I know I talk a lot about myself in this blog, and I will today as well, don’t worry. But I’d like to start with a few mini-portraits of some well-known friends who are heading to The Alps this weekend for the Etape du Tour.
Peter/Pierre
Pierre is quite famous on the blog and has made several appearances over the past couple of years (here’s one of my favorites). He is a member of Coach Rob’s stable of motivated middle-aged athletes and will be racing in his 2nd Etape this year. His goal for the race is a secret, but it is much more than last year’s ‘finish before the broom wagon’, I can tell you that much.
He is also a French Canadian, which explains the fashionable cycling socks.
Anne
Woman of fearsome route-planning abilities and increasingly scary climbing skills, Anne is doing her very first Etape this year and will start in the back pen. I can tell you from the many rides in the mountains I’ve done with her that she won’t finish in the same position.
Erik
Husband of Anne and freak of nature, Erik is the type of rider who I can beat up a mountain after 5 solid months of training, but only because he has been doing a weekly one-hour Sufferfest video during the same period. Once he gets a few Ventouxs, or a week in Italy, in his legs, it’s game over, as evidenced by his excellent results in last year’s Etape (better than top 10%, right Erik?).
I know lots of others who are doing the Etape this year. Who knows, you might be one of them! Good luck to all of you this Sunday. If you’ve suffered well this season, it’s time to let the legs do the talking.
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And now to me. I took two days off this week, after a month of solid training, and went out today and had my 2nd ‘wow’ experience of the year (April’s Ventoux climb was the first). After 15 minutes or so of riding I could not really feel my legs, but in a good way, if you follow. I felt like my whole hilly ride was on autopilot and when I was ‘dancing’ out of the saddle my torso ‘floated’ above my legs, which were orbiting the bottom bracket, instead of pushing down on the pedals. It was a surreal experience that I now need to discover how to 1) recapture, and 2) hold for a week in The Alps.
I did have a beer at the end of yesterday’s TdF stage. I wonder if it could be that..?
The Vicious Cycle 
That is indeed a ‘mini portrait’ of Peter! Good luck and may you all have ‘dancing letgs’ in the Etape.
Send me a pair of these dancing legs at once. I had a pair of ‘pedalling through porridge’ ones on this morning and they are no good..
Your team looks good.
I’m not giving them up, TP – assuming I even have them still on today’s ride.
Best wishes to all of you. Have a great ride.
Gerry, its very kind of you to blog about our test this weekend. We’re both reserving our comments until after the day is done, but you and Gringo John will be missed this year. More to come Sunday or Monday.
I hope you don’t feel the pressure of all 3 of my blog readers and their high expectations now, Erik.
Wish we were there, too. I suppose there’s always next year…good luck both of you!
Best of luck to everyone!