Play and coach sport
Sports; play coach and volunteer
OUR RECOMMENDED HOSTELS...
In Oz, NZ, USA, Thailand and more. Book them here and get free beer!
Click here >> for more
Cycling the Tour de France route On yer bike Dan Weston writes... 'Putting their bodies through several weeks of physical and mental torture isn’t something usually found on most gappers’ itineraries. And for good reason: gap years and travelling are meant to get you away from stuff like that. So I guess there’s no good reason why I decided to spend my gap year preparing for and doing exactly this. I originally toyed with the idea of backpacking, and had my heart set on the Pacific Islands and especially Japan, somewhere I’ll be visiting in the second half of my gap year. However, about six months ago I struck upon the idea of cycling the Tour De France route, not as part of the race but simply for fun. OK, maybe not for fun but just to see if I can. I researched it and found that it was by no means an original idea, but it still appealed and I decided this would be the focus of my gap year. I’m sporty as it is, so I’ve got fairly respectable levels of fitness, but one look at the stage schedule set alarm bells a-ringing. The total 3,395km, or 2,122 miles, are split into 21 day-long stages. Five of these total over 200km, with only three clocking in under 150km. Six stages are mountain stages, meaning effectively that you spend six days cycling up very, very steep Pyrenean slopes, ironically famous for their skiing. And they really are mountains, with the tallest, the Col de la Madeleine, climbing menacingly into the clouds to a daunting 2,000m above sea level. That’s the equivalent of cycling one-quarter of the way up Mount Everest... I visited many of these peaks on a family holiday a few years ago, and you’re literally in the clouds. The roads up and down are precarious and every now and again you see slightly alarming car-sized gaps in the flimsy barriers. It’s first-gear-graft all the way up and hand-on-handbrake terror all the way down. I’m sure everyone’s flown down hills on bikes, and knows just how fast you can go. Just as another reminder of how high some of these mountains are: even at full, wind-deafened, eye-watering speed it takes the best part of an hour to get to the bottom. The Tour De France has a shady reputation, with drugs scandals and corruption rife. However, there is still something incredibly attractive about it, and a lot of this has to do with its history and the reverence in which it is held by the French public. French towns pay vast amounts of money just to be on the route, for about 30 seconds of excitement and national exposure. It is estimated that 10% of the entire population come out at one point or another to the roadsides of France to watch, and most probably to gather up the tacky surfeit of promotional gifts thrown from sponsor cars which lead the cyclists. Brutal rivalries and super-human efforts are magnified to unreal levels. People have died in their effort to obtain a yellow shirt. Tommy Simpson’s last words as he collapsed from his ride on the 1967 tour were 'Put me back on the bloody bike'. His monument, at the spot where he died, halfway up Mount Ventoux, is a Mecca for cyclists. People have advanced their bodies so far (legally or otherwise) to the point where they should be dead. Miguel Indurain, the man whose record of five successive wins was beaten by Lance Armstrong this year, had a resting heart rate of 28. That should not be physically possible. The fittest of marathon runners would maybe be in the mid to high fifties. Most people average 70 to 80 beats per minute. As I’m sure you’ve gathered, this Tour De France lark is not easy.  But, after saying all this, I remind you of the pertinent fact that I will not be racing. At least not in the same way these guys raced. I will, of course, be going as fast as I can, but I’m not going to be breaking any records. I have age on my side, being 18 and supposedly in the ‘prime of life’, but whether or not this alone will propel me up a mountain while the sweat is freezing in my eyebrows remains to be seen. I play a lot of rugby, and along with a bit of swimming and cycling I have a base to start my fitness training on, but this will by no means make any of that easy. Cycling isn’t exactly comparable to running, but a general comparison would be that of running a marathon twice a day for three weeks. So there’s a lot of preparation for me to do. The main reason I’m going to be doing it is to prove to myself that I can. I guess it’s much like a skydive or a bungy jump: it’s a challenge you set yourself and you’re pretty miffed if you bottle it, and probably regret it forever. I’ve said I will do it, so now I am bound by a sort of male pride thing to do it whether I like it or not. I’m probably going to be off next spring, before the notorious Southern France summer heat kicks in, and for the moment I’m working to save the money so I can afford the immeasurable amounts of food, posh hotels and massages I’m going to need en route. It’s probably a good thing I’m not actually going to university (I plan to join the police sometime after I get back), because there is no guarantee that I will be back by September. Or indeed ever, for that matter. I’m currently going on my own, which is something I’m fine with, but if anyone is seriously interested in coming along or helping in any way then that’s great. So wish me luck. Please.'  Click here >> for Dan's profile - you can 'private message' him if you fancy joining his Tour de France... Click here >> for more about the Tour De France Click here >> for our France info Click here >> for lots of sporty gap year ideas |
Relevant Adverts |
Favourites
Digg
Furl
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Google
Reddit
More Services >>
