The Ride Across France

I think I got the idea last summer from the word ACROSS. I had ridden across the United States from LA to Boston and from LA across to Kansas City, and was going from Maine to Florida so I was used to long rides. I have ridden about 46,000 miles in the past 5 years. Sandy, my wife speaks French and it looked like a great chance to do some of the famous TDF climbs.

Follow The Black Line Across France

(no this is not an ad for Reynolds)

By November I was immersed in maps. The route was chosen by a series of steps, 1) it had to go across from the Atlantic to the Med, 2) it had to include some of the great climbs of the TDF (hence the Alps), 3) it had to pass through some of the well known regions of France (hence champagne and burgundy regions) and 4) finally it had to pass by some friends house in Provence. There were technical problems. I wanted to avoid large cities, but had to go through towns with a variety of hotels to ensure internet hookup. The daily distances had to be around 70-80 miles to get across in a reasonable time with some time for sight seeing in the afternoons.

Training was part of an ongoing effort to get stronger and longer endurance. The culmination of this years training was a 101 mile ride with a 24 mile climb up to Estes Park through Devils Gulch,. The next to last km is 6-8% grade and the last km is 10-15% grade. I am lucky to be able to take the trip. The highest we will go in the Alps is 9,400 ft high and the steepest grade on 1-2km of Mont Ventoux will be about 10-12% for a couple of km.

Training at 10,200 feet near Leadville Colorado

(this was actually in 2007, but I did it again this summer)

Over the last two weeks I have been hammered with the myriad of detailed actions needed to actually run a tour. It seems never ending, particularly when you are going to foreign country and have never been over those roads personally. I have ridden twice in France and it was very nice, but always with a commercial company.

I am now in the "what have I forgotten." mode.

We leave for France tomorrow.