My road to the 2008 L'Etape Du Tour

Training - During Injury

2007-11-04T18:13:00.000Z

I went out today for the first time in a week, just to test the old leg out. Took my Ibuprofen about an hour before I went and then just spun my legs for 10 miles. Nothing intense, no hills and no time constraints, and it all went well.

So far I have felt no pain or discomfort in my leg and as long as its ok in the morning, I'm going to go out again.

Hopefully after a week or two of this I will be able to bring up the intensity!

Bursitis!

2007-11-04T10:16:00.001Z

Well I've just met the first hurdle in my training so far! For the last few weeks I've had a pain in the back of my leg... Almost directly behind my knee, that only occurs when in the saddle.

After a quick visit to the doctor today, he has diagnosed Bursitis. This is basically when the little fluid filled sacs between muscle and bone become inflamed due to excess fluid, and is likely to take up to 6 weeks to heal!

I have been advised that I should continue training at a reduced intensity until it starts to feel alot better, so I should at least be doing some training still.

On another note, I received the list of packages from the holiday company yesterday, so its all getting a little bit more real now!

The Official Announcement

2007-10-25T11:44:00.000+01:00

Well, I waited and waited and today was the day that they announced the official route for L'Etape Du Tour 2008!

I will provide as much detail as I can without boring you too much!

Date: 6th July 2008

Route: Pau --> Hautacam

Distance: 165km (102.5 miles)

Climbs: Tourmalet and Hautacam

Total Climbing: 2438m (8000 ft)

Above: The course profile

Tourmalet:
Full details on Tourmalet can be found here:
http://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Col-du-Tourmalet&qryMountainID=25

The mountain climb is 17.7km long over an average gradient of 7.5% ... The gradient raises to 10% in places so will be a hard climb! I have posted the profile of the climb below (click to see bigger image).

Above: Tourmalet Profile

Hautacam:
Full details on Hautacam can be found here:
http://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Hautacam&qryMountainID=6855

Although this one isn't as long as the Tourmalet it will certainly be just as difficult, with an average gradient of 7.2% over 14.5km. Hautacam raises to over 10% gradient in some places and will be a tough test! Click the image below to see a bigger version

Above: Hautacam Profile

You can see the official site here:
http://www.letapedutour.com/2008/ETDT/presentation/us/index.htm

Hopefully thats enough information for the time being. I'm pretty sure that there'll be more details released over the coming months, with teams generally reccy'ing the stage route to give us a taster of the pain we are going to suffer!

Anyway, thanks for reading, will update again soon.

Paul

Announcement Imminent

2007-10-19T13:27:00.000+01:00

Word has it that the announcement of this years route will be at the same time as the official TdF (Tour de France) stage announcements on the 25th October. (Next thursday, and one day before my wife's expected delivery date)!

I have heard through the grapevine that this years Epate is likely to be from Pau --> Hautacam, which means its in the Pyrenees again. The route is likely to include Tourmalet (a big mountain!!!), and obviously Hautacam which in itself is pretty terrifying! Will be interesting to see if the sources are correct!

Normally the Etape is run on a tour rest day, so looks like it might be the 13th July, although fortunately for me its not a Friday!

Will be a long wait until next week now, before the organisers seal my fate.

A little bit about Keech Cottage

2007-10-17T09:47:00.000+01:00

Before I can even think about asking anyone to sponsor me, I think its only fair to make you all aware of the charity which you will helping.

The Pasque charity (incorporating Keech Cottage) provides specialist palliative care for adults and children with life-limiting conditions. Their mission is to provide the best quality of life for their patients and their families as they prepare for a dignified death. Their multi-professional approach involves medical, nursing, social, spiritual and emotional care and is provided 24 hours-a-day, every day of the year. Care is free to all regardless of race, religion or culture. The Pasque Charity operates two hospice services - The Pasque Adult Hospice and Keech Cottage Children's Hospice. The hospice buildings are located together within beautiful countryside just north of Luton. They also run a children's community nursing team who work with families in their own homes.

Operating the two hospice services will cost £4 million this year. As an independent charity, they rely on the generosity of the local community to raise 75% of this figure.

The money I will be raising will be going specifically to the childrens (Keech Cottage) part of the charity.

Early Training

2007-10-12T11:28:00.000+01:00

Well I guess I should start to get down some of what I have been doing, and what I will be doing over the coming months.

Being Autumn/Winter makes it very difficult to get out on the bike when you work full time, so its hard to settle into a routine. Never the less I have pretty much got it worked out. Thanks to a colleague at work, James, I have also taken on some upper body weight training to improve muscle strength with a more balanced approach.

Monday - Chest/Triceps and Abs
Tuesday - Spin Class
Wednesday - Biceps/Back and Abs
Thursday - Rest Day
Friday - Spin Class - Shoulders/Legs and Abs
Saturday - Rest Day
Sunday - Club Ride (50+ Miles)

So, unfortunately I'm not going to get out on any kind of lengthy rides for more than one day a week, at least until the days start getting longer, but this should be a good start. I also have a turbo trainer, so will try and get a few evening sessions fitted in around the kids routines.

I should say at this point that joining a local club is definately a good idea. I joined Beds Road CC - http://www.bedsroad.org/ about a month ago, and find it not only provides motivation, but also helps with getting used to riding in a group.

I'll add some more to this over the coming weeks.

Welcome to the blog

2007-10-04T14:36:00.000+01:00

Whether you got here through a link in Facebook, a random spam message from me, Google or any other method; Welcome!

Over the coming months I will be updating this page with details of the event itself, my training progress (or not as the case may be!), plus details on Keech Cottage (the charity I am fundraising for) and any other random chunks of info I feel are relevant!

In the meantime, you may want to visit these sites:

http://www.pasque.org/
http://justgiving.com/paulbuckle

I will also be posting up some pictures (as few of me in cycle clothing as possible!), plus links that may be useful for other 'etapers', which I have found useful.

Finally, I should like to thank Autoglass for providing the funds for me to travel and take part in the event.