Adventures in Cycling – The 3/10 Tour

Every once in a while, I get a crazy idea.  They usually turn out to be harder than I expected (like the year I promised to review 52 youth ministry resources in 52 weeks).

It has been a very rainy year here in Richmond.  Which is screwing up my riding totals, since I hate/loathe/despise riding in the rain.

I’ve got a crazy idea.

The Tour de France (TDF) just ended.  I watched some of almost every day of the race.  If you read my cycling posts you probably know the details of the greatest bike race in the world.  For the more casual reader, it is a 23-day race (21 racing days or “stages” and two rest days) through different parts of France.  It includes long endurance rides, mountain climbs, sprints and time trials.  The riders can ride for four or five hours on some days, covering hundreds of kilometers.  There is nothing quite like it.  This is the ultimate bicycle race in the world.

No, I’m not that crazy.

But how about this?  A 3/10 Tour.  A third as many days and a tenth as many kilometers.

It’s both a challenge for me and something that I can do if I do the work.  I have never biked for 7 days in a row.  Not since I was in elementary school at least. Plus, if I’m honoring the spirit of the Tour, it means I may have to ride in the wet.  We’ll see. No reason to risk life and limb at my age.

So I chose Week One as my template for the 3/10 Tour.  I will be honest and say I chose it because the mountain stages come in Week Two.  But I do want it to fairly represent the challenges of the TDF.

Week One breaks down to 153.2 kilometers (that’s 76 miles).  That would be in the top 1% of my highest miles in a week.  It’s probably close to #1.  My rides tend to be 2-3 a week and average 10 miles or so.  So it’s a challenge.

I want a serious climb, I want cobblestones, and Week One includes a Time Trial.  (The Week One TT was a team event.  Since Team Old Fat Guy consists of just me, it will have to be an individual trial).  Based on the numbers of the week one stages, my stages look like this

Stage 1 – 12.5 miles

Stage 2 – 11.0 miles

Stage 3 – Time Trial 2.2 miles

Stage 4 – 12.1 miles

Stage 5 – 12.75 miles

Stage 6 11.2 miles

Stage 7 – 14.3 miles

So no day is beyond my ability, but I’ve never strung this many days together at that length.  I can get the climb in going up out of Richmond to Varina or so.  Cobblestones are available on either Monument and/or Grace.  I am in the process of mapping out these rides now.  The goal is to be ready to do this before August is out.

Part of me looks at this and thinks “Too easy, dude”.  And the rest just shakes its head and says “You’re crazy”.

We’ll see.  I’ll keep you up to date.