{"id":123087,"date":"2015-07-24T15:06:44","date_gmt":"2015-07-24T13:06:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/?p=123087"},"modified":"2015-07-24T15:06:44","modified_gmt":"2015-07-24T13:06:44","slug":"letape-du-tour-how-much-pain-you-can-take","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2015\/07\/24\/letape-du-tour-how-much-pain-you-can-take\/","title":{"rendered":"L\u2019\u00c9tape du Tour: How much pain you can take?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We didn\u2019t plan on publishing another\u00a0article about l\u2019\u00c9tape du Tour from a single point of view, but when our colleague Martin sent us this, we simply had to change our plan. After reading this you\u2019ll definitely start training for the 2016 race!<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When I got a call from my colleague at \u0160koda asking if I was still interested in racing in one of the hardest stage of this year\u2019s Tour, I couldn\u2019t believe it. I\u2019d helped pick the winners for our contest<\/a> and now the good fortune came back to me like a boomerang. \u201cThese guys are animals,\u201d I kept saying to myself. Will I dare to challenge them? Will I challenge myself?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s here, it\u2019s happening. I feel like a pro, but I\u2019m definitely not. Since the start of the year my volume was around 1,000-2,000k. But I have the mindset, I have the bike. And the race can\u2019t break me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never, ever participated in a race where you can freely pour a BIG EVIAN over your head and nobody cares\u2026ces\u2019t bonne!\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s 3 km to the start of the first climb to Col du Chaussy, a 17 km sensation of the Tour de France with an average grade exceeding 7% and a closing 2 km section with an 8% grade. It\u2019s not about climbing it, it\u2019s about how much pain you\u2019re able to bear and for how long. Every guy passing me is wearing a jersey full of sponsors and is so skinny my mum would send him to see a doctor and add at least extra ten dumplings to his plate.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I definitely need another water. The one I had with me I poured over myself during the climb. And here it is, just in time!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A 20 km descent \u2013 you can\u2019t explain it with words. After first km\u2019s I start to cry because of the beauty surrounding me. My max speed is over 70km\/h! But passing several ambulances and guys covered with plastic blankets is definitely not a nice sight.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot to stop at the refreshment station before the climb was a BIG MISTAKE.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Col de la Croix de Fer (2,067m). It\u2019s a grueling and exhausting 22 km to the top. The average grade is around 8% and before the very top there\u2019s a section with a 10% grade. What\u2019s definitely helping to push me are signs that read:\u00a0What\u2019s a meter or a second in a life?<\/em> And When legs say stop, head doesn\u2019t say stop<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Spectators along the road are screaming \u201cBRAVO, BON VOYAGE, BON COURAGE,\u201d and an old guy is filling up empty bottles and pouring water over the riders on the steepest section. It\u2019s on this part that I just can\u2019t\u2026 I get cramps and can\u2019t go any further. It\u2019s so steep I can\u2019t even mount my bike once I get off it. But the crowd pushed me along.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crowd was so good. They helped me get back on my bike and pushed me to the final climb.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

I need food, A LOT OF FOOD! Like a wolf after months of starving. Oranges, puff pastry with bacon, cheese, definitely some salt to stop the cramps. I drink something like 2 litres of Isostar and half a litre of coke, fill my empty bottles, take two energy bars and a gel, and mount my bike again. Keep moving! There\u2019s no time for sightseeing!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The end is close, so close. Just another climb and it\u2019s here, the final refreshment station before the very end. But my knees start to strike back. ITB syndrome is something that can happen anytime and will kick you out of the race. If it rears its ugly head, I\u2019m done. No matter how much I want to finish, the pain would be so unbearable I wouldn\u2019t be able to go further. Please let me to continue<\/em>, I start to pray. Yeah, that\u2019s right, I start to pray 20 km before the finish line.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Lets sprint together,\u2019 I suggest and we speed up for the last bit to cross the finish line.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The valley is like one BIG SAUNA. It\u2019s very different from the top of the hills 1,000 m higher. Another refreshment station and the FINAL CLIMB. It\u2019s hard, hard as hell. Just another 17 km!<\/p>\n

Every next metre is more painful than the last. It\u2019s so close you just can\u2019t give up. I meet my friend whom I met 40 km back. We\u2019re both happy to see each other and share the same feeling: it\u2019s one of the hardest things we\u2019ve each ever done. We want to cross a finish line as a team and we do just that, sprinting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We didn\u2019t plan on publishing another\u00a0article about l\u2019\u00c9tape du Tour from a single point of view, but when our colleague […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":123090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-123087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling"],"yoast_head":"\nL\u2019\u00c9tape du Tour: How much pain you can take? - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We didn\u2019t plan on publishing another\u00a0article about l\u2019\u00c9tape du Tour from a single point of view, but when our colleague Martin sent us this, we simply had\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2015\/07\/24\/letape-du-tour-how-much-pain-you-can-take\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"L\u2019\u00c9tape du Tour: How much pain you can take?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We didn\u2019t plan on publishing another\u00a0article about l\u2019\u00c9tape du Tour from a single point of view, but when our colleague Martin sent us this, we simply had\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2015\/07\/24\/letape-du-tour-how-much-pain-you-can-take\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-24T13:06:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2015\/07\/opener19.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"525\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Martin Roman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2015\/07\/24\/letape-du-tour-how-much-pain-you-can-take\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2015\/07\/24\/letape-du-tour-how-much-pain-you-can-take\/\",\"name\":\"L\u2019\u00c9tape du Tour: How much pain you can take? 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