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.

Day 16

On Day 15 we drove from a business travel hotel and town to Amboise, a town in the center of castle country and which had a castle of its own in the center of town. It was far more relaxing and we had dinner at a nice restaurant near the outer walls of the castle. The restaurant specializes on crepes for dessert. I could not offend the house, so I had a crepe with Grand Marnier. On Day 16, we covered a lot of ground. We visited 2 castles or palaces and drove 1.5 hours to the finishing town for the day's race, the time trial.

The castles were awesome. One was started in 1515 and took nearly 150 years to complete. It has bits of gothic and renaissance elements to it. It was initially built as a hunting lodge by the king who started it, but Louie the XIV finished it and turned it into one hell of a lodge. It was quite impressive. The most notable features were its 77 stone spiral staircases. Probably the newest innovation of the time, so it was over used; but still cool.

The second castle was built across a river. It was interesting to see the use of 4 archways traversing the river as the supporting foundation. The castle itself was then built on top of the arches. The grounds were the most notable aspect of this castle. The gardens were spectacular. There were two primary gardens. Both had water features. One garden used red flowers for the primary color and highlighted it with white rose bushes and greenery. The other garden used yellow flowers as the primary color and highlighted it with lavender and other greenery. I liked the yellow garden the best.

On to the time trial. The day time temperatures were hot, wicked hot and hard to find shade for shelter. We arrived at the finishing city with about 2 hours left in the race. We had a great parking spot and position on the race course. We parked within 3 blocks of the 1 km to go kite, and walked about 600-800 meters towards the finish to sit near the 250 m to go point, right after a chicane on the course. It was an incredible view of the racers. The cyclists were hammering; covering the 53 km in just over an hour; for non-cyclists, this is really moving. The last 2-3 km were pretty flat and the boys were smoking along at nearly 60 km/hr. The sound coming from the bikes and the look on the faces of the racers created an awesome sight and sound. Sastre had the ride of his life and retained the Yellow Jersey. No one would attack him on the last day. He will win the TdF this year.

Day 15 TidBits

Off the front…

There's off the front and then there is really off the front. 'Off the front' is a term we use to describe a rider who puts in a huge attack on the group (peleton) and then gets significantly far enough ahead that the rider is considered 'off the front' in a way to be in a good position to win the race. My friend Jamie is often off the front putting us all in the race or ride trying to chase him in a significant amount of difficulty. The past few weeks have offered me the opportunity to watch the truly gifted athletes in the TdF hammer off the front and put huge gaps into some of the top riders in the field. It is simply amazing to watch these guys open huge gaps in such a short amount of time. It is really hard to appreciate how fast these guys can accelerate by watching on TV. I have also seen some average looking guys in our group just completely hammer up these climbs. A fella named Bruno, a 50 year old Frenchman, is one such guy. On nearly every ride, this 5'5", 165 pound guy tears up climb after climb. As I commented when riding with Greg Anderson, see post on Hill Repeats, it is always inspirational to ride with guys with huge aerobic engines. You know you too can get there, it is just a simple matter of training. So, no matter your vocation, train hard and get off the front in your own competition - its well worth the view, I'm told.

Managing cramps...

In the Day 4 post I complained of significant cramping in my legs on the climb to "Tore-my-legs-off" (Tourmalet). I consulted the former pro rider leading our group about ways to manage or mitigate cramps, other than water (I believed I was hydrating myself well enough). His advice, "Train more." Great, sounds like my friend and coach Jamie. So, I regressed to a prior experience, my days in wrestling. When I wrestled in high school, I would drop a lot of weight the week leading up to a match. Obviously, most of the weight loss was water weight. When subsequently putting the body under the strain of competition, the muscles would sometimes seize with cramps due to lack of good hydration and proper nutrition. To combat the cramping, I would typically dose myself with aspirin about 45 minutes prior to my bout. This would thin the blood a little bit and help combat cramps. Well… works in cycling too. Over the past few days on significant climbs, I'd drop 4 aspirin in the water bottle, add some PowerBar mix for sugar and minerals and top off with water. I consumed this special concoction over the first 1.5 hours of the ride. While I experienced muscle fatigue, I did not cramp. I also concentrated on good hydration pre/post ride and tried to add a little extra salt to the food. The combination seemed to work. Not a long term solution, but the combination of tactics really helped me perform on the rides this past 10 days.

Training metrics...

One of the important elements of this trip for me, besides the experience, was the training benefit the trip offered. Over the last two weeks I've been on the bike for 39 hours of total riding time. I am sure I spent more time with the bike, but this is a riding time only metric. In the 39 hours, I covered 580 miles and 49,000 feet of climbing. I am done with riding for the week. I am short of the contemplated 800+ mile goal, but I think I got my money's worth. In all, I think I consumed more than 450 baguettes, and still counting.

Expected benefits...

I expect this trip to improve my aerobic engine significantly. When you are working a climb for 1.5-2 hours with your heart rate at the very high end of your aerobic range, while intermittently operating over it, you expect it to translate the activity into a bigger overall engine which will operate at a higher capacity when returning to the racing environment. For me, this will be the races in late Aug and Sept. We'll see what happens. In short though, I now know a lot better what I can do and know that I can do just a little more when needed at race time. I expect I'll retain the training benefits even though I will not be riding for the next week. I will, however, continue my assault on the supply of available baguettes and all the other rich food of the regions we visit.

Day 15

Day 15 was a travel day. The fam and I got out of the Holiday Inn and drove three hours towards Paris. We are in an area called Loire. This is castle central for France. There are dozens of fairy tale looking castles and palaces throughout the region. We'll spend some time touring this area tomorrow. I'd love to make it to watch the time trial tomorrow as well, but not sure we'll make it or not. I'd suggest watching it if you have the opportunity. The top three riders are not known for their time trial abilities. The currently placed riders in positions 5-6 have some strong skills in this discipline. The excitement will be to see whether the riders in positions 4-6 can win by a sufficiently large enough margin in this one race to take over the top spot. It should be close. I am hoping for a close enough finish that the race on Sunday is more than a ceremonial ride.

Typically the tour winner has a commanding enough lead going into the last day, Sunday, that the race is more ceremonial than a meaningful race. The lead is sufficient large that while the race is contested for the win for the stage, the overall leaders ride the race simply to stay out of harms way of the sprinters and make it across the line to complete the race. It would be cool to see this race hotly contested. We have VIP tickets in the grandstands on the finishing area on Sunday. I am sure it will be a great day regardless.

We are currently staying in a small town named Amboise. It is largely a rural area, surrounded by rolling hills. The town is smaller than the cities surrounding Dayton, with no real industry here. It is hard to compare these towns with cities in the US. Each town is pretty unique with it own ecosystem of sorts. The towns are highly concentrated and not nearly as spread out (roomy) as towns/cities in the States. Most survive off tourist dollars and if the people are not involved in the tourist industry, they commute to the larger cities for work. The streets are narrow, very narrow. The shops and eateries close around 8 PM. On the walk to diner through the winding streets and past the many shops, I noticed people walking home from work, stopping off at a local bakery to grab a baguette, I assume for dinner or breakfast. It seemed odd to me that they'd walk home with their oversized bread sticks wrapped only in a napkin. It is interesting to me to see how differently life is lived outside our little corner of the world. I hope the boys notice it as well.

In the center of town is an old castle. The city streets radiate out from the castle, the former center of town life, and meander in an irregular path out of town. Along the routes, the streets are lined with shops, apartments and houses. Mostly brick and stone structures, the buildings are colored with the many planter boxes with bright red and pink geraniums and other flowers. Pretty cool, and fairly typical postcard perspective of what you'd expect in a small French town.

Day 14

I am posting day 14 on day 15. Sorry for the delay. Day 14 started GREAT, ended so-so. The ride was awesome. We did a 73.5 mi ride, 85% of it was on the race course, with another 2,000 feet of climbing. We rolled through the stage start, conquered the Cat 3 climb, and rolled through to the feed zone to watch the race shortly past the feed zone. The pace was hot, we averaged 21 mph across the 73 miles. For a normal club ride, this is a pretty good pace. Including a Cat 3 climb in the mix as well makes me feel pretty good about the ride. I actually feel I am getting stronger through the last couple of weeks. I took enough rest days (2) to recover from the extremely hard rides to make the longer days with moderate climbing a day on which I can get high productivity from the legs.

So what is a Cat 3 climb, relative to the monsters I climbed earlier in the week. It is climbing 1200 feet in elevation on a 3.0 mile climb, an average grade of 8%. It is short in length, steep at the beginning, softens at the end. It was a great climb and I felt really comfortable. I think my average speed was in the 6-8 mph range, which is pretty good, for me.

The ego boosting event of the day came prior to the climb. We steamed along at a strong pace of 22-24 mph on the mostly flat route. I was throwing water down regularly, but there was no break in the pace. At about mile 56, my bladder finally cried mercy. I pulled off the back of our 12 man group and stopped to relieve the bladder pressure. I was a little discouraged because I believed there would be no way to catch back on. Another rider, Ben, had the same idea, but perhaps a mile or so earlier. As I was getting back on the bike, he was passing me. I jumped to his wheel and suggested we hammer as hard as we can to catch back on. He agreed. We took turns mashing the pedals for 2.5 miles at an average pace of 25-27 mph, 1 km of which was a modest climb. We caught the group of 10 who were well up the road. We were impressed with ourselves and the group was surprise to see us. While pleased to be back on the group at mile 58.5, the climb started at mile 60.5. Only 2 miles of recovery, at the same hot pace we maintained for the first 56 miles prior to the climb. So, not really a great opportunity to recover. I felt great on the climb and rode hard. Very pleased for what I determined was my last ride of the trip.

The so-so part of the day was the hotel in Cleremont-Ferand (sp?). It was a Holiday in Express, ugh! It was a room for 2, with an added bed. It was crowded for 2, let alone 4. We piled in, but determined pretty quickly that this was not the place for us. We called an audible on the play and began planning the deviation to the travel plan before dinner. More to come on the updated plan.

Day 13

Nothing to report regarding a ride. Today, I chilled with the fam. It is Matt's 19th birthday and we spent it waiting for 5 hours for the Tour to roll through. We began the day with a 2 km walk up Alpe d'Huez to a little beyond the first switchback. The fam was huffing and puffing. They got a little taste of climbing these hills. We hung out there for a bit and then drifted back down to the base of the climb. It was a warm day and sunny. We found a spot in the shade in a bend of the road just before the real start of the climb.

Matt and I walked about a mile into the nearest town to gather some groceries. While there, we also snagged some camper seats, to avoid sitting on the ground and some rice mats to roll out and relax a bit while waiting for several hours. We also grabbed the vacation staples: cookies, pringles, coke, kit-kat bars, water and for the junk food part of the meal, nectarines. We killed time until the Tour Caravan rolled past. This is the caravan of cars with media and sponsors of the TdF. They throw all kinds of trinkets. We had some decent separation between the group of people prior to us and our spot. It is a little like a moving Halloween. As the Caravan rolls past, they throw things to the crowd. Since we had some space, the throwers had some time to re-load. We got a fair share of loot (junk). I think the fam was entertained by this.

Then the race came through. It was a hot pace. There were three off the front (I think), by about 1:30. All of the leaders were in a group of 25 or so, including 4 members from Team CSC. The CSC boys are hammers. Stuart O'Grady led them down the descent from Galabier. Cancellara then led them up the long ascent of Criox de Fer. This boy is a TT man, not a climber. He was able to stay on through the top to reattach to the lead group during the descent. Heading into the climb, it was Cancellara, Sastre, Andy Schleck and Frank Schleck. Cadel Evans was behind this train as was Christian Vandevelda. Shortly after they past us, Sastre launched up Alpe d'Huez. He won the stage by a massive margin (for this late in the tour and for a mountain stage where the leaders were all together at 15 km to go). He not only passed the few riders off the front 1:30 ahead of him, but put another 2:30 on the leaders. This caused the Yellow Jersey to change hands, but not teams. Frank Schleck out of Yellow, onto to Carlos Sastre. They made this climb look easy. It is truly impressive to watch these boys race uphill. The TV simply does not do it justice.

Tomorrow should be an easy day. Our plan is to ride 70 miles, 60% of which will be on the course tomorrow. We'll be stopping at the feed zone to wait for the tour. The fam will meet us there. This should be a good day to snag some souvenirs. As the riders roll past, they toss away water bottles, their feedbags and other junk. If we position the boys correctly, we should be able to get a few items. I think the boys are enjoying the experience.

Day 12

Sorry for the late post on Day 12, but I was too bloody tired to do much of anything after the ride. Yesterday was the epic ride of all epic rides. It was by far the hardest day on the bike I have ever experienced. I rocked the Alps for 97 miles. It took 7 hours and 20 minutes, but I climbed Galibier, Telegraphe, Croix de Fer and Alpe d'Huez. Yep, you got it 3 HC climbs and one smaller climb. And, I rode them in that order. So, Alpe d'Huez LAST. It was a bone crushing day with over 8,500 feet of climbing. This is essentially the same route the TdF will ride today, July 23rd. However, they will do a total of 210 km, 130 miles. They will start in Grenoble and roll to the base of Galibier. Yesterday, I started approx 1/3 up the climb to Cul du Galibier. Grenoble is on the other side of the mountains from where we are staying. We made our way towards the race route and intercepted it on the way to Grenoble, unloaded the bikes and began the epic day. Trust me, I did not miss those 33 extra miles. I'll try to describe each climb.

Galibier was tough only because we started at the 10 km to go point (6 miles). The pitch was already steep and no warm up. You spent the first 3 km of the climb getting the heart rate up and finding your climbing rhythm. It was shaping up to be a cold day and I was prepared. It was sunny, but the wind was strong and much cooler temperatures in the Alps. It was about 50 degrees at the start. I wore bib shorts, ss jersey, a vest, arm warmers, a wind jacket and gloves, fingered gloves. At the start, the jacket and gloves were packed in my back pocket. I wore the vest, but rode with it unzipped and open (looked like a very chic Euro cyclist), that would change. As we approached the top of the climb, the wind was whipping hard. As you hit the switchbacks you either had a strong head wind, or some wind to help push you up the climb. At the top, it was insufferable. Sweaty and not fully buttoned up, the wind was chilling you to the bone. I took one photo, zipped up the vest and got outta there. The descent was a rocking 25 km descent. You'd think this would be fun. At the top, your focus is pretty intense because you are freezing and your body shivering as you try to manage the speed and the corners. But, you want off this mountain to warmer temps. As you hit the lower slopes, your back, arms and hands are pretty fatigued from holding on, braking and managing the bike around the turns. I'd almost rather be climbing again, well, almost.

Telegraphe, after all the long climbs, was an 'easy' 6 km climb with a comfortable 5.5% average grade. It was basically a small climb on the descent from Galibier. We rocked it so fast I was surprised when we completed it. We rolled down the mountain for another 10 km to a small town where we snagged a coffee and mentally prepared for Croix de Fer.

It was a cat fight on Croix de Fer. This is a long, bloody climb, 19 miles of climbing to be precise. As you go, the pitch keeps increasing. It starts at 5-7%, hard to believe I now find that a comfortable incline, then it tips to 8-9.5 for the next 'forever' number of miles. The mountain keeps coming at you for 2 solid hours of climbing. As you start doing the math in your head on the time/distance to crest the climb, you think to your self there is no way you did the math correctly. You then check it and damn, you were right the first time. Heart pumping and sweat pouring from all over you body; this was a hard climb. The length make this climb so much more mentally challenging than some of the others. You know the work remaining and you also know the pitch will not get any more forgiving. Each time Ms Croix de Fer took a swing, Ms Veritas would swing back and eventually we got to the top. At that point, I was 4:45 into this epic ride and 53 miles down. While munching on a sandwich, I was calculating the remaining work. Did I really want to ride the next 25 miles to the base of Alpe d'Hues and then did I really want to climb for 9 more miles on this epic finishing climb of the Tour. I decided to head that way and make the call when I got there. If I bailed, the bus was meeting us at the base of Alpe d'Huez anyhow, I could lick my wounds there and get on with the next day.

At the base of Alpe d'Huez, the mountain beckoned and Ms Veritas was eager and urging the legs to have at it. I topped off the water bottles at a faucet near some port-o-lets. I had no idea whether it was good water, but plenty of other riders were filling, so I followed suite. With a full complement of water, off I went. The 4th climb of the day. The first 4 km of this climb are a beast; grades of 10.2, 10.6, 10.4, and 10.0 respectively. The climb then moderates to a rather constant 7-9%; nice. The legs were burning. By my calculations, I figured I'd reach the top at the 87.25 cumulative mile point for me on today's ride. When I started the climb I was at 77.5.

So, how do you get through this. At each 1/4 mile point, I grab 2 harder gears, that's right harder gears, get out of the saddle and stand, pedaling 1-2-3; 1-2-3, 1-2-3; find the next easier gear, remain standing and pedal 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3; then get back in my easiest gear, sit and grind to the next 1/4 mile point. The 1-2-3 is a pretty slow 1-2-3; at this point I am spinning a cadence of 55-60 rpm, so each stroke is about a second. It takes nearly 10 minutes to complete a mile. The reward is taking a drink after each set. This rhythm and tempo keep you hydrated, focused on interim objectives and using different muscles so as not to break down from remaining seated the entire ride. First you concentrate on getting the miles to go into single digits, then to 5 miles; hell, anyone can ride 5 miles. Next I looked for 3 miles; anyone can ride 5 km. Then I am desperately seeking a mile to go; then 1 km. As you go, the crowds grow larger and urge you on. It all helps get you to the top. As you near the top, you see the preparations for the finishing 1 km; the barrier gates, the signage, the grand stands, the television platforms, etc. Adrenaline takes over and you imagine you are riding off the front, having dropped all the competition and heading for the stage win. You complete the mission and indeed won the day.

Alpe d'Huez toys with you the entire route. At each switchback (and there are 21 of them) there is a tribute to each rider who has won a stage of the TdF on Alpe d'Huez. To help you out, the French have numbered each point. You got it, you start at 21 and begin counting down. Its like a big tease the entire way up. After 21, the first marker, which happens to feature Lance Armstrong, you think to yourself, oh hell, I got 20 more of these to go. After number 13 or so, it becomes a real tease. You search like crazy for the next turn and the distances are not consistent. Some are short, other are LONG! The long gaps are typically preceded by steep grades. It is a great climb. As you near the top, the switchbacks become closer to each other and you can see the remaining turns with about 4 to go. Your spirits lift, you feel a sense of achievement because you know you are close and you know you are going to complete it; yet you are still 3 miles away. Once you complete the last switchback, you have about 1.5 km (1 mile) to get to the finish line. It is a little more level, but through the alpine village atop Alpe d'Huez and jammed with people doing all sorts of things: painting the street for their favorite rider, drinking a beer from a pub watching all the action, meandering around with apparently no idea of the struggle you're having and generally not paying attention to anything.

I reached the top of this beast, the 4th of the day. It truly was the hardest, longest day I've had on the bike. It was also the most fulfilling and fun (now that it was over). I sustained a bit of an injury on the climb. My right calf was severely strained, just from the effort, not from any impact. So strained that I can feel a golf ball size lump and the area is showing sings of a significant bruise, almost 2" in diameter. I know when it occurred. At signpost 7 on Alpe d'Huez. The road tipped up (a 9%er), it was a 1/4 mile marker for me. I got out of the saddle and jammed 1-2-3 and felt my calf muscle twinge. It hurt pretty bad, I thought it was the onset of cramps, but kept pressing. The cramps never came and the strain of the mountain made me forget about the leg, until I got back to the hotel. Man, is it sore and bruised. I am taking Weds off, spending it seeing the sights and watching the race with the fam.

Day 11 Tidbits

Kind of boring today

Rest stops…

The rest stops along the way are a unique experience. If you recall, we need to stop every 2 hours for a 30 minute break for the driver. We typically stop at a rest stop with a grassy area typical of rest stops in the US, but they also have services; such as, gas station, small restaurants, bathroom facilities, etc. Some are popular stopping point and are over crowded with cars and people. The people seldom see the need to wait in line to use the facilities. The entire area becomes a facility. The stench is everywhere. Lovely for a 30 minute break. The facilities are also a unique experience. Few have actual commodes. While they may have urinals, the 'other' facility is basically a piece of 2' x 3' porcelain on the ground with a hole towards the rear of the base for the, ahem, deposit. On either side of the porcelain base, towards the front are markers for feet placement. I found them unsuitable for use. As refined a the Euros, the French in particular, pretend to be in the international community, they lack a significant level of basic decency in so many other areas. The US has its issues to be sure. But I find it particularly disappointing when people act so indignant with the behavior of others when they have so many warts themselves. This is one item I am working to improve - checking myself so as not to be too hypocritical.

Cleanliness…

The climb to the Hautacam was littered with people for 14 km. The people were partying and throwing their garbage everywhere. The Tour Caravan is an interesting event. It is a caravan of all the team vehicles, sponsors and entertainment that rides the ENTIRE route staying about 1 hour ahead of the lead group of riders in the race. Along the route, the Caravan participants throw souvenir items to the crowd. The items range from goofy trinkets, pens, and newspapers to team shirts, hats, and more collectible items. Many of the items are retained by the spectators, more is discarded along the road. The next morning, several in our group went back to the Hautacam to attempt the climb again. The overwhelming comment was that they did not see one piece of trash on the route. Pretty impressive for how little the French otherwise seem to work.

Day 11b

The Alps are stunning. They are considered young mountains formed by the collision of the continental plates of Europe and Africa mash together . (I think this is correct. I read it on the Internet, so it must be true.) The peaks are sharp with jagged edges. The faces are craggy with many water fall lines running the length of the peaks. In some places, you can see layer upon layer of rock. It was as if liquid rock was poured in a pile. The rock was allowed to cool, then the next layer poured on. The shape of the mountain takes the shape of the underlying hardened lump. Then, keep doing this until you are at 8,000 feet. Eventually, the peak you form is pointed and sharp. Just like in Colorado, you can watch the weather change as you enjoy a coffee. The clouds surround the summits as the sun works to break them up. The clouds slowly keep their steady pace of enveloping the peaks and eventually win out towards the end of the day.

We are atop Les Deux Alpe. It is a sister peak to Alpe d'Huez. Starting at the village at the bottom, each day we'll have an 18 km climb to the hotel. This is not unlike Rod's logistics the year we had team training camp in Georgia at the top of Neil's Gap. This is about 2x as long and an average grade of 6.2%, so a bit steeper as well. Rod, this is your kind of place. Now, put the village of Helen, Ga atop the climb and you have the setting here, with huge snow covered, cloud shrouded peaks in nearly every direction. Pretty awesome scenery. Since this is the off season, we got a pretty good deal on the best hotel in the area. It is a well appointed place. The only disadvantage is that it is at the very highest point in town. So, after doing the 18 km to the town, you have another 2 km to the hotel with grades that will touch 15%. For the guys who did camp with us. Imagine the climbs to the cabin we rented this past season at the top of 2x Neal's Gap and you only have the ascending parts of the wind through the community to the cabin, none of the descents. We are here for the next three nights; nice! I may not be game for this 18 km leg crusher each day, but I'll give it a go. The option is to catch the bus in town.

This is a pretty hotly contested TdF and the Alpe d'Huez stage looks to be a race making stage. It will be a 210 km race, with both Galibier, Croix de Fer and Alpe d'Huez (all are HC - beyond category - climbs). We drove past the start of the climb. The place is packed. In years past they have had more than 1 million people on this final 15 km. They anticipate more this year. As a result, the warning is Alpe d'Huez may be scrubbed as a possibility for our group to climb. The plan for a few in our group is to roll down our mountain at 6:30 AM on Weds and give it a go. We should be at the base of Alpe d'Huez by 7:30 AM and take about an hour to climb. We are looking to take an alternate route off the mountain and come in the back way to town before climbing the 18 km back to our hotel. That's the plan anyhow. The plan was hatched by a couple of Aussies and me at dinner last night. The plan was influenced by a fair bit of mountain juice and likely excessive confidence in conquering Mt. Ventoux. It was also done without the tour guides and maps of the region I scrounged up on my way to dinner. Getting very lost is a highly probable outcome, but it should be an adventure.

Day 11a

The TdF is heating up. Cadel is no longer in Yellow, it is Frank Schleck of Team CSC. Schleck, his brother Andy and Carlos Sastre are all on CSC and they all climb with the best in the world. On the Cat 1 final climb yesterday, they took turn punishing Cadel Evans. Towards the end Cadel looked defeated. Cadel had no mates around him. His only teammate who can climb, Yarislov Popovich, fell off the back of the lead group in the final 10 km. CSC is good, very good. If they can continue to put time on Cadel in the Alps, they will keep the Yellow jersey. Cadel's only shot is the individual time trial (TT) towards the end of this week. In the earlier, shorter TT of the TdF, Cadel put 1:30 into Schleck. This next TT is a longer, 50 km TT, on a flat course. I'd look for Cadel to put 2:00 on Schleck.

Watch for an exciting stage on Weds, it is Alpe d'Huez for the finishing climb. Twenty-one switch backs, climbing 14 km with an average gradient of 8.1%. Each hairpin bend is marked with panels honoring the winners of each stage that has finished there. The tour has had 23 stages finish on Alpe d'Huez. As a result, the French had to start again at the bottom with a double panel honoring, among others, our boy Lance (I'm sure that thrilled the French). I will do this climb on Weds AM, early, then roll back, shower and find a spot on the course to watch the action with the Fam. The mountain is already littered with people and campers. Only way I'll make it on the TV will be chasing the lead group, doing something crazy. Watch the race, I'll not make it on TV.

We leave Provence today :-( for the Alps. I love Provence, it is my favorite part of France. The Northern part of this region offers beautiful scenery of rolling hills of vineyards and olive orchards. I smile just riding thorough the area imaging living here on a small vineyard. To the South, you have Cannes, Antibes and the Mediterranean, the Cote d'Azur. If you want a treat, Google 'Antibes, Provence' and view the scenes. This is a romantic and magnificent place. Although no one really works too hard, in keeping with good French culture, the people are pretty cool. They don't speak much English, be we all manage pretty well.

With my new found confidence, and legs, I am looking to put a 'le spanking' on the monster ride tomorrow. We are doing 4 major climbs (Galibier, Telegraphe, Croix de Fer, and part of Alpe d'Huez). In addition to the climbs, we'll be knocking out 140 km in total (87 miles). It will be close to the type of climbs and distance of a mountain stage in the TdF. I took the day off today. It is a travel day for our tour group. The only ride offered was an early 40 km around the local area. I chose to celebrate a little last night with some Ventoux mountain juice and slept in this morning.

The family leaves Cincy this afternoon to arrive tomorrow morning. They'll have a time getting to the Alps. They land in Paris, take the TGV to Grenoble, rent a car, then drive to Les Deux Alpes. We plan to connect after my ride tomorrow, have some dinner and catch up. The Fam will likely sleep in on Weds as I make my trek up/back Alpe d'Huez and then we'll find a spot together to watch the race.

Day 10

Mt. Ventoux, meet Ms. Veritas. Today, Ms. Veritas and I 'le crushed' Mt. Ventoux. The weather was a bit on the bad side. It was cooler than yesterday, but not cold. Overcast most of the day and clouds rolling in; very humid. As we approached the base of Ventoux, I heard several claps of thunder and the rain started coming down, not hard but steady. It felt like a warning from Mr Ventoux to stay off his mountain. I felt pretty good and was looking to give it a go, so I ignored the warnings. I turned on to Ventoux, 24 km to go. The grade was a constant +8%, my heart rate monitor and cadence sensor were not functioning. So, the only metrics I had by which to judge the effort were breathing rate and speed. I let the legs and Ms Veritas do the talking. We quieted Mr Ventoux and had a great day.

Ventoux is an epic climb for several reasons. It is one climb on which Armstrong has not one a stage of the TdF. It is not only long and steep, but offers two very different sceneries. The lower 2/3s of the mountain is covered in a thick forest and heavy vegetation. It holds the moisture and humidity extremely well and somewhat protects you from the wind. The top is very different. You leave the forest and are almost immediately into what they call the 'moonscape'. Not a tree in sight, the mountain is totally covered in rock and stone. The wind whips hard around the corners and to help you out, the road on the last 1/3 tips more and more aggressively upwards. The last 2 km felt vertical and the computer measured +15% for long stretches. What a climb. It took me 1:35 to nail it. Based on the 2:00 estimate, I am calling it a victory for Ms Veritas and me.

Instead of taking the bus home, I decided to ride the 30 km back to the hotel. We had about 8 in our group. Another fella, Kevin, and I sat on the front pulling the group the entire 30 km. We hammered home at an average pace of +23 mph. The boys behind said they enjoyed the pull home. As we rolled into town, Kevin looked across with a bit of a grin and said, "Looks like we didn't work hard enough on Ventoux." Like I said, it was a good day.

Day 9

Did absolutely nothing today. I am looking at Mt Ventoux tomorrow and am pretty nervous about making it to the top. Before coming, I generally had no concerns about completing any of the climbs or any of the rides. The training with the team and the rides in the mountains of Georgia, I thought, would be sufficient. I have not been trying to race these climbs, but trying to keep a steady, hard pace and complete it. Since knocking a few out and experiencing these climbs, I've had an attitude adjustment. The climbs are just so long and steep. Tomorrow will likely be a 30 km (hour and a half crusey) ride to the start of Ventoux and then two hours of grinding away. By grinding away, imagine your heart rate at 160 beats per minute for two hours. The pedal cadence will likely be around 55-60 revolutions per minute mashing away in your easiest gear. Mentally, this is tough because no matter how steep the grade increases, you know you are out of gears. Your only respite is to get out of the saddle, hammer through it and look for a more forgiving grade in the next several meters. The former pro guiding our tour group, Eric Van Lancker, has been coaching me a bit. For the fellas on the team, this dude won the Mt Ventoux stage in Paris-Nice a few years back. He did the 21 km climb in 1:10. He gave me the 2 hr time objective.

I tried to do laundry again today. I came upon a new revelation today; the French will never conquer the world. No one works around here. It is Saturday and so many places are closed. The Laundromats have very limited hours and not open on Sat. Is has been the same on nearly every day. When you would normally expect shops to be open, they are generally closed because they don't want to be bothered. Pretty strange. The only places which are open nearly 100% of the time are the brasseries and small restaurants. The owners are pretty friendly and love to take our Euros. So, I went to the super market, bought some laundry detergent and did the wash the way my ancestors used to do it; well sort of. I washed in the sink in the hotel room, threw the soapy clothes on the floor of the shower, left the shower running the entire time as the rinse cycle, wrung the clothes somewhat as the spin cycle and hung them to dry all over the room; dripping of course all over the carped floor. The part about the ancestors referred to laundry by hand versus a machine, I sound a bit spoiled and melodramatic.

The afternoon and evening were awesome. I took a 3 hour power nap with the window open. I felt the hot summer air and warm breeze of Provence through the open window. Temperatures were just below 90, not a cloud in the sky. The evening cooled quite a bit and the breeze picked up. Ten of us loaded in the van of the logistics manager for the trip, Wim. Wim drove us to Gordes, about 15 km away. This place blew me away. I encourage you to look it up on line (http://www.gordes-village.com/html/presentation2.html) its worth the few minutes. You can check out this link, or Google it. It was a castle carved out of a stone cliff in the mid 1500s with a small city etched all around it. It was truly fairytale like in the view as we approached the city. When there, the views and the beauty met all expectations. The old city streets had been preserved. It felt like walking through time. We walked to the edge of the old city, through the pave (cobble stone like) streets to the former city wall. Looking south, you saw acres of vineyards, olive orchards and lavender fields. Beautiful and aromatic.

We walked back to the city center to the only restaurant on what was likely the old 'town square'. We had dinner on the terrazzo, near a fountain in the center of the plaza, surrounded by large stone buildings that had been turned into shops (again, not open and not really sure of their hours). The terrazzo was not all that large, maybe 50 feet in circumference. The restaurant used about a quarter of it. They had a vine covered trellis on their main patio and then extended into the terrazzo with tables and large umbrellas. Between the trellis area and the terrazzo area, a small 5 piece band was playing, mostly American jazz and some reggae. The sound echoed off all the old stone buildings, pretty cool atmosphere. For the past few days, I have been eating pretty good. Sticking to food and vegies of the region. It is a lot like eating in California, if you do the Cali thing and try to eat locally grown food. The food has a great taste and the restaurants appreciate your eating their locally grown food. I have been partaking in the wine of the region as well; only Cote du Ventoux for me over the last few days. Been trying to get a bit of the mountain juice to help propel me up this beast. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Day 8 Tidbits

Commitment to a cause...

On the climb to the Tourmalet, a Canadian fella named Jim (we'll call him Jim C) had a bike malfunction. His seat fell off. No kidding, with 5 km to go to the top, a seat bolt broke and the seat fell off the bike. With no way to re-attach it at that point, he stuck the seat in his rear shirt pocket and rode the remaining 5 km on the Troumalet STANDING. The last 5km are the hardest part of that climb. From what I understand, folks were applauding when he passed and they only saw a seat post and no seat. What killer commitment. He and I chat often and typically eat breakfast together. I asked him what he was thinking with continuing on the climb. He said he was on a mission and needed to get to the top. When I asked why, he explained that on that day, his divorce became final. I inquired some more as to why the Tourmalet was so important for this day. He said his plan had always been that when he reached the summit, he would throw his wedding ring from the top. So, he needed to reach the summit. Since the ring was in his saddle bag under his seat, he blamed the bad karma from his broken marriage for his seat bolt failure. So, how did he descend. At the top, the support van for our tour waited to assist stragglers and cart home the broken and weary. They also had some tools, but no bolts. The mechanic removed one of the two bolts holding on the handlebars and used it to partially secure the seat. It still was not too secure, but Jim C descended the Tourmalet the way he finished, mostly standing on the pedals and bracing himself down this 10 mile descent. Now that's commitment to a cause. You may not believe in his cause, but the physical achievement was impressive indeed.

Help me, I'm shrinking...

Since my senior year in high school I have been wearing XL shirts. I currently sport an XL kit. (A kit is what cyclists call their cycling shorts and shirt. I also mentioned bib shorts. Bib shorts are not typical spandex shorts with a pad in them. They are cycling shorts with overall shoulder straps, there is no waist band; much more comfortable than typical cycling shorts.) While climbing the Pic d'Nore in the mist, the cold was getting to me. When I reached the summit, Jim C (from above), offered me one of his shells, a weather proof jacket, fits snug so as to not grab the wind. It breaks the wind and traps some body heat; sufficient to descend out of the clouds and down to a warmer altitude. Jim C happened to be carrying two that day for some reason. Jim C is approximately the size of my eldest son Matt, 5'5" and probably 140-150 pounds. I said sure, not caring about the size. When I looked it over, the tag indicated size "M". I figured I'd give it a shot. Worse case, it does not zip. I got both arms in, the sleeves were about 5" too short. When I reached back to grab each end of the coat to attempt a zip up, I nearly fell over. Both ends met and I was able to easily zip up; to the neck. I felt good and bad. Good about the apparent loss of mass around waist, bad about the apparent loss of mass in the chest and shoulders. Given what I am doing, I think I'll appreciate the loss of mass. Now, I just need to keep reducing the mass and increasing the speed; "We need more power Scottie. I'm giving her all I've got Captain."