He may be 50 years old, but Tom Hill is hardly slowing down. The Pacific Palisades cyclist participated in the L’ Etape du Tour bike race–one of the stages of this year’s Tour de France–last Sunday and took the silver medal in his age group on the 113-mile route from the town of Pau to the summit of the famous Tourmalet. “This was my third time doing it and definitely the most difficult because we climbed 14,600 feet and previous years have been closer to 12,000 feet. The 98-degree heat was also a big challenge,” said Hill, who did the race in the Pyrenees in 2005 and in the Alps the following year. “After the last time (2006) I promised myself that it was too painful and I wouldn’t come back. However, this is also Lance Armstrong’s last Tour de France, so I wanted to be here for that.” The pros in the Tour de France will be riding the same course today, which is the 17th out of 20 stages in this year’s Tour. “Actually, our race was a bit longer since we took a different route before reaching the first climb,” Hill said. Hill was in a field of about 10,000 cyclists from 49 countries. His starting number was 3,941, so it took him three minutes of pedaling just to reach the starting line. The race is chip timed so you know your exact time at the finish. There were have check points along the way to make sure no one could take a shorter route. Only 6,888 riders finished because there were time limits set on the course and riders who failed to reach them in time were pulled out of the race. “I cramped up at Mile 70 and had to take a few minutes to stretch before continuing up the Soulor,” said Hill, who, along with his wife, got special Presidential passes to watch the final stage and finish in Paris on Sunday. “All three climbs had their own challenges. Marie Blanque was six miles long with an average grade of 7.6 percent with the final 2.5 miles at 13 percent, which really takes a lot out of you since it requires standing up a lot to pedal. The Soulor is 8 miles long with an average grade of 7.8 percent and seemed to go on forever. Then the final and most difficult climb is the Col du Tourmalet which is one of the most famous climbs in France. It’s 12 miles long with an average grade of 7.5 percent. We are climbing for 11 miles prior to reaching the base of this monster so it’s a long haul!” Hill finished the course in 8 hours and 15 minutes and admitted all of his pre-race training paid dividends. The fastest time in the L’ Etape was 5 hours and 59 minutes and the pros are expected to take five hours to finish. “I was very happy about getting second place in my age group,” he said. “I had trained hard prior to arriving in France, having competed in seven events that were 100 or more miles in California–including the King of the Mountain Challenge, which consists of three timed races, each of which is 100 miles long and climbs about 12,000 feet.” Like in the Tour de France itself, there were some accidents. Hill witnessed some bad crashes during the high-speed descents on the technical terrain of the narrow Pyranees roads. In the end, though, the satisfaction of finishing was worth the sweat. “Thankfully, the fans cheering all along the course keeps you motivated,” Hill said. “There are also hundreds of spectators on the Tourmalet that pour ice cold spring water on your head and back, which helps keep your body temperature in check and helps eliminate fatigue and cramping.” The Tour de France–including the same route Hill rode–is televised on Versus early in the morning and again in the evenings in the United States. “As of right now I can say I probably won’t do this event again just because it is so hard on the body,” Hill confessed. “The suffering on the climbs in the high heat is really difficult.” However, when it comes to competitive cycling, Hill has learned never to say never.
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