Home Sweet Home

Being back in Boulder is so wonderful, it almost makes me feel like traveling is just another way to make me truly appreciate the beauty of my home. All of the crazy adventures are already starting to fade away into a hazy memory of a wild dream - did I REALLY ride up the Alpe d'Huez and meet Cadel Evans? My father's eating habits are also starting to return to normal, although he can still consume more calories with less apparent physical impact than anyone I have ever met. He officially turned 50 last night, but no sign of slowing down yet - if anything he appears to be speeding up somehow. Practically the first thing he did, after we got back, was go for a bike ride. I, on the other hand, spent my first day back in town having a four-hour-long brunch, swimming in the creek, going to happy hour, and finally falling asleep during the last ten minutes of a movie. It is indeed good to be home.

Seven Sandwiches

My father is turning into a kind of over-sized bike-riding hobbit creature. He eats first breakfast around 6am, and then second breakfast sometime in the mid-morning, followed by first and second lunch, snack, and a couple of dinners. When he was ordering second lunch the other day, his friend Dan began to wonder if perhaps he was ordering for both of them when he asked the waitress for four bottles of water, a slice of pizza, a piece of quiche, a sandwich, and some ice cream to finish it all off. Dan ate seven sandwiches one day. And still, they think they are burning more calories than they can possibly manage to consume. I was wondering, the other day as I was shivering in the freezing rain near the top of the Col d'Agnel, if I burn more calories by riding up big hills or by trying to keep warm. Yesterday the weather was better and so I think most of my energy went towards riding up the highest mountain pass in Europe, which the pro riders are going to summit today. Tomorrow they ride up the Alpe d'Huez, after which the overall ranking of the riders will become very clear. You simply can't fake being a good rider in the Alps - either you have the strength to get up the hill faster than everyone else, or you fall off the back. It will be very interesting to see who can hang on today, and whether they can keep it up tomorrow or not. It will also be interesting to see what my father orders for first dinner when he arrives in the small town at the base of the mountain later this afternoon.

Interviews and Rides

To check out some interviews I did with riders from Team Columbia, and also to view a couple of workout files from me climbing up the Col d'Aspin and Tourmalet, please go to the TrainingPeaks blog at: http://blog.trainingpeaks.com/

Finish in Foix!

Yesterday I narrowly evaded the French policemen posted at the stage finish in Foix, thus managing to cross the finish line that is normally reserved for pro riders only. My father and his friend Dan did not get past, and were consequently forced to get off the course only about 100 meters from the finish line. Tough luck. Hopefully they don't have any "wanted dead or alive" photos of me racing down the home stretch, to the wild cheers of the spectators gathered to witness the real riders arrive an hour or two later. I felt like Lance Armstrong. Or, well, not quite, but I think I got a taste of the rush that he or Mark Cavendish must feel when they sprint to the finish. I am trying to upload some of my GPS files from the rides we have done, as well as some of the interviews that I have with the pro riders, so as soon as I figure it all out I will provide links.

Tourmalet and rest day!

Wow! Magnifique. Riding up the Tourmalet yesterday was spectacular - beautiful weather and a great view of the riders snaking their way up the mountain. Today is a rest day in Pau, a charming old town on the river near the Pyrenees. Last night the fireworks for Bastille Day were amazing, although the French spectators were a very tough crowd - there was almost no cheering or applause, just a careful consideration of the merits of each explosion, accompanied by much head nodding and pursed lips. At the team Columbia press conference today I got to speak to several riders, including Hincapie and Cavendish, which was pretty exciting. I will try and upload the videos to YouTube later today. I will also try to find Cadel Evans, since I am sure he isn't busy at all, and ask him how it feels to be wearing the yellow jersey after a brutal climb to the finish at Hautacam yesterday.

Bagneres de Bigorre!

We survived our first day! Barely! The hardest part was actually the weather, as lame and wimpy as that sounds - it was really cold on top of the Col d'Aspin, so cold in fact that I couldn't wait on top long enough to see the peloton power up the mountain, but rather was forced to descend to the comfort of a cafe in the town on the other side and watch them come wizzing by on their way up. They finished yesterday in Bagneres de Bigorre, where they will come through again today on their way over Tourmalet to the finish on the top of Hautacam. I am about to ride up to Tourmalet, where I am optimistic that I will have a better view of the climb today, as it is sunny and nice. Plus I have come prepared this time, with a baguette and cheese to stick in the back pockets of my CU cycling jersey. Thus will I feast on the side of a mountain while I wait. My father made it the whole way yesterday, although he was somewhat delayed when they kicked him off the course to make way for a whole slew of corporate sponsored vehicles decked out in parade-like fashion. After they passed, the riders eventually followed, and then we were finally allowed to get back on the course and pick our way through a sea of spectators attempting to descend from the mountain while we rode up. The sheer amount of exhaust being emitted from all of the cars makes me hope that nobody ever does an environmental impact study of the Tour de France, because it must be roughly equivalent to the pollution generated weekly by a developing country. Or maybe not, but I certainly felt like I might pass out from all the fumes. Anyway, off I go now for more! Allez, allez, allez!

Toulouse

So, this is it: the last night before we start riding. We watched the finish in Toulouse today, a hectically exciting and dramatically rainy affair. You can see some terribly choppy videos of this on YouTube at: http://fr.youtube.com/my_videos Before they arrived, I passed the time by agreeing to participate in a sort of mini time trial, on a bike held in place by a trainer atop a stage on the side of the course. I rode fiercely fast for a minute and a half, going just over a kilometer and earning myself a nice T-shirt and a hat. Woohoo! I am excited. My first taste of real Tour riding tomorrow will be a ridiculous climb up the Col d'Aspin, which is the last hill of the day for the regular riders; as I am driving to the end of the stage and then riding back to meet my father, however, it will be my first hill of the day. Drum roll, please...

Le Tour Commence

Well, actually, the Tour started on Saturday, while I was still in Germany mourning the loss of a spot on the US Olympic Kayaking team for my friend Zuzana Vanha. It's shocking how years of hard training to achieve a goal can all come down to a split second of bad luck. Basically, she missed a couple of gates while her teammate didn't miss or even touch any, so she lost her spot. I guess this kind of thing happens in cycling too, when a patch of gravel can send the leader suddenly flying off the road. After today's time trial, the first one of the Tour this year, the upcoming stages will almost certainly hold their fair share of shocking surprises. My father and I will join up with the riders when they come through Toulouse on Sunday the 13th, the day before Bastille Day, and then wind through the Pyrenees, across Provence, and up into the Alps to finish on the Alpe d'Huez. I went for a nice little ride today through fields of sunflowers and lavendar, dotted with crumbling old churches, but from now on I suspect that the rides will be anything but quaint. Turning 25 this Thursday seems like it will officially mark my life turning into a hard uphill phase, but hopefully that's just me being over dramatic...

Augsburg

As Spain finishes celebrating their World Cup soccer victory and France prepares for the Tour to begin, Germany is hosting the Welt Cup kayaking race this weekend in Augsburg. The course, built for the 1972 Olympics, is one of the first man-made kayaking courses ever constructed, a concrete channel branching off from the main river and winding its way through the park-like spectator seating area before rejoining the river again farther downstream. Kayakers from all over the world have gathered for their final chance to make the Olympic team in Beijing, and although everyone is friendly, tension is tangible. Today is the last day before the 3-day race starts tomorrow, so everyone is trying to get in one final workout before weighing their boats, getting their official numbers and time slots, and waiting for the paddling to begin. Having only ever tried kayaking myself a couple of times, in the relative comfort of a swimming pool or a lake, I can barely begin to appreciate the incredible skill required to maneuver a boat up and down-stream through whitewater foaming around randomly placed slalom gates. I can't even paddle in a straight line and keep my boat from flipping over, and yesterday, when my kayaking friend Zuzana convinced me to take a swim with her through part of the course (right under the 'Baden Verboten!' sign), I thought I might drown. Watching the kayaking race is enough excitement for me - I'll stick to bike riding myself!