Some tips to help you survive the Etape du Tour]

The Daily Etape Tip


Etape du Tour 2009: Final Report

First of all the stats from the big day:

SILVER MEDAL

Finish Time: 06:46:11
Time up Mont Ventoux: 01:57:12
Place: 825 out of 7397 finishers
Age Group Place: 106 out of 1598 finishers
Average speed: 24.15 km/h

In a nutshell it was one of the best experiences of my life. I thought the course was magnificent, the crowds were supportive and full of fun and the organisers and volunteers along the way were superb.

I'll probably never do another Etape. I achieved all my targets with this one and I cannot imagine another one being better. There are many other Gran Fondo's and Sportives I would like to do so next year I will race locally and plan for another adventure.

A sincere thank you to all the people who have followed Etape Tips over the past 3 months. It has been a lot of fun meeting you all virtually. I see a lot of you finished and had similarly great experiences as myself. Congratulations to all of us. And to those of you who did not finish: You got off your ass/arse, you trained, you suffered and you gave it a go. Congratulations to you too.

One other thing. We rode with some British Military guys. All excellent blokes. Tragically, their comrade (Gareth Rhys-Evans) was killed in an accident while training in May. Please donate to his children's trust fund here.

Keep on the bike and be safe out there.


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About Me

Hi. My name is Sean O'Mahony and I'm based in Vancouver, BC. I did my first Etape du Tour in 2008. My time: 07h 32' 58", my position 1811 overall. I'm doing it again in 2009 and I think I can do better.

Update: My start number is 3970 this year, in Category D.

Preparing and training last year, as a newbie, I found it hard to get the event-specific tips I was looking for. So I collated a list of useful tips.

Some of them I've learned myself but most of them I've gleaned from more experienced riders (a shout out to Sean O'Leary at Trail Seekers) or cycling websites and forums. This isn't a definitive list, it's just my list. Some of them are obvious but hopefully a few of them will be new to you.

There will be a new item on the list every weekday from 8th May 2009 to 15th July 2009. Get them daily via Twitter here.

You probably have some great tips of your own. Please me and I'll add them to the list.
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