Etape 2006 or Bust

BUST!

2010-02-22T20:06:00.000-08:00

Finally I post my account of the Etape 2006. I wrote most of this shortly after the ride. Thanks to all of my faithful readers who have waited anxiously for close to 4 years to hear what happened. You might have thought I had crashed and died I suppose but I didn't. I just didn't get it posted. On the other hand, this post is definitely not worth the wait.

It has now been two weeks since the Etape du Tour. I apologize for not updating my blog before now. However, since I failed to complete the ride, it has been difficult to write. On the plane flight home, I wrote my initial thoughts about the ride itself but never posted them. I was disappointed in how I rode. Here's how the actual ride went:

Somehow we made it into the starting gate by 6:30 a.m. That was a major accomplishment in itself. We had to get out of bed at 3:30 am that morning to get our bags delivered to our tour company drop off so that they would get to the hotel at the end of the ride. Then at breakfast we had to wait in line for 30 or 40 minutes to be served and almost had to skip that so we could make the bus at 5:15am which would take us to the start at Gap over an hour away. When we arrived in Gap we went to the conveniently located gymnasium where the tour company had us drop off our bikes the night before. Well, of course, none of our guides had remembered to get a key to the gym. Here we were 1 mile from the start and 15 minutes before pen position cutoff and 300 people could not get to their bikes. I thought it was over until the owner of the overnight guard dog showed up with a key at the last minute. We still had to figure out how to get to the start. That had to be accomplished by navigating through a maze of streets while moving against the grain of hundreds of cyclists most of whom were looking for their slot in a position other than me and Robert. We couldn't see the start line or anything resembling one and i had no clue how we were going to make it. We headed out and I discovered that in a bit of preplanning brilliance my brother Robert had memorized the map to our pen the night before and knew exactly where we were supposed to be and how to navigate. He even knew that we would see other cyclists pass against us and warned me not to be fooled into thinking we had gone the wrong way. All of this paid off as we made it with about 2 minutes to go before the stated cutoff time. We were at the very back of the pack in pen number seven.

At 7 a.m., the ride officially started; however, we did not move at all for at least 10 minutes. After we did start moving it took us approximately 13 more minutes or 23 minutes in total just to reach the starting line. There were 8000 or so cyclists lined up on a normal sized city street so I guess it takes a while. Once we crossed the starting line we quickly approached a good pace, or so I thought. We passed some people and some people passed us and we were going probably around 19 or 20 mph. We were not pushing it at this time preferring to let the pace dictate our effort. At some point during this first 35 miles I thought perhaps our pace was too slow. Nevertheless, it seemed as if we were making decent time, and again, there was no need to burn out early. Even in the first 35 miles the roads were quite scenic and Robert even found the time to take a few pictures. Looking back, I suppose the fact that Robert took pictures might have been an indicator of a pace to slow. Whatever, I never considered that I was in danger of elimination. Then came the crash. At somewhere around 51 km I noticed that my front wheel was closing in to about a half an inch away from the rider in front of me and I hit my brakes pretty hard. I cringed as I heard the sound of rubber contacting my rear wheel. I tried to accelerate a little to get away from the wheel but to no avail. Robert had crashed and so had the rider directly behind him. The other rider was able to continue; however, Robert had a broken spoke, a damaged brake, and an untrue wheel. After working on the bike about 5 minutes, Robert determined that he would be unable to continue and so he told me to go ahead and I did. With the elimination car lurking behind, I had no choice if I wanted any shot of finishing. At this point though, the fun was over. We had come all the way over to France, spent thousands of dollars and I am left to do the ride by myself after crashing Robert.

The first rest stop occurred at approximately 57 km. When I got there, the road was blocked with cyclists and I could not even see the actual refreshment stands. We came to a complete halt. There was a creek right before the rest stop and the bridge to get over it was too narrow. A bottleneck had formed. After not moving for 5 or 6 minutes, the bottleneck opened and I could see the refreshment stands. It was mass chaos. The ground was covered with discarded water bottles and other trash from riders trying to move through quickly. It was almost impossible to get near the actual refreshment tables because most riders, probably not wanting to lose their bike, had rolled their bikes up as close as possible to the refreshment tables leaving no room for late comers. There was an impenetrable sea of bikes in front of the tables. I was able to get three bottles of water after calling to a volunteer and having him throw me bottles over other cyclists. I had learned this trick reading prior accounts of riders in the Etape. It took me 12 minutes to get through the rest stop including a trip to the bathroom, or rather, a fence surrounded by some shrubbery. Given the chaos, I was happy with my time at the rest stop but noticed it was already 9:43 a.m. Even so, I still was not worried about my time.

For the next 15 to 20 km I think I made pretty good time. I hooked up with an English speaking couple going at a nice pace and we were passing more than being passed. I must say at this point that I did not feel good physically on the ride. I did not feel bad but I certainly did not feel strong. I just had the sort of low energy feeling one gets from having had very little sleep the previous two nights (see Cherohala post).

At 73 km we hit the beginning of the Col D' Izoard. There is a sign at the start of the mountain that informs you there are 15km to go to the summit. This didn’t improve my moral. The temperature was also going up and I had on a long sleeved Jersey. Not to worry though. After all, I had read how cold it would be at the top so I might be a little warm getting there but at least I wouldn’t be cold at the top.

In the beginning the mountain did not seem much more difficult than those I had ridden in North Carolina. The grade I knew averaged 7.8 % but I was not used to knowing the grade at home and I had imagined it would be far worse. Although I did not feel strong, I was going fairly well on the first third of the mountain. It was getting hot, very hot, and I am sure I was not drinking as much as I should have been. There was not another refreshment stop until the summit so I was conserving my liquid. That is never a good strategy but the unknown that lay ahead influenced my decision. About half way up or more there was a town and a transponder checkpoint. Rolling over the rubber mats of the checkpoint produced a beeping sound indicating you were logged at that point. It was about this time when I started to feel really, really bad. It was now very hot. Soon after the checkpoint, I slowed to a crawl and eventually had to stop when I thought my heart was going to explode. I didn’t have a heart rate monitor on but I knew I was pegging my max. I pulled over with some other riders and rested for maybe four or five minutes before continuing. I was now feeling very weak although I did not understand exactly why. I hadn’t been on the ride for more than about 3.5 hours. There is no way I should have been this tired even with the mountain. Maybe it was the altitude or maybe it was the fact that I did not get any sleep the previous two nights. Maybe it was dehydration. Anyway, from this point on I was barely moving, barely turning the pedals. I stopped twice more, the last time at 86 km. At this point, according to the published schedule, I had 30 minutes to make it to the top of the Col D' Izoard before being in danger of elimination. I had now completely finished my energy drinks and would have to refuel at the top in a couple of kilometers.

The next thing I know, a man is a walking up the mountain towards me and another cyclist. I wondered if his car had broken down or if he was someone with ride support who was coming to help someone out. Why I did not realize this was the elimination crew I do not know except that I still felt I had no chance of being stopped before reaching the summit. The man started talking to me in French and I understood none if it. But, I did understand when he reached for the transponder on my ankle. He must think I am ready to quit? “No fini, no fini”, I said. I was not sure that meant anything except it sounded French to me. And he said “Yes you are finished, you must stop.” I pointed to the published chart with the listed elimination points and indicated to him that I still had 30 minutes to reach the summit. There was a Hungarian next to me who had also stopped to rest and was not ready to quit. I enlisted him to help me argue the case and he did but the official didn’t care. He was adamant and took my transponder and that of the Hungarian and directed him and me to a bend in the road where I should wait to be picked up by the bus. It was over for me and I assumed over for Robert since he hadn’t passed me.

For the next six hours I took a slow bus ride on the course to the top of L'Alpe D'Huez. I must say the scenery was unbelievable along the way. When we reached the top of the Col D’Izoard, we learned that there were no refreshments left. Had I made it on my own, I would have had to go without until I had descended the Izoard to the next stop several miles away. That stop too had no refreshments left but was at least in a town. I could have bought some water and food and probably would have. Incidentally, the bus had no water or refreshments of any kind. I would have gone the whole 6 hours without replenishing my dehydrated body of anything except that one time the bus stopped and someone bought gallons of water and brought them onboard and offered it to poor souls like me. I didn’t have any money with me at this point because I had left that on my bike so I had to rely on this random charity.

I really regret not having been able to make the descent down the Col D’Izoard. It would have been incredible. The rest of the ride would not have been so nice. While we were on the bus the roads were opened up and they were packed with traffic. Riders who had not been picked up were riding with wall to wall traffic.

So the ride did not go well. As a matter of fact, it was a disaster. And I have to say, for being the biggest and most popular cycling sportive in France, the ride was poorly organized. They have been doing this thing for 14 or 15 years and they run out of water and refreshments for the cyclists who depend on them? They don’t have enough refreshment stands as it is and they position them so that cyclists have to come to a complete stop for several minutes just to get through even if they don’t want to stop? Other than that, the course itself was quite nice.

I will probably write more on this blog about the ride and my analysis of the miserable failure it turned out to be but for now I must sign off. One more thing though, I am going back and finishing this thing.

Well, it's here, ready or not

2006-07-06T06:18:00.000-07:00

I am waiting for my parents to pick me up to take me to the airport. I guess this is it. I have worried enough about whether or not I can make it in the time limit. I need to learn French on the plane ride over and gain some fitness.

We get to Paris at 11:30 PM CST Thursday and then Lyon at about 1:30 AM CST Friday (8:30 AM France). Then we are taken by shuttle to our first hotel in Orcieres-Merlette. We are staying at Villages Clubs Du Soleil. The resort website is www.orcieres.com.

That's it, I'll update from the road when possible.

I beat Ullrich and Basso!

2006-06-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

I sort of forgot about this log for a while. Last Saturday, Robert and I did the Harpeth River Ride. It was another century but only ended up being 96.5 miles. It contained rolling hills but nothing like Cherohala although I was a little bummed that I didn't do so well on the hills anyway. It took us 6:23 with stops to finish. Again, a huge time off the bike. We were 45 minutes off the bike.

I have now ridden roughly 2051 miles in total training since March 10. I weigh about 150 which is heavier than I had hoped. I plan to ride a big ride Saturday and then maybe another big ride on July 4th. That will be it though. Robert and I leave on July 6th for France.

Am I ready? Of course not. I need to be 15 pounds lighter and I need to have some cycling talent. And, I need more training. But that's not going to happen.

I can already say that I beat Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso on this stage though. Now if someone would just propose to the ASO that they relax the 19 kph minimum speed rule given that it encourages blood doping, I would definitely finish the ride.

I’ve Already done My Etape

2006-06-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

For all of my 3 faithful readers, I apologize for not giving an update lately. The day is almost here:

184 KM and over 9000 feet of climbing. Robert and I did the Cherohala Challenge this past weekend. It starts in Tellico Plains Tennessee and rides up through the Smokey Mountains and up the Cherohala Skyway. This had been on my calendar to be my major “test run” for the Etape. It is virtually the same distance as the Etape and the climbing, if not as severe, is close.

One thing I’ll say about my approach to this ride is that I mentally treated it as nothing more than a training ride. It wasn’t an event that I looked forward to for any other reason, not like when I go to Bridge to Bridge and rent a hotel or stay in Chetola Resort for 2 or 3 days and the whole family comes along and it’s a big happening after which I feel like I have just accomplished something big. No, the Cherohala Challenge was just a training ride. And I didn’t treat it with the proper respect.

It took about 3.5 hours of driving time to get there from my house. I left work a little early Friday and went home to pack, then left to pick up my brother Robert in Murfreesboro. I wasted time packing and didn’t leave home until about 5PM or rush hour. It took a long time to get to Murfreesboro because of the traffic. By the time we left Murfreesboro, it was probably 6:20. Then we stopped in Chattanooga for a high quality dinner and that killed an hour. At about 11:30 PM (we lost an hour in time change) we arrived at our hotel in Sweetwater, Tn. which was about 22 miles from the start of the ride the next morning. I set the alarm clock for 5am ensuring not enough sleep. I also need to mention that the night before I stayed up until 1:30am and only got about 4.5 hours of sleep. All of this is not necessarily an excuse for how poorly I did on the ride which you will read about later, but, just to highlight my lack of proper preparation which I hope not to repeat in France. That is, if I even go to France.

Robert and I arrived at the start about 6:30am and got our bikes and ourselves ready. There seemed to be only about 200 -300 people there total. I had expected more, but, this ride has only been hosted for about 7 years so maybe it hasn’t matured. They had limited the entries to 500 anyway but didn’t get near that. As I am pulling up to the start line an official noticed I didn’t have a helmet on. I had to race back to the car and get it. The ride started and luckily I came back into the peloton after the start right as Robert was leaving. I don’t remember much about the first section of 40 miles or so. It was rolling hills like around Nashville, nothing special. There were some scenic portions, lakes, and what not. I did notice that my legs did not feel good. They didn’t feel bad, just not strong like I would expect after two days off the bike. I attributed that to little sleep. And maybe the 3 hour ride through the hilly Percy Warner park on Wednesday was too hard. Anyway, no big problems. At around 45 miles I knew there was a hill as I had looked at the profile. It appeared to be a steep hill but not too long, maybe 1-2 miles .I thought this would be a good preview of the real mountains in terms of slope if not distance. Then the real mountains started at 62 miles maybe.

So at about mile 42 we hit the first “preview” hill. It kicked up and was fairly steep. I started in my small chainring and eventually went to the lowest gear I had. This means I am moving real slow. Robert didn’t have as low a gear as me but his seemed pretty low for a double. He may have a 28 in the back. Well, the hill kept going after 2 miles, 3 miles, 4 miles, 5, 6. I told Robert I had not even considered this section as anything difficult but we were climbing more than I had all year. This was over three times longer than Monteagle Mountain and just as steep! What was the real climbing going to be like? I was getting worried. Meanwhile, Robert seemed to have no difficulty on the climb. He had ridden an easy 53 two weeks ago, 83 last week, and this was an insane 115 mile mountain ride. Was he going to finish with only 750 miles in his legs so far this year? We finally hit a pretty big downhill and then were punished for that with another 4-5 miles up until we reached the Tail of the Dragon rest stop. I guess we had just ridden the Tail of the Dragon. It had taken us about 3:15 and we were at mile 54. I might mention that for the first 35 miles or so we averaged about 19 mph riding in the pack so we had a good start on time. I felt pretty tired at this point though. At the rest stop one of the volunteers said we had a big downhill followed by about 10 miles of flats and then……..then the ride starts! What?

We went down that hill for about 3 miles into a scenic valley next to a river and a dam and we settled in on what appeared to be a flat road. I was looking forward to about 10 miles of flats; however, I noticed my legs were incredibly tired feeling. I mentioned to Robert that it felt as if I was pedaling through water or underwater. We were going about 11 mph and it just didn't make sense. At this point Robert and I were riding alone. Robert said he felt the same and commented that no one was catching us from behind so we must not be the only ones going slowly. These flat roads were more like rollers with a couple of little climbs as I recall.

Finally we reach the 64 mile rest stop and fuel up and eat. They have all kinds of junk food at these rest stops. Cookies, tortilla chips, home made chocolate graham things, moon pies, etc. They also have apples, bananas, Powerade, nuts, and other fruit but I am surprized at all of the junk food. I can't really eat the junk food stuff without fearing I'll get sick. I had put a lot of hammer Gel in a water bottle straight and was hoping for that to be my main fuel along with bananas. This was the last rest stop before the real climbing was supposed to begin. They told us there was another stop 10 miles up the mountain. So we left.

Quickly, we got to the hill although it was about a mile or so away. I tried to use something other than my smallest gear in the triple but found myself spending more and more time there. The hill just kept going and going and going. The road would twist and turn and I would look hopefully around each corner for a flat section to give me a rest. It never came though. Around every turn was more up. Somewhere on this climb I took a drink from my hammerGel waterbottle and it tasted foul. Not because of heat because this was pure HammerGel. It tasted like it was going bad. I don't know if that was the case or not but my stomach was also getting sick. I decided not to drink any more HammerGel and try to live off bananas and water the rest of the way. I had one banana and ate that on the climb and I had plenty of water but I am sure I didn't drink enough on the climb. Anyway, meanwhile, Robert was riding effortlessly and waiting on me the whole way. He was striking up conversations with people and riding like he was on a 15 mile recovery ride through the park. I realized that this confirmed my theory that Robert needs only half the miles in him as I to equal my riding ability. In fact, he probably had over half the distance I had ridden this year. So, that meant, by my theory, he would be stronger, and he was. One thing I will say is that Robert definitely ate more than me the whole way. I mean he was eating peanut and jelly sandwiches like popcorn, eating crackers, drinking Powerade, bananas, grapes. Much more than me at every rest stop. I think I definitely need to eat more but I am worried about my stomach issues. And when the stomach is sick, I don't want to eat or drink. Well we kept going and going up this never ending hill and it got steeper as we went. At the 10 mile mark there was no rest stop. I was angry they had lied about where the rest stop was. After maybe another 1.5 miles we did finally get to the rest stop but I was sick to my stomach. I had to rest a long time to recover. We were at about 75.5 miles into the ride and it had taken maybe 6.5 hours of actual on bike time and another hour off the bike. We stayed at this rest stop for 45 minutes until I recovered enough to go on. People at the rest stop said we had between 5 to 10 miles before the summit after which it was almost all downhill with a couple of bumps in the road. I asked people who had done the ride last year how much further to the top and one guy said 5.6 miles, another said 8. What is wrong with these people? At 5 mph, that's a difference of 29 minutes of pain? How can they not know the exact distance? My cursory glance of the profile suggested we had 8 miles to summit. Another 8 miles of this brutal slow climbing on a sick stomach. I tried to eat more and got some packs of peanut butter crackers and a couple more bananas to take with me. I also broke down and, at the risk of getting sick, had some cold lemon Powerade. It tasted really good.

We finally made it to the summit after I had to stop one more time to eat. They took pictures of us at the 5000 feet mark (81 miles) where I was about gone. They had another rest stop at the summit and we stopped before hitting the big downhills. Supposedly the difficult climbing was over. We did go down some huge hills and finally started to make some good time however, at mile 88, we paid for those downhills with another climb. Now this was supposed to be nothing, but, it was a bigger climb than I can find anywhere around where I normally ride. In fact, it was about like climbing Monteagle Mountain, the mountain I had been so afraid of a couple of weeks ago. I was now angry at the motorcyclist who had told us we had no significant hills left. And then at mile 94, all my energy drained, I see the road up ahead kick up in what looks like the final scenes of the movie The Perfect Storm after the fishing boat crew had just weathered a horrendous storm. The sea became calm and by some miracle it looked as if they were out of the storm and would survive until they see a 150 foot wave rise up in front of them that was to be their doom. The captain’s words rolled through my head when I saw that hill at mile 94: “She’s not going to let us out”. After that hill I was convinced that the final 3 miles would be a 9% climb even though the profile showed nothing. Robert must have thought I was nuts by then.

So we finished. 115 miles, 10 hours, 11.5 mph (too slow for the etape elimination checks). 14 mph in on bike time and off the bike for almost 2 hours. Can’t do that in France.

Feeling A Little Better

2006-06-06T12:12:00.000-07:00

The Tour De Cure is a ride that starts in Murfreesboro, TN and goes up Monteagle Mountain and ends in the town of Monteagle. It is a two day ride of 75 miles each day with camping on Saturday night in Monteagle. It being a charity event to raise money for the cure of Diabetes, one is required to raise a minimum of $150 in order to participate. I had signed up for this ride a good while ago figuring it would fit into my training schedule for the Etape. Also I wanted to ride up Monteagle Mountain because it is higher and steeper than anything around Nashville and it is a good distance climb.

Two days before the ride I started to fund raise to collect the $150 minimum. I sent out several emails from the template website provided and I think people got them Friday morning. I needed to have the money cataloged by Saturday morning so I sent a shameless plea for everyone to donate NOW. Fortunately, my old boss and good friend at work donated $25 and that trend continued and I got a total of 4 $25 donations including one from Robert. Also fortunate is that I work for a generous company (HCA) that makes charity and community service a high priority. My company has matching contribution program and they will kick in $100 so that my total raised is $200.

The weather was perfect again for riding, 65-80 degrees and sunny. I started with the HCA team riders and stayed with a couple of them the whole way. This ride is well supported and has several rest stops. We stopped at most of them and I felt guilty doing that since I am not going to be able to do that in France. I would have preferred to go in, fill my water bottles, grab a banana and be off in 5 minutes or less but I would have been the only one wanting to do that. Anyway, as the HCA team captain said: "There is nothing to do at the camp site, why hurry?" "Well, you see, I have this 117 mile ride and it crosses these gigantic steep.........................and I can't waste time .................must.......average..........L' Alpe D'Huez." "What? You're riding L'Alpe D'Huez?" "Yes, and it's not even the most severe mountain either! I finish up L'Alpe D'Huez!" "Wow, John, you better get some riding in." "Yes, I know." So we took it easy at the rest stops. They fed us sandwiches for lunch and otherwise I ate bananas along with my HammerGel (original formula). All told we spent about an hour off the bike the first day, maybe more but I still felt like I got a decent workout. I worried about Monteagle mountain. By the time we got there I had been told it was 3 miles long and maybe technically it was but the real "mountain steep" section was only 2 miles long. I didn't know that when I started and quickly got into a rhythm I thought I could handle for three miles. I had also been told there was a section that measured a 24% grade. This scared me quite a bit but I was told it was very short. Bottom line, I got up the hill with no problems. Of course I used my triple the whole way but I could have come out of it at times. For that matter, I could have gone up the whole hill in my 39-26 or 39-24 but that would have hurt badly. According to my calculations, the 2 mile steep part averaged an 8.5% grade. That should be about like L'Alpe D'Huez; however, after 110 brutal miles I am not sure any comparison is valid. Or maybe it is. Yep, it took me 17 minutes to cover two miles and that means I will float up the 13.9km of L'Alpe D'Huez in 1:14. And that's if I pace myself and go slow to conserve energy. Get out of my way you people who walk on that hill. How do you say "Move over" in French. The first day to Monteagle was 76 miles.

The next day coming back was fun. We got to do the long descent down the mountain and then hooked up with a group going at a pretty good clip. We got into a group with a tandem riding like a freight train at the front. That went on for about 40-50 miles and kept our average speed up. Eventually the freight train ran out of coal, though, and a few of us struck out on our own. In the end it was just me and Bryan Graves riding into the finish after doing some hard efforts in the last 8 miles. I felt really good at the end. We averaged 19.2 mph for 81 miles.

Lessons learned:

1. Eat more than I am used to. Because we stopped at several rest stops I ate more than I usually do, lots of bananas. I have to think that contributed to my strong ride on both days.
2. Get in a pace group I can live with. I don't need to go out too fast. All of this riding alone made me forget how my average speed should benefit from the drafting.
3. Be careful riding in the group. I can't let fatigue make me lazy about paying attention to other riders. Three people in the Tour De Cure had bad wrecks and at least one of them broke his collar bone only because the two people in front of him touched wheels and he ran into that crash.

New Links

2006-06-06T07:25:00.000-07:00

I just updated my links with a site containing a great detailed description of the ride with pictures included. It covers every portion, what to expect, etc. Check it out. Also added a link to another British Etaper I got off 187KM site.

Worried

2006-06-05T17:35:00.000-07:00

I wrote this on June 1 but didn't post. I'll try to update later tonight maybe:

From reading my brother’s blog and that of 187 KM to Go, It looks there is a fair amount of doubt or apprehension going around about this ride. Well, count me in on that! This past weekend (May 28) I set out to do 100 miles again and I quit at 46. I got sick to my stomach. This is two weekends in a row I had to quit my ride. I have concluded it is the new energy mix I have been using, HammerGel Sustained Energy. I have used it only on those two rides and it just didn’t make sense that my energy would be sapped and I would not feel like riding after 45 miles. I really like the standard HammerGel and so I decided to buy Sustained Energy because it was designed for longer rides lasting over two hours. It contains some protein along with carbs. I am done with Sustained Energy. The problem is I have lost two weeks of increased endurance gains and now I wonder if I can even do a long ride. It’s amazing how a bad day can kill my confidence, but, all I can think about is how unimaginably huge hills await me in France and how can I believe I can ride up those hills if I can’t do a 50 miler here in Tennessee.

The next 3 weekends should give me the answers I need before the Etape. This weekend I am doing 75 miles Saturday and another 75 Sunday as part of the Tour De Cure Diabetes charity ride. That ride goes up Monteagle Mountain and will provide an excellent mountain field test. The weekend after that I plan another 100 mile ride. And, on June 17 I participate in the Cherohala Challenge which is a 115 mile ride with extended 9% grades. If I get through all of this ok, I will ease off for a week and then do maintenance rides until the Etape.

Robert has his cast off now and I don’t know his plans but I hope he can start riding long rides again. I really don’t want to go over to France by myself to do this. The good news about the Etape this week is that we are confirmed for our hotel in Oz just below L’Alpe D’Huez. That means if I make it to the end of the ride, the Gondola takes us off the mountain straight to our hotel where I can fall down on the bed.

I think I have done 1300 miles total training so far. I need to check that. Last night I did 50 miles through Percy Warner Park after work and felt fairly good the whole way. I used no Sustained Energy mix and had no stomach problems. This is a good thing.

We have not purchased Airline tickets yet. I need to do that soon. I think we will fly into Lyon from either London or Frankfurt on July 7. Cyclomundo takes care of the logistics from then until July 11 when we are on our own again. We could fly back July 11 or stay a few days. Again, we need to decide about that now.

Bailed Out Saturday

2006-05-23T08:03:00.000-07:00

I bailed out of my ride on Saturday after 61 miles. I didn't actually get on the road until 12:00. I was refitting the Lemond and installing my computer in the AM and didn't get in a hurry. I have to say, these long bike rides are like work to me. I really need to ride with a group or something. Saturday, I left planning to ride at least 80 miles, maybe 100 depending on how I felt. Well, after 2 hours I felt better than I had all year and then after 3 I was feeling weak. I stopped in Franklin and called a friend to pick me up. While I was waiting for him to pick me up I went ahead and finished off my food which I had been rationing on the ride. I felt much better in just a few minutes which lead me to believe I just had not eaten enough for the day. Even whenI stopped I knew I could make it the 20 miles back home after fueling up at a market. I think I was as mentally tired as I was physically. I just didn't want to ride anymore. So that caps off a week in which I only managed a little over 100 miles. I feel bad about it, but, now with only 6 weeks of training left I feel highly motivated again. Maybe I just needed time off the bike. This weekend is Memorial Day weekend and I have 3 days off work. Maybe I'll try to find an organized ride or maybe it will be another lone long distance ride.

On Monday I rode a full park ride of 18 miles and went harder than usual. Tuesday I took a very easy 27 miles and rode with my younger brother for a few miles. Wednesday I was planning to do a fast 50 miles after work but I only managed 40 and felt incredibly weak doing it.

I have been concentrating on eating better/less for several days and my weight has dropped significantly lately. The last 4 weigh-ins this week have been 153.6 154.4, 152.6, 151.2. No wonder I have been weak. I am simply not eating enough on or off rides to be strong. I won’t be riding Thursday or Friday much if at all. I am going to fuel up for a big weekend ride.

Robert is still exercising but not doing long bike rides. He tells me he gets his cast off on 05/30 and will evaluate his plan from there. He has hinted that he might not ride the Etape. I still think he has time to get ready. I mean, again, look at Ullrich. He was fat and out of shape a month ago and now he has won a time trial in the Giro and done very well climbing some mountains and is now firmly established as the favorite for the Tour.

We're on the list!

2006-05-16T10:21:00.000-07:00

Robert and I finally made the list of official riders (7909/7914 (Sas de départ n° 7)). I guess this is it. We might really do this thing.

I also received and put together my 2002 Lemond Zurich Triple on Monday. And I swapped my Brooks saddle onto it after I took a test ride with the Selle Italia and couldn't take it. I'll never be able to give up my Brooks. It makes a huge difference. The bike is in very good shape, better than I had hoped. Another good ebay purchase.

I hope to take at least a 30 mile ride tonight (Wednesday) after work to test the Lemond. It feels good so far but I only went about 5 miles. I have not really ridden since Saturday so I really need a good effort tonight.

1000 miles

2006-05-15T05:32:00.000-07:00

I rode 81 miles on Saturday. It was a tougher ride than last week. I hit several short steep hills along the way and I had to contend with some strong winds. I rode alone again since Robert is injured. I am hopeful that he can rig his bike so that he can ride out on the roads again. I tested out some new fuel on this ride. It was HammerGel Sustained Energy. It is designed for rides lasting over 2 hours and contains some protein along with the carbohydrates. I filled a water bottle with a concentrated amount of the stuff and had a total of 1170 calories worth plus some regular HammerGel. I sipped small amounts of the concentrated Sustained Energy the whole ride and washed it down with water. It tastes like pancake mix and is quite good. I will try it again this week. If all goes well, I will probably use this as my sole energy source for the Etape only stopping for water during the ride.

The diet is not going well. I still weigh 158 as of today and have not been limiting my food intake. Starting today I am going to begin to lose weight. I am back on the diet. Maybe I can make it to 150 before the Etape, maybe better.

I should have my new bike delivered today. The UPS tracking number says it's in Nashville at the destination sorting location. We'll see. Oh, I rolled over 1000 miles Saturday.

Total mileage to date: 1018
Total hours: 67:00
Current weight: 158 (goal 145)

What To Do With Robert And Other Big News

2006-05-09T20:58:00.000-07:00

The Saturday ride was to be one I would do alone. Robert had a church breakfast he didn't want to miss and I didn't want to wait until 11 or 12 to start my ride. I planned to do a 90 mile loop starting at my home in Nashville, going south on the Natchez Trace Parkway, Leiper's Fork, Boston, Theta, Santa Fe, Water Valley, and back. Well, I still didn't get going until 8:20AM, three hours after I got up. I was worried about going 90 miles alone and planned to make stops where I could to stay fueled up. There were some sections on the ride for 20 or 30 miles where there was not much opportunity to get food. I had fuel with me though and really worried more about my fitness. I had my cell phone as well and knew I could call in air support if it really got bad (the whole family and friend network is on standby whether they know it or not to come pick me up in a car if necessary). The weather was absolutely perfect for bike riding though. Maybe 65 when I started and 72 when I finished. It was a beautiful sunny day made for riding. The heat was definitely not going to be my undoing today. I felt great after an hour, great after 2 hours, great after 3 hours, good after 4 hours, tired after 5 hours and wanting to get home, then pretty exhausted after 6 hours. I added some extra miles when I was in about 45 miles and feeling great so when I got near home, I guessed I'd have about 97-98 miles total. I had no intention at all to keep riding to get to 100 miles. That would leave something for next week. At the finish, I checked the mileage: 99.89. Well, I'm not having that. I rode around the building and clocked 100. 6 hours 19 minutes riding time. I was beat.

My brother Robert got out at 11 AM and if you read his blog from my links section, you get details of his ride and his wreck. It sounds like he rode with someone not practiced in group riding or maybe just someone paralyzed with fear at the site of a dog. Anyway, now he has a cast on his hand and talks as if he won't be riding his bike for 5 weeks. Robert, as I tell myself every time I think about skipping a ride, the Col d' Izoard and L'Alpe d'Huez do not care if I train. And they don't care if you train either. The Col d' Izoard and L'Alpe d'Huez are trained and ready and will give us their best shot. Robert needs to ignore the advice of his doctor and find a way to ride his bike. The trainer will work but I don't know how anyone can overcome the boredom well enough to continue for more than a couple of hours on one of those.

Well I am getting tired, it's late here. I bought a bike off ebay the other day. It is a Lemond Zurich. It is a steel bike which is, sadly, tig welded and not lugged. But, it is steel (853 Reynolds) with a carbon fork. It has triple chainrings which I have never had before. I always thought those were for sissies. I am 44 years old now. That will make me older than anyone in the Tour De France this year. So, I think I have earned the right to consider using the triple for my Etape. My plan is to test the gears at the Cherohala Challenge and see if I need them. If not, I'll go with the 53-39, 13-26. Then I'll sell the bike on ebay after improving the ad and maybe make a profit. Hey, a Lemond bike that has ridden up L'Alpe d'Huez. Surely that's got to be worth big bucks!

A new bike?

2006-05-03T13:32:00.000-07:00

I emailed Cyclomundo a couple of days ago and asked if he knew anything about our re-submitted entries. He sent back a message and said we should see our names on the list in a few days. I hope that's true. Otherwise I will be forced to go back to eating pizzas as my bike hangs on the wall and collects dust. I should be able to gain weight fairly easily though and would expect to be back to 180 in about 2-3 months. And really that's too bad. I have made gains on my riding partners so far this year and no longer feel like I make everyone wait around for me. Robert is probably getting some exercise occasionally when he rides with me.

Oh, I have a new strategy on getting my bike ready for the ride. I don't have a triple chainring and I don't really want to spend the money to swap out components to get one. So, I am bidding on bikes on ebay. The idea is to buy a suitable bike with the proper gearing, ride it in France, and then resell it on ebay. I bid on a Trek 5200 but it went for too much and I lost. I am looking at others.

I signed up for the Cherohala Challenge last night. It is on June 17 and should be a good test before the Etape. It has some extended 9% grades and I should find out about gearing there. This ride could either give me big confidence or shatter what I have. Here is the description:

"115 miles going up the famous Dragon (318 curves in 11 miles) and then coming back the scenic and seriously hilly Cherohala Skyway. Start at 900 feet elevation and peak at 5,300 feet. With the dreaded 'sawtooths' after the peak, total elevation gain is about 9,000 feet. Many downhill sections of both routes are technical and fast. And both routes are mostly in remote areas. ALL participants should be confident and capable bike handlers. Have a few centuries under your belt before tackling the 115-mile route. Otherwise, try the Metric Challenge on for size.
There are extended uphill sections of both the Challenge and Metric Challenge with an average 9% grade. Choose your gearing accordingly!!!
Temperatures at the peak elevation of the ride can be as much as 20 degrees cooler than at the start. Also, be prepared for variable weather conditions. This ride is held rain or shine. Helmets are required!"

Total mileage to date: 788
Total hours: 52:23
Current weight: 156.2 (goal 145)

Rest Week

2006-04-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

I rode 128 miles this week. This was a "rest week" in my periodization training plan. The idea is that I take it easier the 4th week and soak in the training I have done to this point.

The one big ride I did was on Saturday. I did a 78 mile ride with my brother Robert. We rode from my home in Nashville to Elkton, Kentucky and then to Trenton, Kentucky where my parents have a historic old home (Idlewild). Normally, a ride to Idlewild is a little difficult. It has several short steep little hills that always tend to leave me plenty tired. There are no big mountains but the number of little hills add up. Well, the ride Saturday was a relative breeze. And I do mean breeze. It seems we had a tail wind of about 20 mph the whole way up there. Sometimes we would be tooling along at 20mph and not even feel wind in our face. Traditionally, we were making pretty good time on this ride averaging 17.3 mph. I couldn't help but think, though, that I was not getting enough exercise for my big ride of the week. We also stopped to fuel up a couple of times and spent way too much time off the bike.

As we went on, the training ride seemed to degenerate into a sight seeing vacation ride. Robert had brought along a camera and stopped to take a picture of a "Not For Sale" sign on some land in an area where evidently quite a bit of development had been going on. We decided to take a few more pictures as the ride progressed and each time we spent too long standing around trying to take the perfect picture. I kept reminding myself, this was a rest week and I'll get in some good training next week. Maybe Robert will put the pictures on his blog or send them to me. We both think we need some pictures on our blog.

A couple of times we had to ask people directions to Elkton because Robert was unsure of the direction. He had previously ridden the roads from Guthrie/Tiny Town to Elkton but I had not. We stopped a Mennonite riding his Massey Ferguson tractor and he pointed the way one time. We flagged down a truck later and asked a couple. They gave us directions and then we discovered they they had both gone to high school with my mother. The man had been in my mom's class and the woman was a year behind them. Apparently, according to them, they had last seen us when we were little kids on vacation at Ken Lake maybe 35-40 years ago. They still knew our parents well and, in fact, called them at Idlewild to report on our progress before we got there. Both of my parents grew up in and around Elkton but they have lived in Nashville almost all of my life. I used to have grandparents in Elkton, but I have hardly spent any time there in the last 20 years.

So we talked to Johnny Bob and Nancy Power a few minutes and then left to find the Subway sandwich shop on the square in Elkton. There we ate an excellent roast beef sandwich and headed off again to complete the last 8 miles to Trenton where mom had a meal prepared for us. At Idlewild we ate steak, potato salad, fruit, and tea. By the way, did I mention that my diet is not going so well? It seems I can't stop eating.

No word on our Etape entry yet. Cyclomundo says no news is good news. They said our medical papers looked in good order to them. I still don't see our names on the Etape site.

Total mileage to date: 718
Total hours: 47:43
Current weight: too scared to look (goal 145)

The Times They Are A Changing

2006-04-23T05:40:00.000-07:00

I completed an 84 mile ride yesterday. And I felt ok during the whole ride. I did this ride a little differently than last week. I ate plenty of carbs the night before and the day before and I drank plenty of water. And, I went to bed early. We call this ride the Thompson Station Loop because it goes through Thompson Station, Tennessee which is the furthest point in the ride away from Nashville. The weather was perfect 75 degrees and sunny. I stopped in Franklin, Tennessee for water and then in Thompson Station again. That gave me enough to make it home.

I had not ridden this route in probably 4 years and the changes in landscape were significant. I could not believe the new development which has taken place on roads which could be described as rural a few years ago. Going into Franklin from Del Rio Pike, they have redone and rerouted the road and put up whole neighborhoods that were not there 4 years ago. Then coming back through Franklin, I missed a turn onto McEwen Rd off of Wilson Blvd because I saw what looked like a new city on that road where it used to be nothing but farm land accessible by a small wooden bridge. Now the bridge is big and concrete. and the farm land is full of houses. Going further down what used to be one of the most scenic roads on the ride reveals more development and new roads intersecting McEwen. Then I pass a new and large Liberty Park and notice the road has been enlarged and turns into Liberty Pike. Again, nothing was here before. I see that my old road McEwen still exists and goes off under a tunnel of tree limbs like I remember. I decide to continue down McEwen road and reject the new, big, traffic riddled Liberty Pike even though barriers at the continuation point say "construction traffic only". So down I go and the road still seems to be in good shape until about a mile down the road I see the construction. The road is completely torn up an I can't pass on the bike, At least not on the bike. Not even a Rivendell with its oversized tires would work in this construction zone. A mountain bike would work. Anyway I decided to get off the bike and hike about 1/8th mile to where I could not see but knew the old road used to be and hoped it still was. I found the old road (Huffins Ridge at McEwen) at the top of the hill where I sat down and cleaned mud out of my cleats while taking in the view over I-65. This used to be one of my favorite points in this ride. It's 60 miles into the ride and it's about a mile away from Franklin where I would typically fuel up for the mostly downhill ride back to Nashville. I rode on down to Franklin and then back home without stopping. I felt like I had ridden my bike through a life sized SimCity game. It also reminded me of the movie Back To The Future and I wanted to get back to 1985. Nice ride though. I actually enjoyed this one.

Total mileage to date: 588
Total hours: 39:52
Current weight: 156.4 (goal 145)

500 Miles

2006-04-21T11:54:00.000-07:00

I rolled over 500 miles in total training yesterday. I rode with my brother Robert through the park. This was my 4th consecutive day riding. My legs are pretty tired at this point and I am taking a much needed rest day today. I hope I didn't hold Robert up too much yesterday. He made a comment on the ride that on those few days when he does get out on the bike, he likes to get in some training (implying I was riding too slowly for him to get any exercise). I reminded Robert that, unlike him, I had ridden 4 days in a row and I was basically on a recovery ride. Even so, despite what Robert says on his blog, I have not yet matched him in fitness. I may have closed the gap, but it has been my experience through the years that Robert needs about 1/2 the training miles as I in order to have the same fitness. And, of course, he does not have the weight problem I have. He talks about wanting to lose weight for the Etape and I just laugh. Yeah, he might need to lose 8 or 10 ounces. He could skip a dinner and be at race weight. Sorry Robert, you don't know the meaning of needing to lose weight.

Tomorrow I plan to ride from 65-80 miles. I might go on a group ride with the Harpeth Bike Club; however, that involves driving for perhaps a 1.5 hour round trip to get to the start. Alternately, I can do 65 or 80 miles starting from home on very familiar routes mapped out many years ago. I can also start earlier and be done by noon if I go by myself. I think I might have just convinced myself to ride alone.

My assessment at this point? I feel like I am making good progress. I am getting more into the routine of training and I have become focused. I feel good about going 80 miles tomorrow. I weigh 156 which is only 11 pounds from my goal. It was only August of 2005 when I weighed in at my all time fat peak of 180. If I stick with my current plan, I will achieve 2200 miles by the end of my training and be lighter than I have been since 1994. In that year I did a 6 hour Bridge to Bridge. I don't expect to be in 1994 shape because that year I had been doing bike races and was better able to adapt to changing race speeds, intensities, etc. I am gaining confidence though. A month ago I wondered if I had enough time to reasonably get into shape for this. Today, I know I can if I stick to my plan and have the required amount of luck to keep me out of trouble or injury. After this week, there are 10 more good training weeks.

Total mileage to date: 504
Total hours: 34:24
Current weight: 156.4 (goal 145)

Avoiding Crashes

2006-04-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

I rode through Percy Warner Park on Monday and Tuesday and twice on Wednesday. This is three days in a row which is the first time this year for that. I plan on riding today as well. My average speed on Monday was 15.4. This was a full park ride of 18 miles with all of the hills and so I was not unhappy with the speed. Tuesday I rode a little slower on purpose. Also on Tuesday, after climbing 3-mile hill I noticed a full sized fire engine and another vehicle stopped on the down slope. There was a group of a few cyclists there as well and one of them had obviously crashed coming down the hill. I had to stop on the hill before I could get by. A man about 20ish was lying on the pavement talking to a paramedic. He seemed alert and was talking but was obviously unable to ride. His friends thought it necessary to call an ambulance and I passed that down the road a little.

I thought about crashes and the upcoming Etape. The man who wrecked in the park may have been unfamiliar with the road, lost control or otherwise made a mistake and crashed. Or, maybe one of his riding partners turned too hard and crossed his wheel or braked too hard or ran into him. The point is, it may or may not have been his fault that he crashed and he was only in a group of 5 or 6 riders. The Etape is going to be a ride of 8000 or so. I assume most of those people will be unfamiliar with the roads and possess varying levels of experience riding in groups. There is no doubt crashes will occur and innocent people will be affected. I am most concerned about the downhills. I don’t plan on taking any chances going downhill. If possible I am leaving plenty of room between me and those in front. I’d like to get a respectable time but, really, I just want to finish in one piece.

On another note, I faxed the newly requested medical letters to France and received confirmation from Cyclomundo that they were received and appeared in good order. That does not mean they were accepted but it’s out of my hands at the moment. I will let you know if we get in. If not, I am going to assume the Amaury Sport Organization has seen enough of Americans in their events.

Total mileage to date: 487
Total hours: 33.2
Current weight: 156.8 (goal 145)

First Organized Ride Of The Year

2006-04-17T11:47:00.000-07:00

Saturday I did the Murfreesboro Bicycle Club “Two County Metric Century” with my brother Robert and some people with whom I work. I measured 63 miles total. I averaged 16.5 mph which I considered low given that I was able to draft off people for a significant portion of the ride. This ride covered areas of two counties as the name suggests. I personally don’t know which counties we’re talking about, maybe Rutherford and Williamson. Anyway, it was a beautiful ride and the weather was great. I felt very tired from the get go and after 20 miles I felt worn out. I really don’t know why. Maybe I was dehydrated or maybe I had not eaten properly the day before. Robert seemed fine throughout and had to wait on me again. After the ride I was really drained and it took me a while to recover. All of this has not helped my confidence for the Etape. It has, however, reminded me that I need to be mindful of proper eating and hydration procedures before long rides. And I will admit, I was not concerned with the length or difficulty of this ride beforehand. I was confident I could do it easily since I had already done a 4 hour ride last week and felt ok.

I need to have a big week of riding this week. I hope to do 150 miles at least and then next week I will drop down a little. I am trying to employ a periodization training schedule.

Total mileage to date: 422
Total hours: 28.90
Current weight: 158 (goal 145)

Fit To Participate In Cycling Races

2006-04-13T11:53:00.000-07:00

I went for a 29 mile ride Wednesday after work. I tried to up the pace as I am trying to get in a good ride on Wednesdays going faster than normal. Going harder on a ride during the week will help me increase my overall speed on the long weekend rides. I also plan on doing some speed work later in my training schedule for this same purpose. Speed work consists of sprints and intervals mainly. I averaged 15.6 miles per hour yesterday. That is faster than I have been going but a little disappointing anyway. Given how hard I felt like I was going I expected a little more, but, I am getting older. About 10-12 years ago it seems like my brothers and I would go out on the first ride of the year and average 16mph and think that was bad. No question I am improving though. My weight, on the other hand, is not dropping fast enough. I am going to have to stop eating. I really don’t want to go into June needing to lose a bunch of weight.

I saw Alan Jackson on my ride yesterday. He is a big country music star for those who don’t know. I was riding by his huge house on Moran Rd. and he pulled out of the driveway in a convertible Bentley. It was a beautiful day for a drive in the country with the top down but I wonder if he gets it. There is just more of a visceral appeal to riding a bike on a day like yesterday. It was sunny and 75.

On the registration issue, our doctor is drafting the official letter stating my brother and I are “fit to participate in cycling races”. I should be able to fax this tonight and cement our entry. I sure hope it works out that way.

Speaking of the ride, I noticed from a story on the “Only 187 miles to go” blog that they have posted rider entry numbers and starting sections for those who have been accepted to ride. Robert and I are not listed yet but it will be neat to see where we start. I suspect the back. You can check our slot following these directions:

Go to http://www.letapedutour.com/ and make sure you're in the French version. Under "La liste des inscrits", enter the surname or a portion of it and it should produce a list.

Also, notice a couple of links I have added to stories from Etape participants.

Total mileage to date: 359
Total hours: 25.10
Current weight: 159 (goal 145)

Problems with Registration

2006-04-10T13:31:00.000-07:00

I only got in two rides this past week. I did an 18 mile ride on 04/03 and a 57.61 miler on Saturday 04/08. I went to St Louis for a Hockey game and was gone Thursday and Friday. When I arrived back home, Robert informed me his registration form for the Etape had been returned. I then discovered mine had been returned as well. It seems the organization is insisting that we have a medical stamp with the medical license number of the physician. Over here in the USA, doctors don't necessarily have a stamp. I had checked with Cyclomundo about this before I sent anything in since the instructions called for a stamp and they said we could have the doctor sign in the space provided. We did that and we had the medical license number in there as well. This apparently has worked in the past few years, at least for Cyclomundo. They sent an email stating they didn't understand the problem this year. Anyway, we have to get a stamp or draft a medical letterhead stating we are "fit to ride in cycling races". Ok, we have doctors all over the place here to do that. My father is a medical doctor and he signed the first forms but he never had any kind of stamp. I had a physical in February from my primary care physician and all came out well, but he didn't have a stamp either. I'll have a letter drafted. I hope that works.

I rode 18 miles Monday, none Tuesday, should ride Wednesday

Total mileage to date: 330
Total hours: 23.25
Current weight: 159 (goal 145)

If Ullrich Can Do It

2006-04-05T20:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, I did not ride yesterday or today. I went to the Masters practice round yesterday and today I was too tired and lazy to get in a ride. That is too bad because tomorrow morning I am going to St Louis on the Budweiser Fun Bus and attending a Predator's/St Louis hockey game. My friend Seid won a free promotional trip and invited me along. I flew to Augusta and the Masters yesterday on a LearJet 55 courtesy of another good friend of mine, Danielle. I really must have some good friends and I appreciate these trips, but my cycling is suffering this week. I might not be back until Saturday and I can't afford to miss a long weekend ride. But then again, Jan Ullrich is putting off the start of his racing season again, true to form. And he is not worried about being ready for the Tour De France. He has knee problems again, a result of him cranking 53-13s over mountain passes in training, I suppose. He says he "may" ride the Tour of Italy. Imagine that: 3 months to the Tour and his knee hurts too bad to race and he might appear in a race in late April at the soonest, maybe not until May in the Giro? And he thinks he will be in top form in the Tour? Same old Ullrich. He waits until the last minute to get in shape, then finalizes his form in the Tour and has great form after the Tour when nobody cares unless it's an Olympic year. Ok, he did win the World Championship ITT once. What he should do is just announce his main objective is the World Championships and that he is using the Tour De France for training. He is not winning the Tour this year and he won't make the podium either. Anyway, big strides can be made in three months by me as well, and all I have to do is finish ahead of the broom wagon.

Off To The Masters

2006-04-04T05:17:00.000-07:00

I am going to the Masters practice round today and won't be riding. I am flying via private jet with a member of Augusta National. Wow!

Some Old Hills

2006-04-03T18:59:00.000-07:00

I rode 50 miles with my older brother on Saturday. He is also in training to ride the Etape. It was a beautiful day for a ride, sunny and 75-80 degrees. I had not ridden since Thursday. This is my longest ride to date since starting my training for the Etape. I felt weak within the first two minutes of the ride and thought I might have a rough time. Sure enough, I didn't have much energy for the entire ride. I had eaten early in the day around 9am but we didn't get on the bike until about 1pm. I don't think I ate enough anyway. Then, I didn't have as much Hammer Gel as I needed and I was probably dehydrated. This type of poor preparation is what I can't afford when in France. I will be careful when that day comes.

Other than my poor condition, the ride was good. We took a route that I have not ridden in years, but one that I had first mapped out about 15-18 years ago. It contained some fairly short but steep hills and it kept me tired throughout. We did pass a market on Franklin Road at Moore's Lane where I was able to refuel with water and Gatorade. (By the way, I hate to drink Gatorade on rides because it is too sweet and, depending on how hot it is, makes my stomach upset. That's all they had, though, and it's better that than bonk because I had nothing. After all, we were about 20 miles from home at this point. HammerGel works well for me because the sugar is in the form of maltodextrin and glucose polymers-no added simple sugars. Gatorade is simple sugar city. It tastes great for a thirst quencher when I have not been exercising.)

I am fairly sure I held Robert up for most of the ride. He doesn't have the obesity problem that I do and he regularly exercises when not in training for some ride. He will no doubt blow me away up all mountains in France if he gets near the training I do before the ride. My only hope is that I remain more dedicated to the training so that I can narrow the gap. I am not in a competition with Robert, I would just like to be able to keep up without slowing him down. I hope we do the whole ride together.

Total Miles: 237
Total hours: 16.65
Current Weight: 159.8 (145 goal)

Into The Night

2006-04-03T06:29:00.000-07:00

03/31:
I rode 20 miles in the dark yesterday. I think this new light is really going to help me keep my training on track. I don't have to worry about getting out on the road before the sun goes down. I again rode in Percy Warner Park, a hilly and technical course. It gets incredibly dark in the Park. There are no street lights or any other light source in there and when it's cloudy its just black. My light is good enough to navigate but I have to go slower on the downhills and straights in case a deer walks across the road or something. Last night I was hit by a bird. I saw it fly into my path and then it hit me in the arm and side before bouncing off.
I again felt good on the bike. I didn't ride Wednesday though. That day I was extremely fatigued all day. I decided it was best to let Tuesday's ride soak in instead. I am more careful now about "listening" to my body for training.

Light in Motion

2006-03-29T05:27:00.000-08:00

I got a new headlight and took it out for a ride last night after dark. I met up with some people from work and we rode through Percy Warner Park. We completed two loops of the full park ride (22 miles). That plus riding to and from the park means I rode 28.5 miles last night. This was another good ride for me. This course is very hilly and technical. We would ride at a slow pace and then push it up the hills. It was almost like doing intervals and I am sure I got a good workout. In fact, I am going to count that as my mid week "harder than usual pace" ride which I normally plan for Wednesdays. That means today I am going to take it a little easier and probably go 18 miles. Maybe I'll do the same tomorrow as well. Then, on Saturday, I'll ride between 40 and 50 miles. There is an organized ride (Friends of Warner Parks) on Saturday which is 50 miles. That's a good possibility at this point. Believe it or not, I am a little concerned about doing to much too early in my training right now. I don't have the luxury of building up over a long period of time though, so, right now I am just trying to figure out where I stand from a fitness standpoint and then stretch my training a little. I should be able to get in 1500-2000 miles by Etape time.

Total mileage to date: 149
Total hours: 10.5
Current weight: 162.4 (goal 145)

Finally a good ride

2006-03-26T18:16:00.000-08:00

I got in a 40.5 mile ride today. It took me 2:43 or 14.8 mph. That was a good ride for me at this stage. I felt good the whole way and my legs didn't start to feel tired until about 2 hours into the ride. I take this to mean I am in better shape than I had thought. Don't get me wrong, I am running scared right now about gaining the fitness and losing the weight to do the Etape; however, I still have 14 weeks of training left. If I apply a little discipline, I should be prepared to finish at least. I have some experience in doing rides of nearly this distance and difficulty. I have done 20+ centuries and most involved getting into shape in the last three months. Bridge to Bridge is the closest in difficulty to this ride and I have done it 7 or 8 times.

Total mileage to date: 121
Total hours: 8.25
Current weight: 160.4 (goal 145)

The Monopoly game

2006-03-25T20:02:00.000-08:00

It's Friday night and I am thinking about the long training ride I will be doing on Saturday. I'll have a decent meal and go to bed at a reasonable hour. I'll ride 42 miles and feel good about getting in my first long ride no matter how slowly I may ultimately go.

Wrong! My Niece Sheridan and nephew Davis invited me over to their house for a game of Monopoly (the old board game). Now, they normally play with all of the high tech computer games/consoles, etc; but, Mom or Dad pulled out the Monopoly game and a couple of days ago and they got hooked. Anyway, to make a long story short, I stayed up until 3AM playing until I was beat out by my 8 year old nephew. During the game I put down some pizza thinking it won't hurt because I will need the energy tomorrow.

Tomorrow comes and there is no way I am riding in the AM, too tired. My sleep schedule was way off and I was going to pay. I woke up at 6:30am with some awful cramp in my leg and didn't get up until about 11:30. I finally got dressed and went across the street to Goldie's Deli to grab a club sandwich for lunch, then stopped by Smoothie King and loaded up on Hammer Gel. Then, I lounged around home all day and wondered if buying Hammer Gel could count towards my training for the day. In the end it did. Tomorrow's another day.

Total mileage to date: 81
Total hours: 5.5
Current weight: 160.4 (goal 145)

Weight and Fitness

2006-03-23T06:01:00.000-08:00

I started training for the Etape basically on 03/11. That was my first real ride since October 2005. I have only done 5 rides since then. I now have less than 4 months to gain the fitness and frankly I am a little worried. There is not much light left after work and I haven't installed lights on my bike yet. And, I seem to find reasons to put off training rides rather easily. Last night I got home late from work but did manage a 1 hour ride on the trainer. That is the first weekday training ride I have done.

I weighed 162 when I started training and my goal weight is 145 for the ride. . At 5'3" I register obese at 168. 145 is something I think is realistic to do while still gaining fitness. Really I would like to get down to about 135 but that's not happening by July 10.

Total mileage to date: 81
Total hours: 5.5
Current weight: 158.8

The Opportunity

2006-03-19T07:29:00.000-08:00

I had thought about doing the Etape for several years. When I heard it was finishing up L'Alpe d'Huez this year I decided this would be a good year. Of course I didn't even try to signup before January. That's when I discovered all of the USA tour companies offering the ride were fully booked and already half booked for 2007. So, I looked at other English speaking tour companies outside the States and basically found the same thing. I guess the ride is more popular than I thought. I did find some other options like Velo Echappe's deal to ride this same stage on the same day as the Tour. Apparently you start early in the morning and you need to stay ahead of the real Tour starting about 5 hours behind you. That sounded like a possibility until I saw the price tag: $6700 dollars not including airfare! Wow! Anyway, all hope lost, I went back to eating pizzas.

Then on 02/24/2006 I get an email from Cyclomundo telling me they had two cancellations. I requested both slots, one for me and one for my older brother. The only problem is I haven't ridden since October 2005 and I am about 20 pounds over a reasonable weight to do this ride.