All posts by Mike

It’s all about July 15th

Tdf trip planning

Time is running out; every ride counts in the next four weeks. Kevin and I will be heading to France on July 12th, arriving July 13th, and seeing our first stage on the Grand Columbier on the 14th, Bastille Day. The Grand Columbier is a beast of a climb, but we’ve done it before, and it’s not a bad ride from Annecy, where we’ll be based all but one of the days we’re in France.

It’s the next day that, as they say, looms large. It’s also the start of a series of rides on terrain we’ve never ridden before, new mountains, including, on the 14th, the Col Joux Plane, made famous some years back as the place Lance bonked and nearly lost the ‘Tour. Never mind the wins were all taken away later.

The tough part about the Joux Plane is that it’s way out there in the sticks, 30 kilometers from the Cluses train station, our connection back to Annecy. Last train out of Cluses is 7:10pm; the race is expected to pass by the Col Joux Plane at about 5:30pm. The race leaders, that is. The remnants of the pack will pass through during the next 40 minutes or so, which means… we might start our trip back to the station around 6:10pm. One hour to travel about 22 miles, almost entirely downhill (about 350ft climbing total on the return). So we really have to plan on it taking a miracle to make it, but need to be prepared for riding the entire way back to Annecy.

It actually doesn’t look all that bad, a bit less than 60 miles, and when you consider it doesn’t get dark until about 10pm, it’s easily doable. But what does the next day look like?

I’m glad it’s not easy for me to totally give in

Tues/Thurs 7:45am ride

This morning’s ride up Kings… it was so much harder than it should have been. Tuesday wasn’t easy, but not terrible. Today I kept looking for a feeling different than “Wouldn’t it make sense just to give up here and turn back?”

Stress certainly plays a part. My wife’s sister’s cancer is at that stage where you’re not expecting that many good days left, and last week’s break-in at the shop, watching the thieves in the videos, looking for clues and becoming triggered in general when you see anyone in a mask… not a good thing for rest. Still, there have been plenty of really strong rides for me when I’d gotten very little sleep, and it’s been arguable in the past that I use stress as a fuel.

But I didn’t give in. Irrationally, I continue to believe I’ll feel better later in the ride. And just as irrationally, that’s always true. I was able to generate some power on Skyline, and felt OK climbing the last section of Tunitas (we’ve been descending as far as the grassy knoll and then heading back up to Skyline). But I’m going to have to get used to the idea that this year, in France, Kevin’s going to be waiting up for me on the climbs, and/or we’ll be redistributing the load we carry so he’s hauling a lot more up the hill than me.

France. Just over a month away. We’ll be staying in Annecy for the first time (and, after doing this 20+ times, doing something new is getting tougher!) and a number of new climbs in the Alps. It’s going to be really tough doing it without a rental car, but that remains the plan.