ANDRÉ BRETON CYCLING
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
    • Lifestyle Coach >
      • Coaching
      • Two Week Challenge
    • Adventure Guide
    • Guest Speaker
    • Mentor
  • Friends
  • Travelogues
    • Europa 360
    • Connecting My Grandfathers
    • Le Tour de Région Sauvage
    • Le Tour de Europe >
      • Gear List
      • In the Media
      • Podcasts
      • Concept, Intro, Chapters
    • Going Full Tilt
    • 7 Countries in 16 Days
  • Racing
  • Photo Gallery
  • More...
    • Touring History
    • Training Camps
    • Training Peaks & Strava
    • My Road To Leadville
    • Bike Shops
    • The Beginning
    • Contact
    • Archives >
      • Blog
      • Bikes, Components, Gear, Nutrition

Upcoming Posts:

11/5/2016

 
A Cycling Tour Through Seven European Countries ...
PictureSaverne dans le département de la bas-rhin, France.
On 5 October 2016, with a notable reluctance relative to my previous adventures into the unknown, I departed my winter home in Hamburg, Germany, first south to the Elbe Tunnel and then, from the south bank of the Elbe River, west towards the Netherlands. I was anticipating about 10-16 days of light touring on my Niner Bikes RLT 9 Steel gravel bike. Along the way, I planned, using GPS maps and other digital tools, to explore six (not seven) countries. Four would be firsts for my modest country life-list: Netherlands; Belgium; Luxembourg;  and the Czech Republic. And many of the regions in formerly experienced countries, France and Germany, would also be new, such as the département de moselle in northeast France. Sixteen days later, with 1534 miles (2454 km) in my legs and 122 bicycle touring hours in my body, I returned to Hamburg via the celebrated Elbe River Bike Path with a life's worth of experiences from a cycle tour of seven countries including Switzerland. In a suite of day-by-day blog entries, 16 in total, including maps for visualizing the routes I took through the various countries, I will soon publish totally revised, expanded and revisited text previously posted to Facebook as the trip was unfolding. The upcoming blog version of my experiences on a tour of seven countries will offer a more detailed recollection whilst taking care not to depreciate the moment-by-moment expression of my original Facebook posts. Here's a sneak preview, the first day of the tour, Europe Tour | Autumn 2016 | Day 1. Days 2-16 will be published and made available soon at Andre Breton Racing Dot Com ...

Update: As of late December 2016 all 16 days have been updated and posted to my blog page, scroll down this page to view each entry.

Picture
A cycling tour of seven countries in sixteen days (5-20 Oct 2016) riding counterclockwise from Hamburg, Germany. Over the sixteen days I rode 1534 miles (2454 km), 96 miles (153 km) per day on average. The shortest day was the day I set-off by train for Dresden and, last train, the Czech Republic, two short rides totaling just 16.22 miles (26 km). Total time cycle touring, including grocery stops, 122 hours. My longest day was 9 hrs 57 minutes, I pedaled 128 miles (205 km) that day, it was the tenth day of my trip. With one exception, colored lines on the map represent a day of riding. Day 1, for example, is the brown line extending west out of Hamburg. The exception is Day 12, when I completed two short rides to (pink line) / from (line not visible in this image) train stations in Sinsheim, Germany, and Ústí nad Labum, Czech Republic, respectively.

One More Race Across the Sky ...
PicturePhoto courtesy of the Leadville Race Series.
On 4 and 9 July 2016, I competed in back-to-back fifty mile (80 km), high elevation, endurance mountain bike races, the Firecracker and Silver Rush 50s. I was disappointed by my result at the first event but despite only four days to recover, I was excited about my finish at the Silver Rush. On 24 July, I completed my July racing calendar with an exciting second place overall finish on my Niner Bikes Jet 9 RDO at 40 in The Fort, a difficult 40-mile endurance race hosted by the Overland Mountain Bike Club in Fort Collins, Colorado. You can read more about these events, and my thoughts leading-up to them, here at Andre Breton Racing Dot Com. In a soon-to-be-released blog entry, One More Race Across the Sky, I'll be writing about the last race on my 2016 calendar, the Leadville Trail 100. Writing retrospectively, many weeks after the event from my winter base-camp in Hamburg, Germany, in this forthcoming post I'll be reflecting on my thoughts and experiences preparing for, and then racing in, one more, perhaps my last, Race Across The Sky. On 13 August 2016, after 7 hrs, 58 minutes, and 59 seconds of racing, I crossed the finish line on Harrison Avenue in Leadville, Colorado, on my Niner Bikes Air 9 RDO for the fourth time in four years. The sub-eight hour finish, something I attempted but failed to achieve in 2015, was my best finish to date in the Leadville 100: 68th/1800 overall, 18th/523 among age 40-49 men. I finished just 15 minutes off the age 40-49 male podium. But palmarès reveal only a small part of a much bigger story. When, just before I crossed the finish line, I raised my arms and formed a deep, penetrating, mind and body smile across my face I was reflecting on a monumental journey ... a treasure trove of highs, lows, and lessons learned ... and expressing my gratitude for all of the events and relationships that made that journey possible. I attempt to share some of my thoughts about this bigger journey in One More Race Across the Sky ... coming soon.

Picture
Crossing the finish line after 7:58:59 hrs:min:sec of racing in the 2016 Leadville Trail 100 on my Niner Bikes Air 9 RDO.

    André Breton

    Adventure Guide, Mentor, Lifestyle Coach, Consultant, Endurance Athlete

    Categories

    All
    10000-mile-year-goal
    12 Hrs Mesa Verde
    40 In The Fort
    77 Bismarckstraße
    Adaptive Shortening
    AirBnB
    Alex Hagman
    Andrew Coggan
    Argentia
    Autumn Tour 2016
    Bailey Hundo
    Balance
    Belgium
    Bill Lutes
    Brave New Wheel
    Breakthrough Performance
    Breck 100
    Breckenridge 100
    Cap De Formentor
    Charlemagne
    Clint Knapp
    Colorado
    Colorado Endurance Series
    Core
    Cortez
    Crested Butte
    Crested Butte Bike Week
    Cycling
    Czech Republic
    David Krimstock
    Derek Of Guysborough
    Dirty Durango Century
    Eimsbüttel
    Elbe River
    Elbe Tunnel
    Endurance
    E*thirteen
    Europe
    Fat Tire 40
    Firecracker 50
    Flexibility
    FoCo 102
    France
    FTP
    Functional Threshold Power
    Galileo House
    Garmin ETrex 20
    Germany
    Giant TCR Composite 1.0
    Gunnison
    Gunnison Growler
    Halifax
    Hamburg
    Hunter Allen
    Joe Friel
    Kaifu Lodge
    Kokopelli Bike & Board
    Labrador
    Lauenburg
    Lava Monkey
    Lea Angell Bus Tours
    Leadville Trail 100
    Light Touring
    Lory State Park
    Luxembourg
    Mallorca
    Mallorca 312
    Mark Rippetoe
    Maxwell Natural Area
    Netherlands
    Newfoundland
    New Hampshire
    Niner Bike Jet 9 RDO
    Niner Bikes
    Niner Bikes Rkt 9 RDO
    Niner Bikes RLT 9 Steel
    Normalized Power
    North Sydney
    Original Growler
    Overland Mountain Bike Club
    Performance Management Chart (PMC)
    Phil's World
    Pineridge Natural Area
    Pivot Cycles
    Push Industries
    Quarq Riken R Power Meter
    Ride With GPS
    Road34
    Salida 720
    Salida Big Friggin Loop
    Santa Margalida
    Sauna
    Self-coaching
    Shimano
    Silver Rush 50
    Spain
    Spring Training
    Sram Eagle
    Starting Strength
    Strava
    Subculture Cyclery
    Sweet Spot
    Taint For The Faint
    The Chimp Paradox
    Training And Racing With A Power Meter
    Training Peaks
    Tramuntana Mountains
    VO2 Max
    Wednesday Night World Championships
    Wilton

    Archives

    March 2021
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    October 2018
    June 2018
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    October 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    October 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    RSS Feed

Quick Links

Home​​
About
Friends
Lifestyle Coach
Adventure Guide
Mentor, Speaker

Le Tour de Europe
Going Full Tilt
Flagstaff to Portland
Podcasts
Training Camps
Touring, Racing
Bike Shops
Training Peaks & Strava
​My Road to Leadville
​
The Beginning
Contact
© COPYRIGHT 2021. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
    • Lifestyle Coach >
      • Coaching
      • Two Week Challenge
    • Adventure Guide
    • Guest Speaker
    • Mentor
  • Friends
  • Travelogues
    • Europa 360
    • Connecting My Grandfathers
    • Le Tour de Région Sauvage
    • Le Tour de Europe >
      • Gear List
      • In the Media
      • Podcasts
      • Concept, Intro, Chapters
    • Going Full Tilt
    • 7 Countries in 16 Days
  • Racing
  • Photo Gallery
  • More...
    • Touring History
    • Training Camps
    • Training Peaks & Strava
    • My Road To Leadville
    • Bike Shops
    • The Beginning
    • Contact
    • Archives >
      • Blog
      • Bikes, Components, Gear, Nutrition