EC FR06 – Day 4 Jeff Shilt

Epic France Day 4

Swim 3k (1k with bands)

Run 10k

Bike not yet, but Hautacam

Another “easy day”….

Getting ready to head out for the ride. Short note today...

Johnno is going to drive to the nearest town today while we are out riding to drop our updates.

We will have computer and phone access tomorrow evening…can’t wait to talk, Erin.

J

EC FR06 – Day 3 Jeff Shilt

Epic France Day 3

Swim 50 min lake
Bike 180 k ~ 8:20
Run 10 k

What a Day!!!

Rode down the Col du Sour into Lourdes and then did a lake swim with wetsuits. Many guys were worried about the long bike and got up early to do their run, so they were a bit on the ragged side to start.

Ian rode with us yesterday on the “short ride” and blazed away early and left us behind. Today, Johnno decided to roll with us up the famous Col du Tourmalet and Lus Ardiden. For some reason, these climbs, along with Hautacam were the ones I look most forward to.

In any case, Johnno, then Gordo rolled us to the base of the Tourmalet. For those who wonder what it like “sitting in” with these guys, let me give you a little insight. As Gordo is comfortably on the front cruising steady, I was hanging on his wheel, at times 20-30 watts above my IM race pace. (For comparison sakes, I rode ~ 5:07 without transition at IM Brazil this past May). People were spitting off the back Before we got to the climb.

I wish I had the fortitude to write words to describe the climb, but it was nothing short of magnificent. I will simply say we made to the Lus Ardiden shortly before getting caught in a storm. I made two coffee stops with Jonathon and Molina on the way back and we cruised in from there. I was rolling reasonably well today but was unfortunately 2k short of a full ride. I ran out of steam and barely made it back.

Despite some initial protests, Colm and I headed out for our run. He is a class guy and certainly does Ciarrin proud, I’m sure.

Well, off to bed as I’m shot after a very long day!

J

EC FR06 - Day 2 Jeff Shilt

Epic France Day 2

Chalet d` Solour

Swim 3k
Run 2 hours (~22k)
Bike 95 k

We started off the day with a swim this morning in a pool in Lourdes. Met the reigning 50-54 Kona Champ…the guy apparently ran ~ 3hours. Amazing.

The boys had a little surprise for us following the swim. We did a 12k run back up the mountain to the Chalet d` Solour…what a killer. I actually felt decent and against my better judgment, decided to “add-on”. I went for 2 hours and covered very little ground. When you are up in the mountains every run downhill is matched by an uphill, so choosing your course wisely is important. Unfortunately you eventually have to go down at some point.

The views were amazing!! We are surrounded by small villages and the mountainside is littered with livestock of every shape and size. I’ve not usually had to worry much about cow dung on my bike shoes, but this is certainly a concern here.

We headed off on an “easy” bike ride today. This was basically a circular route back to the Chalet. We got lost (this is becoming a pattern when Molina is leading the pack), but it was well worth it. We passed by a few castles and – can I say it again- the views were amazing!

As most people who know me well know that I have very little power which results in poor climbing and no sprinting ability. This is really exposed when I ride with cyclists who do a lot of surging and any climbing. So this is one of the reasons that I came to camp-to hopefully improve some of the climbing.

The perspective from the back of the pack goes like this: you can typically keep it rolling on the long climbs when the pitch is 6-7%. However, I really start crawling at 8-9%. We’ve hit some 11 & 12% average kilometers which is really a struggle. (Worth a note here: it is really cool in that all of the climbs have a sign every kilometer that tells you how far to the top, how much more altitude gain you have left, what the grade is for the next kilometer) The signs really give you something to look forward to as your climbing.

I was just in front of the sweep vehicle today. I hope this has more to do with my long run than a prediction for tomorrow.

The evening was fun-I was interviewed for the podcast that John Newsome and Bevan do. You can find them on www.ironmantalk.com I look forward to hearing more of these when I get back to the states.

Random thoughts…Mike Montgomery is a beast…that guy can ride a bike unbelievingly well. Colm (Cierran Cassidy’s son) is strong as an ox. I don’t think he has been out of the big ring yet…I pledged that we teach him how to speak English instead of the Irish dialect he has before the end of the trip. Been great to have Jonathon along this trip…certainly hope he moves back to NC.

SRM :
4:13:42 ride time
Power average 125
Speed 13.7 mph
Mileage 58.5
HR data not picking up. Will try and adjust, but probably avg 130. Kind of tricky to figure out the meaning b/c the descents and flats are easy. The climbs are hard and I can’t really produce enough power to get my HR up.

J

EC FR06 – Day 1 Jeff Shilt

Epic France Day 1

Pau to Arrens-Marsous

Swim ~ 2000 race in lake

Bike 150 k

3 climbs:

1. Col d` Ichere 7 k

2. Col d` Marie Blanc 10k

3. Col d` Aubisque 17k

Run 10k

Great way to start the camp...it was raining and overcast to start the day, but the lake was reasonably warm. We did a 3 loop swim in the lake as a race. Some things never change as Jonathon & I brought the rear end finishing around 9 & 10^th. The sad part is that if Jonathon could swim even sort of straight he would have beaten me by several minutes…

Molina led out the swim the whole way followed by Monica. By dinner he was complaining that no points were given out…thank goodness for small favors. Fortunately this race was for pride only.

The bike fulfilled all of the reasons I made the trip. The countryside was spectacular and the scenery is every bit as beautiful as it appears during the TDF. The group stayed together reasonably well until we hit the first climb, although it was reasonably friendly and we all were back together by the end of the descent thanks to Gordo and his tri bike set up. Needless to say, only he and Monica were on their tri bikes. Kudos to her as this climbs were difficult enough on a road bike.

The second climb was a bit different as the guys headed up the road pretty quickly. Having learned my lesson at EC NZ, I decided to hang back and cruise up in a more manageable fashion for me. (Although I have to admit there wasn’t a lot of decision making …I couldn’t have really made it any faster.) JK and enjoyed the scenery –he did ask why all of the cows and sheep have bells around their necks. It became evident on the next limb when the sheep and cows were scattered all over the road and the fog was thick. If it weren’t for the bells alerting you of their location, an accident was bound to happen. The two things I learned today were that I’m a poor descender (kind of knew that already) and that Cows don’t yield on the road, regardless which way your going and the lane of road they happen to be on.

The Col d` Aubisque was outstanding 17k and 1700 meters of ascent. It was really cool to ride over all of the names spray painted on the road…Armstrong, Basso, Ullrich etc. Created a really cool atmosphere climbing. Mike Montgomery picked up the KOM points…Gordo, Scott were shortly thereafter. Mike is definitely the frontrunner for both the polka dot and yellow jersey. The Col d` Aubisque took me around 1:30 minutes.

We finished the day with around 10,000 feet of climbing and arrived at our home for a few days, the Chalet Du Solour. Great accommodations-Mike Peters, however, was yearning for the Pelican Sheep Farm in Goulborn in Australia. I was happy to be here, though the story is certainly great fun telling now.

We knocked off the day with a 10k run on a cross country ski course. Very nice.

Clas…if you happen to read, the standards are a little loose. Molina wanted credit for a 150k ride when he was short a few k. Very disappointing. Mike Peters led the way and we rode back up to the top to get the last few k in your memory.

The support crew, though few in numbers, did an outstanding job. Johnno is joined by Ian (brit who now lives in France and runs a bike tour company –Pyrenees Multisport) and John (a Kiwi) aka the evil bastard, our masseuse. John is relishing in the fact that he has the opportunity to inflict as much pain on us as the mountains do. I’ve taken a liking to his nickname.

There is a strong Winston-Salem and North Carolina contingent here. Myself and Jonathon Kelly are joined by Ken (Wake Forest Undergrad) and Mike Peters (Duke undergrad).

The only thing that could have been better about today would have been to have a little moral support alongside on a Vespa…maybe next year! Heck, maybe I should have a Vespa for this trip-now that’s an idea!!

SRM not working today..will hopefully have data tomorrow.

J