Safety in numbers

BEN: Had a good ride yesterday -first outside- until Nancy crashed out right in front of me. No blood, no compound fractures, then she started to complain about head pain in an area covered by her helmet. That and growing facial scrape and bruise tipped the assessment in favor of calling the EMTs.

Post ER, no serious problems, just big bumps and some RR.

Lesson-If you crash, crash with friends with working cell phones. Oh and don’t put yourself in the middle of even a slowish group the first couple of rides of the season.

Something to think about before we start descending those 1000 meter cols surrounded by cyclists we don't know and whose languages we do not speak.

Climbing, climbing

BEN: I like to climb. Not that I am any good at it (read: I am dead slow, I use a triple, I go right to the 30x29).

On the flats riding is a near endless grind punctuated by conversation, anerobic moments and turns pulling into the wind. (Let's not get on to the topic of inattentive road users today.)

But there is a finite challenge to going up hill. There is a top, there is an end, there is, usually, a very exciting reward just past the crest. I like going downhill even more.

The left side of this blog has this photo:

Luz Ardiden climb. Photo by Tim Kops 7/14/2003

Just across the narrow valley from Luz St Sauveur is the road up to the ski resort on Luz Ardiden. This climb has been a Tour finish 7 times since 1983. The last time, in 2003, Lance Armstrong won the stage after crashing when a spectator's musette bag caught the handle bar.

A 1010 meter climb over 14.7 kilometers Average grade 6.9%. Max grade just over 10%. An 'HC' climb.

Luz Ardiden is the kind of place hard to accept as a flatlander. All those switch backs. No level ground, hell no ground that's not man-made you can stand on and not fall over.

And when we've gotten to the top we get to go right back down.

Julianne and her Bianchi, Nan and her Trek, the Berkshires

Julianne will be riding her Bianchi - she will be the one leaving me in the dust - a natural born climber! I will smile in awe . . . as I push my bike up the mountain behind her. Now as to Ben, who will doubtless be doing laps around me. we'll have to have him drug tested . . . And Doug? Remains to be seen . . . untested but you never know.

So how high is 2115 meters anyway?

BEN: Well it's as high at the Col du Tourmalet. Which we will climb at least once and possibly twice. (That's 6,938.9764 ft, but we start at 710 meters so it's not that
bad a climb.)

This photo is of the long hill on the Great River Ride in the Berkshires. Its about 8% and 1/2 to 3/4 of mile straight up - meaning no switchbacks. You climb and climb and the end never looks to get any closer for a long while. This shot is from half way up and from my adopted flatlander perspective it seemed formidable. Yet, it's only 800ft above sea level.

That is the biggest problem we have to deal with - our flatlander perspective. The rest is training.

Nan's bike

NAN: The bike I will cart to France and ride - 2008 Trek Madone 5.1 WSD with Ultegra components, Compact crank, and am putting on an Ultegra 6700 10-speed 11-28 cassette before we leave.

and so it starts . . .

NAN: What started out as a dreamy proposal to bike around Provence with my biking pals and our spouses, and then join up with the Tour de France to watch the famous (and infamous) TdF cyclists ride by in the Pyrenees mountains, has turned out to be a trip with us biking through the Pyrenees ourselves! While I am full of trepidation at the prospect of climbing mountains, since my bike legs were only recently formed on the Midwestern flats, I am more full of sheer excitement at the prospect of this trip. Biking in France and seeing the Tour de France with my husband, Doug Hasegawa, and two of my closest friends, Julianne Meurice and Ben Schapiro?!? Doesn't get better - unless my kids could come, too. The four of us have our work cut out for us - developing climbing legs will be no small chore. But it will keep us in shape, always a good thing after 50. Meanwhile, have to get the cowbell out of cobwebs. And who knows, maybe we’ll have to find at least one devil-and-pitchfork costume to wear along the race route! Lance, here we come. And now (and this is for my kids – they’ll understand) I can personally yell at those nuts along the sidelines of the race who run in front of the cyclists risking crashes! More as this trip develops . . .

Our Correspondents

Ben's bike

Going up?