France Expedition Updates

[Chris Helwig]

A good but long day in France.

We are near the Swiss border, not sure exactly where.

Did the first 2hrs today and set a pretty good pace for Ted. Got in the Van and did ride support for the rest of the day.

Nice dinner and wine as usual, one of the best things about the trip.

Tomorrow we go to Evian and then Sunday I fly home.

[Chris Helwig]

Yesterday was the last day for me supporting Ted.

It was a hlly stage to Morzine with two Cat 1 climbs, so I did ride support in the Van all day with Joost. Actually pretty tiring job, you have to be alert all the time and ready to help Ted.
Good day for Ted, he was climbing well and despite maybe not having enough for dinner last night he rode well.

Overall a good trip and Ted is doing well. It was tiring, so I am glad to be going home to see Janice and the kids. Can't wait until tonight!

Chris

[Chris Helwig]

Wow, what a long day of travel.

Flew from Geneva to Montreal with some delays. Had to run to make the transfer to Toronto only to delayed in Montreal and upon arrival in Toronto because of back up with the Thunderstorms in TO yesterday.

Missed my Robert Q, but got on a later one. After about 30 hrs with no sleep I was happy to be home

Trip was great, but seeing Janice and the kids was so nice. Janice loved her swiss watch and Taylor liked her TDF hat and T Shirt.

I will continue to post updates as they come in from Ted until the end of his expedition.

[Chris Helwig]

Ted is doing well on the TDF expedition.

Monday he did the huge climbing day that the pros did on Tuesday. It was a very long day for Ted at over 9hrs on the bike. Tuesday was a shorter day for Ted and he got some extra sleep to recover.

At the start Ted was getting some knee pain, but thanks in part to Spidertech knee supports and RMT from Tim the knee is doing better.

I will continue to update as reports come in from Ted.

[Chris Helwig]

Ted is doing well. Yesterday he had an "easy" day at only about 6hrs on the bike.

Averaged 31.3 km/h, so Mark Batty and Tim must have been setting some pretty good pace.

This year's tour is one of the hardest for doing something like Ted is becuase of the lack of time trials and team time trials. This means more long days than a usual tour.

[Chris Helwig]

Ted had a good day yesterday.

TSS was about 191 which isn't super super high. A TSS of over 250 requires 48hrs to recover from, so far he has only had a couple days over 250.

Another super hot day at 40 degrees. Even Lance is complaining about the heat on the OLN coverage. Plus in France only about 1/3 of the hotels have air conditioning.

[Chris Helwig]

A long day for Ted yesterday with a big mountain day including the Tourmalet.

TSS was 295 for the day, so well above 250.

Last 50 km everybody was fried, so Ted rode Solo with the boys in the Van doing support.

[Chris Helwig]

Another long day in the mountains for Ted yesterday wtih a TSS above 250, but he is done the mountains.

A flatter day today, then the TT tomorrow and the ride into Paris on Saturday.

[Chris Helwig]

Ted is done his France Expedition. Today he did the time trial and enough extra kilometers combined with extra kilometers he did along the route so he doesn't have to fight traffic to ride into Paris. He did the full 3662 kms of the Tour route. What a great accomplishment. Ted is staying until Sunday to watch the pros ride on the Champs. I think the plan is to try and sneak on the circuit in the morning if they let cyclist on and do a lap of the final circuit. I was proud to coach Ted over the 3 years he took to prepare and help him during the first 12 days.