Tour de France

"GPS" <[email hidden]> posted:

Quoted message said:

Hi Does anyone know of a source for detailed route and starting time information for this years
TDF? I've searched the FAQs without much help and major websites don't have the level of detail we
would like. Thanks

On the official site letour.comparcours iti 00.htmlOpen ↗

In French, but decipherable, with estimated times for the caravan and the peleton, depending on
speed. You'll need a detailed map to understand the course - Michelin or IGN. - Max

--
MisterMax Slideshows of Angkor Wat, Bali, Crete, Maui, Malaysia, Morocco, Sicily (new), St Tropez,
Thailand, Tour de France: buten.netmaxOpen ↗ (Yes,RemoveDoubles is part of my email address. The
double letters in my last name are not.)

A couple weeks ago, I was in France and went through Joinville the starting town for the Team
Time Trial. They have a website showing the starting times and probable pass through times for
that stage.

joinville-tourismoffice.comindex.phpOpen ↗

I'm sure other towns will have similar information.

By the way, while I was taking a picture to the town's countdown clock, a group of riders in Team
Bianchi gear rode past. The picture can be seen at teamradpan.comnews.htmOpen ↗. We followed
the team trial route for most of the distance. It starts with a one or two k uphill and then goes
through rolling countryside. A very pretty route. I'd like to be there to see the teams go through.

Tom "The Sag King" Weaver

GPS said:

Hi Does anyone know of a source for detailed route and starting time information for this years
TDF? I've searched the FAQs without much help and major websites don't have the level of detail we
would like. Thanks

"GPS" <[email hidden]> wrote let it be known in :"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Hi Does anyone know of a source for detailed route and starting time information for this years
TDF? I've searched the FAQs without much help and major websites don't have the level of detail we
would like. Thanks

Find yourself a copy of the VeloNews "Tour de France 2003 Official Guide"

Team profiles, route maps, rider profiles... everything you could want to know.

--
Curt Bousquet moc.enilnacs@PTNN < Reverse for email

Road biking in Southern VT and Western Mass.

My 2002 bike log: scanline.com2002.htmlOpen ↗

If you click on the little US/UK flag you are taken to the English-language site, or go directly
letour.comindex.htmlOpen ↗

Ken

Mister Max said:

On the official site letour.comparcours iti 00.htmlOpen ↗

In French, but decipherable, with estimated times for the caravan and the peleton, depending on
speed. You'll need a detailed map to understand the course - Michelin or IGN. - Max

Ken Brown, Toronto Canada Ontario Rail Trails: webhome.idirect.com~brownOpen ↗ delete "nospam" if
replying via e-mail

"Tim B" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I've only been riding my road bike for about a month. I ride 20-25 miles daily, all on a rail
trail bike path. Only about 11.5 mph average but it gets the job done. There's a century ride 6
weeks from now near me, billed as a flat-to-rolling tour with lots of support and not a race. They
stop 5 times during the 100.

It seems to me that if I can ride 25 in the morning and be ok to go to work afterwards without a
lot of noticeable pain, I should be able to have a goal of doing 20 five times in a row with
rest breaks in between and be fine. They have 10, 25, and 50 mile options, and I could bail from
the 100 to the 50 midway if I wanted to. I'm 44 without any health problems I can think of other
than being about 250 pounds and that's coming off nicely with the nice calorie expenditure from
cycling. And thinking about the century gives me a nice, seemly unattainable goal, and that
works for me. Within a couple of weeks I'll have appropriate shorts, shoes and shirts; the bike
was expensive enough (Specialized Sequoia Sport, love it) that I skimped on the extras for the
first month.

Here's my questions.

1. Am I nuts for thinking I can do this? My first inclination is to get a physical and explain
what I'm up to, and presuming there's not a big problem there, go on.

Yeah a little nuts.

Quoted message said:

2. If it seems ok, how can I train for this? My first inclination is to do a 50 every couple of
weeks on the rail trail, not early in the morning but later on in the day, 25 miles slightly
uphill along a river, 25 miles back slightly downhill, and if that is comfortably achievable,
go on and do the tour. Then in the days in between, work on getting up to about 14 mph, as it
looks like from the brochure that they figure about that, and work on rolling hills.

If the route is well supported you shoudln't have too much trouble. Take a long break at the feed
stations. Your training sounds like it will get you to the finish as long as you don't race. It will
really help you to find a group you can train with or at least ride the century with.

But one thing GET COMFORTABLE SHORTS NOW! It will be too late in a few weeks. You want to get what
works for you. In order to do that it will require some experimenting. Or you may get lucky and find
a pair of shorts you can wear for over 10 hours of riding.

enjoy the ride, Andy

snip

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

joinville-tourismoffice.comindex.phpOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'm sure other towns will have similar information.

Thanks Tom!

My gf and I will be following le tour for the first 9 stages. We don't know what we'll be staying
once we leave Paris so these links will come in handy.

I suggest that unless you are planning to camp or sleep under the stars that you try and book your
accommodation NOW - the whole area around the tour route/stages gets block booked (you may be too
late .....) - you could try the chains like Campanile or Ibis or the Logis de France group.

We are following the first week or so and booked hotels in January .... some were already full then.

RG

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

snip

amh said:

Tom Weaver <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

A couple weeks ago, I was in France and went through Joinville the starting town for the Team
Time Trial. They have a website showing the starting times and probable pass through times for
that stage.

joinville-tourismoffice.comindex.phpOpen ↗

I'm sure other towns will have similar information.

Thanks Tom!

My gf and I will be following le tour for the first 9 stages. We don't know what we'll be staying
once we leave Paris so these links will come in handy.

I'll get to see the clock with Team Bianchi going past also!

Andy

While we were in France we stayed at the hotel formule1 several nights.
hotelformule1.comindex.htmlOpen ↗ They are low-cost (25 euros a night) and work well
- as long as you don't mind going down the hall to get to the toilet and shower.

We stayed in one in St. Dizier where two stages end. Give them a look.

Tom

Quoted message said:

I suggest that unless you are planning to camp or sleep under the stars that you try and book your
accommodation NOW - the whole area around the tour route/stages gets block booked (you may be too
late .....)

Even the campgrounds are hard to get into. I spent about 2 weeks in May, trying to find reservations
in nearby campsites. I was successful, but it was difficult.
--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA terrymorse.combikeOpen ↗

Tom Weaver <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

While we were in France we stayed at the hotel formule1 several nights.
hotelformule1.comindex.htmlOpen ↗ They are low-cost (25 euros a night) and work
well - as long as you don't mind going down the hall to get to the toilet and shower.

We stayed in one in St. Dizier where two stages end. Give them a look.

Tom

Found a hostle in Troyes we'll use as a base. One week and counting!

Andy

amh said:

Tom Weaver <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

While we were in France we stayed at the hotel formule1 several nights.
hotelformule1.comindex.htmlOpen ↗ They are low-cost (25 euros a night) and work
well - as long as you don't mind going down the hall to get to the toilet and shower.

We stayed in one in St. Dizier where two stages end. Give them a look.

Tom

Found a hostle in Troyes we'll use as a base. One week and counting!

Andy

We spent one night in Troyes at a very nice hotel. I hate to think what they will be charging while
the Tour is in town. Let us know how you like Troyes. We walked around town and liked it - an old
town with lots of half-timbered buildings.

From Troyes we drove down to Ronchamp and visited Notre Dame du Haut there. It is a most amazing
building. It was well worth the time spent there.

Let us hear about your trip.

Tom

Curt Bousquet said:

Find yourself a copy of the VeloNews "Tour de France 2003 Official Guide"

Team profiles, route maps, rider profiles... everything you could want to know.

My copy only profiles seven teams. The header page for that section says "The 22 Teams" or something
like that. Did I get a bogus copy?

--
--
Lynn Wallace xmission.com~lawallOpen ↗ "I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we
could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security." --Microsoft VP in
charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine.

Tom Weaver <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

We spent one night in Troyes at a very nice hotel. I hate to think what they will be charging
while the Tour is in town. Let us know how you like Troyes. We walked around town and liked it -
an old town with lots of half-timbered buildings.

Where is the best eating?

Quoted message said:

From Troyes we drove down to Ronchamp and visited Notre Dame du Haut there. It is a most amazing
building. It was well worth the time spent there.

Thanks for the pointer. Neither one of us has been so it is all new to us.

Quoted message said:

Let us hear about your trip.

I'll post when I return.

Andy

Quoted message said:

Tom

Raptor <[email hidden]> wrote let it be known in :"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

My copy only profiles seven teams. The header page for that section says "The 22 Teams" or
something like that. Did I get a bogus copy?

Yup, I'd say you got a bogus copy... My copy, bought from the news stand, has 22 teams (page numbers
131-152). Then there is one more advertising page before the back cover. If you got less than this,
bring it back for a refund! 🙂

(or maybe they printed different versions for other regions/countries?)

--
Curt Bousquet moc.enilnacs@PTNN < Reverse for email

Road biking in Southern VT and Western Mass.

My 2002 bike log: scanline.com2002.htmlOpen ↗

amh said:

Tom Weaver <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

We spent one night in Troyes at a very nice hotel. I hate to think what they will be charging
while the Tour is in town. Let us know how you like Troyes. We walked around town and liked it -
an old town with lots of half-timbered buildings.

Where is the best eating?

I can't remember where we ate dinner. What we tended to do for most lunches was go into one of the
local stores and buy some bread, cheese, fruit and some of the local meatloaf-like offering. Ask the
proprietor about them. These were always good and made an excellent meal or two.

Don't forget that dinner is later than we are used to. It generally starts no earlier than
7:30 or 8.

When you get tired, just grab a seat at an outdoor cafe, order an espresso, sit and watch the world
walk by for an hour or more. It's a great way to relax. We Americans can learn something from the
French about this.

Tom

Tom Weaver said:

When you get tired, just grab a seat at an outdoor cafe, order an espresso, sit and watch the
world walk by for an hour or more. It's a great way to relax. We Americans can learn something
from the French about this.

Tom

You can sit for over an hour with one expresso? The expresso I had in Italy had as much volumn as
a thimble.

Kenny Lee

Kenny Lee said:

Tom Weaver said:

When you get tired, just grab a seat at an outdoor cafe, order an espresso, sit and watch the
world walk by for an hour or more. It's a great way to relax. We Americans can learn something
from the French about this.

Tom

You can sit for over an hour with one expresso? The expresso I had in Italy had as much volumn as
a thimble.

Kenny Lee

Ken,

It's not about the espresso. There seems to be a much more relaxed attitude about life in
general. The French seem to think nothing of ordering one espresso and sitting at the cafe for a
couple hours.

An excellent idea, IMHO.