38 | Cycling World
AMATEURS TACKLE THE
Tour de France
I
can hear them coming before they arrive over the Col de la Croix de Fer - a group of panting , swearing , occasionally laughing , always-bantering cyclists . About to pull into their second roadside feed stop of the day , they ’ re looking forward to climbing off the bikes for a stretch , some much-needed calories and the inevitable pee . Today , they ’ ve got lucky . The sun is out but they ’ re not being fried to a crisp like they were in the lowlands of France . Up here in the high mountains , it can all be so different .
We ’ ve had riders near hypothermia in the Alps in previous years , and others suffering heat exhaustion in the Pyrenees . Cycling here isn ’ t for the faint-hearted , but the rewards are immense . Today , there are cows nearby with their bells musically contributing to this scene of mountain beauty . The views stretch into the distance like something out of Lord of the Rings . It ’ s peaceful , it ’ s quiet . Today is a very good day to be on a bike – it doesn ’ t get better than this .
We ’ re 80km into a 138km day on one of the Alpine stages of the 2015 Tour de France route . They ’ ve been riding since 8am , but were up at 5.30am for breakfast , then a coach transfer from the end of the previous stage to the start of this one . We ’ re now around two and a half weeks into this epic Tour de France route as part of the Tour de Force cycling event and the days are merging into each other as the cyclists eat , ride , rest , repeat . 40 cyclists ( called ‘ Lifers ’) are taking on all 21 stages of the Tour de France route , one week ahead of the pros and they ’ re now just two days short of Paris . Others have joined us ‘ just ’ for the Alpine stages , while others are riding the final ten stages of the tour (‘ half Lifers ’). All in all , we have around 170 riders with us on tour – some taking on a ‘ Tour Taster ’ in the Pyrenees , others tackling the earliest , flatter stages from Utrecht down into Northern France where you could fry an egg on the tarmac it was so hot . Every stage has presented its own challenges , with the weather being just one of them .
Each rider has worked hard to be on this tour , whether they ’ re cycling two , or 21 stages . They ’ ve juggled work and family commitments through a long cold winter of training . They ’ ve forced themselves onto turbo trainers when the British weather has defeated them . They ’ ve got up early to squeeze in training rides before work and they ’ ve negotiated full days and weekends away on the bike in order to clock up the mileage necessary to be able to ride multiple stages of the Tour de France route and still have enough energy left to look up and enjoy the view .
“ It was worth everything : every single training session , every filthy day on the bike through the winter . Everything has been worth it ” - Lifer Chris Bird
Now fast forward to late March 2016 and I ’ m on a Spring training ride with the new recruits for the Tour de Force 2016 . With just