Recap of your individual BT tour (when all stages complete)

Zipp - congrats on the big and small accomplishments... and super job well done on the sore taint!

My tour began with the bike leg of my first tri, a 27 mile "hilly and technical" route... that only really had one nasty hill (7% for ~3/4 mile) and one technical descent.  Despite some mechanical problems, I managed to have a great start to my tour and triathlon career. 

After a short recovery ride the following week, I drove to western MD and tested the Savageman HIM course to see if I had what it takes before registering.  This mountain stage is BRUTAL (see http://www.savagemantri.org/Bike_Course.html... grades over 25% and reputed to be the hardest HIM in North America), but I finished in one piece and registered for the race the next day.  Since then I have been riding 3 stages a week... one fast ride of about 90 minutes, one hill workout of about 2 hours (2 hours of hill repeats are not that exciting), and one long run + brick on saturday of about 4 hours. 

My rides have included a rear wheel that literally fell apart for no reason during a ride (no idea how I avoided eating it here), being run off the road intentionally by a redneck and eating it in the grass, doing hill repeats with college co-eds when my ride happened upon a summer cheerleading camp (talk about scenic), and a mythical goddess in the mountains of western maryland that materialized out of thin air when I was changing a flat.

10 stages, including my first triathlon, first ride over 4 hours, and first day of real climbing.  Thanks all for being good sports with the smack I've dished, for dishing me back my fair share, and for everyone's great success in the tour this year.  Special thanks to my Barloworld teammates who really showed the love, encouraged each other, and I think without a doubt set the standard for team spirit this year.  I really enjoyed [virtually] riding with you this year!

Well all, it had been fun. And I can not remember a Challenge that was more inspiring. My team SaunierDuval and even the smack talking BarloWorld have been just super. I rode all 21 Stages of the Tour and tried to ride the same type of ride as the Pros. Mostly suceeded in this.

 My totals for the Challenge are   Hours: 31:19.20 and I did 469.6 miles.

I discovered that I can ride almost every day and really love my bikes. I didn't lose alot of weight about a lb. but I have greater defination in my legs....less jiggle I am going to try to keep this great mind set of being more consistant in my other training as well. Even the swim. Thanks again to everyone!!!

Chris

Thanks everyone for a wonderful challenge!  It really made me want to get on my bike and ride, despite the fact that all my rides were on the trainer.  I made the time, no matter what else was happening, to get on the bike to complete the needed rides.  I didn't want to be left behind or let my team members down.  I will continue to ride three times a week even if it means a stationary bike in the hotel work out room!

Great efforts, everyone!

For the Tour

21 Stages (10 over an hour 11 under)  462 miles, 14000 vertical,  27 hours total

This was my biggest riding month in several years.   Had a couple of HIM distance rides for my long rides for the month and I really had fun mixing things up on my "non-ride" but ride for the tour days. 

If was fun reading how so many people pushed themselves and exceeded previous "mental Limits"  everyone is so much more capable then they think they are and just need to stretch borders!!! 

CSC rolls on!!! 

Who cares about that "real" Tour de Frankensteins France when the BT Tour de France changed my life?

HUGE thanks to Cat, who made it all possible, my superlative Barloworld teammates, and definitely our fellow riders who tolerated and played along with the ribbing.

Of course, for a newbie, every step taken and incident weathered is groundbreaking, so bear with the joy.

In the course of this challenge, my bike transformed from a suspicious machine to be conquered into a beloved, trusted ally. I signed up for all 20 stages, figuring I'd just hop on a stationary at work 15 minutes a day. What I often did instead was cruise the neighborhood when I got home. These rides were critical because I needed to slow down and in little pieces learn gearing, cornering, sighting ... bike basics. I also began to feel part of the neighborhood, having moved in fairly recently and rarely being home.

I had an epic ride. I developed biking legs. I worked on stroke drills. I went on a group ride. And today, for my post-Tour celebration ride, I was in a clipless pedal system. It was beautiful, bittersweet, and a perfect Commencement exercise. It's just as well I didn't have them before, because I needed to learn other skills first.

My cruiser bars and turtle horn remain. One day they may be relegated to cheering me on from home, but for now, they keep me in good stead. 

Hats off to Kat for this wonderful fun challenge.  I got to meet and be inspired by some of the most incredible new friends on Team Discovery.  I thought I might get a few extra rides in, then the competetiveness of me kicked in, and I got my a$$ out of bed and biked to work.  I was able to get 16hrs of biking in for 273.65 miles.  I read Joe Friels book on training, and I never thought I would have time to train much for a triathlon.  This Challenge was fun and a great way to meet others in BT. 

Go Discovery and Go all Triathletes.

Team CSC (or the team of total bad azzes with the huge amount of 21 stage participants) rocked and I tried to make them proud!

21/21 stages complete.

12 indoor riding Blackbird on the trainer for 110 miles total (typically 10 mile recovery spins with two days of just 5 miles after really tough days).

9 outdoor rides with a split of Sheila and Blackbird about 66/33% and a total outdoor mileage of 360.7.

Total mileage for just the Tour challenge - 470.7 miles.  Longest (and fastest average speed) was 70 miles at a 21.1 mph average on Blackbird.  Damn she's fast ....

Congrats to all participants!!

hey peeps

my tour started out hard, i wasn't working so was putting in miles on the bike; then i started a job, missed my longer rides and my bt chats. but it was fun and i am hoping to incorporate some things i learned into a training plan to tide me over before my vacation.

thanks cat!!!!!