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Rules for "riding" the TdF

Here are my rules for riding during the TdF.

1. You have to ride every day there is stage (or prologue).
2. You do not have to ride on the race's rest days.
3. Choose a goal distance for the three weeks. Daily distances are up to you and depend on free time, fitness, and recovery from previous days.
4. Extra credit: Routes should somewhat match the terrain of the day's stage. Routes for flat stages should be mostly flat. Routes for hilly stages should include some hills. Routes for mountainous stages should include a decent climb.
5. Weather is no excuse not to ride.
 
Mar 10, 2009
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Interesting... Should you match the same distance as well? what if you are following a structured training? you try to adapt it to the course? are there any minimum average speeds allowed?:cool:
 
Mar 13, 2009
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That's a very good idea.

Since I'm on holiday anyways I often spend most of the afternoon watching the stages, but if I manage to get up early I could do it - plus the temperatures are much more bearable in the morning.

Unfortunately I can't do the full three weeks cause I have to go to France for a week and can't take my bike but I'll still try to do my best for the rest. Thanks for the good idea!
 
Aug 11, 2009
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If I could add a suggestion, it would be to choose some percentage of the amount of riding the Tour peloton will do, and try to hit that for each stage. As already suggested, base this upon available time, fitness, etc.

But, I would suggest using the expected stage time rather than the stage distance--especially if you're going to be riding solo. This should be much more appropriate than trying to match distances ridden primarily in large packs.

So, say you settle on 60%, then you would be doing a roughly 2.5hrs ride when the peloton does a 4hrs-ish flat stage. When they do 6hrs in the mountains, you'll be doing 3.5hrs over challenging local terrain.
 
Jul 29, 2009
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For monsters: Take the stage's distance in kilometers, convert that to miles, then ride that many kilometers.
E.g., Stage 1: 224K = 139 miles. Ride 139K (= 86 miles). Do this every day, and by the end of the Tour, you'll have ridden 2237K (=1390 miles) -- roughly 62% of the distance.

For mortals: take the number for monsters, and do the conversion again. So instead of riding 139K=86miles for Stage 1, ride 86K (=54miles). At the end of the Tour, you'll have ridden 1390K = 864miles -- roughly 38% of the distance (62% of 62% of the distance).
 
Mar 19, 2009
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I'll be doing the daily ride and posting my Garmin links, which is the only real way to prove that you're riding every stage. Most of it will be commuting except for the weekends where I can do longer rides, and I'll be doing this entire tour on a 25lb Surly Cross Check set up as a 2 speed, that should be impressive enough on my end at least. You know, some of us actually have to work for a living. ;)

No mountains around here just river valleys and coulées. For the Arenberg stage may I suggest that if you don't have cobblestones where you live ride some gravel roads.
 
Aug 3, 2009
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I tried this a couple years ago. Failed when the rains came in the 2nd week. No excuses this year. Need to lose weight and this is the time. Plus most of the tour stages are boring so catching the recaps online won't make me mad.
 
Mar 18, 2009
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RDV4ROUBAIX said:
...and I'll be doing this entire tour on a 25lb Surly Cross Check set up as a 2 speed, that should be impressive enough on my end at least.

Well, I'm impressed too...

RDV4ROUBAIX said:
For the Arenberg stage may I suggest that if you don't have cobblestones where you live ride some gravel roads.

Instead of gravel roads, can I spend 18 hours traveling with a 4 yr old and pregnant wife? :D To make up for it I'll spend the entire Week 2 riding in the Smoky Mountains. deal?!?
 
sagard said:
I tried this a couple years ago. Failed when the rains came in the 2nd week. No excuses this year. Need to lose weight and this is the time. Plus most of the tour stages are boring so catching the recaps online won't make me mad.

I rode during every stage of the Giro even though the weather was crap for about half the race. :p I did not make my mileage target, though. :(

For the TdF I am targeting 1000 miles (1610 km). It is a nice round number and works out to be 300+ miles a week. I don't want to do a straight percentage of each stage's distance because when my legs are fried, I need to be able to take an easy day. I'm a wuss.
 
Mar 10, 2009
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Myself and 2 other from work are going to be doing the Mapmyride contest, this year with GPS verification to see how we do vs. the rest of the "world". I try to ride hilly routes, no moutains in the Philly area, when they ride mountain stages to simulate the suffering. Hopefully daily we can at least get 30+ miles in after work, and 80+ on the weekends. Always fun to ride along with the Grand Tours.
 
Mar 10, 2009
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Seems interesting enough, I suppose i can post my polar graphs on my blog as an evidence. 60% - 70% of the stage time seems realistic enough. However need to figure out how to adapt my training (intervals, and TT especially) to the terrains...
 
daily commutes plus weekend rides should do the trick, although the missus is wanting to go away in an upcoming weekend, so that could make things interesting - could end up with a good script for that little rolland cartoon thing I've seen in other threads...
 
Mar 10, 2009
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BroDeal said:
I rode during every stage of the Giro even though the weather was crap for about half the race. :p I did not make my mileage target, though. :(

For the TdF I am targeting 1000 miles (1610 km). It is a nice round number and works out to be 300+ miles a week. I don't want to do a straight percentage of each stage's distance because when my legs are fried, I need to be able to take an easy day. I'm a wuss.

I typically log 1200 km in 3 weeks, so i think if i were to take up the challenge i need to target 1500 km?
 
Mar 19, 2009
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So, BroDeal, are you going to make an "official" thread for this so we can start posting our rides? I'm waiting till later in the day to do my prologue, involves a homemade sausage party in the middle of the ride.
 

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