A
Andy Welch
Guest
Woe is me I have two bikes but I really need three.
OK woe is putting it a bit strong, but it's a thorny one none the less. You could say that I'm in a
fortunate position. I have a good solid tourer (501 frame, sora triple, not light but a reliable
workhorse) and a Windcheetah trike. A thing of beauty (pictured from more angles than you can shake
a stick at on http://windcheetah.fotipic.net).
Thing is, I'll be 40 next year. Not a problem in itself but I've decided that I'd like to do
something to commemorate the occasion and riding the Etape sounds like just the thing. Mentioned it
to the wife and she was all for it. Reckons we could go on one of the organised trips as a family
and make a nice holiday out of it. Problem is I don't think either of my machines are really
suitable for the job and I really can't justify another expensive bike barely a year after getting
the trike (especially with a new baby bouncing around the house and draining our bank accounts).
So as far as I can tell I have a number of options.
1. Sell the trike and buy a light road bike for the ride. Sounds OK in theory but as soon as I ride
(or even look at) the trike this seems like a very unattractive option.
2. Ride the Etape on the tourer. Certainly possible but surely if you are going to ride a mountain
stage of the Tour de France it really should be done on a race bike. Bit hard to pretend that you
are Lance on a 30lb workhorse. More to the point, from what I've read, the Etape is a pretty
tough event and lugging that much extra weight around would make it even tougher.
3. Give up on the Etape idea and go for a challenge that I can do on my current steeds. There are
any number of Audax events that ought to fit the bill. Problem is that, while I quite fancy the
idea of an Audax, it just doesn't have the romance of riding a Tour stage.
So come on gang, what would you do?
Cheers,
Andy
OK woe is putting it a bit strong, but it's a thorny one none the less. You could say that I'm in a
fortunate position. I have a good solid tourer (501 frame, sora triple, not light but a reliable
workhorse) and a Windcheetah trike. A thing of beauty (pictured from more angles than you can shake
a stick at on http://windcheetah.fotipic.net).
Thing is, I'll be 40 next year. Not a problem in itself but I've decided that I'd like to do
something to commemorate the occasion and riding the Etape sounds like just the thing. Mentioned it
to the wife and she was all for it. Reckons we could go on one of the organised trips as a family
and make a nice holiday out of it. Problem is I don't think either of my machines are really
suitable for the job and I really can't justify another expensive bike barely a year after getting
the trike (especially with a new baby bouncing around the house and draining our bank accounts).
So as far as I can tell I have a number of options.
1. Sell the trike and buy a light road bike for the ride. Sounds OK in theory but as soon as I ride
(or even look at) the trike this seems like a very unattractive option.
2. Ride the Etape on the tourer. Certainly possible but surely if you are going to ride a mountain
stage of the Tour de France it really should be done on a race bike. Bit hard to pretend that you
are Lance on a 30lb workhorse. More to the point, from what I've read, the Etape is a pretty
tough event and lugging that much extra weight around would make it even tougher.
3. Give up on the Etape idea and go for a challenge that I can do on my current steeds. There are
any number of Audax events that ought to fit the bill. Problem is that, while I quite fancy the
idea of an Audax, it just doesn't have the romance of riding a Tour stage.
So come on gang, what would you do?
Cheers,
Andy