If you're going to be spending so much time between now and next July training for the Etape, you'll need to feel inspired. Your inspirations will be your own personal feelings, I'm just listing out below the people that have inspired me to get off the couch and onto the saddle. When I'm cycling into the wind (sometimes), rain (I don't like that at all) and sunshine (hopefully we'll have lots of this), I imagine the people listed here and the much greater challenges they have faced. I've kept these to cycling inspirations, so you won't see Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa or suchlike below. They are not in any specific order. As far as the famous cyclists go, there is a common thread, complete single minded-ness: if you've personally set yourself the goal of completing the Etape, you'll need to focus hard on that goal to make it happen!
 How can I summarise my wife? Very difficult. She is the ultimate "hard-grafter" who has really worked hard for everything. She was brought up in villages in Scotland that, by any measure, were economically deprived, succeeded to go to university (where me met) and then further proved her hard grafting skills by passing professional exams in two different fields. Since our son came along (in 2002) she has been a "stay at home" mum. We added our daughter in 2005. Any one who knows what a stay at home mum gets up to will know what I mean when I say I take my hat off to her daily routine - school runs, lunches, organising the household, wednesday activities, teaching the kids English at lunchtime, writing, blogging, trying to have a semi-social life; how she fits it all in I'll never know. ON TOP OF ALL THIS, she is out the door at 0615/0630 every morning for a walk/jog around the village as that's the only time she can fit in any un-interrupted exercise. If you're getting yourself ready for the Etape, then you're going to need a few people around you that will be able to support you - there will be times you feel like chucking it, just giving in, only doing two hours instead of four hours, not doing hills and only doing flat rides and unless you have someone or a few people to push you it can be difficult. My wife always "encourages" me to get out on my bike when I don't feel like it. Like many of you "Etapers" out there will experience with your non-cycling partners, I'm not convinced that she knows exactly what goes on in our heads when we're out turning the pedals, but she does at least tolerate it!!  Jane Tomlinson was diagnosed with incurable, advanced metastatic breast cancer in August 2000. The disease spread was extensive and the prognosis was for her to survive six months. Over a seven year period, Jane fought through numerous courses of chemotherapy and various drug regimes despite also developing chronic heart disease. Jane's spirit really humbles me; here was a woman who knew she was dying and just said "right, I'm going to prove to the world that just because I have terminal cancer I am not finished yet!". As far as I know, she was not a "serious" athlete before her diagnosis and her sporting achievements, the awareness she bred for cancer survivors and, most of all, her fundraising were truly amazing. She was a great role model for me and my family as my mother fought through, ultimately terminal, breast cancer at the same time (my mother passed away in July 2005).
 Arguably Scotland's greatest cyclist (I know many people will mention Chris Hoy's amazing achievements) Robert Millar won the King of the Mountains jersey in both the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia - no other Brit has managed that. He also had podium finishes in the Tour, the Giro and the Vuelta. These achievements are all the more amazing when you consider his background - he came from relative poverty in Glasgow, got the cycling bug and from then on dedicated his life to finshing on the podium at big races. He was also a vegetarian throughout his cycling career and appeared to be almost obsessive complusive about what he ate and drank, even if this meant he did not endear himself to others on his teams or hotel waiting staff. By all accounts he was/is not the most sociable of people (I can't claim to know for sure!) but as a Scottish guy who is not very good going up hills (although I do like climbing, I'm not that good and am much better coming down!), every time I am struggling I think to myself "if a wee apprentice from the shipyards in Glasgow can win the KOTM jersey in the Tour de France, then I can get my heavy ass up this hill!" |  No-one splits the cycling community like good old Lance: you either love him or you don't. Living right on the border of France and Switzerland, many discussions I have about cycling somehow end up with "what a doper lance was!" All I'm going to say on the matter is that he was tested through his career, never failed a test once and if ASO or L'equipe have any proof from the supposed positive in 1990, then why have they not been successful to make the claims stick? Enough of my rant, let's look at facts. Lance was raised by a single mother in Texas, getting involved in triathlons from a young age. Apparently his mother sacrificed a lot to ensure that he could compete in competitions from age 13 onwards. By 1996, Lance was an accomplished competitor, world champion, stage winner and Olympian. He was then diagnosed with cancer in his testicles, lungs and brain. He bravely fought through the chemo treatment and, by 1998 was ready to race again. At the same time as getting back on his bike and back to professional cyclist fitness, Lance launched his charitable foundation to raise funds for medical research into cancer, raise awareness of the disease and provide support to cancer survivors. From 1999, Lance then won a record-breaking 7 times before retiring immediately after the 2005 Tour. He has recently announced his return to racing with the Astana team. Why is Lance an inspiration to me? The whole "awareness of cancer" around 2004 with those yellow bands everywhere really made me respect what he was doing, irrespective of what he was doing on a bike. I also love the phrase that he came up with "pain is temporary, quitting is permanent.." and during the last two hours of last year's Etape I thought of that phrase a lot!
 Graeme is another Scottish cyclist, who broke the one-hour world record twice in 1993/94, the latter being more than 32 miles in one hour! He grew up in small towns in Ayrshire, Scotland and was bullied during his school years. Getting on his bike and cycling around was a release from the bullies and he realised he was actually quite good at it. He was never part of the cycling establishment, didn't have huge equipment sponsors, huge back-up teams and the like - did I mention that when he broke the world records, he did so on a bike he built himself? After breaking the world records (and also winning world championships) he did experience relative fame and fortune, but throughout all that period he was fighting alcoholism and depression, perhaps accentuated by the untimely death of his brother, who he seemed really close to. For me, the whole story of coming from a small village in Sotland, being bullied, taking up sport as an escape and then excelling on a world level is inspirational: it goes to show that if you set your mind to something and do not listen to what any doubters say, you can achieve your dreams. I also really admire the support he had thoughout from his wife, who seemed to really stand by him though some very unpredictable and dark times.
 I will admit my ignorance, until I began my training for last year's etape, I hadn't heard of Jeannie Longo but as I started to read about all things to do with French cycling (I live in France) it was impossible not to learn of Jeannie's achievements. She has won (in my opinion) everything there is to win in womens' cycling (womens' tour de france, world championships, olympic medals galore), over the last 30 years, yes I said 30 years! Even at the Olympics in Beijing she managed to finish 4th in the time trial, mere seconds away from a medal. Straight after the Olympics in 2008 she won a sprint race up the Alpe d'Huez and set a new record - what an amazing feat for a 50 year old (man or lady)! Equivalents that I can think of (relevant for people around my age) are if John McEnroe was still winning Wimbledon or Seb Coe was still winning Olympic finals - impressive eh? Jeannie gives me inspiration because she just keeps continuing to prove that you are only as old as you feel - if you say to yourself "I'm too old for this" or "these other guys are younger than me" you will just convince yourself that's true: all the way through your training and certainly on the day of the Etape you need to train yourself only to think of positive thoughts - don't think of pain (you'll be fit enough) or hunger (you'll have eaten enough and will have reserves with you to avoid the dreaded "fringal") or thirst (you'll always have a bottle with you). Jeannie is a shining example to show that age can actually help you when it comes to endurance sports. Lance will do well to take a leaf out of Jeannie's book, she really HAS been there, done it and bought the T-shirt (as Robert Millar would say). |
