Le Tour Challenge 2007

The riders set out straight from the campsite in the cloud which rapidly turned into rain. The route followed a picturesque gorge for most of the morning and after lunch Pete decided to join the others for the first hors category climb of the day - up to 2001m on the Port de Pailheres. Although he hasn’t been on a bike for 2 months he managed the ascent with a wide cheesy grin plastered across his face, and enjoyed himself so much that he decided to do the second one too. His grin lasted until at least half way up the Plateau-de-Beille, but it had most definitely disappeared by the last 8km. He dug in and got the job done and enjoyed at least 5 minutes of conciousness before falling asleep for the remains of the day.
Mick and Sean thoroughly enjoyed the day despite regular soakings from going in and out of the cloud line. Pete’s presence and encouragement from onlookers parked once again on every available spot of the climb, both gave them a boost.
Meanwhile Jon had taken over the driving and earned his stripes by reversing the van a fair distance through one of those ridiculously narrow Pyrenean streets having been maliciously sent the wrong way by Doris. Doris is the name given to our tom tom in case you were wondering. She is one of our most important and least complaining members (Although she can be a little touchy and in the absence of Pete has sent the van in the wrong direction several times. Infact, come to think of it, Doris and Pete do seem to have formed quite a strong bond….)

Mood in camp was relaxed, and everyone grateful for a lie-in. The boys were joined by Colin Laity and Paul Davies who had stayed on in France after having ridden the Etape (that’s a bike race that covers the hardest mountain stage of the Tour each year for those of you lucky enough not to know). Even Pete, our ever hardworking mechanic, who happens to have been in Poland’s junior road racing team, joined in for a spin. A route that aproximated the Albi time trial was worked out and the boys found that with 5 of them to share the workload and with Colin’s uber strong legs they could sting along much faster.
There couldn’t have been a better way to prepare for the Pyrenees than with an extra long massage (which always attracts a bit of attention in the campsite) and industrial quantities of pasta.

Another tough day where the heat was the major factor to deal with. By 12pm, the temperature had risen to 35 degrees and combined with a headwind in places and mainly completely dead road surfaces, it made for a hard 179 km. Between us, we went through about 20 litres of water in an effort to keep hydrated.

We’ve made a small change to the itinerary - to save on the travelling around between stages. We’ve come straight from Castres to Mazamet, the start town of the first Pyrenees stage and we will do the 55 km ‘time trial’ from here - hopefully with a couple of mates who have stayed over since doing the Etape on Monday. We’re going to to use the day as an opportunity to prepare for the 3 day assault of the Pyrenees, definitely the hardest part of the entire route and all that really stands between us and Paris now. We’re both feeling lighter and (sometimes) stronger and are ready to give it our best.

It shows what supermen the real Tour riders are, we get to use this as effectively an extra rest day whereas they will be expected to get on the TT bike and go all out for an hour to to either make up or hold their position in the race. We are continually in awe of these guys who not only share all the same challenges that the roads and weather can throw up but are also competing with each other, always on the look out to steal an advantage or stop an an advantage being stolen from them. Mind you, just sharing the work between 2 is a difficulty they don’t have to deal with, unless on a crazy breakaway.

The team are doing brilliantly and have the routine for ‘hot’ (literally…) resupply of water and food on the road down pat. Pete is stripping the bikes down today to have them sweet for the second set of mountains. Sean is confident that having his seat height raised by the 20mm it seemed to have dropped in the Alps will make life easier this time around as he says it ‘nearly killed’ him. Jon gave us both a pretty deep rub down last night and the legs are certainly feeling less tight for it… Jen is spoiling us rotten. It’s made such a difference having a team behind us and we couldn’t do it without them.

Camper life is generally harmonious and ordered depite the fact that we’re all on top of each other and living among all our kit and equipment. Pete has been introduced to a whole range of ‘new’ music but is at risk of having his EU passport revoked for not getting into Abba for the singalong…

Well, another hot one today but at least hoped for tailwind was never worse than a sidewind and did help us along in parts. Stage was pretty much pan flat with only one section up through the sunbaked hills of Provence. Getting out of Marsellies was a nightmare and really delayed us so it was a longer day than we would have hoped for. Feeling good for a more challenging intermediate stage tomorrow with a couple of climbs to get us warmed up for the Pyrenees.

We have turned the corner in many ways, done more than half the distance and number of stages and we’re starting to head back from the Med towards our finish. Don’t want to get ideas prematurely but its a great mental boost. Big effort all round will be required for the Pyrenees which are set to be tougher than the Alps as more climbs and steeper although not as high.

Team is working really well together and we have a pretty slick routine, although we are all rubbish at getting out of bed except Sean…

The boys had been looking forward to this stage as a long, but relatively easy antidote to the mountain stages of the previous two days. Tonight they were more in need of sports therapist Jon’s healing hands more than ever before.
Temperatures of 34C and a ridiculously strong gusting headwind made conditions punishing to say the least. Speeds dropped dramatically, even on downhill sections and the support van had to make an emergency water stop in an order to keep up with the riders’ demands.
Tomorrow is a good 50km shorter and hopefully today’s headwind will be tomorrow’s tailwind as we journey along the bottom of France….that’s the theory anyway. Yup, the lads are still holding out for an easy stage of the Tour!

Last day in the Alps, and it was a tough day starting with a climb to the highest point of the tour, the Col de L’Iseran 2770m above sea level. Both riders felt the effects of the high altitude, but finished comfortably which was more than can be said for their ascent of the Galibier. Soaring temperatures made the long hard climb even tougher and there was relief all round when they made the summit.
The landscape of the Galibier was positively surreal. Campers parked in every available spot perched perilously close to breath-taking drops in the grey rocky landcape.
The campsite that night was pretty quiet after such a tough day. Pete deserves a medal for his handling of such a large vehicle over challenging terrain, I’m just glad it wasn’t me negotiating those switchbacks!

Slept in and had a relaxing morning cleaning the camper and kit after living in the mess caused by the rain of the first 4 days. As the Tour is now catching us up to one day behind until they rest too, the roads around here leading to the summit finish are filling up with crazy Dutch, German and the odd French camper borne cycling fans. Combined with Bastille Day, there is a real party atmosphere and they cheer anything on a bike. We hope the atmosphere on the Galibier tomorrow is as good to help us up a tough long climb.

Jon and Jen have now joined us and Pete and Mick took a trip over the stunning Col de Petite St Bernard into Italy and the Mont Blanc Tunnel to Chamonix to pick them up from the train after flying in to Geneva. Jon got straight to work on the legs and we had a nice relaxing evening meal so are feeling good for the challenge of the first Hors Category climbs tomorrow. Forecast is for clear and sunny and around 30 degrees so hydration and sun cream strategies will be key. The Alps are beautiful but looking forward to putting them behind us and the run down to Marseilles.

Technical problems seem sorted and are now able to post live updates instead of phoning the news back. Just had really tough day on the bike - the 3 cat 1 climbs in quick sucession with 50 km uphill out of the last 80 was hard after 7 straight days of 200 km average a day. Weather was spot on, cloudless skies and about 26 degrees. Stunning Alpine views to live up to every cliché imaginable-complete with cows and goats wearing tin bells. It makes the work to get up there worth it, or so we delude ourselves.

The climbs are beginning to fill up with campers at the roadside waiting for the Tour to come through in 2 days-nice to get the odd ‘allez allez’ from the roadside. At least what goes up must come down and we’ve both had some good quick descents and the bikes are cornering on the hairpins brilliantly-ultimate faith being placed in Pete’s nightly checkup and adjustments.

We’re being joined tomorrow by Jen and Jonathan who fly into Geneva. Looking forward to Jon getting to work on the legs which are holding up well but both feel a bit tired and heavy which is to be expected having ridden some 1500 km since last Thursday.

Phew!…first mountain stage today, but both riders managed it despite taking a wrong turn and adding an extra 12km and one extra category 3 or 4 climb. The real test of the day was the Col de Colombiere, a category 1 climb (that’s really, really hard, for those non-cyclists among you!), but at least it didn’t rain and the forecast remains clear. Infact, from the look of things, we’ll soon be complaining about the heat. Speaking of the heat. Good luck to all of you competing in the Etape this year - it’s forecast to be a scorcher (again!). Don’t forget your sun tan lotion!

Tomorrow’s stage is statistically the second hardest of the entire tour with 3 category 1 climbs in succession - now that’s really going to hurt!

Meanwhile, back at headquarters Mick and Sean are taking revenge on Pete’s refusal to buy any meat in a way that’s really not very pleasant. A word of advice Pete - finding an alternative veggie source of protein than beans would make your evenings a lot easier to bear.

At last - today was the first day that the cyclists passed the finish post dry since they’ve been in France. Not that they didn’t get rained on earlier, but they were dry by the end of the day, which mercifully meant they had the oportunity to wash some kit making the mobile home a far more pleasant place to be.

The weather made cycling a far more pleasant experience too, and in the evening they even managed to drag themselves away from yet another bowl of pasta a la camping to the civilised surrounds of a restaurant for a spot of paella. I am now reliably informed that paella is the ultimate cycle food so don’t be surprised if Sean’s experimenting with liquidizing the stuff to put into their drink bottles….mmmm paella juice recovery drink! I don’t think that sponsors Powerade have anything to worry about.

All in all, it was the break in the weather and some good food have given them the lift they need to tackle two days of mountains.