Great Website for Ventoux information

Check this website out. A hotel I use near the base of Ventoux sent me this great promotional website put together by the Vaucluse to promote their region to cyclists and others coming to the Tour just for this stage. It's a brilliant piece of marketing. Click on History for information on the stages that have gone up Ventoux beginning in the 50's. You also get great pictures that you can conjure up in your stage description - they literally will be riding through fields of lavender through the middle section of the stage.

And here are 11 things to know about Ventoux from a cycling blog called Cyclefit (someone I follow on Twitter).

In 1967 Tom Simpson died about 2km from the top on a very, very hot day (over 100 degrees farenheit). His famous last words were, "Put me back on my bike!" Back then they didn't know much about the effects of drugs and dehydration. He didn't have enough water - Tour rules at the time were such that they could only have 4 bottles! (Those rules were changed after his death). In an autopsy, they found amphetamines in his system. Apparently one of his teammates recently came out and said he definitely drank brandy that morning!

Above is the memorial that was erected to Simpson, a photo I took in 2004, the last time I climbed it. To this day, cyclists leave water bottles and other mementos to honor the fallen cyclist.

This memorial will play into my own Ventoux profile which is coming, I promise! I'm planning on posting it this afternoon, so come back soon!

(On a personal note, I've got to first get my house ready for an open house for realtors - they'll be parading through here in a few hours - cross your fingers a few of them have buyers in mind. I need to sell my house, and a LOT of stress will be lifted!)

BTW, thanks for the comments! It really does help, just like the applause helps riders get to the top. No one likes teaching Spinning to an empty room - it helps to know you're there and appreciating this!

I won't blow today's Tour if you haven't watched it yet, but I will say this:

It was frickin' amazing, exciting as hell, and as I predicted, so far the most exciting stage of this tour. I practically needed CPR afterwards!

(But wait, Ventoux is coming)!

Happy Bastille Day! French Spinning tunes

I'v been wanting to post some fabulous fun French songs to use in your Tour de France Spinning programs; but I haven't had one second to spare the past two weeks. Finally I get a tiny break between creating tour packages for my clients going on self-guided tours to the Tour de France. Yes, I am sending several small groups to the Tour de France - they are all going for the final week, departing this weekend for a few of the Alpes stages (including the time trial) and then Provence to watch the amazing battle on Mont Ventoux. I am living vicariously through each custom package I create. I give them everything they need - everything - to do it on their own in total confidence!

I'm not going this year; there weren't enough people signed up for my guided tours, but I'm grateful that enough people wanted to go on the self-guided options. I guess this is the year to cut corners - self-guided is much cheaper. Personally though, between you and me - the self-guided is way more fun; that is, if you are the independent sort and don't mind driving and supporting yourself. If not, then it's more fun to come with ME on a guided tour! ;-)

To keep myself from getting bummed that I'm not there, I am really getting into and enjoying my Tour de France Spinning classes. I am using a lot of new (well, new to me) French songs I've found on eMusic. I intersperse a French song or two with my regular music, and it keeps it very interesting. So far they seem to really enjoy the mix.

I've complied a pretty big list of my old and new favorites and have it here for you to download. Most are dance/club style, some are rock, alternative, punk, and a lot of French pop. Oldtime classics I use a lot for pre or post-class music or cool-downs, but I didn't list specific classic songs here, just the artists that you can search on eMusic or iTunes or elsewhere.

The good news: almost all of these suggestions can be found on eMusic (except a few key ones you'll want to get on iTunes unless you can find them elsewhere). So if you haven't signed up yet for your free downloads from eMusic, now's the time to do it - just click on the icon on the left of this blog. If you're already a member, watch out - these tunes will probably take up your whole month's allotment!

Have fun with this music, and let me know how your Tour de France classes are going! Also, if you have found other great French music, please share.

I appreciate any and all comments.

Bon écoute!

Livestrong! Honoring loved ones in your TDF Spinning classes and fighting LIKE Susan.

On Pedal-On, Fitmama (Jessica) posted a video of the Livestrong manifesto, and said she is using it as the warmup to her TDF rides, asking her class to ride in honor of someone they know whose life has been affected by cancer. This is a BRILLIANT idea! I am going to ask my class to do the same thing this Friday when we ride Stage 7. If we all do that, think about the energy we can put into the universe! Watch this video...

I have promised you some posts with French music and TDF profiles, but I am at the moment overwhelmed with trying to finalize my self-guided tours for my clients leaving soon to go to the Tour de France. I've promised them their tour packets very soon (and for that I get paid, so it trumps my other obligations and hobbies, like blogging and even cycling). I am grateful that I got two more last-minute clients in the past week, two people going solo, mind you, to the Tour de France. (That would be me, in a second, if I didn't already know how to do this stuff)! So even more work is crammed into these same few days leading up to this weekend when we are planning an Open House to try to sell our house in this crazy market - and there's lots more work to do to get it cleaned up and ready.

I'm dying to give you all my Spinning profiles for the Tour de France - I did a fun one this morning for Stage 5 and will do Stage 7 into the Pyrenees on Friday. Plus I have a planned post on some great French music - you'll need that soon if you want to add some new exciting French music to your playlists for this TDF. (In the meantime, sign up for eMusic by clicking on the emusic icon on the left of this blog so you can get the freebie downloads, and do a search for In-Grid, then download all her extended mixes. Many of you have Tu es Foutu already - but her others are also fun, Her regular albums are good too, but the extended mixes rock).

It's all coming...soon. Bear with me.

Oh, and I must add that while doing all the above, I'm trying to watch the Tour as much as possible, because it is truly one of the most exciting Tours I've seen in years (and I'm not there - argh)! The Tour de France, if it wasn't already pretty darned evident, is one of my biggest passions.

As a procrastination tactic, I just read the Fat Cyclist's blog post for today and feel compelled to write about it right now, setting everything else I have to do aside. Please, every single one of you needs to read this and send Susan your healing energy - and Elden needs it to. As the caretaker, he is a true hero. So few of us can even comprehend the pain and sadness of what this family is going through - it makes all my issues and problems seem like absolutely nothing.

This has everything to do with running your Tour de France programs in your Spinning classes. Lance Armstrong has his team from Livestrong parading all over France following the Tour, spreading the word on cancer awareness. It is truly amazing the outreach and effort - how can anyone not admire Lance Armstrong, succeeding both in his efforts to raise awareness that we are far, far from where we need to be in cancer research, as well as in his physical efforts at the Tour de France - he's tied for first place for crying out loud!

Did you know that all sales of Livestrong yellow bands at the Tour are going to the French cancer league to help their cause?

And it's all for people like Susan. Read this and send them your prayers.

Let's all follow Jessica's suggestion in our indoor cycling classes and ride this week for someone who has been affected by cancer! If you are doing so, please leave a comment below so we can see the impact we're having around the world with our Spinning classes!

Livestrong!

The Tour de France 2009 at the Homestead Court Club, Edwards, Colorado

The Tour de France begins tomorrow morning!

I have just put together the schedule for my club, the Homestead Court Club. We have four 6 am classes per week that will be participating in the Tour de France program. Todd teaches Monday, Amber on Tuesday and I teach Wednesday and Friday. I've created the weekly schedule, selecting 12 stages. My goal was to offer a variety of types of stages, while also giving each instructor variety, and at least one big mountain stage. (Those are my own personal favorite!)

I want to give you, my readers, the flyers that I've created. They are in a word document so that if you want, you can modify them to meet your needs - or you can just use them as ideas to create your own. I have tried to keep them very simple.

This is the flyer that we are posting around the club announcing our Tour de France program. Last year we did a contest with prizes, but that's not in the budget this year, so it's very simple.

This is the schedule of stages, which will be posted in the Spin room.

Then for each stage, I'll have a separate flyer posted on the Spin room (and sent to the instructor in advance by email). Those I'll give you in the next few days. The first stage we'll do will be on Monday. I've chosen stage 2, from Monaco to Brignoles. Below is the profile, taken from www.letour.com. It will be up to Todd, the instructor, to put together his own profile to fit this course.

Amber will do the Team Time Trial on Tuesday morning (a very fun stage to simulate), and my first one will be on Wednesday, which will be a fairly flat stage with a definite sprint finish.

More coming soon! Allez, Allez!

4th of July Spinning Profile - Kareoke Spin! And the Tour de France

So many things happening at once!

First, my profile from this morning. For the first time in my long Spinning career (13 years) I had a sing-along! It was only one song, but we had a taste of Kareoke Spin this morning! My Friday classes usually focus more on climbing, and today was no different. I did three separate hills. Intensity? Whatever they wanted - staying below threshold for much of it, some of the surges and really hard hills will take them higher. Use the downhills to recover heart rate.

Warm up:

Coming to America, Neil Diamond 4:19

American Made, George Thorogood, 4:07.

Begin raising the HR, slightly faster cadence, around minute 6.

Flat: R.O.C.K. in the USA, John Mellancamp. 2:55

Fun, fast song. Standing flat surges of 10-15 seconds, then sit with high cadence (95-100 rpm) for 30 seconds. Alternate.

1st Climb - about 7.5 minutes.

It's the 4th of July, Big Jack Johnson, 2:56. What's more American than Blues? Great start to the climb. Stay seated, adding resistance every minute.

Born in the USA, Bruce Springsteen, 4:41. Stay seated another minute, then stand for 2 minutes, on a harder hill. Sit to the top.

downhill/flat

Rock'n America, The Catholic Girls, 3:21. "Downhill" for 90-seconds, high cadence 100-110 rpm. When you reach the bottom, take away "gravity" by adding resistance to simulate a gear increase. Continue to work a fairly high cadence on a seated flat, 95-100 rpm.

Living in America, The Sounds, 3:28. 10-15 second surges on the flat, similar to the last flat before the 1st hill. This gets the HR up towards threshold. Cadence slows down slightly (slower song).

2nd Climb (1st song is fast, 2nd is a slow hard climb)

Remix- - If You're Going to San Francisco, Hanima Hightechwell 7:06. VERY cool song, I can't tell you where to get it or if it's available anywhere - I got it at a Spinning conference 3 years ago, it's their "MySpin #4" CD. (Email me if you want it). Great fast climb, concerted cadence of 75-ish rpm. Mostly seated, with a few standing surges on the "If You're Going to San Francisco" refrain.

America, Mike Musick 4:22. Slow hard climb. Cadence 60 rpm. Mostly seated, stand to finish.

Downhill - fast and short.

America, Agent Orange, 1:21. A little punk rock anyone?! I told them this song is mercifully short...and then we'll slam into the next hill hard and fast, and let the steepness slow our legs down.

3rd Climb - this time the first song is slow and hard, then it gets less steep and faster

The Hands That Built America, U2, 4:59. Ugh, this hill is hard!

America, Bigod 20. Standing switchbacks of 30 seconds, every 45-60 seconds. Seated in between.

Recovery

American Pie, Don McLean 4:09. Starts slow - still climbing until the song picks up at minute 1:30. KAREOKE! Yes, everyone started singing, I mean really singing! No one doesn't know the words to this song. Now, I wouldn't do a Kareoke Spin on purpose, but this was a fun way to end the ride.

So did I pull off my practical joke? (In case you missed it, read the edit at the end of this post). Well, sort of. I couldn't find an empty bottle of Jaegermeister or Rumplemints (another favorite shot liquor in the mountains) - I even went to 4 bars, but this isn't "shot season" (bet you didn't know there was a season for that kind of stuff). So I dug through our limited liquor cabinet and brought a small bottle of Courvoisier (just for show - I didn't open it)! First, as the song started and everyone had a smile on their faces, I asked them, "So, what does this song remind you of?" And sure enough, they started naming the bars in Vail: "Pepi's", "The Red Lion", "The Club"! (Yes, my students no doubt have lifted a shot glass or two at an Apres Ski party in Vail while singing American Pie with the drunk tourists!) I told them I cannot hear this song without thinking of Apres Ski...and then I pulled the Courvoisier from the bag and held it up and said, "Anyone care to have a shot with me?"

A few shocked looks....and then I said, "nah...just kiddin!" Yes, it was a fun morning....

Oh yes, my cool down songs: Down There, Fury and the Slaughterhouse, and America the Beautiful, Ray Charles.

And now, I am really, really excited......

THE TOUR DE FRANCE IS COMING!!!

The Tour de France starts tomorrow in Monaco. I am doing a Tour de France program at my club and will share with you my profiles. I've also got some fun new French songs to share with you (I'll post those tomorrow so you can start collecting them - many are available on eMusic, so if you're not a member yet, click on the icon on the left side of this blog to join and get your 50 free downloads). This afternoon, I'll go into the Spinning room and post posters and other TDF paraphernalia on the walls. I've contacted the two other instructors who will be doing this with me and will email them their profiles. I'll also be posting the profiles with a description of the stage on the walls of our Spin room so students know what to expect.

In the meantime, go to the left side of this blog under "Labels" and click on Tour de France. You'll see LOTS of posts from last year's tour. Peruse those for ideas on how to put together profiles based on the different types of stages: flat stages with sprints, rolling hills, big mountain stages, time trials. Read about attacks and breakaways, tour strategy, how to cue switchbacks on climbs and more. Get racing lingo and music ideas. It's all there for you to learn and have fun in your TDF classes. Start here by downloading the TDF handbook I created.

Please post any comments about your programs, music you find, or questions you have about anything to do with the Tour de France. And come back often to see my commentary about this year's tour, which promises to be highly intriguing, exciting and potentially, uh, rife with conflicts! (Let's hope the drug scandals stay away!)

For the stage information, go to www.letour.com. To decorate your cycling room, go to a bike shop and purchase a Tour de France calendar if you can find one. Great photos.

Vive Le Tour!

I have so much to give you from WSSC!

Whether you went to WSSC or not, I have much to give you! Profiles, music, cueing, resources and more. Some handouts may have already been posted from past conferences, but almost everything is recently updated. In order to receive all of the following documents (all free), please join my SageCycling network by signing up below. After you sign up, you will receive an email asking you to validate your email. This step is important - if you do not receive an email asking for verification, please check your spam folder. (Note: if you are already on my mailing list, you will automatically receive everything, no need to rejoin).


Once you verify your email the following is what you will receive via email. If you only attended one or a few of my sessions - take what you like and discard the rest (although I have a feeling you'll find it all useful):

1. Music List for all six sessions, including where to find the tracks.
   
2. Triple Threat powerpoint handout.
   
3. Triple Threat profile for our ride at WSSC, as well as several other interval profiles using the Triple Threat concepts.
   
4. Lactate Threshold Field Test powerpoint handout.
   
5. Suitcase of Courage - description of stage racing strategy, how to cue attacks, breakaways, leadouts and sprints in a Spinning class, and a verbal description of our Suitcase of Courage profile at WSSC. Includes links to a whole slew of metaphors and colorful comments used by Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwen in their Tour de France commentary that you can sprinkle into your classes.
   
6. A glossary of bicycling and racing from Bicycling magazine (helpful for anyone putting together a Tour de France program).
   
7. The Tour de France powerpoint presentation as a handout (minus some photos to make the file size manageable).
   
8. My verbal dialogue used in the Alpe d'Huez ride, One Rider's Journey from Pain to Triumph as he finishes the final mountain stage of the Tour de France
   
9. How Big is Your Why. How to find your deepest WHY, and why this is so important in achieving your goals. I give a detailed example of my own personal why behind a recent challenge I put before myself (my little "secret" behind why I did the Giretto). Includes the profile for the Core Movement Medley, our ride which was the perfect metaphor for setting and achieving goals by establishing a compelling WHY. Verbal cueing and coaching is given for each round in the profile.
   
10. The powerpoint presentation for It's a Chain Reaction, the biomechanics of the pedal stroke.
    

Join my network and receive all of the above pdfs. You'll be on the SageCycling mailing list for weekly updates for my blog posts and information about future products that will help you become the best indoor cycling instructor you can be.

On this blog, there are already many resources that can help you. For those who took my Moving Mountains session, I have numerous posts on how you can teach this class at your club, complete with the nine componenets of Flow, and my verbiage and motivational techniques. Click here to find all the posts under the label "Mind-body" and scroll down to the first Moving Mountains post on September 4, 2008. There are 5 posts that you can cut and paste and copy for your own use. Please use this information to create your own MM ride, and let me know when you do! I have received several very inspiring emails from instructors who have taken the leap and taught this most amazing ride at their clubs. In virtually every case, they have been very successful and overwhelmed at the wonderful reception by their students.

One of these instructors, Charles, explained to me how he taught it at his club and his director told him he was "the real deal". Incidentally, this is why I picked Charles to ride with me up on stage for my Moving Mountains session last weekend in Miami. I am always impressed with anyone who will take this very motivational and inspirational material and share it with their own students.

If you took my Tour de France & Alpe d'Huez session, and seek examples of ways to teach various Tour de France stages, simply click on Tour de France under "Labels" on the left side of this blog. You'll find everything from flat stages, to time trials to rolling stages to the major climbs. Make sure to keep checking this July - I'll have more from this year's Tour.

If you're interested in more music suggestions, click on "Music" under labels for tons of music ideas, especially my favorite climbing songs. You will also find here past music lists from other conferences. Some songs remain the same from year to year for the more "iconic" rides such as Moving Mountains and Alpe d'Huez, because though I've tried, I cannot improve on some of the songs that have become so much a part of these profiles. I almost always return to my most favorite songs because of the mood they convey. With other profiles, I try to change the music from year to year, but chances are most attendees have not been to that session in the past. However, I must say, I am always amazed and honored when someone tells me they return to my same session year after year because of the impact it has had on them (usually MM or AdH). They don't seem to mind if the music is the same!

Make sure to join eMusic and get your free downloads by clicking on the icon on the top left of this blog page.

Once again I want to tell you all how much I appreciate you for not only attending my sessions, but for your friendship, your emails of support, and when you share with me how meaningful these rides have been for you. For those of you who frequent my blog who I have yet to meet either at a conference, or in a Spin class somewhere, or perhaps on a bike climbing a mountain in France or Italy...I look forward to our encounter where we can Move Mountains together.

Ride on!

The official 2009 Tour de France route presentation

Jut thought I'd share this very cool video of next year's Tour de France route. Imagine if you could play this at the beginning of each class in which you were planning to ride one of the stages? Fun!

I've got to find a way to get this music to use in my classes. Even with the sound effects like the plane and train, and the "swoosh" for each departure and arrival town, it's very cool.

The Tour de France - the things I do for this crazy race!

Bonjour athletes!

It's 5:00 in the morning in Colorado, and I've been up since 2:30! The hour before my alarm went off I barely slept anyway, anticipating the wake up long before it arrived. I tried to go to bed early, but that just doesn't work at times, especially if you're excited about something.

Why on earth would I interrupt my sleep like that? Well, today the Tour de France official route was announced in Paris at 11:00 Paris time. I seem to remember it happening a little later in the past as I don't remember ever having gotten up this early, but this is about the 6th time I've set this early morning aside! I even got a sub for my Spin class which starts in one hour....I guess I could have taught it, but I'm going back to bed as soon as I finish this post.

It's more than just my passion for the Tour that gets me up...I need to know where to find hotels for my tours! The route was leaked in bits and pieces for the past month, so tour operators like me had an inkling where it would be, but you just never know. I must compete for hotel rooms with other tour operators from all over the world, who also got up at the same time. The available hotel rooms first go to the Tour de France organizers, teams and support staff and the media before the public has access to them. So the pool of available good quality rooms is limited.

And then it's a mad dash among the rest of us in the world. Many tour operators have booked lots of rooms over a lot of days in areas where they assume the Tour will go, so I have to get on the waiting list for some hotels, hoping they have cancellations. Other issues are that some hotels want non-refundable deposits NOW, or you don't get your rooms.

Nothing is quite yet set for my tours, as I'm waiting for email confirmations, but you can be assured that I have at least one, if not two great tours planned, one to the Alpes and perhaps one to the Pyrenées. In the Alpes we'll ride the incredible Col de la Colombiere (which I did with my 2007 group) and go see the time trial around Lac Annecy (that's going to be cool! It's such a beautiful lake). Then we'll shuttle down to Provence to ride the penultimate stage up Le Mont Ventoux, probably the most exciting stage of next year's Tour. We'll watch the finish on TV after having ridden that day through the vineyards and medieval villages of the Lubéron, one of the most scenic parts of France. No crazy dash to Paris for the finish - yeah it's fun, but I can tell you, it's also anti-climactic and requires standing for 6-8 hours waiting for the teams to arrive - it's more fun to ride in Provence and watch it on TV.

And I'm also working on a tour in the Pyrenées, to include the stage into St. Girons and some of the beautiful climbs there (that I did with a group on the 2005 Tour) plus a spectacular climb over the Col de Tourmalet. Not sure if we'll go into Andorra or not - depends on hotel confirmations and logistics.

So, that's the news. If you EVER had any inkling of going to the Tour, next year will be the year to do it, with the return of not only Lance Armstrong, but several other of his rivals from years past (all supposedly repented after their indiscretions). But not only because of that...but also because if you come with me, you're sure to have an even greater time, and I'm sure I'll have a lot of other Spinning instructors and enthusiasts from all over. Stay in touch with me for more info or send me an email to make sure you're on my mailing list.

FYI, I'm excited to announce that I'll have a Spinning instructor from England, Robert Baldi (who is also passionate cyclist and has ridden La Marmotte and many other big cols in france) who will be helping me as a guide on these tours (he helped me this morning make calls to hotels - but for him in the UK it was a civilized hour). In fact, he's been a guest instructor on this very blog, so you'll get a lot of Spinning bang for your Tour de France buck! Hey, and the euro has been falling, so it could be a LOT more reasonable next year than this year.

Vive le Tour! Allez! Allez!

Lance Armstrong returns to race another Tour de France

After a few days of viral rumors, Lance Armstrong announced that the rumors were indeed true, that he wanted to make a comeback to racing and win an eighth Tour de France (along with racing several other races next year).

Now, as the owner of a bicycle tour company, one that takes people to ride part of and experience the Tour de France, I was elated to hear this news! Once Lance disappeared from the cycling scene, my inquiries for my TDF tours took a nosedive, and I think this could bring a lot more people back to France. The above photo I took on the Col de la Croix Fry in 2004, when his key domestique was Floyd Landis (in front) and his two biggest rivals, Ulrich and Basso were salivating right behind him on the climb. We were 1 km from the top of the climb in this photo, and Lance took off and won the stage not far after the descent from this mountain.

But aside from my ulterior, purely business motives, the other part of me was thinking that I'm not so sure it would be a good idea for him to un-retire. I mean, there are a lot of people waiting to re-unleash their doping accusations of him. The fact remains that of the last 2 Tours that he won, many of the racers who placed 2nd through 10th are gone, ejected from cycling from failed doping tests. Landis, Basso, Ulrich, Vinokourov, etc. The fact that lance never failed a doping test hasn't deterred his detractors.

I was also one of those who really enjoyed this year's Tour de France and the emergence of some new faces and names, and am excited for the opportunity open to them next year. Vande Velde, the Schleck brothers Andy and Frank, Kim Kirchen, Bernard Kohl, and more. (Cadel Evans is not among my favorites so I didn't include him, although he'll probably do well). Lance's presence takes away a little bit from their opportunities, but I guess competition is competition! It will be interesting to see what happens if Lance is on the same team (Team Astana, managed by Lance's team manager from US Postal and Discovery teams) as Alberto Contador and Levi Leipheimer. The latter two cyclists were the 1st and 3rd place winners from 2007, and they couldn't race in 2008 when their team Astana was barred from the Tour this year. Astana should be allowed in 2009, and Contador will want a shot at being a team leader again, as will Leipheimer, and with Lance on their team, the chances are slim - they might have to jump ship to get their opportunity.

However, any doubts that I had about Lance's return were dispelled after I read the Vanity Fair interview.  It's quite long, but it really describes Lance's reasoning. And I like it! I'm sold, and I'll be supporting him next year. I'll even pull out my yellow bracelets again!

So here's to Lance returning to the Tour de France next year!

And if you ever had an inkling of desire to come watch the Tour and ride some of the famous cols in France, then email me to get on my waiting list NOW, because I have a feeling my tour will sell out quickly! Or, if you think your Spinning students would be interested, let them know to contact me soon.  Thanks for spreading the love! jennifer@vivatravels.com

FYI, I'll be providing all my tour clients with a training program that can be done in indoor cycling classes. If you can get together a group of students who might be interested, then I'll even help you create a TDF training program at your facility. (And I'll give you referral commissions for helping to promote it. contact me for more information).

Allez! Allez!

ps here's an article from VeloNews saying that Christian Prudhomme, race director of the Tour de France, welcomes Lance to race in next year's Tour.

pps: as this topic relates to indoor cycling, this news will make your next year's Tour de France program even more interesting and exciting! Make sure to bookmark my series on how to create Tour de France profiles in your indoor cycling program!

Adieu to the Tour de France for this year!

I hope you thought this Tour de France was as exciting as I did, and enjoyed bringing a little of that excitement into your classes. If this was the first time you've done this in your indoor cycling program, know that every year it will get easier, and you will have more experience to add every time you do it. Judging by the number of emails I received, there were a lot of first-time Tour watchers out there who have been creating stage profiles for their classes. They've commented about how much fun they've had as well as their students. This is very rewarding to me, and I hope that all of you reading this have enjoyed these posts for the past 3 weeks. (If so, let me know below by leaving a comment).

Don't think that your profiles have to be shelved for a year! You can do Tour de France rides all throughout the year - they are simply another fun and exciting profile to add to your repertoire. You now have some excellent, very real Race Day and Strength Energy Zone profiles from the time trial and Pyrenéean and Alpine stages.  Of course you also have Interval rides from your flat or rolling stages with a lot of attacks and recoveries, and the long flat stages sitting in the middle of the peleton are perfect Endurance Energy Zone profiles.

It's been very time consuming the past three weeks. Phew, I need a little break (just like the riders do after 3 weeks of racing)! I am going to go back to an average of once a week posts. You may want to subscribe to the Feed Reader (on the left side of the blog, near the bottom, the orange icon that says Feed Icon. Then you'll be given an option to subscribe to a feed reader such as Google, Bloglines, My Yahoo, etc. You'll be notified there when there are any new posts.

Or just put this link in your bookmarks or on your desktop and check back regularly for profiles, cuing and coaching tips, physiology, programming, and music ideas. I'll try to have profiles from guest instructors at least once a month (contact me if you have a great profile you would like to be considered). Remember to share this blog with all the instructors you know.

If you have any suggestions for content or something you would like me to discuss, please leave a comment. I appreciate any and all comments at any time, any post! All comments also appear in my inbox, so no need to email me as well.

Vive le Tour! 

(Note: the photo above is George Hincapie carrying the American flag on the Champs Elysée in Paris in 2005 after the 7th win by Lance Armstrong).

About today's time trial - Tour de France 2008 Stage 20

As Paul Sherwen said in the race, a time trial is all about "dosing your efforts". Well, Cadel Evans didn't dose his very well - in fact, they mentioned that he was pedaling a higher gear than he normally does. If this is so, one has to wonder why you would do something different than you normally would do?

Carlos Sastre rode the time trial of his life. He finished "only" 12 in the actual time trial, but that was enough to keep his yellow jersey. It is said that once you pull on the yellow jersey, you ride like two men. And he did!

Cadel Evans didn't ride the race of his life...and he didn't live up to anybody's expectations or predictions, not the least of which was his own. But to be honest, I'm quite happy about it! He's not my favorite rider. He's a whiny, mean person with a wimpy voice who is very aggressive with the media. Check out these Youtube videos posted on another cycling blog of how mean he can actually get!

So my hat goes off to Carlos Sastre and Christian Vande Velde, who also rode the TT of his life and lifted himself up to 5th place, not bad for an American who no one had in their radar for a top finish! And the exciting thing, he gives us great hope for next year! 

If you dream about possibly watching the Tour de France in person, and riding some of these great cols, contact me now to get on my mailing list to be the first to hear of my tours for next year! You can check out my blog on cycling in Europe for discussions of how and where to view various stages of the Tour. I guarantee you the time of YOUR life!

Saturday's Time Trial - A Great Race Day opportunity!

The results of this year's very exciting Tour de France, is coming down to Saturday's time trial, stage 20. Cadel Evans is 1:25 behind Carlos Sastre, after Sastre's amazing ride up Alpe d'Huez on Wednesday. The announcers kept saying that Evans is a much stronger time trialist, and has the possibility of putting up to 90 seconds on Sastre, given the distance of this final time trial. But when one has the maillot jaune, one is far more motivated! And Sastre no doubt will be motivated. I can imagine he is doing daily affirmations and using visualizations to picture himself on the top place on the podium in Paris. Will Carlos Sastre pull out the ride of his life this Saturday?

One thing is for certain - this Tour de France may be the closest margin in history (currently Greg Lemond holds that record, with an 8-second win over Laurent Fignon in 1989 - photo above). As well, the top 5 or 6 riders may be within the shortest amount of time in history (as of now, the top 6 are within less than 5 minutes)!

You can use this in your Stage 20 ride! Use that excitement, that motivation. Ask your riders to pretend that they are Carlos Sastre who knows that this must be the best performance of his life, if he is to realize his dream of being #1 in the Tour de France. or better yet, imagine that they are Christian Vande Velde, the American on Garmin-Chipolte who is such a strong time trial rider, that a fantastic ride might take him from 6th to 3rd or even 2nd!

Put your intention into every pedal stroke. Believe in yourself, see yourself on the podium. Imagine the sweet glory of it all. It makes all the effort, training, and pain so worthwhile.

Stage 17, Alpe d'Huez and the "Pendulum of Pain" tomorrow!

I talk about Alpe d'Huez so much you'd think it's the only climb of the Tour!! I apologize for that, but it has such a mythique to it, and it's looming in all the rider's minds as well. If this climb was earlier in the stage, it would not be a very big deal, but at the end of the stage, it's a monster! Tomorrow is such an epic day of the Tour, I hope you realize how important this stage is. Stage 17, along with the time-trial in a few days, will determine the podium on Sunday in Paris. If you have chosen to do stage 17 tomorrow or in the next few days, make sure you emphasize this fact and bring that excitement into your ride. 

As of yesterday, there was only 49 seconds between the top 6 riders! This is unprecedented! And less than 5-minutes separates the top 10. Today's stage over the Lombard and the Bonette-Restefond will shake up the GC a bit more, no doubt.  But one thing is certain, it pales in comparison to tomorrow's stage, which I am sure will wreak havoc in the peleton and cause a lot of riders to crack.

Here is a quote by one of the riders, Allan Gallopin: ‘That last week is brutal, really tough. No one will be able to say they've got the race sewn up at least until they get to Alpe D'Huez - and maybe not even then.’ Those 21 switchbacks do something to the psyches of the riders. They are numbered in reverse order from the bottom up - so you always know how many more you have to go. I wonder if the riders in the Tour really want to know this information? Does it help or hinder them as they climb? "Only 18 more to go - AUGH!"  I know when I climbed it the last time I tried not to look which switchback I was on - until I got close to the top that is!

I did stage 17 in my class this morning, exactly as I did it at WSSC. I was a bit nervous, because this is somewhat of a tough crowd, and it's hard to crack that nut sometimes. They aren't very expressive.  But they received it well and a few commented on how interesting the psychological aspect was of talking as if I am their consciousness speaking to them.  (See my previous post on how I teach my Alpe d'Huez ride). We are doing a raffle and every student gets an entry for every class they attend, but i also brought in a pair of King of the Mountain socks (white with red polk-a-dots) that I've given out on my bike tours, and picked a name out of a hat and gave it away at the end of class. A new student who just joined won, which was awesome!

As I have been watching the Tour on TV, I look at the faces of the riders, especially the ones that cannot hide the pain, who grimace as they climb, or the ones at the rear of the peleton, struggling to make it to the finish line. I wonder what is going through their mind? What is their story? One rider's wife had a baby during an early stage - did that fill his mind the whole time or could he focus on how he was riding?

Every rider, no matter where he is in the GC, is thinking of Alpe d'Huez.  Every one of them. And they'll be thinking of it tomorrow when they wake up, and as they mount their bicycles at the start in Embrun, and while they are climbing the Galibier, and the Croix-de-Fer (both HC climbs).  Once you ride through Bourg d'Oisans, the town at the base of AdH, and you see the sign indicating Alpe d'Huez is 13 km away (uphill), it is almost impossible not to have butterflies. Your stomach turns and there is a certain dread mingled with trepidation, you have to purposely fill your mind with positive thoughts to overcome the doubt and fear that fills your head. You've become so conditioned to believe this is such a killer climb, and you wonder "What the heck am I doing here at the base of Alpe d'Huez, about to ride up this thing?"  You know that the "pendulum of pain" will be swinging hard in your direction. 

But once you see this sign...

...it means you're almost there! It means you've accomplished your goal! It means the 21 switchbacks are over, you've overcome all obstacles, you've arrived.

It means success.

If you are teaching Stage 17 in your Spinning class, let me know how it goes. How are you doing this profile? How are you motivating your students? What are your cues? What might you be doing that is different? If you try the narrative approach like my profile (and I hope many of you do!) let me know how it goes! Leave a comment below.

Allez! Allez!

Curious how teammates can help in the Tour?

If you're still learning the strategies of the Tour de France, you may be a bit confused as to why someone high up in the General Classification (GC), that is, someone who is a strong hopeful for a podium finish at the Tour or is shooting for the yellow jersey, may or may not have his teammates around him.  Some riders have a whole host of teammates to protect him, some seem like they're riding alone most of the time. If you remember the "Postal Train" or "Le Train Bleu" as the French called US Postal, and also the Discovery Train, they were the most skilled at creating a train of teammates to help Lance up the climbs. They would take turns at the front (Lance just tucked himself in behind his men) and one by one, when they dropped off from fatigue, he would still end up with at least one faithful teammate as they approached the finale of the climb! The above photo is in the Pyrenées in 2005, with the discovery Train leading the way up the first of 3 major climbs!

It comes down to the calibre of the team, and how fatigued they are at this point. They may not be able to set pace, or ride up at the front. Or maybe they're skilled at sprinting, but that keeps them at the tail end of the peleton on the mountains, unable to help out their team leader.

Here is a great explanation of how poor Cadel Evans seems to be riding alone, without teammates, and also the reasons he lost his yellow jersey on Stage 15. He is only 9 seconds back and is a strong climber, so he can still regain it in the next few climbing stages, or in the final time trial. But having some teammates around him would sure help!

In your Spin classes, make mention about having teammates around to help set the pace or to protect you from the headwinds!

Please tell us about your Tour de France Spinning Program

Are you running a Tour de France program in your Spinning classes? Would you be willing to tell the world about it? Even just briefly, leave a comment on how many stages you're doing, what kind of promotions (if any) you're doing, class responses, etc.  I've gotten quite a few emails from instructors describing what they're doing and how fun it has been. Things like decorating the Spin room with posters, putting yellow, green and red/white polk-a-dot ribbons on the bikes, giving away jerseys, students who have formed their own "teams", etc.

Let us know here! If it's just a brief description (a few sentences or paragraphs) please just click "comments" below any post on this blog and enter it there.  If it's longer, email me and I'll include it as a post, combined with other programs. In fact, if you want to share some of your profiles, send them to me and I'll post them right here on this blog with a little bio about you and your club.  This blog gets around 100 hits a day (and growing - please continue to share this with any instructors you know) from instructors all over the world - so anything you share can help other instructors across the globe! And you may get a lot more ideas to add to your program, or to keep in mind for next year's Tour de France.

This weekend, I'll be writing a post about how to create a profile based on the finale in Paris, with 8 laps around the Champs Elysées. As the final class of your "Tour" you can create a lot of fun activities around it.

Thanks for sharing! My email is jennifer@vivatravels.com.

And check out my other blog on Cycling in Europe and how and where to view the stages of the Tour de France (in person, on your bicycle). Share it with all the cyclists you know who might one day want to take a cycling tour to Europe or other parts of the world.

Alpe d'Huez, Part 1

Alpe d'Huez. Just the mention of the name engenders awe in the hearts and minds of cyclists passionate about climbing the big cols of Europe. There is something very magical and mythical about this mountain; it has an allure that is difficult to explain. It's not the longest, nor the most difficult climb in the Tour de France, but it is definitely the most famous. 

Alpe d'Huez is 13.8 km long, about 8 miles. It has an average grade of 7.9%, an 11% 'wall' at the bottom of the climb, and 21 switchbacks, or as the French call them, "lacets" for shoelaces, that snake back and forth to the ski village at the top. 

First, a little background on my attraction to Alpe d'Huez, and tomorrow, I'll post the profile of my popular AdH ride presented at WSSC and other conferences around the country.

I have ridden AdH 3 times and have driven as sag support for my riders numerous other times. My first time there was in 1988 but I didn't get to ride it, and I longed for years to return. I was in the middle of a 2,500 mile solo, self-supported bicycle odyssey around Europe and took a train to Grenoble in order to ride up the Alpe d'Huez for the Tour de France.

Very long story very short...my French was lacking at the time and I misunderstood about my bike arriving on the train with me... it didn't! "Mais non, mademoiselle! Ca va arriver dans 3 jours!"  It's arriving 3 days later? I was devastated. Fortunately I had my panniers, tent and sleeping bag (back then I was into roughing it. Today, give me a fancy hotel), and hitch-hiked to a nearby campground in Grenoble (about 2 hours from AdH). I met many people going to the stage, and got a ride with a Swiss guy named Christian the next day, the day before the stage. We battled the traffic and found a place about 3/4 up the switchbacks of the Alpe, where he could barely nose in his old stationwagon. He had his bike and rode down and up, and I just hiked around, broken-hearted to be at the Mecca for cyclists without my bike! We befriended our neighbors, shared a meal and slept in the back of his stationwagon which was at a serious tilt. There was no available flat spot to set up a tent.

I remember getting up at 2 am to go to the bathroom...and having to dodge traffic! The cars continued to arrive all night long, as they would be closing the road the next morning.

I hiked around the next day and explored the village a few miles further up. The Tour didn't arrive until late that afternoon.

This was the year Greg Lemond had been shot in a hunting accident, so he wasn't there, but what excitement it was! (Someday I'll have my slides converted to digital). Pedro Delgado won the stage, and was later charged then cleared of failing a drug test. Afterwards we drove slowly back to Grenoble with tens of thousands of other cars, picked up my bike at the train station, and Christian dropped me off at a campground in Annecy a few hours north. It was July 14th, Bastille Day and I was treated to an amazing fireworks display. The next day it snowed as I crossed the mountains of Switzerland...

The next year, 1989, I began working in France as a tour guide for a bicycle tour company but never had the chance to go back to Alpe d'Huez until an amazing opportunity fell into my lap. I was asked to be a tour guide on a bicycle tour to the Tour de France with Greg Lemond in 1999! This exciting tour could take several pages (I've got LOTS of stories about Greg), so I'll keep it short for now. As the guides, we dropped off the clients 10 miles from the base of ADH, so they could ride as a "peleton" up ADH with Greg the morning of the stage, decked out in their colorful Lemond team jerseys. After parking the vans, we were able to climb up. This is one of the only photos that I've scanned into digital, of my co-guide Saunie and me prior to riding up ADH in our Lemond jerseys, gloves and bikes.

Climbing the 21 switchbacks of Alpe d'Huez lined with tens of thousands of people cheering you on is delerious. Few words can describe the exhilaration and motivation it provides. I was in such a daze from the surreal situation I found myself in, I remember thinking that the people around me seemed to move in slow motion. Some offered water or even beer as I climbed! There were far fewer women climbing than men, and we attracted a lot of attention. I seriously bonked 2/3 of the way up (that will happen when you're so preoccupied you forget to eat). I straddled my bike and stuffed my face with a melted chocolate energy bar. Just a few minutes later I felt my energy return and rode triumphantly to the top where we had a private lunch scheduled with Greg and some Tour VIPs.

I think my time was under 2 hours, but I didn't really time myself. There were so many people along the way that we couldn't go fast, and it was fascinating people watching as we rode!  Also I had to stop and eat, and we were actually sent a different way than the official route by a policeman for the final 4 km, so we had to make our way through town.

Later, Giuseppe Guerini won the stage, despite being knocked over by an over ambitious fan taking a photograph! Lance was somewhere near the top - this was the first year he won the Tour. Two days earlier, we had VIP passes behind the scenes at the arrivée in Le Grand Bornand where Lance took the yellow jersey for the first time. Afterwards, Greg had a private meeting with Lance in his team bus to congratulate him and give him his advice. The next day, our entire group packed into Greg's hotel room to watch as Lance won the stage in Sestriere. I remember Greg saying, "He didn't take any of my advice!"

Hmmm, I wonder if that was the original source of his ire with Lance that surfaced years later?Probably not, but it's fun to say I was there!

In 2004 I sagged my own tour group as they climbed it the day before the infamous time trial. It was so mobbed on that day, I'm not sure I would have enjoyed the ride that day quite as much as I did in 1999. The photo below was sent to me from Ron, a Spinning instructor who actually was there for the stage in 2004 and saw Lance when he passed Basso!

In 2005 I set my own personal best. I took a group in June whose goal was to beat Sheryl Crow's allegedly reported time of 1:38. My best rider was a woman who rode it in 1:16, and she said she never stood up once; just sat in her saddle and churned the pedals! After supporting them as they climbed and afterwards were happily settled at a bar to celebrate, I jumped on my bike, descended and rode up. My time was 1:26, but I can tell you I was in some serious pain. 

Last year, I took another group and rode the Alpe by myself prior to their arrival (the photo at the top of the page).  This time I didn't push myself as hard, and was only 10 minutes slower (I still beat Sheryl Crowe!) but I was in infinitely less pain.  On this tour, I had one very fit rider, Mark, who rode it in 1:02. He was unhappy with his time and calculated that if he went a little slower at a lower heart rate at the tough bottom section, he could do it faster overall. He and another client went back the next day (while the rest of us rode another beautiful route) and rode it again; this time his time was :58!

His wife Anne, by the way, also rode up (non-timed) but she rode for two! When her son was born almost 6 months later, she was able to say he got to ride up Alpe d'Huez. Here's a very funny story: the two of them plus two others (Kim and Brian) who were on that tour are all Spinning instructors. They all came to WSSC this year and rode on stage with me in my ADH ride. A week later, Anne called me and said Alpe d'Huez must have a special effect on her - she returned from WSSC and found out she once again rode Alpe d'Huez for two (albeit indoors) - she's pregnant again!

As you can see, I have so many fond memories of this mountain. If you want information on how to go and climb Alpe d'Huez on a self-guided tour, or want to put together your own group at your club for a private guided tour, contact me! I am convinced that with a little training, even primarily in Spinning classes, almost anyone can do this famous climb... You can reach me at info@vivatravels.com. 

And check back tomorrow for my Spinning profile of Alpe d'Huez.

"Green is the new yellow" - Sprinters take the stage at the Tour de France - a WSJ article

Karen, one of my blog readers from Florida, sent me this article in today's Wall Street Journal about the sprinters in the Tour de France and how this year is their year. It's a very interesting article - make sure to click on the Photo Slideshow for great photos of sprinters and a commentary. It's also interesting to note that this year contains more possibilities for sprint finishes than past Tours.

Though I am personally much more of a sucker for a great climber, I find sprinters a fascinating group. The risks they take are mind-boggling, but it doesn't seem to bother them at all. It's all or none with them, because going for the green jersey is often a matter of millimeters and nano-seconds. There's nothing worse (or more adrenaline producing) than seeing a massive pileup during a mass sprint a few hundred meters from the finish line. You can be sure the yellow jersey contenders will stay back in the pack to avoid potential crashes on the sprint finishes of flat stages. I think because of their incredible courage, daring and speed, sprinters are often brash and vivacious personalities, so proud of their accomplishments they often come across as cocky (more so than other riders, although Michael Rasmussen was about as cocky as they come). Don't hesitate to describe these vibrant personalities to your classes in your rides!

I've occasionally heard comments from instructors who would like to teach a TDF stage but don't feel confident enough to do so. They are so new to the sport and are unsure of themselves when talking about bicycle racing in their classes and tell me, "But I don't know the words to use, and some of my members know more than I do, so I feel silly!" My suggestion is to read as much as you can, especially some of the articles I've provided in the past posts, and to borrow videos or DVDs of past Tour de France races to familiarize yourself. You may even be able to find them in your local library. And don't worry what your members think - you are providing them with a fabulous workout and great entertainment. In many parts of the country, you'll know far more about the Tour than many of your members even if this is your first year - and it might even be you who turns them on to a new passion!

Whenever I read an article like this WSJ article, I am always perusing for verbiage I can "steal" to use in my Tour de France indoor classes. You should be doing the same - get yourself a small notebook, and start keeping some coaching and cueing notes so when you are teaching your class, you'll sound like the expert!

And remember, your ultimate goal with TDF rides is to have even more fun in your Spinning classes!

Enjoy this video of two early stages of the 2007 TDF and their crazy mass sprint finishes, one is even on cobblestones. Pay attention to the colorful verbiage used by Paul Sherwen and Phil Liggett. Paul says, "He can't get rid of the Frenchmen, they are like sandbags to him - he wants get rid of them and float to victory!" And then how Phil Liggett says, "They all got beat by the yellow jersey, that will serve them right!" [...ah man, only 8 days before the Tour starts! Can you tell I'm excited??]