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June 24, 2005
Gauntlet is Laid Down & Tour de 1/10th is on!
Manny has done it - he called me Granny once too often. After outriding me a couple weeks ago, he decided that he earned the right to talk smack. Those of you that know me well know there is nothing I hate worse than a sore-winner. To me, it is the ultimate classless act to rub it in someone's face after you beat them. Sore losers I can abide... their pride is hurt, they are defeated... if they want to throw up an excuse or two - more power to them. I mean afterall, if I just beat you at something, how does it hurt me if you bring up the fact that you have a pulled muscle, skipped your prerace meal, or heck - had your underpants stolen by gnomes throwing you off your game? It doesn't hurt a bit.
I realize that victories for some people are few and far between and the temptation to talk smack (expecially when beating a more skilled competitor) must be great. But come on - do the right thing.
Anyway, Manny bought his bike four months ago and in that time, I rode maybe 3 times while he has been riding regulary. He beat me fair and square with this disparate amount of training, but can he do the same if I have training time? That is the challenge I have placed in front of him. Give me four months of training and lets do it again... then lets see who comes out on top. I realize that I am giving him eight months of training to my four months, but I will take that handicap as I feel my 18,000 miles and 23 years of cycling experience should more than make up for having half the training.
To that end, I am once again attempting to do what I call the Tour de 1/10th. I take the distance of the Tour de France riders each day and do 1/10th of that amount for time. In the past several years I failed to finish until last season where my times put me at 147th place.
This years race:
1 Saturday, July 2 19 km 1.18m
Fromentine > Noirmoutier-en-l'Ile (TT)
2 Sunday, July 3 181.5 km 11.2m
Challans > Les Essarts
3 Monday, July 4 212.5 km 13.2m
La Châtaigneraie > Tours
4 Tuesday, July 5 67.5 km 4.19m
Tours > Blois (team / TT)
5 Wednesday, July 6 183 km 11.4m
Chambord > Montargis
6 Thursday, July 7 199 km 12.3m
Troyes > Nancy
7 Friday, July 8 228.5 km 14.1m
Lunéville > Karlsruhe
8 Saturday, July 9 231.5 km 14.3m
Pforzheim > Gérardmer
9 Sunday, July 10 171 km 10.6m
Gérardmer > Mulhouse
R Monday, July 11
Rest day - Grenoble
10 Tuesday, July 12 192.5 km 11.9m
Grenoble > Courchevel *
11 Wednesday, July 13 173 km 10.7m
Courchevel > Briançon
12 Thursday, July 14 187 km 11.6m
Briançon > Digne-les-Bains
13 Friday, July 15 173.5 km 10.7m
Miramas > Montpellier
14 Saturday, July 16 220.5 km 13.7m
Agde > Ax-3 Domaines *
15 Sunday, July 17 205.5 km 12.7m
Lézat-sur-Lèze > Saint-Lary Soulan (Pla d'Adet) *
R Monday, July 18
Rest day - Pau
16 Tuesday, July 19 180.5 km 11.21m
Mourenx > Pau
17 Wednesday, July 20 239.5 km 14.8m
Pau > Revel
18 Thursday, July 21 189 km 11.7m
Albi > Mende
19 Friday, July 22 153.5 km 9.5m
Issoire > Le Puy-en-Velay
20 Saturday, July 23 55 km 3.4m
Saint-Etienne > Saint-Etienne (TT)
21 Sunday, July 24 144 km 8.9m
Corbeil-Essonnes > Paris Champs-Élysées
TOTAL 3,607 km 224.1m
Posted by CDogg at June 24, 2005 09:28 AM