Kyle Yost

My athletic goal of 2007 is to ride the entire Tour de France stage-by-stage exactly as the pros do. A group of 4 friends will attempt this, with details at http://www.letour2007.com/ and ongoing blog of progress throughout at http://letour2007latest.blogspot.com/.

Through the winter and all spring my training has gone according to plan - or lack of plan that is. More or less the training plan was to ride as frequently as I could, and I got in many long weekend rides but not as many total miles as I might have preferred. Over Memorial Day weekend, Laura and I gave ourselves a litmus test with the Mountains of Misery double metric in Blacksburg, Va. The 128 mile ride included over 13,000 feet of climbing and ended with a 4 mile 12% average climb, a very worthy Tour-esque climb. All told this one day would be similar to many of the stages of the Tour de France, so if this day was a struggle we knew we were in trouble. Laura was trying her new Cervelo R3 and we decided we'd ride as easy as need be to get through the day comfortably. The day was a success as the 128 miles went by quickly and the four major climbs were not as terrible as advertised or feared. And, in the end, Laura ended up 2nd female in the double metric, although it is not officially a race and results are certainly suspect.

Serious training culminated in a week at Deep Creek Lake, during which I put in nearly 400 miles in the mountains. It was a great week of great training and reassured me that indeed it was possible that I might get through the TdF if I managed to keep healthy. Friends came out as the week progressed and joined us on the big Thursday and Saturday 110 mile rides. And, the best part of the week was that Laura and I got engaged at the end of the Saturday ride! What a great week.

Soon after the celebration and it's off to Europe, and nothing seems to go smoothly. Complications start all the way back in DC when my flight sits for 2 hours on the tarmac as the plane needs to be "rebooted" multiple times before it is cleared. This causes me to miss my connection in Toronto, resulting in a 10 hour layover. Partly due to my late arrival in London we decide to cancel our planned trip to Scotland for the Etape de Caledonia, so we have a few extra days in Nottingham to relax and train and prepare for the tour. No big deal, although I had been looking forward to seeing my old friend Mike Kennedy from the Tour d'Afrique 2003.

And then, disaster strikes. On Sunday afternoon, Mark and I are out for a short spin-the-legs ride when I am leading down a steep hill and a cat darts in front of my bike and I hit it before there is any chance to react. At 37mph I go down instantly and hard, breaking my collar bone, my helmet (but not my head inside it), and bounce, somersault, and roll to a stop. Mark, who was following and saw it all in vivid detail has written a summary of the experience here, and many thanks to Mark for all the help and taking such good care of me. Pictures of the aftermath here. Before the prologue even begins my tour is over. Wow, I can't believe it. Hopefully the muscle soreness and aches and pains will ease and I'll be left with no ill effects other than a broken collar bone and can possibly ride some of the stages later on.

Laura is arriving on Saturday to ride stages 4 - 9, and I'm sure she'll conquer the Alps with ease, so hopefully I can join for some of the fun!

Ongoing blog updates will be available at http://letour2007latest.blogspot.com/