Day 6 TdF - 2009

Today's ride was planned to be a small climb out of the village on the lake near Lausanne, Switzerland to Moulon, a town 40km away. The stage passes through Moulon and a Cat 3 climb starts there. We planned to do the Cat 3 climb as well. However, a woman along the race route was struck and killed by a police vehicle during yesterday's stage. The police will be even more restrictive than before, so no hope of doing the climb on the race route.

The accident with the woman was entirely preventable. The French police leading the caravan of cars and official vehicles speed along the course as if they are in some kind of race. It almost appears to me they are showing off. Ironically, I mentioned to one of my French guides that it amazes me they haven't killed anyone. He said, "Eh, it happens at least once per year. A person watching the tour is killed by a caravan vehicle." Later that day, sure enough. The Tour is great, the race is incredible; but the support and caravan folks act as though it is about them and seemingly have little regard that kids and other folks are on and about the roads.

Today's ride started with an 8km roll out and then a steady 12km climb. It was a pretty tough climb and for once in the past several days, the guides permitted the climb to separate the folks who should and should not be in the 'fast' group. The fast group started with twenty five, again. Mid way up the climb, we were twelve. Great climb. The pace stayed steady for the remaining 40km and it was a much safer and far more relaxed ride than the previous days. Although we did not do the Cat 3 climb on the race course, we did complete another climb on the way back. So, all in all, a good day. Nearly 50 miles, two good climbs, great pace, comfortable group size and returned in time to watch the exciting stage on Sunday. I'll write more about the region later. This place is beautiful.

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.

Day 4 TdF - 2009

Today was the first real day of climbing. With the weight well down, arriving more fit than last year and no injuries, I was hoping for a better performance in the mountains. Well, we have a data point of at least one. On today's 20km climb to the Grand Ballon, the performance seemed much better than the first day of climbing last year. The Gr Ballon is not a hard climb, but it is steady. Toward the end, there was a fairly long section (2-3 km) of 9%+ grade. The weather conditions did not help. At the summit, it was foggy, windy and cold. Climbing toward the summit, you had either a hellacious head wind or a nice tail wind. Believe me, the tail wind sections did not last nearly long enough. The temperature was cold enough to see your breath as it hit the air and steam rising from your body.

While I was feeling good, I tried to be sensible; still many days left to climb. I set my targets at a heart rate of 160-165 beats per minute and kept the cadence around 80 rpm. This kept me motoring at a decent pace which saw many others dropping back. The descent was pretty chilly. I wore arm warmers, a vest and a rain jacket, along with long fingered gloves and I was not overheating on the way down. In fact, I was shivering a bit. On the descent, we intercepted the race course for today's stage. The French police are being more stringent than last year. Last year, we rode a good bit of the course without their interference. Today, we had to plead with them relentlessly. We only got so far (10 km), then had to abandon the hope of finishing the course today.

We rode back to the hotel with only 85km on our bikes. This did not seem like enough. I used the Garmin 705 (Ms Garmin) to find the finishing town. I believed it to be only 24 km from the hotel. So, Doug and I recruited some folks to ride with us to Colmar. Turns out, it was more like 35km, oops. The small group asked about the pace, I said we'd take it easy (giving the typical answer Capt Insaneo would give). Once out of town and on the flats to false flats, I sat on the front, dialed the pace up to 23-24 mph, rested my forearms on the bars and pedaled away. Doug took several pulls and several times indicated I should back it off a bit as our crew was not thinking this to be an easy pace. We back it down a bit, but then attacked every town sign for a sprint. After a few with Doug and me battling it out, our Aussie friends got the picture and mixed it up as well. The great thing about sprint signs is that it permits you to dial the pace up a notch or two, so we did. Fun stuff, at least for Doug and me. Our Aussie friends also thought it was a great ride, when it was over.

We arrived in Calmar around mid-day, just as the rain came. We quickly found a café, parked ourselves inside, order beers, salads and sausages - a first rate recovery meal. Dripping from sweat and a bit of rain, we quickly cooled. I dropped most of my cool weather gear at the hotel. I was FREEZING at 67 degrees. I was shivering all over. After an hour or so, the rain let up a bit. We decided to search for the finish line and our bus. We wanted to park our bikes, get a fresh, warm set of clothes and watch the race finish. TWO hours later in a relatively small town after the skies opened up again with rain, we found the bus. We rolled in like stanky, smelly wet rats. I was never more glad to see the bus than on this day.

The end of the race was dramatic, for us at least. Heinrich Haussler from team Cervelo attacked with a Frenchman early in the race. The two stayed away on the three climbs of the day. On the second climb Haussler dropped the Frenchman and stayed away the entire day, winning his first stage. His victory salute was very modest. He raised his hands, then cupped his face with his hands. When he dropped his hands to his bars, you could see he was sobbing tears of joy. All that work paid off for a great stage win on an extremely hard day in the mountains. When you saw him embrace his coach at the end, you could see his shoulders shaking he was so overwhelmed with emotion. OK, so what made it special. His SISTER is on the trip with us! Sitting at 1km to go, she had no idea other than at one point he was in a break. He finished more than 3 minutes ahead of the next rider. It had to be something special for her as well to see her brother finishing a stage, solo, with the entire cycling world watching and no one else around. We all were on the bus when she arrived. Understandably, she stayed, in the rain, to watch the awards ceremony activity. When she rejoined us on the bus, we all applauded. Pretty special to be a part of this big day for her and her brother. I was extremely impressed with the humility of his celebration and in his interview comments afterwards. Pretty touching event.

We leave the Alsace region tomorrow for the Alps, proper. If you are not familiar with the Alsace region, I'll try to help you out. It is the region in the corner of France, Germany, Switzerland and Luxemburg. It is gorgeous. It borders the Alps and begins the foothills to the Alps. The region is rich with agriculture and wine, of course. Great food, fantastic wine. The hills are full with lush forest floors nestling up to towering pine trees. A few other deciduous trees manage to make their way amongst the pines. The roads are sometimes under the full canopy of the forest trees and from time to time you can see hiking paths through the forests. Don't linger with your look too long as the roads twist and turn and you'll find yourself in the forest instead of on the road admiring the forest, particularly on the descents. Talk to you all from the Alps.

Tidbit A

So, last year, I had a TidBits section to the blog. These items are even more stream of consciousness writing than the blog itself, which I admit drifts a bit. As a result, I try to frame the bits, a bit, with headings. These are notes on things I found funny and some stuff I thought you'd find interesting; hope you enjoy… Grammar... Blogging can be an art form. For me, it is a form of note taking. As my elementary, junior high school, high school teachers, mom, brothers, sisters (I think you get the point) will attest, I was a horrible speller and not much better with grammar, nor proof reading. So, much of the blog is raw and may be hard to read/plow through. As my disclaimer at the top of the blog indicates, I am using this tool to help me improve as well. So, when you see the mistakes, LAUGH. Microsoft can only do so much with their Office tools to help me look reasonably smart. All the other short comings I own. And when you laugh, please know that I know you are laughing AT me and not with me. Trust me, it's ok. Jens Voigt... I remarked in my Day 3 post that I like to ride like Jens. Well, here is a sample of why. The following are Jens -isms, copied from the web. I strive to emulate these characteristics in our local riding scene... Jens Voigt counted to infinity - twice. Scientists used to believe that diamond was the world’s hardest substance. But then they met Jens Voigt Jens Voigt doesn’t read books. He simply attacks until the books relent and tell him everything he wants to know. Wally can’t be found because Jens dropped him on a hill training ride… on K2. Jens doesn’t spin or mash the pedals… he kicks them into submission. Jens Voigt climbs so well for a big guy because he doesn’t actually climb hills; the hills slink into the earth in fear as they see him approach. Jens’ testicles are bald because hair does not grow on a mixture of titanium, brass, steel, and cold, hard granite. Jens once had a heart attack on the Tourmalet. Jens counterattacked repeatedly until he kicked its ass. If Jens Voigt was a country, his principle exports would be Pain, Suffering, and Agony. If Jens Voigt was a planet, he’d be the World of Hurt. Jens Voigt doesn’t know where you live, but he knows exactly where you will die. Jens Voigt doesn’t have a shadow because he dropped it repeatedly until it retired, climbing into the CSC team car and claiming a stomach ailment. Jens Voigt once challenged Lance Armstrong to a “who has more testicles” contest. Jens won… by five. When you open a can of whoop-ass, Jens Voigt jumps out and attacks. You are what you eat. Jens Voigt eats spring steel for breakfast, fire for lunch, and a mixture of titanium and carbon fiber for dinner. For between-meal snacks he eats men’s souls, and downs it with a tall cool glass of The Milk of Human Suffering. Jens Voigt can eat just one. The first time man split the atom was when the atom tried to hold Jens Voigt’s wheel, but cracked. Jens Voigt doesn’t complain about what suffering does to him… but suffering constantly complains about getting picked on by Jens Voigt. Jens Voigt can start a fire by rubbing two mud puddles together. Jens' tears are so tough they could be the world heavyweight mixed-martial arts champion. Too bad Jens never cries. Jens Voigt rides so fast during attacks, that he could circle the globe, hold his own wheel, and ride in his own draft. At least as long as he didn’t try to drop himself. Jens Voigt nullified the periodic table because he doesn’t believe in any element, other than the element of surprise. The grass is always greener on the other side. Unless Jens Voigt has been riding on the other side in which case it’s white with the salty, dried tears of all the riders whose souls he has crushed Jens Voigt puts the “laughter” in “Manslaughter.” If you are a UCI ProTour rider and you Google “Jens Voigt,” the only result you get is “it’s not to late to take up kickball, Fred.” Jens was a math prodigy in elementary school, putting “Attack!” in every blank space on all his tests. It would be the wrong answer for everybody else, but Jens is able to solve any problem by attacking. Jack was nimble, Jack was quick… and Jens still drove him to quit racing bikes and become an ice dancing commentator on Lifetime.

Day 3 TdF - 2009

Day 3 is another transfer day. We rode only 50 km, from the hotel to the start of today's stage. At the stage starting town, we lingered around the carnival like atmosphere waiting for the individual rider call ups and sign in. Saw many of the tour favorites and rider favorites. I like Lance a ton and am a big fan. The rider I most like to emulate while riding is Jens Voight. He can hammer on the front, works for his mates and can hang with the best on any stage with the strength to pressure the field or break to take the win or make it really hard for the guy who does win. I took many pictures, some are ok, most are too far away for anything worth keeping.

After the ride and watching the stage start, we boarded the bus for a six hour ride to the Alsace region, getting into the hills. We'll be here for the next two days. A six hour bus ride is not a lot fun, but gives me time to blog, sleep a bit, and yes, do some work.

The bike ride was easy, but a bit adventurous. Before the ride, Doug and I, well let's face it, it was really me as the instigator, tried to find some fellas who wanted to go longer and faster than the planned ride and route. The organizers know me a bit from last year and I did a bit of this last year as well. So, they were pretty OK about me going off on my own with a group and getting to the end point on time. The organizers were pretty helpful with mapping a route and giving direction. In the end, Doug and the others seemed a little concerned about vectoring away from the group. So, I backed off a bit to give them some comfort. We'll vector off the plan on some other day.

On the ride, Doug took position on front for about 10k and kept a pretty good pace. I then took a turn for about 10k and pressed the pace as well. While shifting from small ring to the big ring following a decent little climb, I snapped my shifter cable from its coupling on Ms BA. As a result, I only had my small ring for the remainder of the ride. Several folks noticed it and wanted to stop due to my mechanical incident. I said, "We're good;" and while rolling, took up the slack in the cable, wrapped it around the frame and tucked it in. Several folks were still a bit concerned. I pulled over, showed the ride leader all is good, and we rolled on. Having the small ring only slowed the pace a bit, but thanks to my man Jamie (Capt Insaneo) and his coaching, I can spin a good cadence at 120 rpm or so for a good long time. So hovering in the 34-11, terribly cross chained, we kept pressed the pace reasonably hard.

When we got to the bus, I clipped the frayed piece of cable and pieced it all back together. I only show less than .5 cm of cable on the front derailleur. Not great, but functional. The support crew for the group indicated they have shifter and break cables. I'm planning to acquire two of each as an insurance policy. Since I'll not be breaking down the bike for the next 13 days, I may just cable up the entire bike tonight and eliminate all concerns about cable snafus for the remainder of the trip. [Amazing, Microsoft spell check recognized the word 'snafu'. No spell check error.] Not much more for today, take care.

Day 2 TdF - 2009

Day 2 is a transfer day from the hotel near the airport outside of Paris to the Burgundy area of France. Here, we'll pick up the Tour and begin the riding of the routes the pros will race. On the transfer day, we're on the bus for a nearly 4.5 hour trip, which should only be a 3 hour trip. Paris traffic and a few accidents helped make this a longer ride.

The bike arrived in good shape yesterday and assembled with no problems. We relaxed a little and did a short 40k ride at a fairly slow pace. Most of the statistics I provide on riding will be in metric units. The rides are all based on that and the information on the rides are based on metric units. Upon returning, even though the ride was not hard, Doug and I were still pretty hungry. We finished the ride around 4 PM local time, watched the end of the race which Cav (Mark Cavendish) won with ease, then headed to the bar. Dinner was scheduled for 8 PM and we were hungry. Probably more bored than hungry, so we ate. We each had a beer, pint sized, and split a plate of fries. As any nutritionist would tell you, beer and fries are the best post ride recovery meal you can eat, particularly if it was an easy ride. The price however, was a real pinch. So two beers and a plate of fries = 23 Euros. At a rate of 1.52 dollars per euro, this was a $35 snack. We'll need to do better. And ya'll better be pleased we live where we live. Not sure the hotels in NY would ream you as bad as this beating on the wallet. If you recall from last year's blog, the prices in and around Paris are ridiculous. I'll update as we go, but I am damn glad I live where I do. Wouldn't change it for any place the world; I bet the French feel the same.

This year's ride is the Ritchey BreakAway. I had to leave Ms Veritas at home, last year's ride. Ms Veritas was the Ti bike Bob made. It has an aluminum seat post. Through the Spring races in the wet and with time, the aluminum and titanium decided to fuse together into a new metal. It also meant I could not remove the seat post from the frame. This makes it impossible to ship. So, the shop provisioned me with a Ritchey BreakAway. The BreakAway is a 'folding' bike. It breaks near the seat tube collar and bottom bracket. You pull the seat tube out and remove the clamp on the bottom bracket union and the frame pulls apart into two triangles, the front and rear. The shifter cables and rear brake cable are separated by cable splitters which screw together, and hence pretty easy to separate front from rear cable connectivity. You remove your handle bars where the stem connects to the front fork and all the pieces, along with your wheels pack tidily into a suitcase sized container. The weight is surprisingly light and the size is just right to avoid an excess baggage fee, which to ship a bike to Europe would have been $250, each way. So, thanks again to the best bike shop in the world, Wheelie Fun, for their assist again this year. So on this trip, I'll refer to the ride as Ms BA (you can associate BA with BreakAway or BadAss, your call). Ms BA, is a bad ass ride. Very smooth and stiff enough for a responsive, yet comfortable ride. Doug has the same bike. During assembly time, the others, including the pros supporting the trip, had significant bike envy. Either that, or they were all impressed with the bike knowledge, mechanical skill and intimidating biker legs Doug and I exhibit. Unfortunately for us, I think the envy was for the bikes.

Today's ride was a cruisy 75k ride. The first 20k was incredibly slow and not a whole lot of fun; a lot of touching of the brakes and skittish riders in this group. So, Ms BA and I decided we needed to up the tempo a bit. I rode to the front, started chatting with Dave, the ride director, who was the same ride director from last year. As we rode, I kept inching the pace a bit. Soon enough, we're rolling at 20 mph or so. The ride director commented a few times, "Ease it up a bit, mate." If you recall, the tour company (bikestyletours.com) is an Australian owned company. With about 20k to go, I got back on the front, this time with my mate Doug. Soon enough we were cruising along at 23-24 mph, on small uphill grades. Doug's power meter was registering about 300 watts, so we were working a bit. Doug commented, "Well, these guys are either gonna love us, or hate us." With about 5k to go, Doug peeled off the front to third wheel or so. I stayed on the front kept the pace at 23 mph or so and rolled into town. Most of the riders commented on the nice pace, but glad they were not doing the work on the front. We had a bit of a head wind and cross wind most of the way. All-in-all, a decent day and good timing.

We arrived in the town to meet our bus which was along the race route. Small town, not a lot of folks, so viewing the race was pretty open. The point at which we viewed the race was 55k from the finishing town. The riders were not pressing too hard, so we had a good view of George Hincappie, Lance, Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer, and the rest of the pros. Pretty good viewing. Hard to get good photos. I took some, but still a bit blurry. That's all for now. Time for some food. By the way, did I mention I love the Tour ((THIS MUCH)). Grateful to have this chance, again.

Day 1 TdF - 2009

Well, it's July and that means two things: my son Matt's birthday and the Tour de France. Matt was born the day Greg LeMond won the Tour in 1989. In the Summer of 2000, I was in Paris on business. I had the opportunity to stay in Paris over the weekend to watch the final stage of the 2000 edition of the Tour. On Thursday, I phoned my son Matt, whose birthday was on the final Sunday. I asked him if he would prefer I come home to celebrate his birthday on the 23rd, or would he mind if I stayed to watch Lance win his second TdF. I explained that I would come home on Monday and we'd celebrate then. Matt asked me to come home. So, I did. This year, he said he did not mind. Last year he came to France along with the rest of the fam (fam = family) and we celebrated his birthday on Alpe d'Huez, watching the Tour (I did not ride that day; I conquered the Alpe the day before). I was a good day for me, I hope he enjoyed it.

Last year I described the Tour adventure as the Epic Summer, perhaps a bit melodramatic. Riding the Tour routes had always been a goal of mine and I was fortunate to have the opportunity to do it. It was an experience I'll never forget. Last year's ride included so many of the most famous climbs I had on my list of wanting to attempt. I spent a lot of time preparing both mentally and physically for the trip. I had many doubts about how I would manage the difficult ascents. Then, twenty days prior to leaving for the trip I broke my collar bone during a race. As I sat in the road following the crash, I never gave a thought to not going. My thoughts were much training I'd miss prior to going and how much weight I'd likely gain prior to attempting the climbs. I think I managed the experience fairly well. My 2008 blog posts chronicles the 2008 experience. If you're interested, check my 2008 blog archives.

I received a good deal of positive feedback on the 2008 blog. Many folks who know I am riding the Tour routes again in 2009 asked that I blog about this experience as well. When I review the 2008 entries, some of it was actually pretty good. I'll try to be equally entertaining and interesting this time as well. In the blogs, I try to cryptically message to teammates, friends, family and others things they will understand and you, perhaps, may not. You may even find the word choice or description odd. It makes it fun for me and makes the readers curious and entertained, I hope.

So, why do it again? Easy answer I LOVE IT. The challenge, the training, testing yourself, and the entire experience. For all the effort during the next fourteen days, the experience last year was actually incredibly relaxing. You ate, you rode, you slept. Oh, and blogged a bit. Oh, and took a couple of 4-6 hour conference calls. Mixing a little work with vaca (vaca = vacation) is just the way I roll. It reduces the anxiety of being out of touch and helps manage the mountain of work which grows from taking fourteen days off. And, Lance is riding.

I am a huge Lance fan. Regardless of the doping allegations, personality, ego, I value his focus and competitiveness. I try to gather virtues from the folks I meet or who inspire me. I have met Lance and his achievements do inspire me, along with many others. I am wise enough to know that each person has flaws. Its easy to pick at the flaws in another person. For the people who do that, it says a lot more about them than it does about the person whom they criticize. It is far more positive and rewarding to find the virtuous attributes and value them. And like my friend Da Light (RG) says, let's keep the energy positive.

This year will be different in several respects. First, my collar bone is not broken. I feel healthy and more fit and prepared than last year. Secondly, I am traveling, rooming, and riding with a good friend, Doug McConaha. Doug welcomed me to the team a few years ago. We trained a lot through the winter my first year on the team; riding with Dick Chartier in some of the worst conditions. But, we rode. He and I hit it off. Doug moved to Columbus and joined a competing team. I was fortunate to move up a category at the end of last year and now race/compete with and against Doug. He is a great competitor. We have managed to get in a few breaks during this past racing season, worked well together to keep away, but he beat me in the sprint for the wins. Quality guy, quality rider. It will be good traveling and riding with someone I know this year. For all the nice folks I met last year, it still got a little lonely not being around folks you know.

One thing will be the same, my passion for this sport and in particular, the Tour. I absolutely love this sport and the Tour. How much? (( THIS MUCH )) As you cross the line, imagine sitting up, hands off the bars, your arms spread as wide as you possibly can, and like a kid, with a huge smile, cup the air with your hands and yell "THIS MUCH." Each rider has their unique victory salute. Robbie McEwen speeds across the line in a field sprint, sitting up, pointing to his chest with both index fingers; Contador points his right hand in the shape of a gun and fires off an imaginary round with his index finger; Lance has his arms raised, elbows bent, fists clenched and pumps the air once with both fists; Em is a lot more subtle, both hands on the bars, takes her right hand and with a small fist and subtle fist pump says 'Yes'; Jamie is rolling across the line, waaaay off the front, sitting up, both hands raised, elbows straight yelling a big ole Texas "Yee Haw."

Hard to explain why I love this sport so much. Kind of irrational, but I love it so. You train not to make the races easier; but to put yourself and the competition in the pain box during the race. To win, it hurts, it really hurts. But the pain soon ends and you're left with accomplishment. To achieve, you gotta love to practice and you have to be willing to suffer, to sacrifice more than the next guy. Tune into Versus and watch this race, get out to an amateur event and watch us race. Hopefully, you'll have the chance to see me crossing the line to yell (( THIS MUCH )); I may not be first, but the passion and celebration will be there. Hopefully you'll pick that up in my blog posts and be entertained.

Do not DNF!

From first podium last week, to hanging off the back this week. That is the nature of this sport. Yesterday was the hardest day I've experienced on a bike. We raced 56 torturous miles on relatively flat, wind swept roads near Gettysburg, Oh. I have done well, very well, on this course in the past and was looking for a great result in this race. This would not be my week. In fact, with no hills on this course, I was shocked to be in the small ring during so many moments in this race than any other, more hilly races. It was that bloody hard.

The pace was hot, nearly from the start. My team, Team Abundance, applied the pressure from the gun. Accompanying us in our efforts to make the race hard from the gun was my friend's team Walker/Olympus. Our two teams were drilling it and keeping many in the field in the gutter on the cross wind sections. At about mile four, I had a mate up the road, Mike, with a Walker rider. I was hopeful the pack would relax a bit, but too early for that hope to be realized.

I was riding on the front, working to control the pace and ready for any chase. A Team Dayton rider, who is a great time trial guy, launched from the field. Jamie called to me to get on it, I did. Unfortunately, my Team Dayton wheel did not have the juice to bridge to the two off the front. The early warning signs for me were ringing. In order to follow the Team Dayton wheel, I had to burn a lot of matches and my heart rate was way high. Not a good sign. When the field caught us, I was summarily spit out the back and dropped. Dropped! I was crushed. I was giving it all I had and dropped at mile seven. This was gonna be a hard day.

I connected with a group of four, also dropped, and we worked together. at mile ten, there was about three miles of absolute torturous cross winds of twenty plus mph. You needed the draft to help pull you through this section. I was in the draft, not taking pulls. The the four with me simply rolled away, riding me off their wheel. This race was turning into a disaster. We made the right hander to yield only one mile to the finish of the FIRST lap of four! I was thinking hard about "D-ing" it. DID NOT FINISH (DNF)! I had not DNF'ed in two years. I may have been pulled from a race, but I not quit in more than two years. I connected with a couple of other riders and struggled on, starting lap two.

At this point, my mind set was one lap at a time. Get the next one down, keep rolling. My fear of embarrassment was getting lapped by my own group and was certain the P123 field would lap me. Head down and keep going. As I rolled, I noticed I was picking up guys from the lead group who had been spit out and quit. I kept rolling. I picked up my friend Doug from Walker. He also wanted to mail it in for the day. I pleaded with him to suffer with me. We did. And for the next 2.5 laps, we suffered. We did not lolly gag around. We were racing. We pushed as much pace as we could, hour heart rates were pegged as if we were in the lead, but alas, we were not.

This was a hard, hard race. My friend Dan, from Team Dayton, apparently ate his Wheaties this morning and crushed it. He got away from the field and held the field off on this wind swept course for more than two laps to win the day in a solo break. My team was decimated. We had three mates (Jamie, Nick and Mike) finish in the top ten. Stan was down a bit further, but made it with the leaders. Doug and I brought up the rear, I think we finished 19th and 20th. But, we did not DNF! And, no field lapped us, thank goodness!

Reminds me of the poem my wrestling coach gave us in high school. He had this poem on a small card, laminated. Some of us kept this poem in the head gear, laminated card, so protected from sweat. These words have helped me through some of my toughest challenges (competing as a young wrestler, getting into the AF Academy, graduating from the AF Academy, cycling and racing). The poem, entitled, "Don't Quit" provided below:

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

- Author unknown

Time to get back at it. Train, adjust, line it up again next week, and give it all I've got.

First podium as a cat 3

Today was another hard day of racing; 56 miles on a windy day. Seven loops around an eight mile circuit. This course is near my home and I ride it often. However, I have never done well on this course. The course is mostly flat with some rollers, some false flats and one sprinter-type hill. This course is made for my style of riding, but I have always busted on this course.

Today would be different. My team and I toed the line with 40 or so other riders. With me today, were Jamie, Mike, Stan, Nick and Scott. Strong riders and great team riders. On the first loop, several teams attacked. I was feeling so-so after two hard days of farm work and the legs were a little shaky. I went with a couple of early attack, but none stuck. I was off the front with a former teammate and still good friend, Jeff. When we hit the back side of the course of three miles of crosswind, headwind, the field reeled us back. I burned a few matches on that effort and needed to find some shelter in the field.

As we rolled through the finish, which is on a slight uphill grade, into the wind, to complete lap one of seven, the attacks from the other teams and a few from my team continued. We took a right turn and fought a fierce cross wind as we approached the hill for the second time. I was feeling better and keeping pace with the attacks and assessing the other riders. We turned right again and rolled with the wind. The pace was hot, 33+ mph. Several teams took digs.

Cory, an 18 year-old from Team Turner put in a huge attack. Corey is a man child. He is tall, thin, but sports a huge engine in his lungs and legs. He is a good guy and I enjoy racing with him. He is a very mature young man and appears to have great character. Unfortunately for him, his attack did not produce the result he hoped.

As the field caught him, I was about six to seven riders back. I was rolling with a huge head of steam. I felt I wanted to attack and get a break established, but was nervous as we were near to the three miles of crosswind/headwind torture chamber. Inertia won the day and I attacked, hard. I immediately had a 100m gap on the field and was digging for my life. My hope was that one of my mates would bridge to join me, that the field would not catch me in the three mile torture chamber, and that we'd stay away.

Upon entering the torture chamber, I looked back several times in hopes to see a blue and white jersey coming on to help me. As I looked back, I saw green, white and black of Walker Homes with the field behind him. Damn! I had about 200m on the Walker guy and he had about 200m on the field. I was determined not to let the Walker guy catch me. So, I buried my head and drilled it. I was in desperate search for the finish line marking the end of lap two looking for the cross wind section. I felt I could keep my gap in the cross wind section and one of my mates would surely bridge up on the climb and we could work the downwind leg together to develop a larger gap.

As I made the right hander after the finish line on lap two, I looked back. I was happy to see the field had reeled the Walker guy back and that I still had a pretty good gap. Up the hill and onto the downwind section, I resumed the hardest pace I could push. As I neared the place where I had initially attacked, three colleagues joined me, one was my friend/mentor/coach/teammate Jamie (Capt InsaneO). To my delight he brought two other strong fellas with him Doug and Dan. Doug, who rides for Walker, is a former teammate and great friend. He and I are riding together in France this coming summer. Dan is super strong, also a friend and rides for Team Dayton. So, in this break of four, my team has two (great odds for us) and we have two great, strong riders with whom we all get along. Even better.

As the four of us turned into the torture chamber, we had only a modest gap. I asked to take a spell from pulling a few rotations as the solo lap really took a lot out of the legs. The crew obliged. From the back I was encouraging my break to drill it as we were all race age 40 and over and putting the rest of the field in great difficulty. Jamie loved it and put in several monster pulls. For the next four laps, the four of us worked together and wound up putting several minutes on the field. We four over 40 had smiles in our heart and grimaces on our faces. Meanwhile, in the field, my mates were disrupting the chase and killing any attempt by competing teams to reel back my break.

Nearing the end of lap six and heading into the bell lap, Jamie rolled back to set up an attack for us to separate from Doug and Dan. I said, I'd love to, but I have nothing. Dropping Doug and Dan was the right thing to do, because Doug has a huge sprint and is a big risk to both Jamie and me. As we approached the base of the final time up the hill, Jamie attacked. Doug was right on his wheel. We are all smart racers and I believe Doug and Dan knew what was coming as well as I did. Doug was the only one with legs to respond. At the top of the hill, I took position behind Dan. There was no way I was taking a pull to help bring Dan back up to Jamie. Dan knew this and the gentleman that he is, never even thought to ask.

Dan has a tremendous engine. He pulled me for nearly five miles and nearly pulled Doug and Jamie back single handedly. Jamie then dropped the hammer on Doug and separated himself from Doug. Dan and I, well, let's face it, Dan, caught Doug and the three of us rolled along with two miles remaining with Jamie about 300m up the road. I was still in the comfy position of drafting Dan. I wanted to be in a better position and draft Doug and Dan, but Doug is too smart for that. He knows and he knows that I know that he can beat me in a sprint. So, Doug would allow the gaps to open between Dan and me, knowing that he could not only beat me in a sprint, but likely bridge any gap I allowed to open and catch Dan as well. Doug is a strong man.

As we neared the finish, Doug leaped with about 500m to go. I thought this was too soon and tried to jump to his wheel as he zoomed past. Dan shouted "Good move!" to Doug and I tried like hell to catch Doug. I thought I would pull him back with 200m to go and had visions of second. I jumped out of the saddle and almost as quickly sat back down as my legs would have none of it. Jamie finished first, Doug took second, I was third and Dan finished fourth. After the race, I stopped by to thank Dan for his efforts on the last lap and explain/justify my behavior. Before I could get a word out, he congratulated me on a good race and complemented Jamie and me on our tactics on the last lap. What more can I say, a true gentleman. I can’t wait to mix it up with these guys again.

It was a crazy hard day. A thrilling victory for me, albeit third, to do so well on a course on which I had bombed so miserably in the past. The day was made all the better for three other really great outcomes. One, some good friends finished first and second. Two, four forty year-olds beat the ever living pants off the field. Three, my other teammates finished fifth and tenth. We had four guys in the top ten! What a day for our team.

Deer Creek Road Race

April 12 was a windy, brisk day in Ohio. Deer Creek is just North of Chillicothe, OH. I have done well on this course in the past and was looking forward to contesting my improved fitness level racing with the 3s.

The course is about a 12 mile loop. It is mostly flat with two modest risers (hills). These are for sure big ring risers as there are flats to false flats following the risers and this is where the attacks will start. You need to be prepared to be on the gas when you crest the climb. The front part of the course is relatively flat with one riser and nearly five miles of head wind, you make a right hand turn and have approximately four miles to the finish on the back side of the course. Once you make the right hand turn, you hit the second riser and then it is on the gas. You are mostly rolling with the wind or have a slight cross wind. In the cross wind sections, if you keep your speed from the downwind segments, you can shell riders off the back. It is a bear to hold on and even harder to bridge back from being dropped.

My team (Mike, Stan, Nick, Bill, Zach) and I rolled out on the first lap with forty other combatants, and the attacks started immediately. It all came back together once we hit the head wind. My strategy was to find cover on each of the four head wind segments we'd experience in this race. The repetitive beating you take in a hard race with wind is cumulative. To have any legs to cover a real break requires you to conserve when and where you can. The second piece of my strategy was to allow gaps to open and not try to cover everything. Evaluate the breaks and if a break had the right composition, wait for a gap that I felt could cover to open and then attack the gap to bridge without taking anyone with. The third part of the strategy was to cover all the same for my mates in the event they made a break.

The first time up the riser on the back side of the course, my friend Doug, who races for a competing team, jammed the hill and was on the gas immediately after the climb. He made us all hurt immeasurably. I was finding any wheel I could follow to make sure I was not dropped. Doug and his team really strung out the field on this first lap of four. As we crossed the finish line, things came back together a bit. On the first riser after the finish line and before the head wind section, the group finally came back together and no one had the courage to leap out on the head wind section.

On the second time up the riser on the back side, another attack came. Stan, Nick and Mike jumped this attack. I was not in a great position and feared being gapped out of the race. I buried myself to cover the gap, taking turns with a few other in my chasing group. I finally caught them about one mile before we hit the head wind section, bringing about five others with. In the head wind section it all came back together.

On the third time up the riser on the back side, the Turner team attacked. They got a rider plus two up the road. One of the two was on my friend Doug's team. The field sort of let them go for a while and the gap was opening up somewhat large. It was large enough for me to grow uncomfortable. Doug's team would not help chase, they had a man up. Turner would not chase, they had a man up and their team initiated many of the early attacks. I rode up to several riders on the front to initiate a chase. Their comment was, "You have the team and numbers. It's your job to bring it back." We turned into the head wind section and the gap was growing larger. Stan, one of my mates, rolled up and indicated we need to pull this thing back together. With Stan, Nick and Mike as our sprinters, I went to the front and set a hard pace into the head wind. Stan and I took turns spelling each other as we drew the break back. Other teams with riders up mixed into our flow to disrupt it a bit, but we succeeded. With about 1.5 miles to the right hander and the final time up the back side riser, we caught the break. Nice work Stan 'Devolder' Huffman.

Stan and I dropped back to the back of the field to catch our breath and rest a bit. Once we turned right, it was 3.5 miles to the finish and mostly with or a slight cross wind. This is where the pace really quickened on the past three laps. Stan said, "Take Nick to the front and give him a sniff at the line." We did not know, however, Nick had been ill all week and had nothing left for this race. I went to the front to be ready for the launch. As we started climbing the back side riser, three guys attacked. I was marking one of the three as he attacked on lap three. I was ready and jumped their wheels. At the top of the climb, we had a decent gap and four of us. I liked my chances in this group, but my confidence was stronger than my legs. I took a pass on my first three pulls in this break as I was really feeling the effects of working on the front so recently with Stan to pull things back. My break was not happy, but I had nothing at that time to contribute. After skipping three pulls, I started pulling my share and tried to pull longer in order to make it up.

With about one kilometer to go, I knew this selection would determine the winner. I also knew I had no legs for the sprint. On the left hander coming off a direct downwind section, I took the turn at a little more than 30 MPH, I tried to jam it at that time and time trial away from these guys. They were way too strong and I was far more spent than I anticipated. They blew past me, I finished a respectable fourth about 15 seconds off their finish. Great race, great organization. I am paying for it today as my IT bands are severely strained. I need to work it out before next week. We line it up and do it again next Sunday.

First OVR Race of 2009

While the pros contested the Tour of Flanders today, we in the Ohio Valley contested the first of the Ohio Valley Racing Series at Hueston Woods, near Oxford, OH. This was my first USAC race as a newly minted Cat 3. The course is approximately a nine mile loop with three reasonable climbs and gentile rollers throughout the course.

Team Abundance had seven (Jamie, Nick, Mike, Zach, Bill, Scott and me)in a field that looked to be 35-40 riders. About four miles into a 50 mile race, Jamie sends Nick off the front. Nick is an absolute hammer. Folks don't mark him much, but they will soon. No matter, he is super strong and can ride most Cat 3's off his wheel. Nick got a big gap in a short amount of time. Folks in the field were a bit stunned.

One guy from Raisin Rack (now National Engineering) chased Nick and was having some difficulty bridging up. After a mile or two, Jamie attacked and took a couple with him. They swept up the National Engineering rider and joined Nick. Moments later Mike launched a rather mild attack on a down hill segment and folks let him go. Mike bridged up to the group which looked to be about 7 riders and we had three in the break - good numbers for us.

Zach, Bill, Scott and me took turns patrolling the front of the field. Our job was to jump to the wheel of any chasers and make sure that if any went up the road, we were getting a free ride in the draft to the break, if the jump made it to the break. It went this way for about 20 miles. Then a group of 4 riders got away and we did not pay as much attention to that group as we should have. One of us should have made the jump with that group, which eventually bridged up to the break, making 11 in the break. Four of eleven is much better than three. We had the numbers and the legs to support it, we simply fell asleep. We did much better for the remainder of the race, no others escaped to make it to the break. We'll monitor it more closely in the next race.

The break was only 2:00 minutes ahead of the field, but that was enough. Of the 11 riders up, we place 3 in the top ten. It was a good day for the team. We learned some early lessons about managing the race. It was a great day for Nick, who is also a new Cat 3, placing second overall. Great job.

Epic Summer 2008

I initially created this weblog to chronicle my Epic Summer of 2008. For years I imagined what it would be like to ride (let alone race) the Tour de France. Well, 2008 was the year. Upon the recommendation of a friend, I registered with http://www.bikestyletours.com. I left the States on 10 Jul 08, arrives in Paris on the 11th. On the 11th we did a short ride around Paris and then head to the Pyrenes for the first real day of riding and climbing. Please review the archives of 2008 to read what was, for me, an off the chart experience. And, oh yeah, I'll be going back.

Week 2 Video

Posted below is the YouTube video compilation of pictures and video from week 2. Like the last video, I included some pics of the team and other non-trip related photos of folks who have helped make my cycling experience more complete. Thanks to all for your help. This is a little longer video, 8 minutes. I think it will be worth your time and I hope you enjoy it.

Trip fini

The epic summer is over. I am waiting for the plane home. It was a great trip. I climbed all the famous climbs of the Tour and a few others. I am sure there are more mountains to climb, but it will have to be for another trip. I plan to do this again, as hard as it was, it really was a ton of fun. There are a few climbs on which I'd like a re-do. I think I can do better and enjoy it more. Specifically, the Tourmalet and Houtacam.

The fam had a good time, I think. We visited different things this time. We visited some French castles, palaces and took the train to Versailles. It was well worth the time to see all these new things. Versailles is a magnificent place. The gardens were awesome, we visited on a cool day and I could have spent the entire day loafing around and just hanging out in the gardens. I like to imagine the type of activities which used to take place there back in its hay day, you know, before the guillotine.

So, for now, it is back to work and riding and racing the bike on the local scene. Thanks for checking in, I hope you found the blog entertaining or informative. I'll likely keep posting, primarily about riding and racing, but not so frequently. I also plan to post a second video, but it may be a week or so. I need to dig out from email inbox hell.

As for the shoulder, it still aches. It has been about 5 1/2 weeks since the break. The strength is coming back, but certain motions and pressure still cause some pain. There is a pretty cool looking knot, on each collar bone now. While I am not symmetrical, it's close enough. See you on the road.

Day 17

This may seem more like a tidbits section. I'll skip around a bit because there is so much to share and tell.

Arrival in Paris...

Paris is huge, really huge. I have no idea of the actual size, but it wears to me like New York x10. The bike tour still had my bike and we were traveling separate from the tour group. We had to drop the car off at Orly airport and we were staying in a different hotel from the tour group. We had Ms Garmin to guide us, but the size of the city intimidated me a bit with this logistical challenge. Goodwill to the rescue. While on the way to Paris the man in charge of logistics for the tour group, his name is Wim, phoned me on my mobile. He made an offer I couldn't refuse. He said he had my bike and bike box with him. He'd meet me at Orly with his van, pick up me, the fam and our luggage and take us to our hotel. I said, but of course, thank you. What did I do to deserve this kind treatment? Two days prior, the fam and I decided to vector away from the group, Wim was joking with the tour group about riding the time trial course. No one took him very seriously. He had no bike, shoes or helmet. When he and I were sharing a beer, I indicated that if he were serious about riding, he could use my bike and gear as I planned to spend the rest of the trip with the fam. He was very happy. He said he would take care of everything and I'd see him in Paris. So, while I believed I'd face a logistical hurdle in Paris, Wim came through. He phoned me on the way to Paris to make his very generous offer and said that the bike rode extremely well. Thank you to Wim and to Ms Veritas, who keeps providing great dividends.

Hotel...

The hotel in Paris is awesome. It is a 4 star hotel two blocks from the Arc de Triomphe. We are on the 7th floor with a small balcony you access through what is effectively an over sized window. The view out the window is largely southern facing. As a result, we have a pretty good view, hell let’s face it, a great view of the Eifel Tower. Pretty incredible sight at night all lit up. The room is spacious, particularly for Paris standards, well appointed and generally pretty posh. The bell hops are all uniformly dressed and appear to have a bit of a pecking order or rank among them. It was pretty funny to see us come barreling in with 3 oversized duffels, 3 pack packs, a computer back pack, a bike and a bike case. I asked the head bell hop if I could dissemble and pack my bike some place out of the way of his customers (again, using my best French). He pointed to an area of the lobby that was uncongested, but still extremely nice. The floor was marble covered nearly 80% by a pretty nice looking piece of carpet or high end rug. I shrugged and said ok, dragged the bike, bike box and back pack of tools to the area and went to work. I had some packing wrap for the frame in the box. I laid it on this nice rug to protect it and put the bike on the wrap. I had the entire bike apart, in the box and closed within about 7-10 minutes. The Bell hops were impressed and watch me the entire time. I couldn't tell if they were truly interested or concerned like hell I'd ruin the carpet, damage the marble or one of the nice, cloth covered chairs. But, Ms Veritas was neatly pack and put into hotel storage until we leave for home on Weds.

The prices...

As nice as the city is and as pretty as the views may be, the prices are astronomical. The typical price for a can of Coke at the restaurants is 5-6 Euro. With the dollar hovering around 1.7 on the exchange rate, this is one hell of an expensive Coke. The breakfasts, which typically consist of coffee, a couple of croissants, some spreads and maybe juice runs about 12 Euro, multiple by 1.7 to get the US dollar equivalent. For many reasons, I can't wait to get back to the States.

Two scoops of meconium please…

I love chocolate, dark chocolate in particular. I like chocolate in the form of ice cream the best. Last night, after the race, while walking around Paris, we came upon this ice cream parlor. Among all the flavors, they had a tub of dark, nearly black, tar-like tub of something in the cooler. It looked like meconium. For the uninitiated, meconium is the term for an infants first pooh. It is very dark and tar-like in its appearance. For some reason, this tub of meconium looking ice cream was calling my name. Two scoops I said, in my best French. It was awesome.

The race...

On the final day of the Tour, the last race starts outside Paris and hits the city with 52 km remaining. The final kilometers of the race are 8 laps around a 5.4 km circuit in the city. The primary boulevard used for this is the Champs Elysees. We were situated in the grand stands approximately 150 meters from the finish line, great seats. We arrived early, which was good and bad. The bad part was we sat in the stands for nearly 4 hours prior to the arrival of the riders. The good part was we were in the shade of the trees from the afternoon sun and heat. And, boy, was it hot. The riders rolled into town with a huge ovation, the CSC train all pulling on the front. The CSC train tried to maintain order through the 8 laps, but it was tough. Several riders tried to go off the front for glory, but the CSC train pulled them back in. Why, you may ask, to keep their rider safe. If the pace remains high, very high, there is less likely of a bunch up and accidents. Folks are strung out nearly single file simply following wheels. The tactic is to deliver Carlos Sastre in the Yellow Jersey safely over the final finish of the 21 stages. If Sastre had an accident, it would be all too easy to gain the one minute separating him from the second place riders. Folks would likely slow to allow him to recover; part of the gentlemanly nature of the sport. But, not worth risking. So, keep the pace way high and prevent accidents resulting from a gaggle of riders getting too twitchy. It worked. With the final 2 km to go, the CSC train pulled off and allowed the sprint to take full force. The final sprint reached nearly 70 km on a slight uphill grade. This is nearly 37 mph on a bike, slightly uphill. Awesome power and speed. The Champs Elysees is cobbled. The riding is rough, very rough. Jens Voigt, a CSC rider, lost his seat with 3-4 km to go. He finished the stage nearly last, having the stand the final 3-4 km. The crowd gave him a big roar when he rolled over the finish line.

The Race in Paris...

It's hard to describe this race to people unfamiliar with cycling. The best I can do is try to paint an analogy. The Champs Elysees is like combining Park Ave and Madison Ave from New York into one. It is the marketing and shopping epicenter with the prominence of Park Ave. Park Ave is also a boulevard style avenue versus other avenues in NYC. So imagine shutting down Park Ave from the Helmsley Building, around 42nd street, up to around 97th, North end of Central Park, both ways. At 97th, you loop around and head back down Park on the South bound side. To loop around the South side of the route, imagine closing 42nd all the way over to Broadway and then come back East on like 39th to head back North on Park. Now it will be a little tricky because the Helmsley Building pretty well blocks all of Park going N/S as Grand Central Station is located there. Nevertheless, you find a way through all this and CLOSE all the streets to do it. Then, within about 3 hours of completing the race, everything is gone and traffic is once again back to normal. That's how important this race is to France and Paris. Pretty cool stuff.