Chris Helwig
08-25-2007, 10:50 PM
When I was in Italy to see the Giro in May I met Bruno Rodi from Montreal. He was on the trip to prepare to ride the entire route of the 2003 Tour de France and do it in the same number of days. I had already heard about him from Ted V. who met him at a camp the year before. At that camp his bike arrived at camp still in the box from the factory i.e. he didn't even own a bike.
At the Giro this year he had been riding the rollers 2-4 hours a day but hadn't ridden outside yet. He wasn't particulary fast, finishing last up the climbs in Italy. At first I didn't think he had much of a chance of riding the TDF route. As the week went on he asked me many many questions about training and nutrition. He is a super nice guy and what impressed me we his determination. He rode all the climbs in Italy and never climbed in the Van despite some cold rainy days. He also obviously had determination as he had climbed all the highest peak on every continent including Everist.
What Bruno didn't really have was much cycling fitness, and his plan to ride the tour route was in two months. He asked me about doing some coaching for the two months and I was keen to help him out. After talking to Steve Bauer who was running the trip and making sure I wasn't stepping on any toes we agreed to do 2 months of coaching to prep for the trip.
The key in training someone for a trip like this was you had to really put in big hours and get real close to the edge of burnout, but you had to leave him a bit fresh before the trip. He did well with the training and 6 hour rides were commonplase as well so some 7-8 hour rides. He did all his rides on the Mount Royal loop in Montreal so had some good climbing.
Bruno called me several times during the trip. Each time he sounded tired but upbeat. Today I got the final call. He finished the entire route and did it one day ahead of schedule!! A very good accomplishment by a very determined man.
At the Giro this year he had been riding the rollers 2-4 hours a day but hadn't ridden outside yet. He wasn't particulary fast, finishing last up the climbs in Italy. At first I didn't think he had much of a chance of riding the TDF route. As the week went on he asked me many many questions about training and nutrition. He is a super nice guy and what impressed me we his determination. He rode all the climbs in Italy and never climbed in the Van despite some cold rainy days. He also obviously had determination as he had climbed all the highest peak on every continent including Everist.
What Bruno didn't really have was much cycling fitness, and his plan to ride the tour route was in two months. He asked me about doing some coaching for the two months and I was keen to help him out. After talking to Steve Bauer who was running the trip and making sure I wasn't stepping on any toes we agreed to do 2 months of coaching to prep for the trip.
The key in training someone for a trip like this was you had to really put in big hours and get real close to the edge of burnout, but you had to leave him a bit fresh before the trip. He did well with the training and 6 hour rides were commonplase as well so some 7-8 hour rides. He did all his rides on the Mount Royal loop in Montreal so had some good climbing.
Bruno called me several times during the trip. Each time he sounded tired but upbeat. Today I got the final call. He finished the entire route and did it one day ahead of schedule!! A very good accomplishment by a very determined man.