As I sat in front of the TV (I had a sore middle back this morning, and decided not to go for a bicycle ride), watching the Tour d’France this morning, I was thinking, none of the riders in the Tour would have sat out because of a slightly sore middle back. Of course they would have access to a good masseuse to smooth out any soreness.
Still, even considering that, what the riders in the Tour go through is absolutely amazing. A little soreness is nothing to these riders. Even if there was no masseuse, they would just ride through the pain.
Even crashes are nothing. Riders that are unlucky enough to crash, are typically bandaged up (many times while racing to catch up to the peloton), and then quickly get back on their bikes.
But even for those that don’t crash, the effort that is put in by these riders, and the pain they go through is phenomenal.
To put that in perspective, one of the most difficult rides I do, is about 60 miles (95 kilometers) and has about 2600 feet (800 meters) of climbing.
That is nothing compared to what they do in the Tour d’France. Over a period of 23 days (there are 2 rest days), the riders will have covered 3550 kilometers (2200 miles), or 170 kilometers (105 miles) per day. And while there are 11 relatively flat stages, there are 7 mountain stages, consisting of 21 category 2 or harder climbs, plus a number of other smaller climbs, almost all of them being greater than 800 meters.
In other words, the riders in the Tour d’France do in just one climb, in one day, what it takes me 4 climbs to accomplish. And they will do several of those in one day. And after I’ve done that one ride, I have to take a day off. They have to do it again the next day, and the next.
And then there are the speeds. To put that in perspective, when the riders are in the peloton, leisurely riding, they are doing about 25 mph. (I could do that relatively easily, but I do like to have a few riders helping to block the wind in front of me). Riders that break away from the pack, have to do about 30 mph to get away. (I maybe could do that for a little while, but only if I had a number of riders blocking the wind in front of me).
But when the peloton is riding to catch a breakaway, or just wants to try and drop some riders, they will be riding about 36 mph. (I just can’t go that fast, no matter who’s in front of me.)
And in the final sprint, those guys are going over 40 mph. (I go that fast only in my dreams.)
Oh, and we can’t forget about the down hills. On a down hill, especially if a rider has been dropped, and is trying to catch up to the peloton, they can typically go faster than a car on most of those down hills. (As for me, I just WON’T go that fast.)
The PGA (Professional Golfers Association), always ends their commercials with “These guys are good”.
I actually think that term would be more appropriately used to describe the riders in the Tour d’France.
