Around 3422km in about 150 hours over the course of 23 days. I'm a little tired, but I'm recovering well in Paris. Mom, dad, and my brother have all been helping out and making sure I get enough food and beer into my system to help speed my recovery. I think my secret weapon is ice cream and I'm trying to get it at least twice each day, if not more.
I'm taking a little time to visit the sights in Paris, but having been before, I'm not doing too much in the way of tourist stuff. Today we spent a couple of hours at the louvre, and tomorrow the plan is for a little d'Orsay in the morning before my nap.
Our hotel here is nice and I've finally found a cafe in France that does take away coffee (and they have Starbucks in Paris too, but I'm trying to stick with the little cafes for now).
In hindsight, the logistics were possibly the hardest part of the trip. I'd love to return to France someday with my bike for another round of fun descents, but the next time will be on a tour organized by someone else. More beers, less navigating. More pastries, less gas station sandwiches in the middle of the night...
Monday, July 25, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Stage 21
Started out sunny in Creteil, rode at a slow pace through the busy traffic on the outskirts of Paris, then about an hour in it started to pour! Thunder and lightning and I wasn't dressed for it at all. I was pretty numb and I thought the ride would only be 30km, but I rode past that mark and had a ways to go... Then after riding the entire Tour de France without a single mechanical problem or flat tire, I got my first flat in the last 10km. I couldn't see anything sticking into the tire, so I think it was just from the cobbles or something. With my hands totally numb it took a while to change that tube out, then I got going again. A block later I got another flat! It was still pouring rain so I couldn't get the patch to stick and I was out of tubes (even though I had 5 more spares in the van, parked in Paris at the hotel). So i had to walk the last 8kms or so.
The walk sucked. I was freezing cold and shivering and hungry. And it took much longer than expected. Steve-oh and Ali and my family were all waiting at the Arch de Triumph for my arrival, scheduled to e at the end of a 1.5-2 hour ride... it ended up taking 5.5 hours! Got to the Arch for a beer and a chocolate bar at 6pm!! Dad was nice enough to walk in my direction down to the Louvre to give me some flip flops so that I didn't have to walk the final couple kms in my cycling shoes, but I was still pretty miserable.
It all worked out in the end though. Got to the hotel, met up with Steve and Ali, then we all went out for a nice dinner and kept the party going until about 430 in the morning. Rest day #3 has been the first hungover day of the trip. Pretty happy about it all though and I'll post again tomorrow with a wrap up of sorts, but we're off for dinner now.
This is what the data says, but it kept turning off on me during the walk... 43.58km in 3:03:23 for an avg speed of 14.3km/h (I was walking much slower!).
The walk sucked. I was freezing cold and shivering and hungry. And it took much longer than expected. Steve-oh and Ali and my family were all waiting at the Arch de Triumph for my arrival, scheduled to e at the end of a 1.5-2 hour ride... it ended up taking 5.5 hours! Got to the Arch for a beer and a chocolate bar at 6pm!! Dad was nice enough to walk in my direction down to the Louvre to give me some flip flops so that I didn't have to walk the final couple kms in my cycling shoes, but I was still pretty miserable.
It all worked out in the end though. Got to the hotel, met up with Steve and Ali, then we all went out for a nice dinner and kept the party going until about 430 in the morning. Rest day #3 has been the first hungover day of the trip. Pretty happy about it all though and I'll post again tomorrow with a wrap up of sorts, but we're off for dinner now.
This is what the data says, but it kept turning off on me during the walk... 43.58km in 3:03:23 for an avg speed of 14.3km/h (I was walking much slower!).
Friday, July 22, 2011
Stage 20
Not much going on with this one. Left dad in Grenoble and set out on the 40km TT course out to the hills and back. 2000ft of climbing was more than I expected, and some of it was a bit steep, but for me it was a pretty relaxing ride of a mere 1.5 hours, compared with close to 11 hours a couple of days ago! No riding pics, but dad went around and shot a few in Grenoble while I was out.
Got into Lyon around 1pm and relaxed the rest of the day. Really enjoyed watching a stage on TV! Only the third stage I've seen all Tour... I'm usually lucky to even find out who won the day before.
41.33km in 1:36:40 for an avg speed of 25.7km/h.
Got into Lyon around 1pm and relaxed the rest of the day. Really enjoyed watching a stage on TV! Only the third stage I've seen all Tour... I'm usually lucky to even find out who won the day before.
41.33km in 1:36:40 for an avg speed of 25.7km/h.
Stage 19
Started off with a nice descent out of Modane to warm up, then right into a cat 1 climb up Col du Telegraphe. The climb went great and I was really surprised how good I felt after the previous day. It was really crowded with cyclists on the climb up, so I think that helped keep me motivated and moving at a fast pace. By the top I thought I might have overdone it, but it was fun.
After a short descent into Valloire we started up the Galibier for the second day in a row, only from the opposite and steeper side. The previous day's 5%ish average was pretty mellow, just took a long time. But today's 6.8% average had quite a few sections in the 10% range. It wasn't too easy, but I plug away as the rain started down.
We knew that because of the stage finish at the peak the same day that dad wouldn't be able to drive over the top, so we sent him on a two hour detour via Grenoble. The plan was to meet him on the descent or at the latest by the base of the Alpe-d'Huez. Unfortunately, for the first time in France, the gendarme weren't letting bikes through at the top either! This day's climb was to pass through a small 100 yard tunnel to the other side for the descent, just below the real summit. I'm not sure why, but they were only allowing people pass on foot, and walking with a bike wasn't an option! It seems a little ridiculous, but I don't really know what their reasons were. In any case, I had no phone signal at the top, so I had to gear up for the cold wet descent back into Valloire and call dad back from there. He was a couple of hours away making his way to Grenoble... and running out of gas in the mountains. So he had to refuel and double back, and I missed out on a fun 40km descent and had to settle for 20km packed with spectators making their way up the mountain for the day's finish. Luckily I found a nice little bar and had a couple of coffees watching the race on TV while the weather passed. Once I warmed up I went and watched it outside on a TV in the square. It was an exciting race to watch so I'm not really all that disappointed... but I had to miss the last 30min because dad showed up.
We packed up quickly and slipped into the police-escorted publicity caravan that was making its way from the summit of the day's stage. So we rode back over the Col du Telegraphe in the middle of a convoy of floats! That was pretty funny. People on the road all wave to the caravan so we obliged and waved back and honked etc. Had a great time. Then we took the toll highway and ripped to the base of the Alpe-d'Huez in time to get up before sunset.
So after about 4 hours off the bike I was a little stiff, but rested. I didn't think they'd be letting cars up, so expecting a cold and dark descent back down, I loaded up on layers etc. and set off. I had to stop twice in the first 5 or so minuted to take off layers, but I eventually had it sorted out and had a good ride up. Ended up doing the climb in around 62 minutes, after predicting I'd be closer to 90min, so i was pretty happy about that. On top of that, the road wasn't closed so I didn't need to navigate the mayhem on the descent.
A bit about the mayhem. Probably double the number of people per km compared to the previous summit finishes I'd done. No idea where they'd all come from or where they were staying, but it was hectic. Tons of fun too. The dutch took over for the basque fans, both in wearing orange and being the most fun. They had a huge turnout, especially in one particular area where about 60 of them were all waiting to get close in and cheer just like they do for the pros... pushing, yelling, cheering! So much fun! The only trouble was a car trying to get through in front of me and I almost got pushed into the back of it when it stopped. Overall though, great atmosphere, lots of people offering encouragement to everyone trying to climb up on bikes. Never gone up the side of a mountain like that either, and the views were unreal.
In the end I lost about 20km in descending on the day, but I think I still had a little banked from detours earlier in the Tour and the descent would have only served to increase my average speed. 78.93km in 4:41:16 for an avg speed of 16.8km/h and total climbing of around 10000ft.
After a short descent into Valloire we started up the Galibier for the second day in a row, only from the opposite and steeper side. The previous day's 5%ish average was pretty mellow, just took a long time. But today's 6.8% average had quite a few sections in the 10% range. It wasn't too easy, but I plug away as the rain started down.
We knew that because of the stage finish at the peak the same day that dad wouldn't be able to drive over the top, so we sent him on a two hour detour via Grenoble. The plan was to meet him on the descent or at the latest by the base of the Alpe-d'Huez. Unfortunately, for the first time in France, the gendarme weren't letting bikes through at the top either! This day's climb was to pass through a small 100 yard tunnel to the other side for the descent, just below the real summit. I'm not sure why, but they were only allowing people pass on foot, and walking with a bike wasn't an option! It seems a little ridiculous, but I don't really know what their reasons were. In any case, I had no phone signal at the top, so I had to gear up for the cold wet descent back into Valloire and call dad back from there. He was a couple of hours away making his way to Grenoble... and running out of gas in the mountains. So he had to refuel and double back, and I missed out on a fun 40km descent and had to settle for 20km packed with spectators making their way up the mountain for the day's finish. Luckily I found a nice little bar and had a couple of coffees watching the race on TV while the weather passed. Once I warmed up I went and watched it outside on a TV in the square. It was an exciting race to watch so I'm not really all that disappointed... but I had to miss the last 30min because dad showed up.
We packed up quickly and slipped into the police-escorted publicity caravan that was making its way from the summit of the day's stage. So we rode back over the Col du Telegraphe in the middle of a convoy of floats! That was pretty funny. People on the road all wave to the caravan so we obliged and waved back and honked etc. Had a great time. Then we took the toll highway and ripped to the base of the Alpe-d'Huez in time to get up before sunset.
So after about 4 hours off the bike I was a little stiff, but rested. I didn't think they'd be letting cars up, so expecting a cold and dark descent back down, I loaded up on layers etc. and set off. I had to stop twice in the first 5 or so minuted to take off layers, but I eventually had it sorted out and had a good ride up. Ended up doing the climb in around 62 minutes, after predicting I'd be closer to 90min, so i was pretty happy about that. On top of that, the road wasn't closed so I didn't need to navigate the mayhem on the descent.
A bit about the mayhem. Probably double the number of people per km compared to the previous summit finishes I'd done. No idea where they'd all come from or where they were staying, but it was hectic. Tons of fun too. The dutch took over for the basque fans, both in wearing orange and being the most fun. They had a huge turnout, especially in one particular area where about 60 of them were all waiting to get close in and cheer just like they do for the pros... pushing, yelling, cheering! So much fun! The only trouble was a car trying to get through in front of me and I almost got pushed into the back of it when it stopped. Overall though, great atmosphere, lots of people offering encouragement to everyone trying to climb up on bikes. Never gone up the side of a mountain like that either, and the views were unreal.
In the end I lost about 20km in descending on the day, but I think I still had a little banked from detours earlier in the Tour and the descent would have only served to increase my average speed. 78.93km in 4:41:16 for an avg speed of 16.8km/h and total climbing of around 10000ft.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Stage 18
After riding over the Alpes into Italy yesterday, the Tour organizers saw fit to have us ride back over the Alpes into France today. And so the hardest day I've ever put in on a bike started off in the Italian town of Pinerolo. I was missing my go-to French pastries, but getting a laugh out of the Italians and myself for misusing the few Italians words I know almost constantly.
On the bright side, the Italians make some good coffee and our day started out in the sun with a mostly flat first 40km. On the down side, all that time spent perfecting coffee seems to have come at the expense of perfecting roadwork. Normally this would be the trade-off I'd favour, but not this morning. These roads would put some of our constructions sites to shame, and the fresh pavement touch-ups that were being done only made things worse. Nothing like asphalt sticking to your tires while you ride alone uphill into a headwind for 40km!
From about 40km on the climb was a gradual 4-5%, but the first climb of the day didn't technically start until about km 86. I met up with the Belgians just before that point and rode up the first climb with them. It was good to suffer as a group. It was the hardest climb I've ever done. After those first 45-50kms of breaking me down with the gradual climb to the climb, things kicked up to an average of around 7% for the first 15km, then around 10% for the next 9km. Some parts were in the 12-14% range! It was brutal.
The descent was fast and fun though, lasting about 20km and taking us straight to the base of the second HC climb of the day, the Col d'Izoard. 14km at an average of 7.3%, it also started off easier than it finished. Then we descended my favorite descent of the trip! Very twisting at the top with lots of fun hairpins, then long and fast at towards the bottom and into Briancon. Unfortunately the town was a mess and a group of us spent about 30min trying to figure out which direction to leave town for the Galibier. We finally set out as a group for about 15km until dad caught up and I had a change to eat before starting up the 23km Galibier climb.
The Galibier traffic was unreal. Campers stretched the whole first 15km of the climb on both sides of the road until a roadblock at the 8km mark, then it was just scattered beyond that. I think I was the last one to tag the top at around 930pm, in the alpenglow, just as my computer ran out of battery. A short frigid descent back to the car at the roadblock capped off about 11 hours on the bike and around 17000ft of climbing. My legs started to cramp near the top, right around the snowline, but I think it was the cold more than anything.
203.07km in 10:41:18 for an avg speed of 19.1km/h.
On the bright side, the Italians make some good coffee and our day started out in the sun with a mostly flat first 40km. On the down side, all that time spent perfecting coffee seems to have come at the expense of perfecting roadwork. Normally this would be the trade-off I'd favour, but not this morning. These roads would put some of our constructions sites to shame, and the fresh pavement touch-ups that were being done only made things worse. Nothing like asphalt sticking to your tires while you ride alone uphill into a headwind for 40km!
From about 40km on the climb was a gradual 4-5%, but the first climb of the day didn't technically start until about km 86. I met up with the Belgians just before that point and rode up the first climb with them. It was good to suffer as a group. It was the hardest climb I've ever done. After those first 45-50kms of breaking me down with the gradual climb to the climb, things kicked up to an average of around 7% for the first 15km, then around 10% for the next 9km. Some parts were in the 12-14% range! It was brutal.
The descent was fast and fun though, lasting about 20km and taking us straight to the base of the second HC climb of the day, the Col d'Izoard. 14km at an average of 7.3%, it also started off easier than it finished. Then we descended my favorite descent of the trip! Very twisting at the top with lots of fun hairpins, then long and fast at towards the bottom and into Briancon. Unfortunately the town was a mess and a group of us spent about 30min trying to figure out which direction to leave town for the Galibier. We finally set out as a group for about 15km until dad caught up and I had a change to eat before starting up the 23km Galibier climb.
The Galibier traffic was unreal. Campers stretched the whole first 15km of the climb on both sides of the road until a roadblock at the 8km mark, then it was just scattered beyond that. I think I was the last one to tag the top at around 930pm, in the alpenglow, just as my computer ran out of battery. A short frigid descent back to the car at the roadblock capped off about 11 hours on the bike and around 17000ft of climbing. My legs started to cramp near the top, right around the snowline, but I think it was the cold more than anything.
203.07km in 10:41:18 for an avg speed of 19.1km/h.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Stage 17
Started off in Gap this morning, pretty flat for the first 70ish kms, but there was a headwind the whole time, and it was pouring rain after about 30kms. Wet spandex is about as warm as wet skin, so I was shivering pretty hard. Before the first climb of the day, I think we'd pulled over about 3 or 4 times to warm up. My hands kept getting numb from the cold and I couldn't squeeze my water bottle or brakes. So I didn't have much of a choice.
I really should have brought some cold weather gear with me! After watching the snow reports closely, it looked like we'd just miss the snowline, and did. It was just above us at our two high points (but snowing at the following day's two high points!). After climbing up the Col de Montegenevre, the temp was down to around 3 degrees and it was trying to snow. So I changed out of as much wet stuff as I could while eating lunch. Had it all lying on the heaters in the car... at least things like my shoes would be warm wet instead of cold wet. We also tried some other tricks to prepare for the descent (nothing like 60-plus km/h winds on your wet spandex)... these included some surf shorts over top of the bottoms (figured I wouldn't be pedaling anyway) and some freezer bags under my arm warmers to block the wind from my arm pits and forearms. Top that off with dad's big summer jacket (tucked up into my jersey, since it's a few sizes too big)! In the end this was enough to bring the sun out by the base of the descent!
The descent into Italy was really picturesque, as was the climb up to Sestrieres on the other side. By the time we reached Sestrieres, the sun was out and the 40km descent from the summit down to Pinerolo was amazing. I hardly had to break at all. Riding into a headwind, I could just sit up to slow down enough for most of the turns. All part of my plan to avoid doing any work on my bike, like replacing break pads.
Unfortunately the police were blocking the hillside about 4km into the final 6.7km climb. On the bright side, the climb wasn't super challenging anyways and I felt like that kind of made up for my climbing detour on stage 15. I had to turn around and ride into Pinerolo along the highway instead of descending the nice hillside, but the police weren't budging. In the end I think I missed about 3km of the stage, but I'm still up quite a bit after the descent/climb to the hotel after Super Besse.
175.43km in 7:04:49 for an avg of 24.8km/h and total climbing of around 9000ft.
I really should have brought some cold weather gear with me! After watching the snow reports closely, it looked like we'd just miss the snowline, and did. It was just above us at our two high points (but snowing at the following day's two high points!). After climbing up the Col de Montegenevre, the temp was down to around 3 degrees and it was trying to snow. So I changed out of as much wet stuff as I could while eating lunch. Had it all lying on the heaters in the car... at least things like my shoes would be warm wet instead of cold wet. We also tried some other tricks to prepare for the descent (nothing like 60-plus km/h winds on your wet spandex)... these included some surf shorts over top of the bottoms (figured I wouldn't be pedaling anyway) and some freezer bags under my arm warmers to block the wind from my arm pits and forearms. Top that off with dad's big summer jacket (tucked up into my jersey, since it's a few sizes too big)! In the end this was enough to bring the sun out by the base of the descent!
The descent into Italy was really picturesque, as was the climb up to Sestrieres on the other side. By the time we reached Sestrieres, the sun was out and the 40km descent from the summit down to Pinerolo was amazing. I hardly had to break at all. Riding into a headwind, I could just sit up to slow down enough for most of the turns. All part of my plan to avoid doing any work on my bike, like replacing break pads.
Unfortunately the police were blocking the hillside about 4km into the final 6.7km climb. On the bright side, the climb wasn't super challenging anyways and I felt like that kind of made up for my climbing detour on stage 15. I had to turn around and ride into Pinerolo along the highway instead of descending the nice hillside, but the police weren't budging. In the end I think I missed about 3km of the stage, but I'm still up quite a bit after the descent/climb to the hotel after Super Besse.
175.43km in 7:04:49 for an avg of 24.8km/h and total climbing of around 9000ft.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Stage 16
Woke up at sunrise in Sete today and drove two hours to our start for the day. Then the ride was about 130km into Gap, at the foot of the Alpes, followed by a mellow ride up a local hill and back into Gap. The day went pretty smoothly and we ended up at our hotel in Gap by 6ish, the earliest yet!
I felt kind of pro earlier in the day when the Spaniards caught up to me in the headwinds and invited me to sit on the back of their train. They'd been joined by two more Spanish guys, so I made 6 and nobody minded me taking a breather from my solo efforts on the back of their train. Felt great to be the protected rider! Haha! I hardly made any effort at all for about an hour and a half. I ended up opting to sit down for lunch instead of continuing on with those guys, so my day slowed down after that. Still, the day was less than 6 hours and none of the climbs were too challenging.
We also got lucky with the arrow guys leaving the start just after us. I have a GPS map on my bike so that keeps me on track, but dad really counts on the yellow arrows being posted along the route. Last time the Tour was on a rest day, the arrows weren't out until much later, so we were pretty happy to see them roll by about 10km into the day.
Then even more exciting was our hotel being just a few kms past the finish line, so I was able to ride straight to the hotel, stretch in the room instead of the road, then hop right in the shower. And on top of that we ride out of Gap in the morning too! No drive to the hotel post-ride today, and none pre-ride tomorrow either! Booyah!
162.88km in 5:57:38 for an avg speed of 27.3km/h. Not a bad pace for nearly 6000ft of climbing and a net gain in elevation of about 2000ft. Now the real fun begins as we zig zag through the Alps for the next few days.
I felt kind of pro earlier in the day when the Spaniards caught up to me in the headwinds and invited me to sit on the back of their train. They'd been joined by two more Spanish guys, so I made 6 and nobody minded me taking a breather from my solo efforts on the back of their train. Felt great to be the protected rider! Haha! I hardly made any effort at all for about an hour and a half. I ended up opting to sit down for lunch instead of continuing on with those guys, so my day slowed down after that. Still, the day was less than 6 hours and none of the climbs were too challenging.
We also got lucky with the arrow guys leaving the start just after us. I have a GPS map on my bike so that keeps me on track, but dad really counts on the yellow arrows being posted along the route. Last time the Tour was on a rest day, the arrows weren't out until much later, so we were pretty happy to see them roll by about 10km into the day.
Then even more exciting was our hotel being just a few kms past the finish line, so I was able to ride straight to the hotel, stretch in the room instead of the road, then hop right in the shower. And on top of that we ride out of Gap in the morning too! No drive to the hotel post-ride today, and none pre-ride tomorrow either! Booyah!
162.88km in 5:57:38 for an avg speed of 27.3km/h. Not a bad pace for nearly 6000ft of climbing and a net gain in elevation of about 2000ft. Now the real fun begins as we zig zag through the Alps for the next few days.
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