It feels like I’ve been signing up for races constantly since the beginning of the year, so imagine my surprise to realize I still have at least two more to go to get in one a month over the season.
In order to get things clearer, here are the cyclosportives I’m enrolled in so far.
Feb 26 – Les Boucles du Sud-Ardèche
Old friend Karsten is coming down from Paris for this one, which is about 100 km north of here, in the southern area of the Ardèche. Part of the route takes in the dramatics Gorges d’Ardèche, which I’ve got some photos of on my website.
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Mar 27 – Corima – Drôme Provençale
Again Karsten comes south and we’ll meet up in Montélimar for 104 km of ups and downs in the beautiful Drôme.
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Apr – Not sure yet.
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May 21 – La Ventoux
I’m really looking forward to this one. Mt. Ventoux is a mythic climb and I’ve been dreaming (and dreading) of doing it since I got to France. The route is 105 km long, with 2300 meters of vertical ascent. I can almost feel my legs cramping up right now!
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June – Too many to choose from!
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July 11 – l’Etape du Tour
And of course the reason I’m putting myself through all this pain this year – l’Etape du Tour. It should need no introduction, if you read this blog, but click here for a primer, if you have no idea what I’m talking about.
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Aug 21 – Vattenfall Cyclassics
Finally I get to go north to meet Karsten for a race. Way north – Hamburg, Germany, in fact. The Vattenfall Cyclassics is the largest bike race in Europe, so their website says. The race we’ll be doing is 100 km long and mostly flat. It is held around the same time as the pro Classic race of the same name, only theirs is 2.5 times longer…
Oh boy, Mt Ventoux. You’re a brave man! Good luck with them all
Steph
‘Brave’ isn’t the description I had in my mind, but I’ll take it!
Wow! You are like a real athlete! I hope that you will recover enough from the La Ventoux when we meet the following Sunday. I look forward to hearing of your story on the 28th. May.
Good luck with all you are going to participate in !!
Thanks, Suzuki-kun. I think you the nail on the head – I am ‘like’ an athlete, i.e not ‘really’ an athlete. Good luck with your marathon training, old man!
Sorry, Gerry-kun..but it is what I meant…You know who I am. From a REAL “YOUNG” athlete
Looking good! Which Etape are you doing?
What about La Marmotte?
I think I’ll come back over from Oz in 2012 and doing both Etapes and Marmotte, timing permitting.
I wish I lived there. You’re a lucky man!
Tim
April — Tour of Flanders!
A little far this year, I’m afraid. Is there a cyclosportive for that race as well, btw..?
That looks like a schedule to remember! Looking forward to reading of your exploits. BTW, my college French is failing me. What is a “boucle?”
It’s a schedule to remember in more than one way. I keep forgetting which ones I’ve signed up for, there are so many on the calendar!
‘Boucle’ means several things things in French, but here it refers to ‘loop’. In fact, one of the nicknames for the Tour de France is ‘La Grande Boucle’.
Maybe your French teacher in university wasn’t a cycling fan…?
Good luck. Sounds really interesting calender of rides
Thanks, and I like the site.