Wednesday 26 June 2019

Stage Minus 1: Flying to Brussels


Well I’m done! Done with training, done with waking up before 5am six days a week, done with 6 hour indoor rides on an Computrainer, done with 8 hour solo rides up and down Warden Avenue. Six months of training is finally complete and I’m as ready as I’ll ever be to tackle the hardest event I’ve ever signed up for… The Tour de France.

Ok, so it’s not the actual Tour. It’s a slightly older person’s edition of the Tour. But it’s the same route, same mileage, same climbs, over the same timeframe. It’s the mirror image of the actual race but, thankfully, I’m not in a “race". I’ll be riding this crazy event at my own speed, fully supported by an organization called Le Loop, one week before the real pros set out.

I’ve been asked many times over the past 6 months why I would sign up for this. Good question, no? I have several reasons, but my main one is that I am happiest when I am fit. A few years of bad eating habits, stress, and middle age have all contributed to me not being who I wanted to be. I believe sometimes you need to push a reset button to make a change. This is my reset button.

My training has been outstanding. I engaged two coaches: Tara Norton (cycling coach) and Claudia Bolognesi (strength coach). Both of these professionals are incredible athletes who helped me prepare not only my body, but also my mind. I stayed consistent with my training – which was actually a first for me – and week after week I saw my myself slowly change, becoming stronger and leaner.

I also asked for help on training my brain to accept difficult challenges enthusiastically and the first step towards that was to stop the negative (“I can’t do that”) talk. Both coaches worked hard on that part of it, and I can honestly say that I feel ready to take on this 3460 km mountainous event.

Before I begin this wild ride, I have made three promises to myself:

One: To try to always be in the moment and enjoy.

Two: To listen to the mountains, maybe they will speak to me.

Three: To dig deep and push my own boundaries as far as I can.

I plan to blog everyday if I have the energy. At the very least, I will post pictures.




Below is the breakdown of each day ahead of me:



Tour de France 2019 stages
Date
Route
km
Type
1
Sa June 29
194.5
flat
2
Su June 30
27.6
TTT
3
Mo July 1
215
hills
4
Tu July 2
213.5
flat
5
We July 3
175.5
hills
6
Th July 4
160.5
mountains
7
Fr July 5
230
flat
8
Sa July 6
200
hills
9
Su July 7
170.5
hills
10
Mo July 8
217.5
flat
Tu July 9
Rest day!
11
We July 10
167
flat
12
Th July 11
209.5
mountains
13
Fr July 12
27.2
ITT
14
Sa July 13
117.5
mountains
15
Su July 14
185
mountains
Mo July 15
Rest day!
16
Tu July 16
177
flat
17
We July 17
200
flat
18
Th July 18
208
mountains
19
Fr July 19
126.5
mountains
20
Sa July 20
130
mountains
21
Su July 21
128
flat


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