Le Tour Challenge Final

As the Tour de France comes to an end so does the Versus/MapMyRide Le Tour Challenge. I managed to meet my goal of riding every day that the tour riders did and finished 214th out of 4,752 riders that submitted a ride for at least one stage. Starting July 3rd I logged 21 rides (including the Prologue) covering 589.24 miles in 23 days.

All in all it was a great experience and it's helped me make some dramatic steps toward my goal of riding a century before the summer is over. Almost all of the Tour de France riders have my utmost admiration for completing what I believe is the most physically challenging sporting event in the world.

Ride Reports

As you may have noticed I haven't posted a ride report in a while. It's not that I'm not riding - quite the opposite in fact. I've been riding so much for the Le Tour Challenge that it made it too easy to be lazy and not post. In the future I'll still be writing ride reports just not as often. In the meantime here's a screenshot of my July ride calendar from MapMyRide.

Ride Report 7/17/2010

Went out with Addie to see if it was hot this afternoon. Found out it was.

Distance: 13.10 Miles
Bike: Windsor Cyclo
Riders: Me, Adrienne

Ride Report 7/17/2010

Dave and I headed out on the highways to Sprague today and it turned out to be quite an adventure. It seemed like Dave had just commented that we were about halfway through our 40 mile ride when my rear tire started hissing like a pissed off snake. I carry a spare tube, levers and a pump so I figured it was just a minor pain in the rear and we'd be back on the road in no time. That is until I noticed that the damn tire had a huge hole in it!

I didn't have anything to put in between the tire and the new tube and as I pumped it up the tube started creeping out of the tire. I thought there was a remote possibility that I could limp it at least to the bike shop but in about 2 miles I heard that familiar hiss again and we were done. After a couple calls I managed to get in touch with Adrienne and she headed out to pick me up while we started the long walk into town.

It all worked out in the end and it only cost a little pride. Big thanks to Adrienne for picking me up and Dave for walking with me and ending "our" ride on his own!

Distance: 27 Miles (Approximate)
Bike: Trek 5000 OCLV120
Riders: Me, Dave

Ride Report 7/15/2010

Headed out for a late evening ride with Adrienne tonight and ran into Dave and Michelle on the trail! Always nice to see them and Dave and I ended up setting up a ride for tomorrow. Weather was nice and it was a good, chill ride downtown on Boosalis-Rock Island-Antelope Valley then back out to 84th on the Mopac.

Distance: 20.53 Miles
Bike: Trek 5000 OCLV120
Riders: Me, Adrienne

Ride Report 7/14/2010

It was a hot one out there today, The Weather Channel showed we were in some kind of heat advisory and I read on another cycling blog that the heat index was over 120! Of course I'm way too bull headed to let something simple like that stop me from going for a ride so I headed out to Bennet and back on Highway 2 then decided I'd ride some of the trails too. I refilled my water bottles once at Holmes Lake and once at my parents' house and still ended up wishing I had some more at the end of my ride. It got pretty difficult at the end, I remember passing a jogger on a flat spot and thinking that he would probably pass me on the next hill. In the end I made it home and all is well. I think I'll take it easy tomorrow though...

Distance: 44.09 Miles
Bike: Trek 5000 OCLV120
Riders: Me

Ride Report 7/13/2010

Rode downtown with Adrienne tonight and then added a quick sprint out to Mahoney and back. The humidity, heat, bugs and a strong wind on 84th made the last 4 miles a real pain in the rear but other than that it was a pretty nice ride.

Distance: 21.05 Miles
Bike: Windsor Cyclo
Riders: Me, Adrienne

Ride Report 7/11/2010

Tried out my HRM for the first time today despite me having had it for about a year now.  I have to say I wish I would have busted it out a lot sooner!  It integrates with my GPS so I can look down on the display at any time and see where I'm at.  I took it easy today so I could get some kind of baseline and it looks like my average was 134bpm over the 30 mile ride.  The weather was nice but due to the rain from last night the tunnels were pretty much flooded and the underpasses and low spots on the trail had plenty of mud to ride through.

Distance: 30.03 Miles
Bike: Windsor Cyclo
Riders: Me

Ride Report 7/10/2010 - 170 Miles This Week!

I'm not sure if I would describe today's ride as hot and windy or windy and hot but it had plenty of both. When I got to Haymarket Park the flags in the parking lot were flying straight out like whoever did the laundry used a bit too much starch on them. I'm getting better at making use of the small chainring in front to help pace myself and not use up all my energy early in the ride. I also had a small crash about 27 miles in but aside from some scrapes on my elbow and knee I'm pretty much OK. Hopefully my bike is OK too... This bike seems to get crashed a lot on the pavement!

Distance: 31.08 Miles
Bike: Windsor Cyclo
Riders: Me

Ride Report 7/9/2010

Took a pre-party quick ride on the Mopac west of 84th Street today.  It's a fairly uneventful route but a nice one nevertheless.  I've been pretty tired and a bit sore lately so I thought I'd try an easier pace and it turned out to be a nice ride.

Distance: 23.05 Miles
Bike: Windsor Cyclo
Riders: Me

Ride Report 7/8/2010

Rode downtown with Adrienne today when she got home from work and when we got back we split up and I rode down to 84th and Highway 2 then over to Fireworks and took the (mostly dry) trails back home.  It was a good ride and nice to get out on a ride with my cool biker chick. (Plus she got to try out her new shorts and they totally kick butt.)

Distance: 22.6 Miles
Bike: Trek 5000 OCLV120
Riders: Me, Adrienne

Ride Report 7/7/2010

Today's ride felt like a grind, it seemed like I was never going to make it to 20 miles. Luckily that feeling went away about 18 miles in.  Still a bad day on my bike is considerably better than many of my best days at the office before I got canned.

Distance: 20.02 Miles
Bike: Windsor Cyclo
Riders: Me

Ride Report 7/6/2010

Rode out to the Bennet Corner Stop tonight. It was late, I had a flashing light, it worked out.

Distance: 21.59 Miles
Bike: Trek 5000 OCLV120
Riders: Me

Ride Report 7/5/2010

Today was the 3rd day of the Le Tour Challenge and rain was in the forecast again.  After the rain ride yesterday I figured no matter what the weather unless it was dropping ice from the sky or throwing cows around I'd get some kind of ride in.  Unfortunately it wasn't a great ride, I felt like I was fighting the bike most of the way and that's not a feeling I have ever had with the Cannondale.  I think the drivetrain is due for some maintenance and the water aggravated it to the point where it's noisy and irritating now.

Still a lot more water than usual running through the creeks, spillways, sewers, etc.  The two tunnels near Antelope Park are probably passable but I chose to cross ahead anyway.

This lovely bench at Holmes lake has a slightly different view than it was intended to have.

And one last thought...  Just because you choose to blow your fireworks off on the bike path instead of on your own property does not exempt you from the responsibility of cleaning up after yourself.  Seriously people, it's not a contest to see who can be more lame.  Just pick up your damn fireworks, dog poop, diapers or whatever the hell else you leave on the trail.  Is it really that tough to just pick up your mess?

Distance: 24 Miles
Bike: Cannondale F6
Riders: Me

Ride Report 7/4/2010 - Rain Ride

Decided I would head out for a ride today despite the water falling from the sky. It was warm enough that it actually wasn't too bad and I enjoyed having most of the trails to myself and also the "what the heck is that guy doing?" looks I was getting. The mountain bike performed flawlessly and reminded me how much I love that little red bike. One piece of advice if you're considering doing a rain ride of your own on the trails is to avoid the tunnels...

Distance: 27 Miles
Bike: Cannondale F6
Riders: Me

Ride Report 7/3/2010 - Le Tour Challenge Day 1

Started off the Versus Le Tour Challenge on the right foot today with a decent length ride and a return home to watch part of the TdF Prologue before heading over to Rob's for burgers.  I'm not riding to compete as much to see if I can manage to ride every day that the riders in France do so I'm not too disappointed in my placing (1,480th place out of 1,958 people participating so far) but I'll see what I can do about bumping that up a bit.

Distance: 40.53 Miles
Bike: Windsor Cyclo
Riders: Me

Ride Report 6/30/2010 Part Deux!

Adrienne wanted to go for a ride tonight after she got home from work and who was I to say no? We battled the bugs and rode out to "O" Street on the Mopac. It was nice to get in another ride today and the cool weather was a pleasant contrast to my earlier ride. Four dusty white tires and two pooped out peeps later we arrived at home happy and ready to crash on the couch. Counting both rides I'm at almost 65 miles for the day - a new record for me!

And yes, for those who are keeping tabs Addie's new BLUE SHOES worked out just fine.

Distance: 19.5 Miles
Bike: Cannondale F6
Riders: Me, Addie