#TDF Challenge - Final Report and Thoughts for Next Year

The end of the Tour de France always saddens me somewhat.  I always am thrilled by watching super humans push and pedal themselves across / around a country by traveling through towns, country side, and over mountains for the greater part of a month.

And this is part of the reason I decided to take on a riding challenge - in some way I wanted to participate beyond simply watching.

But this year I am a tiny bit glad the tour is over as it also marks the end of my #TDF Challenge where I attempted to ride each day the Tour rode - 22 day of riding with two rest days.  

At the end of 22 days of the Tour (one prologue and 21 stages) I rode for 21 of those days.

In those 21 days I accumulated 474km of riding - an average of 22.5 km/day.  My longest ride was 40km, and my shortest was 2km.  The 2km shortest ride was on the final Sunday and I fully admit that I limped over the finish line.

I will not lie - at times it was a bit of a struggle, even though overall it was something I was pleased to have attempted.



Physically I suffer from mild cumulative fatigue, and the two rest days were very welcome indeed.  The first rest day came after 10 days of riding and I now know why the Tour riders are so grateful for this before they get into the grueling mountain stages.

I was also fortunate that I did not suffer any injuries over this period that would have kept me off the bike.

Luckily the weather also cooperated as no ride ever needed to be started in wet or inclement conditions, or taken indoors to the trainer.  Around here is it was hot and muggy, but for the most part I could ride in the morning when the conditions were cooler.

The dramatic increase in cycling volume really benefited my cycling ability, especially sustained effort up hills and technique.  This also translated well into improved speed and power on flatter terrain. 

I measured many of my rides with Strava, and was able to see these results over the same the routes through out the 22 days.

The cycling also helped my running even though I did not do as much running during this time.  However the higher cadence required in cycling translated well to running.  The proof was running a 52 min 10km on a very challenging and hilly run course, after the swim and bike legs of an Olympic triathlon.  

As I was coming to the end of the challenge I began to think of next year and how I might revise the challenge.

Here are some early thoughts:

• include a minimum mileage requirement
• ride to a given percentage of each stage.
• ride similar conditions e.g. when the Tours is in the mountains do hills, and in ITT do sprints or speed, and on the flats do steady tempo

These changes would increase the challenge and would likely require more preparation.   But given this years
Challenge results these type of modifications should be manageable. 

So to end I hope that next year I can encourage / entice people to join me in the the challenge - either local riders or with you - virtually.

But for now I will enjoy a few days off, then get back into more triathlon specific training for my upcoming race in about four weeks.

So don't be afraid to challenge yourself, and until next time.....keep tri'n.

Becoming a rider for a month: TDF Challenge Update

As I wrote last week, I've undertaken a challenge to ride each day the Tour de France rides.  This would be 21 days of riding over a span of 23 days.

The purpose was to build some volume, add some spice to training, help improve my riding, and strengthen my mental game.

So after the first 10 days of the Tour de France (1 Prologue and 9 stages) I can say that I am right on track.  
Over that time I've covered 275 km and climbed over 1000 m.     This represents an increase of over 200% to my current cycling volume.

It's been interesting to see the changes over the first half of the challenge.  

But before we get into that let me state that I am really enjoying this challenge.  I think that it has opened my eyes and mind to different ways of training and  I will be more willing to try different methods to achieve results.

I have an Oly Tri this weekend and I'll be interested to see how things unfold in the bike and run segments giving this challenge.  I'll write a review on that next week.

So let's review the past 10 days:

Days 1 - 4
I was fresh and really charged up.   Ready to roll, and push the effort whenever possible.

Days 5 - 8
Over time cumulative fatigue and mental strain began to build. 

The negative thoughts of skipping a day begin to creep in, especially if you need to get up early to get the ride in because of commitments later in the day.  

While I have experienced those thoughts I'm lucky that I ride with a group a few mornings a week and I've told enough people about the challenge that it keeps me committed to achieving my challenge.

I also became more selective on work load during a ride, and focused on technique.

Days 9 - 10
With a rest day on the horizon the efforts picked up, and mentally I was fresher.

So here are some parting thoughts:

1) A challenge should be hard but still achievable.  If it is too easy it is not a challenge.
2) Do not be afraid to challenge yourself.    You are stronger than you may think.  Only when pushed will you see this.
3) I am lucky to have a support network to help me achieve my goal.
4) I appreciate even more the stress and rigours of professional bike riders.  The mental sharpness that must be maintained.  The fatigue of pushing oneself to the brink each day, and having to do it over and over.  And the need to recover well.

So wish me luck on the next number of days, and good luck on what ever challenge you choose.  Maybe you want to complete the remainder of the TDF challenge with me.  Give it some thought.

Until next time, keep tri'n.