Tour de France!

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Well, almost, L'Etape San Antonio by Tour de France is part of a worldwide amateur cycling series designed by Tour de France experts. San Antonio, Texas was chosen for the only USA race at April 10! 

L'Etape San Antonio included a pro bicycle race featuring two-time Tour de France and Giro de Italia winner Alberto Contador and the amateurs race/ride the same course behind. When I heard about it, I signed up as I live nearby. I choose a slightly shortened version of the pro race "only" 60 miles and 3689 feet of climbing... Pro race and the longer option was 100 miles and over 6000 feet of climbing. There was also a shorter race of only 25 miles.

This is a great motivator and training. It was a little crowded the first few miles, but not too bad. My race plan was to not rush and exhaust myself at any point, but to hold a steady pace and make sure energy lasted to the end. During the first 30 miles, it was not too hot and there was no wind, plenty of people to draft on and the hills did not feel that bad.

At 30 miles I switched my drink bottles around and took an energy gel. Then the 100 milers left the course for a longer loop and suddenly I found myself almost alone with a strong headwind. I was able to occasionally draft but the cyclists seemed either too fast or too slow for me, so I had to go at the wind mostly alone. 

Speed went down a little but I kept a decent pace all the way, including on a timed section for a climbing price. In goal, I was tired, but not totally exhausted. The course turned out to be over 62 miles.

I placed 2nd in my age group and 14th of all women, a result much better than my expectations. I was just over 3 minutes behind the winner, my time was 3 hours and 56 minutes. I am happy with my results, but I would very much have liked to win because every age group winner was presented with a yellow leader jersey by Alberto Contador himself!

I plan to do this race next year again if possible. It was fun. 

The photo shows Alberto Contador and the male and female winners of the 100 mile race with their yellow jerseys.


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