L'Alpe d'Huez

I've mentioned my passion for European bicycle racing. This dates back to college, when several of my friends were seriously rabid bikers and Greg Lemond had just become the first American to win the Tour de France. During that tour and several others after it that were televised on actual network television, I fell in love with the sport. I think a large part of it was that, unlike football or baseball where I sat watching people with talents completely unlike mine, I could really be cyclist. I wasn't as fast or as strong as my idols in those televised races, but when the race coverage ended, I could get on my bike and ride fast (well...fast for me). I was in awe of those riders who covered a hundred or more miles a day, sometimes in mountainous terrain, in all kinds of weather. At the same time, I could attain a degree of that greatness myself by getting on my bike and riding fast and climbing hard.

One of the perennial features of the Tour de France is the Alpe d'Huez, a mountain with a climb so steep that it is known in the system that ranks such climbs as hors categorie (which I understand means "beyond classification"). I believe that Greg Lemond, in his three victories in the Tour de France, never won the Alpe d'Huez stage. Andy Hampsten won it a few years later, becoming the first American to ever win the stage. That one stage win and his unexpected winning of the Giro d'Italia (the Tour of Italy, which he won by pushing on through a screaming spring blizzard during one of the mountain stages) were the two highpoints in the career of this ground-breaking American cyclist. I don't honestly know if Lance Armstrong has ever won on the Alpe, but then Lance doesn't often go after winning a particular stage. He's more of a "take the whole damn enchilada" kind of guy.

Well, this morning was my Alpe d'Huez on the stationary bike. I was just really in the mood to hit it hard and I did. Unfortunately, I'm already doing my high point at the maximum resistance that the bike is capable of, but today I rode it faster and longer. I actually hit the top of my final interval, which is supposed to last one minute, but I went for five! I also did an extended sprint during my cool down to burn a few extra calories. I finally had to end my workout so that I would have time to get ready for work, but I really didn't want to get off the bike. I just felt so strong that I wanted to keep going. For the time that I spent today, I went a longer distance and burned more calories than I ever have before. It was just one of those moments when I felt like I literally could climb mountains.

I had a similar experience with the weight training last night. I had a limited time to work out, so I was flying from set to set. On the rowing motion, I decided that, since I was working left hand then right hand in each set, the left hand should be rested by the time I finished the right hand. So I didn't take any time between sets on those, except to change weights. I also went back to the bench press. I think flyes are more effective at isolating the pectoral muscles, but there's just something primal about the bench press that really fit my mood. Anyway, when I finished, I had a good ache in all the muscles I worked. Believe it or not, I like that feeling. It lets me know I've actually accomplished something.

Last night, someone who hadn't seen me for a few months came up to me and informed me that I looked thinner and asked how much weight I had lost. I told him that I had lost ten pounds. He replied that I looked so different that I must have lost more than that. I explained that it really only was ten pounds, but that it was ten pounds in the right places. I told him that is was more than just a diet, that I had been doing aerobic conditioning and weight training. He told me it was really showing. I felt good about that. I had a similar experience last week with someone at work. It's nice to know that I'm getting some visible results.

My lovely wife, Cheryl, wrote a lengthly blog entry the other day about me. It was well written and quite funny in places, but she eventually retracted it because she felt it might embarrass me. Why? Because it was all about my obsession with my tan. Yes, yes, I know someone my age is supposed to be concerned with weightier matters than obtaining even color and avoiding tan lines in inappropriate places. But, really, I just don't want everything I've done in this challenge to be ruined because I have a "farmer's tan" in my pictures. Also, we're going to Florida at the end of the summer and, for once, I don't want to be on the beach blinding people with my pasty white skin. Objectively, though, I agree that the whole thing is a bit silly.

Anyway, this is Friday and I've gone slightly lower carb for the day. Tomorrow, I plan to cut back even more. I need to deal with a few final details for the photo shoot, and we'll be ready to finish this thing off.