While sorting my In Box I came across this tid bit about the 2005 Tour. It was sent to me by Tom Hocking (as forwarded from Kevin Strong). No author indicated. [Eric F.]

Fastest tour ever... some perspective

The 2005 TdF was the fastest tour in history with an average speed of 41.65 kph. That is Lance's average speed over all the stages. If Lance finished first on every stage, his average would only climb to 42.4 kph, and his overall time gain would only be 66 minutes (Lances time: 86h 15m, cumulative stage winners time: 85h 8m).

The slowest rider of this year's tour was Iker Flores with a time 4h 20m slower than Lance. If you rode each stage of the TdF slow enough to come in at the exact time of the stage cut-off (but not a second later), you'd finish 10 hours, 45 minutes and 47 seconds behind Lance. Wow! Is that ever SLOW! Your average speed? You guessed it: 37.2 kph. ... Not as slow as you thought, eh?

Ken (Bonner), who received the above message, got back to Tom & Kevin:

So, what was Lance's "rando. average time" ie. including all his down time sleeping, eating travelling, etc. from the time the tour started until it ended.... does he get his medal? :-)
.... Ken

Kevin's (or Tom's?) response:

Anybody can ride a rando-length event like the tour -- go hard for a few hours, stop, get a massage, eat well, sleep, get some pro to tune up your ride, mosey to where you left the course, repeat. Maybe finish within the allotted time. How many people can ride a Tour-length event like a brevet and finish within the limits?

I know, I'll sponsor a new event. It'll be the IslandTech 3600. From Nanaimo to Port Hardy to Victoria to Nanaimo (3x) with the last 100k as 200 laps of Grandview Bowl. Standard rando rules. Time-limit is 270 hours. Only Ken and Lance may register. The winner gets a cheap little pin.

You think OLN would want the exclusive broadcast rights?

--> IslandTech 3600... count me in ! Watch for it on the 2006 schedule.

July 27, 2005