, I looked around. It was Doug, two others and me. Oops, we dropped a few. Two or so miles later I saw a banner hovering across the road, so I picked up the pace to investigate. We just completed a category 3 climb. Oops, the group would not like this because this morning, I was told and several others heard, if you want some extra riding, you can do the Cat 3 climb after our collection point.

Did I mention it was a wet rainy day? Spirits were already none to high. Extra riding is seldom on your agenda when feeling as miserable as the weather. Knowing we went a we bit too far, we pulled off, out of the rain at the town following the Cat 3 climb. We had several riders expressing their discomfort at likely riding too far. I look at Doug and said, "That was the Cat 3 climb." Doug responded with, "I big ringed it." We both grinned a bit (because he did 'big ring' the climb), not too much though, for fear of mutiny. Doug then called our tour director and received the instructions for where to find the bus. Back down the hill we rolled, found the bus and changed into warmer clothes. Our travel mates, while none too happy at the top of the climb, felt better now that we found the bus, they were dry, warmer and felt they accomplished a little more than they had planned.

I spent the entire day in the small ring. I had a big day yesterday with the climb and the hard tempo work after. The legs needed a some high cadence spinning before we hit the mountains tomorrow. So, while we carried a decent pace, I spent the entire day in the little ring, spinning between 100-120 rpm. Doug asked why I was in the small ring all the time. I said "I'm not looking to mash it today. Just need a bit of a high cadence recovery ride."

It may seem the blogs this year indicate much stronger riding and are more about the rides. You'd be correct. So far, I'd have to say Doug and I are doing well. And, two of a very few Americans, we tend to stand out amongst a bunch of Aussies.