My goal to bike the Tour de France.

Introduction​

I'd like to get back to the GREAT shape I was in high school (played rugby, basketball, football, soccer, swimming, and track). So I figured, what better way to get in shape than to set an incredibly hard to reach goal, and work my hardest to get there? So as I was bike riding the other day, I had a great idea. Why not try to bike the length of the Tour de France? I'm crazy, aren't I?​

Explanation​

So, obviously, I'm not going to be able to participate in the actual Tour de France. But there's nothing stopping me from trying my best to recreate it. According to the official Tour de France website, the 2011 race will be 3,471 KM, which comes out to 2,157 miles (rounded up). It will run from July 2nd to July 24.The race consists of 21 days, with 2 rest days, for a total of 23 days. A detailed listing of each day can be found here: http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/COURSE/us/le_parcours.html

So what am I going to do? As the actual Tour de France is going on (Starting July 2nd), I will do the same, and attempt to replicate the distance, on a local bike trail. Obviously riding on a bike trail isn't close to the same thing as the Tour de France, but it's the best I can do. For the next three and a half months, I'll train for the race. I have an app for my phone called SportyPal that tracks detailed information on each workout (Such as distance, speed, time, location, altitude, etc). I'll monitor my progress using this app, and will keep this topic updated every other day or so with my workout (My goal is to bike every other day, or 2 days in a row with 1 rest day).
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Math/Calculations​

Since the race is 2,157 miles spread out over 24 days, I'll need to bike an avergae of 89.875 miles per day. If I can bike at a steady speed of 18 MPH, then I would need to bike for 5 hours a day, in order to finish in time. Obviously this is assuming I take zero rest days, and have 5 hours every day of free time. Due to fatigue and work/school interfering, there will be days where I can't reach that goal. For that reason, I'll need to pick up the slack on other days.

Now that I do the actual calculations, this is starting to seem a lot harder than I thought it would be. I'm not giving up though. Am I going to try my hardest to accomplish this? You bet. Am I going to succeed? I don't know, but I hope I do.

I'll start slow (10-15 miles at a time), and work my way up to longer/further rides.
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Progress​

Here's where I list all my rides, how long they were (format is hours:minutes:seconds, and how I felt afterwards. Hopefully not every single day sounds like "HOLY SHIT IM TIRED".​

Day #1
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Distance: 15.52 miles
Time: 1:20:08
Feeling: Well, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is wow, this is going to be much harder than I thought. I was pretty tired after 15 miles, thinking about doing 100 miles in one day is pretty daunting. As a side note, I never noticed how many hills/inclines this bike trail has.. Heh.

Day #2
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Distance: 10.13 miles
Time: 49:53
Feeling: Was out of commission for a while, I ended up spraining my ankle pretty badly. I've broken my left ankle 4 times and my right one 3 times, so I end up spraining them more often than most. Regardless, today was pathetic. I could blame the fact that I only did 10.13 miles on my ankle hurting, but I'm not going to make any excuses. It was just plain pathetic. Definitely going to have to do better than this, without a doubt.

 

Can't wait to see how far you go what bike are you riding?

 

Sounds like a good goal and plan; admirable - don't think I have the willpower to pull something off like this tbh

You could include the time, distance (no need for average speed - newtonian physics ftw) and how you feel relative to the last day cycling and in general.

Maybe a picture of you and your bicycle?

 

Oh man, my dad would so do this WITH you! Im gonna send him this link right now lol.

GOOD LUCK!!

 

Sounds ridiculous, gl.​

 

Wow, sounds like a pretty big task. Which bike will you be riding? Good luck with this, it's definitely achievable but it might be a bit hard.

 

To be honest, I have no idea. I just know it's a Mountain Bike (which is probably going to make this MUCH harder than it should be).

I'm hoping I have the willpower to do this too.. It's a pretty big challenge.

My camera is broken unfortunately, so no pictures.. But just picture a crappy looking bicycle and you got it haha .

That would actually be kinda cool to have someone else to do this with. :embar:

Ridiculous is probably an understatement haha.. Thanks .

Just a plain old boring mountain bike. Not really sure what type of bike it is, all I know is it has extremely uncomfortable seat lol.

It's definitely going to be hard. But I enjoy a good challenge .

 

You should invest in a better bike or at the very least a seat.

 

Let's all sponsor for a new bike? Xo

 

Good luck dude.

 

Best wishes, mate! Very impressive

Also, I'm curious on what you're going to do to charge your phone? One of those solar/extra battery type deals?

And, I think it speaks volumes about your personality. Most people would goto the gym. You go doing it big, Lance Armstrong whoop ass style, with 2 nuts.

Have fun, try not to let the hemorrhoids get to you XD

 

Try and get hold of a road bike, it will make the whole thing a lot easier. Believe me, you will notice the difference!

Good luck, and I hope it doesn't take you too long. I don't wanna be seeing you on TV going slowly, while the tour de France riders are breezing past.

 

u crazy fool! go for it! dont let nobody say u ct do it

 

Your crazy man, but your motivation level is inspiring. Good luck with your journey, you can do it, you just have to want it and always remember, mind over matter.

 

Could you update us on your progress?

 

lol GL with it mate

 

wow gl on that.

 

Sorry guys, messed up my ankle pretty bad, that's why no updates. I'm back now though .

 

Interesting goal. I like riding bikes myself. The most I've ever done was a 75 mile trip in 1 day, but there were people with me and they were slow so I ended up spending about 8 hours instead of the planned 6. (including a couple 20 minute breaks). I get pumped when I ride bikes and always want to go further but the people I go with suck and can't do more than 10 miles without bitching and wanting to leave.. I wish I had people I knew that have some stamina and like bike riding as much as me.

 

Not sure if you're still doing this, but support