Tour, 1997, 19a. etapa

Voskamp e Heppner disputam a vitória da etapa (iam escapados). A disputa é tão acirrada, um trancando o outro que quase se derrubam mutuamente.

Acabaram desclassificados.

Sticks and stones may break Alberto's bones.

Forgive me oh Lord, for I have succumbed to the use of a cheap pun headline.

Nevertheless, that’s the plan Andy Schleck has in mind to beat two-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador. He’s not going to beat him in the mountains or time trials, he’s going to whomp him on the cobblestones. Yes, Shleck’s going to stone Alberto to death.

The Saxo bank rider and bald brain trust Bjarne Riis have identified stage 3 as the tipping point, the Spanish rider’s soft underbelly. The 207-kilometre stage from Wanze to Arenberg has seven sectors of pavé, 13.2 kilometers of Roubaix-ish cobblestones.

“If there is a chance, we’ll go for it. We will train as much as necessary to be familiar with this stage,” said Schleck, who last month called Contador “da man.”

And while Contador will have the invaluable help and experience of nobody you can name, Shleck with have Fabian Cancellara and Stuart O’Grady, two Paris-Roubaix winners, at his side.

Schleck told Le Quotidien, “his problem will be the pavé. He could suffer, while [brother] Fränk and I will be able to rely on specialists.” And he’s not talking about the orthodontist, fellow cyclists.

Do not be surprised to discover later that Bjarne Riis has asked race officials to dig up a few sections of road and install more cobblestones. Prices on cobblestone have never been lower. Andy Schleck thinks he’s found a chink in Alberto’s armor.

“He does show some weaknesses, like this year at Paris-Nice. So he is not unbeatable. To succeed, we must do everything at 100 per cent, ” said Schleck.

The back-up plan is just to throw rocks at Contador when he crashes.

RL and Moe from MTNBikeRiders.com were in attendance as always. Moe recently underwent shoulder surgery and is on the “injury recovery list”… get well soon!

Jim De Haven attacking about mid track during his race run. He went on to finish 6th on the podium for KHS!

Chuck Valenzuela tying one on! Valenzuela took the Pro Vet win in the DH by 6 seconds.

During his race run, Johnson was unfortunately held up by another competitor who refused to give him the right of way. This effected his overall result but he was just too tired to protest for a rerun.

www.craigglaspell.com

Except for one minor mental error, I had a good DH final on Sunday morning. I stayed on the gas to the very end and finally got on the podium at Fontana for KHS.

PRO MEN DH RESULTS

Left to right: Quinton Spaulding (KHS Factory), Jon Buckell (Foes Racing), David K (ODI), Waylon Smith (Mongoose), Troy D’Elia (Foes Racing)

It has been a long time since I was on a podium in Fontana, but with the good track and continued training, it paid off!

Valenzuela takes the WIN for team KHS!

Landy podiums for KHS.

Raffles… everybody’s favorite!

Everybody wins something at S.R.C.

Happy Birthday Jeremiah!!  KIDS… please DO NOT try this at home, even if it’s your birthday!

Thanks to our esteemed sponsors for a fantastic 2009 season!!

KHS will be at Bootleg Canyon – Dec 19th-20th for the Screamin Santa DH and Super D.

Please stay tuned for more pictures and updates, as they become available.

All the best,

Q.

ROTTERDAM – De ploegenpresentatie van de Tour de France zal op donderdag 1 juli op het Willemsplein worden gehouden. Deze nu gekozen locatie biedt plaats aan ongeveer tienduizend toeschouwers. De organisatie van Le Grand Départ 2010 wil er niet alleen een klassieke presentatie, met alleen het voorstellen van de renners, van maken, maar het geheel omlijsten met een groots showprogramma. Hoe dat er precies gaat uitzien is zal de komende tijd duidelijk moeten worden.

Tijdstip proloog

De organisatie van de Tour de France overweegt om de start van de proloog volgend jaar in Rotterdam toch weer naar een ander tijdstip te verplaatsen. Omdat de start van de Tour samenvalt met het wereldkampioenschap voetbal in Zuid-Afrika werd eerder besloten de proloog al vroeg op de dag te houden. Op zaterdag 3 juli staan er bij het WK twee kwartfinales op het programma. De eerste van die twee wedstrijden begint om 16.00 uur Nederlandse tijd in Kaapstad, de andere om 21.00 uur. ‘Als het voetballen begint, moet het wielrennen zijn afgelopen’, was oorspronkelijk de opdracht aan Rotterdam, maar inmiddels wordt er overlegd of de proloog niet tussen beide voetbalwedstrijden in kan worden verreden.

Keet als Tourkunsttwerk

Het zijn weer heuse kunstwerken geworden. De twee nieuw beschilderde mobiele keten van waaruit medewerkers in de stad aan het werk zijn. Verspreid over Rotterdam staan er nu al veertien, uiteindelijk zullen alle 35 koppels, bestaande uit een stratenmaker en een opperman, hun eigen beschilderde keet hebben. De keten waren altijd een geliefd object voor graffiti. Door ze te laten beschilderen worden ze door graffitispuiters, die respect hebben voor de mooie schilderingen, met rust gelaten. Dat de gemeente voor de twee nieuwste het thema Tour de France heeft gekozen ligt, met Le Grand Départ volgend jaar juli in het verschiet, voor de hand. Kunstenares Ivonne van den Nieuwendijk had voor Gemeentewerken eerder al een schoolbus en dinosauriërkeet beschilderd. Kaarten met afbeeldingen van deze en andere beschilderde keten zijn te verkrijgen bij het City Informatie Centrum op Coolsingel 197.

Le Grand Départ steunt drie goede doelen

De organisatie van de Tourstart in Rotterdam gaat drie goede doelen steunen. Als eerste werd het Ivo Opstelten Sportfonds geadopteerd. Het fonds van de oud-burgemeester van Rotterdam heeft tot doel de bevordering, stimulering en begeleiding van jonge talentvolle sporters die een binding hebben met Rotterdam. Zij krijgen, als zij daarvoor in aanmerking komen, een financiële bijdrage die hen moet helpen bij de uitoefening van hun sport en het daardoor op een hoger peil brengen van hun prestaties. Het Ivo Opstelten Rotterdam Sportfonds is een onderdeel van het Ivo Opstelten Rotterdam Fonds dat ook projecten ondersteunt op het gebied van cultuureducatie. Ook de Stichting Vrienden van het Sophia Kinderziekenhuis zal financieel worden gesteund door de Rotterdamse Tourorganisatie. Deze stichting financiert met hulp van donateurs extra wetenschappelijk onderzoek gericht op het verbeteren van behandelmethoden en ondersteunt bovendien projecten die erop gericht zijn om het verblijf van patiëntjes en hun ouders in het Sophia zo aangenaam mogelijk te maken. Als derde werd het Fonds Gehandicaptensport gekozen. Dit is een landelijke organisatie die sport mogelijk maakt voor alle gehandicapten, zodat zij zich minder geremd en/of beperkt voelen in het dagelijks leven.

‘Ook WK voetbal en Olympische Spelen’

Rotterdam wil na de Tour de France heel graag ook het WK voetbal en de Olympische Spelen binnen halen. „We kunnen nu wel op onze lauweren gaan rusten, maar na het derde sportevenement ter wereld zijn er ook nog het tweede en het eerste”, zegt Wim Hoogendoorn, de projectdirecteur van Le Grand Départ Rotterdam 2010. „Meteen weer verder kijken, naar nog beter, nog hoger. Dat is een instelling die typisch Rotterdam is. Daar is bij voorbeeld ook de haven groot mee geworden. Het is een instelling die mij enorm aanspreekt.”. Hoogendoorn, die vanuit Amersfoort naar De Maasstad verhuisde, roemt Rotterdam niet alleen als een mooie, maar ook als een ambitieuze stad. „Er wonen hier mensen die de handen uit hun mouwen willen steken, die niet zeuren, maar aan de slag gaan. Het is een stad met een prachtige sportcultuur. Rotterdam Topsport en de politiek hebben hier samen iets neergezet. Met liefde, zorg en lef een grote internationale naam opgebouwd. Met een prachtig trackrecord. Al dat succes gaat rondzingen. Het werkt bovendien verslavend.”

Voor een interview met Wim Hoogendoorn zie: tourdefrancerotterdam.nl

Tweede etappe ‘Muur on Tour’

De Muur On Tour beleeft deze week zijn tweede etappe. Het literair-theatrale wielerspektakel in het Katendrechtse Theater Walhalla draait aanstaande donderdag met een stevige Belgische inbreng. Wilfried de Jong en huisband Ocobar ontvangen VRT-tv-commentator Michel Wuyts, de Vlaamse wielerdichter Willie Verhegghe, Nederlands wegkampioen Koos Moerenhout, de Utrechtse band The Gasoline Brothers (‘For Koos’) en Jules Deelder, die graaft in het roemruchte Rotterdamse wielerleven. De Muur On Tour, rit 2, telt wegens overweldigend succes opnieuw twee voorstellingen: 21.00 en 22.30 uur. Beide shows zijn uitverkocht. Er zijn nog wel kaarten verkrijgbaar voor de volgende drie Muur on Tour-avonden in de Walhalla: op de donderdagen 25 februari, 29 april en 27 mei 2010. Voor de Grande Finale van de Muur On Tour, op maandag 28 juni in het Nieuwe Luxor Theater, is de voorverkoop inmiddels gestart. Die kick-off van de Grand Départweek wordt gespeeld met Wilfried de Jong & Ocobar, Mart Smeets, wielerschrijvers, wielerdichters, prominente (ex-)wielrenners, veelgeprezen muzikale gasten, cineasten, mecaniciens, soigneurs, VIP’s en VOP’s én rondemissen. Voor mee informatie zie: theaterwalhalla.nl en luxortheater.nl

Rotterdam het land in

 Rotterdam promoot de Tourstart overal in het land. Zo was de tijdritbak van Le Grand Départ aanwezig bij het jubileumcongres van het Nederlands Instituut voor Sport en Bewegen in Ede waar Prins Pieter-Christiaan van Vollenhoven het startsein gaf voor de actie ‘Heel Nederlands Fietst’. De Prins werd daarbij ‘fietsend’ ondersteund door vijf prominenten: Clémence Ross (directeur Nederlands Instituut voor Sport en Bewegen), Ivo Opstelten (voorzitter Council Olympisch Plan), Paul Rosenmöller (Convenant Overgewicht), Paul Huijts (directeur-generaal volksgezondheid ministerie van VWS) en Hugo van der Steenhoven (directeur Fietsersbond). Ook zij maakten dus kennis met de tijdritbak, die elke vier weken iets voller zal worden. Maandelijks komt er immers een heus Rotterdams gebouw in miniatuur bij. Het wedstrijdje van de prominenten werd gewonnen door Hugo van der Steenhoven.

‘Gele truien’ op beurs

Ook de bezoekers van Bike MOTION Benelux in de Jaarbeurs in Utrecht konden niet om de Tourstart in Rotterdam heen. Le Grand Départ 2010 was opvallend aanwezig bij deze beurs waarop alle toonaangevende importeurs en fabrikanten van fietsproducten met een sportief karakter hun nieuwe collectie voor het seizoen 2010 toonden. De gangpaden bij Bike MOTION Benelux lagen vol met ‘gele truien’ die de aandacht vestigden op het evenement volgend jaar in de Maasstad. De beurs trok het recordaantal van 30.000 bezoekers.

Illegale verkoop van hospitality-pakketten

De Gemeente Rotterdam en de Stichting Grand Départ Rotterdam 2010 hebben vastgesteld dat er illegale verkoop plaatsvindt van VIP-plaatsen voor de start van de Tour de France. Deze niet geautoriseerde verkoop gebeurt via diverse websites. Hospitality-plaatsen die gekocht zijn via de zwarte markt zijn ongeldig en kunnen dan ook niet gebruikt worden tijdens Le Grand Départ in juli 2010. De Gemeente Rotterdam en de Stichting Grand Départ Rotterdam 2010 overwegen om juridische stappen te ondernemen als de illegale verkoop niet stopt. Het feit dat er illegale verkoop plaatsvindt is reden voor de Gemeente Rotterdam en de Stichting Grand Départ Rotterdam 2010 om iedereen nogmaals te wijzen op de officiële wederverkopers. Dit zijn Ahoy, wielerwebsite wielerland.nl, MenM Events, Uniglobe A&P Travel en Hospitality Service Rotterdam. De adressen van de wederverkopers en het aanbod van de hospitality-pakketten zijn terug te vinden op de website tourdefrancerotterdam.nl U ontvangt deze email omdat u zich heeft ingeschreven op tourdefrancerotterdam.nl of rotterdamtopsport.nl

Ashby Monk

Nobody can doubt the remarkable spectacle that is professional bike racing and, in particular, the Tour de France. In fact, as a young(er) man, I raced as an amateur around Europe and even had (unrealistic) aspirations to some day join the professional peloton. So, while the sport has had its problems with doping — and what sport hasn’t — I can totally understand the appeal for any company or sponsor who wants to get involved.

And yet, I can’t get my head around why a SWF would offer financial backing for a professional cycling team? But that is what appears to be going on in Kazakhstan:

The “sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna provided UCI with a pledge worth $22 million US per season for the next four years to back Astana.”

For those that don’t know, Astana was Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador’s team last year. It was arguably the best team in the world. However, it was plagued with problems; at one point the team actually stopped paying salaries, which led the riders to covering up the sponsor’s logo during a premier cycling event.  Anyway, there’s been plenty of drama, and the future of the team has been in question. Apparently, this is where the Kazakh SWF comes in. It is putting up close to $100 million over four years to keep the team running.

Why? What could be the financial justification for such a move? Honestly, I’d like someone to explain this to me. Is there marketing value to be gained for the SWF from being involved in pro cycling?  Or is this a situation where the political elite have enjoyed having a Kazakh team on top of the world and are now redirecting public money for their pet projects?

According to yesterday’s copy of L’Equipe, and possibly much to no one’s surprise, Wiggo is joining Sky. Jonathan Vaughters has evidently realised the futility in trying to hang on to a rider who wants to be somewhere else. No doubt Garmin will be amply compensated for losing a rider, still under contract, who finished 4th in this year’s Tour. Also, assuming that the 5 delinquent Pro-Tour teams managed to get all their paperwork in order and submitted to the UCI by the deadline, there’s probably going to be no more “big surprises” in 2009.

Regrettably, the weather today was both overcast and humid. However, nothing could dampen the boys’ (and girls’) spirits as we set off this morning for the pointage. I managed to cling onto the back of the peloton as we rode up the route de Grasse. The club hosting the pointage had thoughtfully signposted the way thus preventing most, but not all, from getting lost. A number of clubs arrived at the same time swamping the refreshments table and picking it cleaner than a horde of locusts.

On the way back from this morning’s ride, I picked up the newspapers (L’Equipe, Nice Matin and The Sunday Times) to enjoy over a coffee. There was an interview in The Sunday Times Sports section with David Brailsford which I started to read, anticipating gleaning some interesting titbits about Team Sky or indeed confirmation that Bradley Wiggins was Sky-bound. The interview almost immediately took a strange turn, backtracking to 2004 when David Millar was apprehended by the French police, in the company of Brailsford. At once, I realised it was a Paul Kimmage interview where no doubt there was going to be some pointed homily about doping in the peloton and it was highly improbable that I would learn anything of either use or interest about Sky, or indeed anything related to cycling. In the hope, rather than expectation, that I might be proved wrong. I read the entire interview. I wasn’t.

Instead of going to watch OGCN play Toulouse this evening, we’ve elected to stay at home and finish up a few necessary household chores (no, not the ironing) ahead of our trip to Paris next week. I’ve bought another bookcase which needed assembling. This will house my growing collection of cycling books in the entrance hall thereby alleviating the overcrowding in the main bookcase just outside of the kitchen which is home to my substantial collection of cookery books.

Most women will say that they can never have enough shoes. While I don’t necessarily disagree, given the choice between books and shoes, I will almost always opt for the former, unless you’re offering me a pair of Christian Laboutin’s. If you don’t believe me you are most welcome to come and check my respective collections of both.

My beloved also needed to tend to his collection of citrus trees which are exhibiting a distinct lack of TLC as evidenced by the absence of both fruit and leaves. I am many things, but green fingered I am not. He leaves them in my care during the week at his (and their) peril.

Today’s training, a steady 2hr ride.

Clifton Suspension Bridge

Ashton Court

Yanley Lane

Dundry Lane

The Chew Valley

Chew Stoke

Regil

Barrow Gurney

Home

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To most people the idea of cycling the gruelling yet iconic 874 miles route between Lands End and John O’Groats is a major achievement. While it was exactly that, for me cycling the length of the UK is warm up for a challenge on an altogether bigger scale. My plan in a nutshell is in March 2012 to Cycle Around the World in 100 Days, this means pedalling a minimum of 18,000 miles in all and approaching 200 miles per day.

To give you some comparison the current record stands at 176 days and I think the average daily mileage was about 110-120 miles. So why do I think I can almost cut this record in half? It is built on my philosophy; You can Achieve anything if you are willing to mind to it. When I say this I don’t mean positive thinking, I mean specific level headed planning, preparation and precise execution.

With this challenge I want to spark peoples imagination, expand what they think they are capable of, provoke there thoughts and belief’s about themselves, push themselves further and this is not just on a physical level but on a mental, financial, social, vocational, spiritual and familial level.

door René Schrier

De site van de Tour de France Rotterdam meldt dat er al illegale kaarten voor het vertrek in juli in omloop zijn. De Gemeente Rotterdam en de Stichting Grand Départ Rotterdam 2010 hebben vastgesteld dat er illegale verkoop plaatsvindt van VIP-plaatsen voor de start van de Tour de France. Deze niet geautoriseerde verkoop gebeurt via diverse websites. Hospitality-plaatsen die gekocht zijn via de zwarte markt zijn ongeldig en kunnen dan ook niet gebruikt worden tijdens Le Grand Départ in juli 2010. De Gemeente Rotterdam en de Stichting Grand Départ Rotterdam 2010 overwegen om juridische stappen te ondernemen als de illegale verkoop niet stopt.

Het feit dat er illegale verkoop plaatsvindt  is reden voor de Gemeente Rotterdam en de Stichting  Grand Départ Rotterdam 2010 om iedereen nogmaals te wijzen op de officiële wederverkopers. Dit zijn  Ahoy, wielerwebsite www.wielerland.nl, MenM Events, Uniglobe A&P Travel en Hospitality Service Rotterdam. De adressen van de wederverkopers en het aanbod van de hospitality pakketten zijn op deze website onder het balkje Hospitality te vinden.

As a Personal Trainer and Ultra Distance Cyclist I get asked many different questions about cycling, how to train? How do I get better at hill climbing? And so on, but one question that I’ve been getting lately is about saddle sores.

If you are an experience cyclist you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about, if you are new to cycling saddle sores in a nutshell are caused by pressure and friction on the skin of the upper thigh and back side.

The most common saddle sores are the chafing of the inside of the upper leg and back side, this occurs simply because of the repetitive action of the pedal stroke together with dampness form sweat and lack of breathability from shorts causing redness and discomfort.

The theory behind this pressure and friction is small blood vessels are prevented from bringing blood to the skin decrease the amount of nutrients getting to there. Following this skin defences are compromised and any trapped bacteria may be able to proliferate.

Here are ways of preventing the development of saddle sores:

Keep yourself dry

Keep yourself clean

Always wear fresh shorts

Wear synthetic padded shorts

Don’t suddenly increase weekly mileage

Use a seat that provides adequate padding

Check your seat position

If you have developed saddle sores here are ideas on treatment:

Modify your training (more standing hills and sprints)

Soak in hot bath everyday, the heat will increase blood flow to area

Use Vaseline

Antifungal, antibacterial cream

Watching old cycling films gives one of the greatest feelings of nostalgia, not necessarily because I was there, but because I want to have been there. Day dreaming about days when men wore only wool and had to change gears one handed has become a regular past time. CrossTube, mostly devoted to cyclocross throughout the world, has some wonderful shorts showcasing some of the greats on the road.

So fast-forward to last year.  I’d continued cycling (now with my own non-pink Masi) and graduated from a sprint triathlon to an Olympic tri, but I was still topping out at about 25 miles a ride.  I was moving to Atlanta to be closer to my fiancée, and I had decided to try my hand at the cycling industry.  Plus, paying to get my bike serviced was getting old.

I walked into a bike shop, told them I wanted a job, and BAM—my foot’s in the door (well, it was a little less instantaneous than “BAM,” but you get my point).  I figure, I’ve been a cyclist for a year or two now, I like reading cycling magazines and getting out on my bike, and I know the different levels of Shimano componentry—I’ve got it made.

Wrong.  I never felt so humbled in my life than that first week at the bike shop. There are still days when my bike knowledge is totally shown up by a customer, but I also found out that cycling was way bigger than just the Tour de France and triathlon world I was familiar with.  Freeriding, pelotons, cyclocross, downhill, velodromes, crit races; the wide world of cycling was turning out to be wide indeed.

Every day I continue to learn something new about cycling.  I regularly conduct “market research,” or at least that’s what I tell my wife as I bring home scores of old cycling magazines.  The best part of working at a bike shop, aside from the discounted schwag, is getting other people excited about cycling.  I don’t care if it’s a soccer mom buying an entry level road bike for her first triathlon; a downtown hipster converting some old, rusty, vintage Schwinn to a fixie; or a full-face helmet, knee-pad wearing high-schooler. I love getting excited with and for other people.

Are you the type of cyclist that dreads the site of a hill loaming in the distance? I was, sometimes I still find myself dreading the upcoming hill, but as I read and learn about the art and skill of climbing hills this dread has become less and less.

I now become curious about what they might hold, how long will they be? How steep will they get? How long can I stay in the saddle?

Asking these types of questions for me builds an excitement, they challenge me to push myself a little further, to experiment with my riding style and find out if what I have been reading or watching will work for me.

Here are a few more ideas about how climb hills, some might work some might not, but anyway here they are. These ideas are from a book I have been reading a book Elite Performance Cycling, Successful Sportives by Garry Palmer and Richard Allen.

They start by mentioning that getting out of the saddle and powering up can deplete your energy and cause you to suffer from fatigue much earlier in the ride. They continue to say however, that if powering up means staying with a fast group of riders this could benefit you in the long run because riding in a group can result in major energy savings in the long run.

Longer climbs they say can be best dealt with by spinning at a cadence of 85-95 rpm in a gear that feels relatively easy, sustain this cadence and adjust your gears according to the gradient.

Becoming a skilful climber isn’t about fitness it’s more about teaching yourself how to pace your climbs, find a gear and pace you can maintain, don’t go at someone else’s pace as you may stick with them for the first few kilometres but if you blow up you can slip down the field very fast.

Finally do your homework on the climbs you will be up against, this will give you an idea of how to prepare in training and how to ride the event as a whole.

The 2010 Etape du Tour is from Pau to the summit of the Tourmalet.

I’ve produced a spreadsheet that allows you to estimate your time. I’ve ridden the Etape three times myself (2003, 2004, and 2006) and used a similar spreadsheet to estimate my time. It has proven accurate to within about 10 minutes. In 2003 and 2004 I placed just outside the top 1000 riders, and was about 20 minutes short of gold standard time.

To estimate your time you need to provide 6 pieces of information:

1. Weight (rider + equipment). This is the total weight of everything, including clothes, shoes, food, water, tools etc. The easiest way to measure it is to set up the bike as you will ride it (including full waterbottles, tools, pump, food etc), put on the gear you will wear when riding the etape (including shoes and any spare clothing or food in pockets), pick up your laden bicycle and weigh yourself on the bathroom scales.
2. Power (when climbing). This the power output you can sustain over a long climb of about an hour. I’ll give you a way of estimating this later.
3. Slight incline speed (km/h). This is the speed you can sustain on a slight incline (1%-3%)
4. Flat speed (km/h). This is the speed you can sustain on the flat in a group of riders.
5. Slight descent speed (km/h). This is your speed on a slight downhill. (1%-5%)
6. Descent speed (km/h). This is your speed on a steepish (more than 5%) downhill. Note that it is not your maximum speed, it is your average speed and takes into account the corners.

The spreadsheet

The spreadsheet is at: Etape 2010 spreadsheet. You’ll need to download the spreadsheet to use it.

As well as allowing you to estimate your time, it allows you to ask What if? questions about how you ride the course.

• What if I reduce my weight by 1kg? Depending on your power output, your time will improve by about 2 to 3 minutes for each kilogram of weight saved.
• What if I go 10km/h faster on the steep downhills? Surprisingly this only shaves about 3 minutes from your time.
• What if I go 5km/h faster on the flats? This improves your time by about 10 minutes.

Why does the spreadsheet work?

The spreadsheet works because, for the Etape, the climbs dominate the stage. Differences in speed on the flats and on the descents make relatively little difference to your overall time, so you don’t to estimate these speeds very accurately. The climbs are steep enough that wind resistance does not really come into play, so your speed is determined pretty well by your overall weight and your sustainable power output – if you know these two things, you can make a pretty good estimate of your overall time.

How do I estimate my climbing power output?

You can estimate your time either using an ergometer (say at a gym) or by doing a timed climb. For either method you need to warm up and then start riding at a heart rate that you can sustain comfortably for several hours – if you know what your lactate threshold rate is, it will be slightly below this rate. On an ergometer read off the power rating for this heartrate – make sure you have been riding long enough for the heartrate and power to settle. If you use a timed climb (ideally this should have a steady gradient) then ride the climb at this heartrate. Enter the total weight of you and your equipment, the length of the climb, and the altitude gained into the spreadsheet and it will give you an estimate for your power output.

The route profile

I obtained the route profile from http://www.letour.fr/ augmented with climb profiles from http://www.climbbybike.com/

Col de Marie Blanque steep climb with over 3km at or near 11% gradient

Col du Soulor steady climb, mostly at at around 8%

Col du Tourmalet mostly at around 8% with last kilometer at 10%

Advice on riding the Etape

Below are some words of advice. They are mainly intended for riders not experienced in riding long mountainous courses. If you know what works for you, then use that.

What gears should I use?

The choice of gears is determined by the steepest parts of the course. You need a gear low enough to allow you to ride at a comfortable cadence on the steepest parts of the course. This year the Etape has some steep sections, so you’ll need low gears.

There is a section on the spreadsheet that calculates your cadence on the steepest part of the course. If you want to keep your cadence above 50rpm on the steepest sections, then you can see you’ll need low gears. I advise the largest possible sprocket, normally 27 or 28 teeth. This means something like an 11-28 or a 12-27 rear cassette. To go with this you’ll need either a triple chainring with a 30-tooth inner chainring or a compact chainring with a 34 tooth inner chainring. A standard chainring (with an inner chainring of 37 or 38 teeth) just won’t cut it. (For the record, I’ve always used a triple chainring when I’ve ridden the Etape, even though I hate triple chainrings.) A 30×28 gear is not overkill for this course. Every year that I did the Etape I saw riders who got off their bikes and walked. They did not have a low enough gear.

But the pros don’t use such low gears, I hear you say. That’s true, but they are pros. A top professional might way 65kg and have a power output of 400W while climbing. Add 10kg for bike and equipment and put the figures in the spreadsheet. You’ll see that a top pro can maintain a good cadence riding a 37×21 or a 37×23 gear.

How should I ride the course?

Assuming you have trained well, you need to do four things to get a good time:

Climb well. This means keeping a good pace on the climbs. It also means riding on your own: unless you are experienced it’s easy to either get behind a rider who is going a bit too slow or a bit too fast. My strategy is to climb by heartrate and cadence, for me this means something like: “keep the heartrate at 145bpm and the cadence at 85rpm”. You’ll need to find the figures that work for you. The heartrate needs to be a rate that you can sustain for several hours, it will be below your lactate threshold rate. The cadence is what is comfortable for you for long climbs.

Eat and drink well. Make sure you don’t dehydrate or bonk. Talk to other riders and get experience of how much to eat and drink on long rides.

Descend well. First and foremost this means don’t crash. Don’t take risks on the descent. From the spreadsheet you can see that even going 10km/h faster on the descents won’t make much difference to your time. It also means don’t brake too much. Too much braking tires you out – you need to be reasonably relaxed on the descents. If you’ve never done long descents you need to get some practice in before the Etape.

Get into a group on the flats. On the flat parts of the course try and ride with a group. Save your energy for the climbs.

Good luck!

When fellow journalism post grad student and sport blogger, Josh Pettitt, came up with the idea of having a ‘best sports icon of the noughties’ blog debate, I wanted to do something different.

Who is a viable, yet thought-provoking candidate, I thought? After considering Ronnie O’Sullivan with his marvelously-idiosyncratic approach, and (the original, portly, R9) Ronaldo, I decided this was not an accolade to be given to someone whose greatness must be explained in detail. It must be fairly self explanatory.

It is for this reason that I feel the greatest sportsman of the naughties is seven-times Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong.

His achievements in cycling are well documented, as are his past medical struggles; yet there is a suspicion, due to cycling’s endemic doping problems, that he is somehow undeserving of our esteem.

Firstly, rather than extoll his illustrious, yet well documented career, I feel I need to snare this elephant in the room, shoot it, and use its tusks to murder anyone still pedaling this pathetic, xenophobic myth.

Lance Armstrong is undoubtedly the most tested athlete in the world. So why hasn’t he been caught?

To my mind the only answer is: he’s innocent. High profile doping cases such as Marco Pantani and Ivan Basso have tarnished the name of the sport, but the practice is by no means uniform. The only real evidence to suggest Armstrong dopes is his imperiously-consistent form. Oh, and the constant whining from the French that this yank dare beat them over the Alps and Pyrannees.

The second argument against his coronation as the noughties’ best sportsman concerns his team.

For anyone unfamiliar with road cycling, the Johan Bruyneel managed US Postal service team (which later became Discovery), held a masochistic-like dominance during Armstrong’s reign.

Super domestiques (a cycling term meaning blokes who bust their lungs for their leader, only to by dropped in the final miles and finish last) like George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer, Roberto Heras, and Floyd Landis, many of who went on to be team leaders themselves, would take turns at the front of the peleton, turning the screw under which their competitors crumbled.

From this launch pad, with his rivals cracking, Lance would launch. The fittest men on the planet attacking each other on the world’s steepest mountains in one its most tactical sports is, at its best, unrivaled in drama. In this, Lance was king.

Surely then, this team advantage negates any claim of Armstrong’s individual greatness? Not quite.

Just as Mark Cavendish has proved he is currently the fastest man in road cycling despite needing his team to get there, Jan Ullrich, Lance’s closest competitor for most of his career, was also backed by the flashy T-Mobile team which delivered his own Maillot Jaune in 1998.

Although his team were an inexorable facet of his dominance, the Texan was still chosen as the best: the man capable of converting all this team work when the final explosion to the line was required.

His status as an icon can hardly be quarreled with either. As active in his charity work as he ever was in the saddle, his story from 40% prognosis to legend is one of the most remarkable in modern sporting history.

If, on top of his seven tour wins and remarkable 3rd place comeback this year at the venerable age of 37 (despite being ordered not to attack team leader, Alberto Contador), you are in need of any more convincing, here are my top three Armstrong career moments.

1) “The Look”
At their best, there are few sporting occasions quite as dramatic as the top road cyclists in the world attacking each other on a steep climb. In 2001, Lance Armstrong was looking for his 3rd tour win. He looks his career nemesis, Jan Ullrich, in the eye in a display of concrete self belief before annihilating the German’s Tour de France aspirations for another year.

2) Off Road
2003, Tour de France Stage 9. Armstrong and ace climber Joseba Beloki are chasing Kazakhstani, Alexander Vinokourov. Beloki’s tyre glue melts under the intense speed and 50 degree heat of the day and what follows beggars belief. It may seem like it gives Armstrong an advantage, but try riding through a field on a finely tuned road bike and see how, if by any miracle you don’t crash, it affects your race momentum. This is true bike-handling class.

3) Sestriere
In 1999, this was one of the first times the world had seen Armstrong’s post-cancer form. He simply blows the field away, eventually winning the tour by a staggering 7mins 36secs.

Here are the other candidates for greatest sporting icon of the noughties:
Roger Federer by Josh Pettitt
Ryan Giggs by Alain Tolhurst
Usian Bolt by Mike Brown
Michael Schumacher by Tom Victor
Zinedine Zidane by Rob Goodman
Shane Warne by Thomas Mooney
David Beckham by Will Gilgrass
Cristiano Ronaldo by Joe Curtis
Adam Gilchrist by Nick Moore
Henrik Larsson by Vincent Forrester

I attended the fantastic Dave Rayner Fund annual dinner last night at the Majestic Hotel in Harrogate. For those of you who don’t know Dave Rayner was a very talented cyclist who died in 1994 aged 27 after an incident outside a nightclub in Bradford. The Dave Rayner Fund (http://www.daveraynerfund.com) was set up to raise funds to assist promising young British cyclists make their way and learn their trade in Europe. The fund has helped many cyclists including David Miller.

The annual dinner is always a fantastic event and raises a lot of money to help the next generation of British cyclists and last night was no exception, the guest speakers being Bradley Wiggins and Russell Downing. I am always pleasantly surprised by the generosity of the guest speakers in giving their time and last night was no exception. Bradley Wiggins gave a great speech and was a fantastic star guest however he was not the person who was rumoured to be coming. I am reliably informed that a certain former Tour de France winner, Giro d’Italia winner and World Champion was approached to be the guest of honour however the committee were astounded to allegedly be asked to pay him £2000 to ensure his attendance! Excuse me but this is a charitable event isn’t it? If he wanted £2000 to turn up that is £2000 taken away from a young rider. Needless to say the committee told him to get lost and got someone better instead (Brad) who didn’t ask for a penny. Some people!

Not all the talking is over but tomorrow the action begins, I have 121 weeks to condition my body to be able to cycle 225 miles per day for 100 days.

6 weeks ago (26th Sept 2009)  a friend and I cycled 677.5 miles in 6 days from Lands End to Fort William, this is the furthest I have ridden to date, before that my longest mileage in the saddle in 1 day was 112 miles in May of this year (2009) and 8 months before this I didn’t own a bike.

So the past year has been one hell of a journey for me and the next two and a half will be no different going from 112 miles for 1 Day to 225 miles in a day for 100 days. This may seem a daunting task but one thing that stops me from psyching myself out is that I thought 112 miles was a daunting task before I did it.

So this is where it begins Monday 16th Nov 2009, day 1 of the 121 week training program and here is what the 1st 2 weeks looks like.

Base Training Wk 1/4 Building Strength and Power

Mon 16th Nov 2009: Spin Class

Tue 17th Nov 2009: 1hr steady Heart Rate <130 time in the saddle and recovery ride.

Wed 18th Nov 2009: Spin Class

Thurs 19th Nov 2009: Rest

Fri 20th Nov 2009: Spin Class

Sat 21st Nov 2009: 3hr ride Hr around 140

Sun 22nd Nov 2009: 2hr Hr 140-145

Base Training 2/4 Building Strength and Power

Mon 23rd Nov 2009: Spin Class

Tue 24th Nov 2009: 1hr steady Heart Rate <130 time in the saddle and recovery ride.

Wed 25th Nov 2009: Spin Class

Thurs 26th Nov 2009: Rest

Fri 27th Nov 2009: Spin Class

Sat 28st Nov 2009: 3hr ride Hr around 140

Sun 29th Nov 2009: 2hr Hr 140-145

There are several test that I can use to gauge my current fitness so it’s is best to use them comparatively. To be able to build my fitness we first have to find my baseline then retest at selected intervals throughout the year to see my progression.

When testing it is important we are able to eliminate as many variables as possible e.g. the warm should be kept the same and many other factors to be taken into account such as diet, hydration, fatigue, equipment, bike set up and time of day.

The first test we have chosen is the graded step test, using a stationary bike and a power meter. The measures that can be taken from this test are my heart rate, power and lactate threshold.

The purpose of this test for me is my heart rate, as i said we will be retesting throughout the year with the aim of decrease my heart rate and increase my watts. For instance if my heart rate was 150 at 200 watts this time we would want to either 150 Hr at 225 or 130 at 200 watts next time we retest.

The protocol we are following is as follows:

1) Warm up for 5 minutes cycling at 100 watts and 80-90 rpm.

2) Calibrate myself to the equipment using 10 second intervals to familiarize myself to different wattage.

3) The Graded Step Test

Throughout the test I will be holding a set wattage (plus or minus 10 watts) starting at 100 watts and increasing by 50 watts every three minutes until 200 watts then 25 watts until 275.

At the end of each three minutes i’ll give my heart rate to Andy (coach, www.escoach.com) to be recorded.

I will continue until until I can on longer hold the wattage for 15 seconds.

O comparativo final.

Since cycling 677.5 miles in 6 days from Lands End to Fort William in late September I have been off the bike with a slight knee injury and for the last 3 weeks I have been getting back on my bike and taking spin class to regain a fitness level.

Now that the knee is in a stronger position to begin training seriously Andy Bullock www.escoach.com and I have been discussing the best way to condition my body to be able to cycle 225 per day for 100 days.

There have been many different strategies we have discussed and as to not go into to much detail here is the general outline of the next two and half years training.

First the Cycling around the world trip has been split into 7 legs so every 6 months the plan is ride one of these legs as preparation with the USA leg being done in the summer of 2011. With each leg the plan is to increase the mileage per day and build towards the huge ask of 225 miles per day.

Next is to phase my training with 3 months power and strength and 3 months Endurance. The purpose behind this is build up my strength so my endurance becomes faster and as we get closer to cycling the around the world decrease the power and strength and increase endurance.

These two aspects of training are what Joe Friel calls basic racing abilities; my strength is my ability to overcome resistance. In cycling terms that can means a hill, wind or how big a gear I can push when I want to go faster.

Endurance is my ability to offset muscle fatigue and will come early next year 2010 to develop my heart and lungs and then as a month goes by I will become more specific with hours per ride will begin to resemble a preparatory leg of the world trip.

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door René  Schrier

Rotterdam is al helemaal in de ban van het vertrek van de Tour de France volgend jaar in juli. Nu zijn de keten van de mensen die de straten repareren ook al in Tour de France stijl geschilderd. Die keten waren een geliefd object voor graffitti aanhangers. Dat bracht de gemeente op het idee om er eens een keer kunstenaars op los te laten en die het thema Tour de France mee te geven. Zie hier het resultaat.

Some interesting digital tools have come out of this year’s Tour de France:

Firstly, ITV have a launched a dedicated Tour de France Twitter feed which is a great way for the 3,600 enthusiasts curently following the feed to get real-time updates on participants’ progress.

Next up, location-based media company, Ubilabs, has developed a very useful online app enabling people to track the positions of race leaders through live data and real time tweets on Google Maps.

Perhaps the most innovative use of technology, however, has come out of Nike’s ongoing support of Lance Armstrong’s charity, Live Strong. Nike has created ‘Chalkbot’, a machine that enables anyone, anywhere, to send a 40 character message of courage, hope and action (via SMS, tweet or text entry) to be chalked onto the roads of the Tour de France.

Take a look at this video which shows how it all works:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jb-KT4r6NY[/youtube]

This is a photo Lance tweeted last week to show the chalk markings from the air:

It’s an inspiring project, and a great example of integration of online tools into the offline world, enabling people to do something they could only dream of before. They have used an innovative technique to take advantage of existing media coverage to get, in this case, a very personal message to a very wide audience.

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on OUTSIDE is now posted – click here !

This video is crazy! The Tour de France winner, on the bike in which he won the tour, gets beat in a race against a much older, heavier bike.

You just have to see it to believe it.