By JOELLE COREY Special to the Palisadian-Post As Lance Armstrong and his riding rival, Alberto Contador, prepared to climb the Pyrenees in July, eight members of the Palisades Literary Society (PLS) packed their bags to join them in the final stages of the Tour de France. The cyclists prepared for seven months to participate in Discover France’s Alpes VIP Tour, which allows cycling enthusiasts to follow the same route as the professional riders. Discover France accepts only 25 cyclists, who are capable of riding big-mountain climbs and riding 30-75 miles each day. The local participants included Palisadian Thomas Hathaway and his 18-year-old son, Starr, and nephew Sterling of Hermosa Beach, along with Scott Bottles, Chris Tesari and Glenn Corey, all of Pacific Palisades, and Wayne Brander of Long Beach and Richard Marlis of Tarzana. Bottles and Tesari initiated the idea, and those PLS members who could coordinate their vacation schedules decided to make the trip. The experience was not a competition, but a chance to gain access to the Tour’s challenging route. To prepare for the trip, the eight cyclists rode with the 50-member PLS group, which meets year-round (rain or shine) on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 5:15 a.m. sharp. PLS ‘ aptly named for its meeting place in front of the Palisades Branch Library ‘ formed in 1984 and primarily comprises middle-to-senior-aged professionals. ’One of the nice things about the Literary Society is that, if you’re looking for general fitness and camaraderie, it works on that level,’ Thomas Hathaway said. ‘If you fancy pushing yourself to achieve the most you are capable of, it works on that level, too.’ Monday’s 23-mile ride to Marina Del Rey is fairly flat, Wednesday’s loop includes 1,200 ft. of climbing up to Mount St. Marys and up Temescal Canyon Road for a total of 20 miles, while Friday’s ride up Mandeville Canyon is 20 miles with 1,500 ft. of climbing. The eight riders further intensified their workouts with weekend rides that included ‘epic climbs’ in the Santa Monica Mountains and along Angeles Crest Highway that ranged in distance from 60 to 100 miles with aggregate ascents in climbing of 6,000 to 10,000 ft. They also met on Tuesdays to ride up Palisades Drive in the Highlands, with aggregate ascents of 3,000 ft. It was a lot of hard work, but the cyclists knew they had to be prepared for their trip, which began in Paris on July 16. Day 1) Total Miles: 0 They spent the day in Paris visiting cultural landmarks, including Notre Dame and Jardin du Luxembourg. Day 2) Total Miles: 0 The group traveled by train from Paris to their hotel in Toulouse. They were fitted for their bikes, which they rode throughout the Tour. Day 3) Total Miles: 40; 64.36 km The cyclists took a bus from Toulouse to Revel, the start of Stage 14 of the Tour de France. There, they mingled with cycling luminaries and witnessed an interview with Luxembourg cyclist Andy Schleck in the VIP area. They watched the professional riders’ start the day’s race, which ended in Ax 3 Domaines. Once the competitors took off, the guys enjoyed a three-course meal, which included common French delicacies. A bit heavier than before lunch, they rode to Carcassone, where they did some sightseeing of the iconic medieval ‘walled city.’ By the end of the day, they were exhausted and returned to their hotel in Toulouse. Day 4) Total Miles: 59.2; 95.3 km The cyclists were dropped off in the picturesque town of Aspet. From there, they got a head start on the professional riders and rode the last portion of Stage 15. They finished in Bagneres-de-Luchon, but not without a climactic end, climbing the 12 miles up Port de Bales. Deceivingly, the route remains flat until that final arduous stretch when suddenly a climb from 1,476 ft. to 5,577 ft. presents itself, featuring slopes with a 10-percent inclination grade. (Temescal Canyon is a mere 5-percent grade.) It was blistering hot and the last three miles of the climb were above the tree line. ‘This makes it extra challenging because the finishing kilometers of the climb are already very steep, so on a hot day the climb’s level of difficulty goes up drastically,’ said Starr Hathaway, who recently graduated from Buckley School, where he ran cross country. ‘[But] I personally perform better in the heat. In high school, I would always run my best races when it was very hot and dry. Part of this is due to my knowledge of proper hydration that my dad has taught me over the years.’ Starr, who will attend the University of Oregon this fall, began hydrating the night before and continued to do so throughout the ride. ’If you let yourself get thirsty and start craving water, it’s too late,’ Starr said. After the climb, the men proudly descended to the finish. Then, they watched the professional riders doing the exact same climb, but at a much faster pace. This was the climb in which Schleck experienced troubles with his chain, preceding what many bicycle experts considered an unethical attack by Alberto Contador, which gave him a 39-second lead. It is a tour tradition never to attack another rider during a mechanical failure, in order to guarantee pure athletic victory. That night, the guys stayed at a mountaintop ski resort in La Mongie. Day 5) Total Miles: 18.6; 30 km After a hearty breakfast, the group was bussed from La Mongie into a point along Stage 16. They rode the last 30 miles of the Stage to Pau, crossing the finish line to the sound of screaming fans. ’It always felt great to ride past the fans in Europe,’ Starr said. ‘It’s the Tour and nobody really cares what country you are from or what language you speak. Everyone is there for the cycling and everyone supports you.’ There, they took photos on the winners’ podium as a team in the VIP area. With access to the interview area, the guys imitated thick French accents, impersonating reporters and riders talking about that day’s route and challenges. From Pau, they took the bus back to La Mongie for some rest. Day 6) Total Miles: 70; 112.6 km The professionals rested on this day, while the Discover France crew completed portions of Stage 17. The eight cyclists rode to Argeles, where they ate a big lunch to prepare for their grueling climb to the top of Col du Tourmalet in the Pyrenees. Riding from Argeles to the Tourmalet summit consisted of a 19-mile ride uphill, but the last 11 miles is considered the famous Col du Tourmalet (‘Hors cat’gorie,’ beyond categorization in climb difficulty). Those miles were at a 6,939 ft. of elevation and had an average gradient of 7.5 percent, with sections hitting 11 percent and 12 percent, double the steepness of Temescal Canyon. From the descent of the summit to La Mongie, a massive fog bank rolled in, reducing the visibility to 25 feet ahead of each rider, and a corresponding temperature drop of 15 degrees. ’We could barely see the rider in front of us,’ Glenn Corey said. ‘It was a wet, soggy, cold ride down.’ Day 7) Total Miles: 0 The guys have a day off in La Mongie as a result of bad weather. Professional riders are in Stage 18, riding from Salies-de-B’arn to Bordeaux. Day 8) Total Miles: 25; 40.2 km The group completed a loop of Bordeaux, where the professional riders finished Stage 18. There, the group sipped champagne in the VIP section, overlooking the finish line. Actors Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, who were premiering their summer film, ‘Knight and Day,’ were gracious enough to join them in between posing for photos with the professional riders. Day 9) Total Miles: 75; 120.7 km Today, the group rode about 75 miles from Bordeaux to Paullac and back, which is a little more than twice as long as Stage 19. The terrain was relatively flat. Day 10) Total Miles: 0 The group, accompanied by 2 million other cycling fans, ended their experience watching the cyclists ride into Paris along Avenue des Champs-‘lys’es. ’I would definitely ride the Pyrenees again,’ Starr said of the experience. ‘The scenery is spectacular, the people are amazing and the food is to die for.’ (Pacific Palisades resident Joelle Corey received her B.A. in political science from Northeastern University in Boston, graduating magna cum laude with honors and a passion for writing. Following her May graduation, she returned to Los Angeles, where she is a regular freelance writer for many local and online publications including EnvironmentalGraffiti.com and Trendland.net.)
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