Réve 2012

Réve - Dream 

Dream is pretty much the best description I could use for the news I got last week when I was invited onto the Réve 2012 Tour team where 6 women will ride the entire 3,479-kilometer (2,161-mile) Tour de France route.  We will ride each stage in a single day and will do so one day ahead of the men's race throughout July.  Talk about a dream coming true!  Spending a month in France riding my bike around the country and all in support of Bikes Belong's mission of getting more women involved in bicycling.  Bikes Belong was the same advocacy group involved in the Tim Johnson's Ride on Washington and I'm so excited to be working with them again and especially proud to be part of this unprecedented challenge for women in sport!

With all of that said, there are some major changes on the racing front because of this adventure coming up.  At first, there was a moment of question of should I or should't I take on this challenge because it means giving up a fair chunk of my triathlon season and thus taking me out of the race for Hy-Vee and 70.3 Worlds.  But after sitting down with Nick and Grant to talk things through, the decision was clear and I couldn't say no to this unbelievable opportunity.  So, in terms of racing, I'm heading to Kansas City for a 5150 race in a couple of weeks and then going to re-evaluate after that.  I've already started putting in some massive miles on the bike in prep for this ridiculous amount of riding July,  not to mention the climbing that we'll be doing during those mountain stages!!!

But it's times like these that I have to take a moment and realize how truly lucky I am to have the support of my friends and family to live this crazy life.  Nick has been the source and a humongous support of so many amazing things I'm now getting involved in.  With his extensive experience from being on Tour teams and spending a ton of time in France, I feel so confident that I will be prepared and ready for the challenge.  Working with Apex is also another huge advantage for me.  Grant and Neal have a great understanding of what I'm going to be going through since they coach real Tour racers and know what it's going to take to get through something like this.  Breeze and Meg Forbes are also going to be huge helps when it comes to getting my nutrition dialed for 22 days of crazy milage.  The Réve crew has been super helpful and I'm excited to get to meet everyone at our team camp in a couple of weeks!

2012 will forever be remembered as a break through year for me.  Not so much on the racing side of things but more so on the life side of the balance.  This year is turing out to be one of the most exciting and eye opening for me.  Racing, triathlon, and sports are taking me to places I never really thought I would get the chance to go, see, and do.  Racing is becoming so much more than that and I'm finally figuring out that maybe my "career" can take on many shapes and forms beyond being an athlete.

Look for more updates on training and prepping for France.  I'll be working with Strava to start tracking the training leading up to Réve and while we're out there!  Also, I want to shine some light on all the amazing people who have put this all to gather and who are going to be crucial to make this a success.

As Kate Powlison, one of the other women riding so eloquently put it, we're doing the Réve Tour to support more women riding bikes int eh US and to prove to any woman that no matter how daunting the trip - whether it's a Grand Tour, a century ride, a steep hill out of town, or riding to work the first time - it can be done!