Livin' The Dream

I caught the Discovery HD Theater special on the pre-ride of stage 16 of the 2007 Tour De France. 2 average Joes were picked to see how they could handle a mountain stage the day before the pros ran it. First, they were each given a new Trek Madone, sent to Spain for a ride in the higher altitude mountains with Tom Danielson to see what it's like.The next day was a casual ride with Levi and George. Then back to Colorado to get a bike fitting and V0 max tests at Carmichaels training facility. After that, they were on their own to train for 6 weeks before the Tour.

The most interesting thing was when they were talking with Johan Bruyneel about what they needed to do to get ready. One rider said he was riding 30 miles a day. Johan said to get in more miles. He seemed to hardly contain his laughter when talking to the other guy, who was about 50 lbs over weight. Basic instruction was ride more and loose weight. But concentrate on the weight loss. Duh!!


In the end, the big guy made 2 of the 3 climbs before throwing in the towel, and the other made the whole stage, finishing in a time that would have put him in the main field with the pros. But he hadn't run the previous 15 stages like the pros had. Al in all, an interesting look behind the scenes at Trek and Discovery. Some beautiful camera work and back drops made it a different experience than your stock Euro-tv coverage. I want to go to Spain and ride...