Trip Report: The day after pre-riding the mountains of L'Etape we drove to the start town of Mourenx to register for the race.


The Home Village was held inside the Eddy Merckx velodrome. Aside from the registration area, the velodrome infield was full of vendors of bikes, wheels, clothing, energy drinks, etc. We wandered around for a while and then headed back to the van and got ready for the day's ride. We rode the first part of the race course so we knew what to expect prior to the mountains.

The first part was not too difficult. The terrain was rolling with some hills that were slightly longer than the normal St Lous hills. The roads were smooth and wide with occasional roundabout to deal with. With the race the next day we rode easily. We stopped after about 45k and ate lunch in a little roadside part that turned out to be the first race feedzone.


From the park you looked down the road under an arching stone bridge. The start of the Col de Marie Blanque was just a few hundred feet beyond that.

Rode down to Fenton tonight to watch our company's softball team play so I didn't ride a lot but I pushed it pretty hard going down there. On the way back I started off slowly but once over the Old Gravois bridge I pushed it harder and set a good tempo up the hill and along Kennerly. In all, the ride time was only 40-45 minutes.

Trip Report: Our second day in Lourdes we set out to ride the 3 major climbs of L'Etape. We drove to a small town about 12k from the foot of the Col d'Ichere. Most of that 12k was a very slight uphill. Slight enough that you really didn't notice going uphill and a few times it gave the illusion of going downhill. The actual climb of the Ichere was about 5k. The sign they posted on the road said 5.7k so I'll take their word. The Ichere is a nice climb. It has a very manageable length with a reasonable grade. If you ride steady, you get over it without much problem in 20+ minutes. Like most of the climbs in the Pyrenees, the climbs are at lower elevation and often wooded and do not have the soaring rocky peaks of the Alps. Because of the climbs are more tree lined you don't always great the great dramatic views but this view with about 2k to the summit of the Ichere.

The decent was twisty and generally good but uneven in parts. You needed to be a little careful.

The Col de Marie Blanque was next about 7k from the base of the Ichere. Nine kilometers long with the first 5k being not so bad but gradually getting steeper with each kilometer. Then you get to 4k to go and the marker on the side of the road says 11% for the next kilometer and you start to grind. Those easier 5k below just softened you up a little. You get to the next marker... 12% for the next kilometer. You slow some more. Then it's 13% and each kilometer starts to feel 3 miles long as you creep along about 7kph. One more kilometer and it's ONLY 12%. By now you are cursing the damn mountain and wanting it to be over. Everyone was happy to be done with this climb. The first part of the descent was rougher surface like a tar and gravel surface. Then the road smoothed out and was quite fun with some nice views.



From the Marie Blanque, you headed due south along a good sized road to the town of Laruns which sits and the base of the Col d'Aubisque. The Aubisque is about 16.5k and starts out nicely for 4 or 5k until the town of Eaux Bonnes. I was sitting on Lonnie's wheel through this first section. He set a nice pace at 15-17kph. The road steepened just be Eaux Bonnes and the leveled for a few hundred meters and suddenly my legs went to the verge of a cramp. From there to the summit the grade was pretty steady 8% average although there was a short section of 13%. The length of the climb and my borderline cramps made some tough riding. The higher we went the temperature steadily dropped until you were blowing steam with every breath for the last 4k. My speed steadily dropped also. At the top I was down to 6-7k like on the Marie Blanque. I stopped briefly at the top for some water and a little snack.


The road the Aubisque to the Col du Soulor is called the Cirque du Litor and was an amazing road built into the side of the mountain. You had rock face on your right and sheer dropoffs on your left with not guardrails.


Along the way are a couple tunnels built into the mountain and goats, sheep and cows roaming the hillsides. This is a very memorable stretch of road.

After the Cirque du Litor, the Col du Soulor was an easy couple kilometers. I then hopped in the van and headed back to Lourdes.

I got to thinking yesterday and today that I have done virtually no training of any intensity for basically 2-3 months. In May I started doing longer rides in prep for my trip. Then I hurt my knee. Once I started healing I started to build the miles up again and did the Rolla RR. Then I hurt the knee again. After a week off, I started packing on the miles again with covered bridge rides and stopped racing for fear of an accident. Then it was a week in France with some hard riding because of the terrain but not necessarily intense riding.

With the State Crit a week and a half away and the remainder of the season being crits I am in desperate need of intensity. Sprints, intervals, whatever. Tonight I embarked on my double secret, probationary training for the upcoming month. Can you say rusty? My body screamed it. Still, after some efforts the legs and arms and lungs started find some semblance of a rhythm. Provided I keep the ambition my fitness should come around reasonably quick.

Trip Report: I didn't get a chance to write much while in France so I'll be jotting down some thoughts.

Our base in preparation for L'Etape du Tour was the town of Lourdes. Lourdes is home to probably more Catholic kitsch being sold per square foot than any other place on the globe. We stayed there for a few days last year as well so I was prepared the scene. This year we were a few blocks away from where we stayed last year so the the numbers of aged and infirmed was reduced dramatically. In fact, we stayed in the same hotel the US Postal stayed last year so that was kind of cool.

Lourdes is pretty town.

At least the older part where we were.

Many of the towns in France have an older and newer part of town. The older parts are full of the old world charm you think of little european towns being.
But, like the States, on the outskirts of town you come to the more modern, drab, pre-fab building, outskirts of town. We were in the older part of town. Lourdes is also a great home base for cycling. Within a days riding you have climbs like the Tourmalet, Luz Ardiden, Hautacam, Aspin, Soulor, Aubisque, Spandelles and Couraduque. You can't ask for much better than that.

On the first day we took things easy. We built up our bikes and rode down a bike path with hills on both sides. It was a pretty ride of about 25 miles and on the way back we climbed the smallish Col de Bescuns SW of Lourdes.
I think everyone was happy to be back on the bikes and we pushed a pretty good pace.

I drove over to Columbia this morning for an 8am ride with Patrick. I think we both suspected we'd be the only ones for a ride down to maeystown. Instead, Glen, Mike, Joe, Amy and David all showed up as well. We had our usual "timely" start as we left at almost 8:30. Perfect for what was to be a sweltering day. It must have been a bad omen when many of the early miles were on freshly gravel-laden roads. Eventually the roads cleared but the temps continued to rise. We kept a pretty good pace on the way out and "The Sweet Shoppe" got assaulted by 7 very thirsty cyclists. After clearing the joint out of gatorade and taking healthy portions of water and soda, we relaxed and talked for a while.

Mike asked if anyone was interested in doing an extra 12 mile loop down to Fults. Amy and Patrick were smart and headed back to Columbia. My body said no too but I gave in with the assurance that Mike only planned on spinning. My legs were very heavy when we headed out. At first the pace was fairly easy but a few miles in the speed creeped up. Not outrageously but steadily. By the time we got back to Maeystown Rd I began to wilt like a week old rose. I drifted off the back. They eased up. I drifted off again and Mike paced me back. We made it back to the Valmeyer ball fields and we stopped for water and another break. The water was cold and felt real good and made for a great impromptu shower. I gulped down a couple bottles of water and we rested for a good time before continuing on.

Somewhat refreshed I hung with the others for a few more miles before fading again. I waved Glen, the last guy, past and said I was alright and the four remaining rode away. I could turn the pedals but with little strength and only at my own pace. A couple miles later Joe stopped and waited. He pulled me the rest of the way back. My mind slowly descended into the beginnings of a dreamland. Bonkville. You turn the pedals almost unconsciously. There is no thinking. The body is on auto-pilot, nose-diving toward a crash landing.

By the time we arrived at the shopping center I was still aware of things around me but my body was just a shell of its normal self. Amy was good enough to have gatorades waiting for us. It was no cure-all but it helped me get home. First thing I did was sit down in the shower and let the cool water beat down on my body. After drying off I stepped on the scale. Friday I weighed about 155 and figured I lost maybe 2-3 lbs on yesterdays easy ride. After the shower, I was down to 145. I figure I lost at least 7-8 lbs today. Maybe a little more. Five hrs later and I still don't feel great. I'm weak, with some muscle cramping and a little lightheadedness. Taking that extra was REALLY dumb on my part. It was a nice loop but all that was accomplished was beating my body into submission.

News Item of the Day: PARIS (AP) -- He stood stock still, right hand covering his heart, and listened to his national anthem being played along the wide boulevard of the Champs-Elysees for a seventh and final time. And just like that, it was over.

The moment Lance Armstrong had alternately dreaded and dreamed about in the deepest reaches of his competitive soul hit him full force. He stared straight ahead and drew his lips tight, the only way he knew to keep the tears from being loosed.

"For you people who don't believe in cycling, the cynics and the skeptics, I'm sorry for you,'' Armstrong began, standing on the top step of the podium at the Tour de France for the last time. ``I'm sorry you can't dream big and I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. ... There are no secrets. This is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it.

"So, vive le Tour,'' he paused and added, ``Forever.''

So few champions walk away at exactly the right moment that we should applaud whenever one does with wallet and limbs intact, sublime skills undiminished, and enough time to make a dent in the fortune he collected.

That was the way baseball's Sandy Koufax and football's Jim Brown left. Ted Williams hit the 521st home run of a spectacular career in his final at-bat and John Elway retired with the MVP trophy in the second of back-to-back Super Bowl wins. And talk about going out with a bang: Rocky Marciano knocked out Archie Moore to make it 49 wins in 49 fights, then slid between the ring ropes for the final time.

That's pretty much the short list of great champions who left at the top of their game. Much longer is the one that begins with Michael Jordan, who came back twice when once would have been more than enough, and Willie Mays, who staggered under fly balls in the twilight of his career at age 42 and said sadly afterward, ``Growing old is a helpless hurt.''

In the case of Muhammad Ali and a string of boxers who didn't know when to call it quits, that became literally true.

Armstrong, on the other hand, is in no danger of damaging anything but his waistline from here on out. And when an interviewer from the Outdoor Life Network stuck a microphone in his face Sunday and asked, "What's your next stop?'' the Texan had a ready answer.

"The retirement home,'' Armstrong quipped.

But more likely, after some serious partying Sunday night in the City of Lights, he'll be heading for the beach at Nice for more R&R and as much cold beer as his heart desires. After that, Armstrong will resume his tireless advocacy on behalf of cancer survivors and keep his hand in cycling as an owner of the Discovery Channel team. He has three young children if driving the carpool seems attractive and if Armstrong still harbors any desire to hit the road now and then, he can make good on his promise to string the guitars for rock star girlfriend Sheryl Crow when she goes on tour.

The average pro cyclist logs enough training miles each year to circle the globe, and as the unprecedented seven straight wins Armstrong rolled to attest, he is anything but average. Whether he proves half as good at retirement remains to be seen, but at least he's off to a promising start.

On the April morning when Armstrong ended months of speculation about his future by announcing this would be his last Tour, he talked about how he hoped it would play out.

"Whenever I watch sport, whatever sport it may happen to be, I love to see the guy go out on top,'' he said at the time. "I would love to do that.''

On the day he turned that longing into fact, Armstrong also talked about being inspired by champions from other sports -- Jordan, Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky and Andre Agassi -- and called them "guys that you look up to, guys that have been at the top of their game for a long time.''

But in quieter moments, he's mentioned Jordan's departure and return -- the second time -- as a kind of cautionary tale. And while Gretzky appeared on the same OLN telecast of the race back in States, saying, "the greatest time to retire for a professional athlete is when the public says, 'He could have went another year,'' he didn't take his own advice.

Armstrong knew even more intimately what happened to the quartet of five-time Tour de France champions -- Eddy Merckx of Belgium, Miguel Indurain of Spain and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil -- whose careers ended on their bikes, too old, too spent or too little prepared for the sacrifices demanded by the most grueling test in sport. Armstrong was not about to be caught out that way.

On the train ride Sunday morning to Corbeil-Essonnes, before launching on the final stage race into Paris, Armstrong demonstrated one final time he was leaving with no stone left unturned. He spotted two reporters he'd known for a while, and after first begging off from any conversation, he turned to one and said, "I'm ready to answer your question.''

"Which question,'' he was asked.

"The one you asked me in 1999.''

The query came just before the tour started that year, the first in Armstrong's seven straight. The reporter had forgotten it.

"You asked me if I could ride the Tour,'' Armstrong said, grinning. "I think I've answered the question.''

Hit the road at 7:30 to be at Meramec at 8am. Phil rolled in right just before 8. Ultimately he was the only other person to show up. Although Patrick pedaled up a few minutes later but he was finishing an early 40 miles. Phil wasn't to go real long so I set out on a Tour of Spain route with a Portugal extension (skipping Hunning Rd and going up to Rock Creek). Phil seemed to suffer on any uphill. He was a victim of intestinal distress from last night. The 9pm sushi and double quarter pounder was sitting heavily in the stomach. He fought hard but it was not a blazingly quick ride. I got about 45 miles total

News Item of the Day: Lance Armstrong put the seal on what will be his seventh-straight Tour de France title by winning his first 2005 stage - the individual time trial. The American clocked one hour, 11 minutes and 46 seconds to smash rival Jan Ullrich's time in Saint Etienne. Accidents permitting, he will be crowned champion on the Champs-Elysees after the formality of Sunday's stage.

Ullrich made the move of stage 20 by eroding Michael Rasmussen's two-minute advantage to take third spot overall. Dane Rasmussen had a horrible day in the saddle, falling off his bike twice and suffering a puncture as his hopes of standing on the Paris podium faded in a flash. He ended up only seventh on general classification, while second-placed Ivan Basso battled gamely to hold off the charging Ullrich, who was second quickest on the stage.

But the day belonged to Armstrong, who looked absolutely determined to win the final time trial of his professional career in front of his children and girlfriend Sheryl Crow.

The Texan had a minor shock at the first check, when he was unable to match Basso's surprise benchmark time. But it turned out that the Italian had gone out too hard on a tricky, technical course and Armstrong surged ahead of his pace - and that of in-form Ullrich - in the latter stages. "To be honest, I wasn't exactly sure that I could win," said Armstrong, anticipating a life of retirement that starts on Sunday. "All the Tour wins have been special - the first was special of course and the third was the one where I was probably at the peak of my physical fitness. "Now, it's nice to be done, to retire and to be able to move on in life."

Other winners on the day included Alexander Vinokourov and Bobby Julich, while Australian Cadel Evans set himself up for a shock top-10 finish.

But Ullrich was magnanimous in defeat - as he has often been during the Armstrong era. "Right from the very first metre, I gave it all I had," he said. "It was a hard time trial on a hard course. I gave it my best shot but it was never going to be enough against Lance."

I've been busy lately and haven't devoted much time here. Tuesday I did the Worlds for the first time in about 6 weeks. The first racing of any kind. I went in fully prepared to get dropped but everything worked out after the first few laps of getting my legs under me. I even got in a little break for a couple laps.

In the B race I got in another nice break with Roseberry, Weiss, O'Neal and a Clubber. This was a nice group of riders who are fully capable of staying away and we did for several laps. At one point, though, I looked back and the pack was only about 40ft back. I eased up and let a gap open between the clubber and the other three. They jumped around me. Fruitlessly in my view. Meanwhile I eased into the pack. Turns out the darn break stayed away although I think they got caught at the very end. As I sat in the pack I was kicking myself knowing that I should have been in that break. Dumb mistake but maybe I learned something

News Item of the Day: Star sprinter Alessandro Petacchi will join Domina Vacanze at the end of the season after his Fassa Bortolo team lost their sponsor. "It is with immense sadness that I announce the end of the Fassa Bortolo team at the end of 2005," said team boss Giancarlo Ferretti.

Petacchi did not enter the Tour de France as he wanted to concentrate on the world championship in September. Fabio Sacchi, Marco Velo and Alberto Ongarato are expected to move with him.

I got home about 2am Saturday morning and the jetlag was awful. I slept a good portion of Saturday and generally felt like crap. Today was quite a bit better but there have still been moments of tiredness. I built the bike back up so maybe I'll take it out for a spin on Monday and test the legs out again on Tuesday night.

I didn't get to post as much as I had hoped while over in France but maybe I will recount some of my thoughts and experiences in the days to come.

News Item of the Day: SAINT-LARY-SOULAN, France (AP) -- George Hincapie has been a loyal, selfless and dedicated teammate during Lance Armstrong's six Tour de France titles. On Sunday, he picked the Tour's toughest stretch to make a statement of his own.

Hincapie broke away early and held on to win the 127.7-mile 15th stage through the Pyrenees, beating Spain's Oscar Pereiro in a sprint to the line for his first stage win at cycling's premier event. "This ride is so hard. In training I almost didn't arrive at the top because I was so tired,'' the 32-year-old Hincapie said. ``It took us seven hours in training. I just can't believe I won it. This is a dream for me. I'm really in a state of shock.''

The win did not surprise Armstrong. "Consider what George does in cycling,'' Armstrong said. ``He was second at Paris-Roubaix. He goes over the top of the (Col du) Galibier with all the favorites, he wins Pla d'Adet -- an uphill finish with six categorized climbs today. Nobody has done that since (Eddy) Merckx and (Bernard) Hinault, so the guy is one of the best riders in cycling. Period. I'm so proud of him.''

In February, the affable New Yorker braved snow, sleet and subzero temperatures to win the harrowing 118-mile Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne race. In April, he placed second at the Paris-Roubaix Classic -- a race he is desperate to win. "Roubaix is like a different planet to what today is,'' Hincapie said. ``But I'd say both are as important. Winning Roubaix would be a dream come true, but winning a mountain stage on the Tour is probably something I'd think I could do less. So it's kind of a big surprise today.''

Last month, Hincapie won the opening prologue at the Dauphine Libere race and the final stage, crossing the line just ahead of Discovery Channel teammates Yaroslav Popovych and Armstrong.

On the Tour's opening day time trial, Hincapie finished in fourth place and was disappointed not to do better.

With Armstrong set to retire after the Tour ends on July 24 -- whether or not he wins a seventh straight title -- someone will need to step in as the new Discovery Channel team leader. Armstrong hinted that the role could go to Hincapie. "In recent days I've started wondering: 'Why wouldn't George be put in that position?''' asked Armstrong. ``He's a complete rider. He can time trial, he can obviously climb, he can ride the first week and stay out of trouble. You never know, I'll talk to him about that.''

Hincapie asked to be given the chance. "For Lance and (team director) Johan (Bruyneel) to start saying stuff like that is pretty amazing. Hey, if they want to give me a shot, then I'll do what I can.''

Saturday we rode all 3 climbs that we will be doing Monday. The last half
of the 2nd is VERY tough and the third is difficult mainly for the length
(12 miles) and that it is the you have already done 2 other climbs. At
least I know I can get over all three reasonably well. The road after the
last climb was unbelievable on the side of the mountain. very pretty.
tomorrow we take it easy in preparation for the race monday.

As you can see by the last post I have setup posting capabilities from email. I will try to use this while over in France. I leave Thursday morning. My postings have been limited lately because my brother and his family came into town for the holiday. Perfect training for the race. I've been off my bike since Saturday, when I didn't ride a whole lot but climbed Old Gravois six times. I felt pretty good but I will be glad to have three days of riding over there before the race. I should get some level of fitness back. Or, maybe I will be completely shelled by Monday's race. We shall see...

this is a test using email to post a message