Jim Ray - peaceonabike

June 21, 2019July 26, 2021

Four-Country Ride

MONDORF-LES-BAINES, LUXEMBOURG

Our last day, and our biggest day. The preparation for this ride started on Wednesday at our team meeting. Fränk Schleck stated that he was going to offer two rides: The planned 155 km four-country ride and a shorter (100 km) ride that would only be able to take in three countries.

To do a second ride, he would offer a guide, probably Glen Leven who is a mechanic for Trek-Segafredo, but no other support, i.e., no motorbikes. But he would need at least three volunteers.

Fränk asked us to think about what we were ready for after a week of riding. Two riders were consistently sagged throughout the week when we had time limits. I think Fränk was looking at those two as “volunteers.”

Glen Leven (and Martine Schleck in the shadows)

Even after the rest day, I wasn’t feeling much better. I was better but I wasn’t much better. The decision time was last night at the team meeting. I would love to go long and say I did a four-country ride but my body was telling me to volunteer for the shorter group. And I came to terms with that.

But then…

Fränk Schleck, Stephanie Voigt, Jens Voigt

In walked Jens Voigt to our team meeting. “Shut up legs.” And Jens is going to ride with the long group. That conflicted me as I wanted to ride with Jens but wasn’t sure I could keep with the group. But that option was quickly off the table. Fränk announced there would only be one ride. Everyone would start but if he felt someone was holding back the team he would tell them to get in the van, no arguing, no discussion. Having that decision out of my hand, I had to go long.

Jens Voigt – surprise guest at our Thursday meeting

We rolled out of Mondorf-les-Bains and a gap quickly developed back to the two riders. After 20 km (12 miles) just outside of Peppange we stopped as Fränk had gone back to help pace them. When they reached our group they stopped and got in the van.

My goal today was to finish. My strategy was simple. I thought I could stay with Jambo as we had ridden together quite a bit this week. We could form a grupetto of two if we had to as Fränk would not force Jambo, one of the organizers, off the course. But I didn’t have to resort to such a strategy.

Our first border was Belgium. We stopped at a non-descript border next to a farmhouse. The occupants were not thrilled we were there. They opened the door and their house smelled like a thousand ashtrays.

We rolled through a very scenic wooded section in Belgium, but only for 6.5 km (4 miles) and crossed back into Luxembourg. On another wooded scenic road, Fränk had us go from riding side by side (in twos) to one long paceline. And I was on Jens Voigt’s wheel. The speed ramped up as we kept this going for 10 km or more.

We stayed in Luxembourg and crossed the country, west to east, traveling 64 km (40 miles). We crossed the Moselle River at Wormeldange to enter Germany and pulled over just inside the border. Next to the river in Germany was a bike trail with lost of users on this Friday afternoon. As I was taking a photo a German man (or maybe a Luxembourger on the wrong side of the river) started speaking to me in German. I think. When he saw I didn’t comprehend he asked, “what language?” He switched to English.

“But why no German?”, he asked. “You’re wearing the Luxembourg colors. I told him we were riding with Fränk Schleck. And Jens Voigt.

Source: Dan McDonough (Facebook, 22 Jun 2019)
Sitting: Barry Sherry – Keeling: Jambo (Jim Ray)
Crouched: Paul Lewandowsky
L-R: Carl, Frank, xxx, Dac Mcd, Scott Ireland, Gusty, Bryan Huneycutt, Will Swetnam, Jens Voigt, Margaret O’Rourke, Svetlana Martynova, Julie Trimble, Bob Pane, Scott Hesford

“Jens Vote?”, he exclaimed. I told him to come over and meet them. He said no and kept riding.

We got on the bike path and hammered it for 19 km (12 miles). As we reached France, we stopped and one of our sagged riders joined us for the final push to home. Fränk made sure we rode at the pace of the slowest rider and we would finish the week riding together.

Newly AUTOGRAPHED phone case (by Jens Voigt)

As for me, I pushed through and maybe I shouldn’t have. But I had to, no? I was fearful all day that Fränk would say “you’re holding us back,” and secretly wished he did, but he never came my way. Jens only passed me going up one climb because he was ahead of me on all the others. As crappy as I felt, I never was last on a climb or even second to last.

It was a challenging day. I was just hanging on at times. I was breaking the ride into five-mile segments, just trying to get to the next one. There were times I wanted to cry out “I’m done.” But I kept going. And ultimately, I ended the day with the satisfaction of completing the day, and the week, that I set out to do. At the team meeting, I was recognized for powering through and never quitting.

What a week it was. Riding with the Brothers Schleck and Jens Voigt. Separate days in Holland, Luxembourg, France, and Germany and a four-country ride that included Belgium.

June 20, 2019August 22, 2020

Luxembourg American Cemetery

This was a rest day so we would only ride 28 miles. Tell that to your friends who can’t imagine riding 28 miles – on our rest day that’s what we did. And it was easy.

Fränk Schleck, Barry Sherry, Andy Schleck

Fränk Schleck met us in the morning at the bike room at the hotel. Once we were ready, his brother, Andy, the 2010 Tour de France winner, showed up to lead the ride. Like Fränk, he also lives in Mondorf-les-Bains. Can’t lead the ride? Have your little brother, the TdF champion, fill in.

I did not plan on being at the front of our group as we rolled out from Mondorf but found myself there with Andy Schleck. I was at the front for two kilometers until I moved over to give someone else a chance to chat.

Andy asked me how I liked Luxembourg. I loved it I told him and that Frank undersells it. He agreed. It is a beautiful country. Andy asked where I was from and then added he gets to the States a lot, mostly California.

A TdF champion serving espresso. Jambo on the left.

We rolled to his bike shop. It is very clean (Frank says “too clean”). There is a cafe in the back and the former TdF champion was making and serving espresso for those who wanted some.

The shop could have been any American bike shop. That is any clean American bike shop. Andy is a Trek dealer, along with other brands. Shimano, Camelbak, and Bontrager products are on the shelves as are Cliff Bars and Power Bars.

But there is one difference. There is a lot of memorabilia from Andy’s career and also from some of his teammates.

We had decided as a group to add another 4 km, uphill, to our ride. The Luxembourg American Cemetery was only 2.4 miles away. It was very moving. General George S. Patton is buried here. We presumed to be buried with his troops.

Only 39% of the original soldiers that were buried here remain. The other 61% have been repatriated and are buried on American soil in the U.S. And here the rain came, but only for a short time.

When we left we were in rain but by the time we got back to Andy’s shop (retracing our route) it was dry. Although it looked like we would be in rain for a while, this was the only time we were in rain and it lasted no more than 10 minutes, It was a very moving and very meaningful day.

EDIT/EPILOGUE – This post was originally titled “Team Andy” because when you get to ride with a Tour de France winner (2010), why not? But from a week of riding in Luxembourg and four other countries, our visit to the Luxembourg American Cemetery was among my best memories. After moving hosting for this site and losing some post which had to be restored manually, the name Luxembourg American Cemetery just resonated. Almost forgot that I rode with a Tour de France champion that day. Sorry Andy. 🙂

June 16, 2019April 18, 2021

Amstel Gold Route

VALKENBURG, HOLLAND

Our group, Rooster Racing, drove from our base in Mondorf, Luxembourg to The Netherlands, to ride part of the course of the Amstel Gold Race, Holland’s most famous race. One (at least this one) envisions Holland as this flat country of windmills, canals, and tulips. Well, that may be true in the north, I don’t know, but in southern Holland it is hilly. Damn hilly.

We boarded a 17-passenger bus for the 3-hour ride to Valkenburg. Upon arriving we parked in a train/commuter parking lot. The Schleck van had all our bikes onboard and we only had to reattach the front wheel to our own bikes. Today’s route would be 100 km while the actual course for Amstel Gold is two and one-half times that.

Before rolling out, we took a moment to recognize (American) Fathers’ Day. There were seven of us: Gusty, Bob, Paul, Carl, Bryan, Fränk, and me. With four children, I had the most, plus include four more grandchildren too. Maybe I don’t belong in this group. None of the others had grandchildren.

Father’s Day: Gusty, Bob, Paul, Carl, Bryan, Fränk, Barry

The Roosters’ motto is “Do Good, Ride Hard, Live Well.” We each had a minimum of $1500 fundraising for the charity of our choice. And I chose the one that would benefit Bethany.

We waited at the top for two of our riders. I may have been 15 seconds down but a couple of riders were 2-3 minutes down. Once we regrouped we came to a church celebration in Bemelem. It was part parade, part Mass, and part funeral although I doubt if it was a funeral as we would hit others like it throughout the day.

We had to detour around the small village. Fränk would talk to the policemen and I wonder how many recognized him as a former pro cyclist or more importantly, the winner of this race, their race, in 2006. It was his “coming out party” (winning the 2006 Amstel Gold Race) as he told us.

The terrain, not just the hills, but the course itself is especially dodgy. The streets are narrow. There is a lot of road furniture including speed bumps and bollards.

Will Swetnam, Paul Lewandosky, Barry Sherry

Being urban, or suburban, many residents don’t have garages and park on the street. The roads that aren’t urban often are farm roads with narrow bridges and sharp corners.

We had four steep climbs on this course. One was Keutenberg with has a 22%-24% pitch. Another is the Cauberg, in Valkenburg, which is a steep city street. In the race, it is often used up to as many as four times. We only climbed it once.

After the first big climb (which may or may not have been the Loorberg), Fränk tagged two riders and made them ride in the van(s). Our bus driver was contracted by law so we did not have time to spare to ride three hours each way and bike for more than four hours (or so). They would have to be sagged until the end of the route.

Will Swetnam’s bike did not arrive with him in Frankfurt so he was riding Fränk’s bike. Yep, set up for a skinny pro racer. When we came to the second big climb Will was up the road but I eventually caught him. We weren’t racing but I pulled away. We crested and were about 300 meters from where the group had pulled over when Will went speeding by. I had sat up to wait for him and he smiled and said, “I had to do that.”

On the remaining two climbs, Keutenberg and Cauberg, I didn’t give Will a chance. I did feel bad, just a little, that he was riding the bike of an Amstel Gold winner. But hey, he was riding a bike of a former Amstel Gold winner.

We had gone through the small village of Eys. The course turned sharply onto a farm road with a narrow bridge. Then a nasty climb – the Eyserbosweg. At the top where we all gathered, Fränk said that during Amstel Gold that if you’re not in the top 30 when you come to that bridge you have no chance of winning. It was a very interesting insight that put this course into perspective for us.

The two riders that had been sagged had been dropped off at the base of the Cauberg. They got to ride up it and wait for us. We rolled in, met them, and we all finished the course together.

When I ride, be it a cancer ride or an MS ride, and see someone has a name written on their body or their bib, I ask them to tell me their story. New to this group, I thought someone would ask me who Bethany is and why her name is on my calf. No one did.

Sausage snack before returning to Luxembourg

However, at the team meeting this evening, Jambo (Jim Ray), one of the two organizers, put me on the spot and said that he saw the name Bethany and asked if I would mind sharing with the team her story. So I stood, choked back a tear, and said it was Father’s Day, she made me a father, and I am riding in Luxembourg for her health to find a cure.

Thank you, Jambo, for asking me to share that. Today was a very special ride.