Sorry for the absence of posts

Sorry for the absence of posts. It's been fast and furious here. We were on vacation on Martha's Vineyard last week and have now returned back to work, plus final arrangements pre-PMC. To add to the chaos, my iPhone broke (the touch screen died, but the entire iPhone was replaced), and Megan has been trying to pick up a new 3G iPhone pre-PMC.

Here's a snapshot from the Vineyard of Megan and her aunt, Heidi. Heidi recently completed a charity ride through Lake Tahoe (100 miles of mountains) in June so she was happy to join us for a little spin through Martha's Vineyard (a 60 miler that day).

3 more days to go until the PMC.... gulp. More to come!

What fuels a Tour De France team?

I wanted to add this post from the Garmin Chipotle team Soigneur (basically a mix of a personal assistant, coordinator and massage therapist). Keep in mind this is for one rider for one day. So you'll need to multiply this by 9-11 riders for 3 weeks to get an idea of the actual total. For the PMC we'll probably have considerably less to eat/bring.

6 bars between Clif, Mojo, Nectar, Z Bar
2 protein bars
5 Clif gels
4 Clif blocks
2 cans Clif electrolyte
0.5 can Clif recovery
2 sachets apple cider recovery (hot tea)
1 sachet hot chocolate recovery for chocolate fix!!!
7 home-made basmati rice cakes
4 fruit jellies
1 mussette
10 water bottles minimum
.10 ml sun lotion/start oil depending on the weather
8 safety pins
.10 ml chamois cream
200 g oats
300 g rice for home-made rice cakes
5 rice cakes
50 g cereal
150 ml soy milk
8 l water
10 g nuts
5 eggs
200 g meat/fish
3 yogurts
3 expresso coffee
10 ml olive oil
4 pieces of fruit
1 tablespoon of honey
Quarter baguette
4 pages newspaper each long descent or/and wet day to pack in shoes.
0.5 caps laundry detergent
1 large bath towel for shower in bus
20 ml shower gel
0.5 cups massage cream
0.25 rolls of plastic tape to attach earplugs from race radio to their ears so it doesn’t fall out.

How much equipment does it take for a Pro Team to compete in the Tour?

As it is Tour time, I thought I'd show you what it takes to get a bike team through a 3 week grand tour. I hijacked this list from the Garmin / Chipotle team website. As you can imagine, it is a lot of stuff. Megan and I will have considerably less for our PMC adventure, but we did just make a big purchase on Backcountry.com for some odds and ends. I'll try to make a similar list when we get closer to the PMC.

From the Garmin / Chipotle website: Here’s a run down of what it takes to get 9 blokes on the road for 3 weeks:

42 Felt bikes

Zipp Wheels
27 rear Powertap 202’s

22 front 202’s

6 rear Powertap 303’s

10 front 303’s

40 rear Powertap 404’s

26 front 404’s

12 rear Powertap 808’s

17 front 808’s

2 rear Powertap 1080’s

10 front 1080’s

21 Powertap Disc wheels

193 Zipp wheels in total!

Shimano spare parts

10 complete 2008 Shimano Dura Ace group sets

2 extra pair of huge cranks…177.5 & 180 mm

12 pairs of Shimano Dura Ace Pedals

50 Shimano Cleats…Red & Yellow

2 pair of Shimano Bar-End shifters

35 Shimano Dura Ace Chains

Enough cables for 3 laps of France!

Oval Concept

20 handlebars, aluminium & carbon, all sorts of shapes and sizes

30 stems, as above

14 seatposts, same again

12 TT aero extensions, all shapes

3 TT carbon base bars

Enough spare nuts and bolts to rebuild the team truck!

Fizik

28 saddles

40 rolls of white bar tape

20 rolls of black bar tape

Several Fizik bits and pieces like bar gel kits and non slip saddle sticker thingys.

Vittoria

80 Corsa CX tubular tires

15 crono tubular tires

16 cans of the good ol’ sticky glue