Sometime Ago I found these stories from the Tour De France. These stories illustrate pretty accurately what life is like for a professional cyclist. These stories are pretty old but the narrative remains the same, with rider's enduring the challenges of the toughest bicycle race ever created.
=================================================
1913: FORKS IN THE ROAD
The
idea of support cars carrying replacement bicycles was unheard of in
the early years of the Tour. In fact, riders faced severe time penalties
if they were caught receiving any help at all to effect mechanical
repairs. It was this typically draconian rule that led to an incident
that has gone down in Tour legend. While descending the Col du Tourmalet
at high speed, Eugène Christophe's front forks snapped. Remarkably, he
was unscathed. Even more remarkably, Christophe – aware that he was the
race leader on the road – slung his bike over his shoulder, grabbed the
broken forks, and set off on foot for the nearest village, 6 miles
(10km) further down the mountain. The village was St Marie de Campan,
and right in the middle of it was a blacksmith. Stoking up the forge,
Christophe set about repairing his forks. As he did so, a Tour official
looked on to ensure that no rules were broken. When Christophe asked a
local youngster to work the bellows, he was informed by the official
that he had been docked ten minutes – on top of the four hours he had
already lost since the crash!
Such was the outcry over the
decision, the time penalty was eventually reduced – to three minutes.
Towards the end of his life, Christophe returned to St Marie de Campan
to watch the unveiling of a commemorative plaque on the site of the
former smithy. To add insult to injury, his name was misspelled.
1920: NAPOLEON AND HIS DONKEY
Was
there ever an unluckier rider than the Italian Napoleon Paoli? While
racing down a narrow mountain track, he collided with a donkey that was
standing in the middle of the road. Both he and his bike flew into the
air and, when he landed, Paoli was on the back of the donkey. The beast
of burden duly set off in panic in the opposite direction, with the
helpless Paoli unable to get off. When the donkey eventually collapsed
from exhaustion, Paoli had to run nearly a kilometre to where his bike
was lying by the roadside. Further along the road, he was hit on the
head by a rock that had been worked loose from an overhanging cliff.
Paoli managed to get to the summit of the Tourmalet, where he gave up
and fell asleep in a hut. In all he would ride three Tours, and finish
none.
1924: THE TOUR OF SUFFERING
The 1924 Tour was
dubbed "Le Tour du Souffrance" (The Tour of Suffering) by the journalist
Alfred Londres, and there is little doubt that in terms of draconian
rules and regulations, Henri Desgrange excelled himself this year. Not
content with forcing riders to contest 15 stages in which only two were
under 186 miles (300km) and five were in excess of 248 miles (400km),
and insisting that they have no mechanical back-up, Desgrange decided
that in addition, riders would be disqualified if they were found to be
discarding clothing or equipment en route. When most stages started in
the pre-dawn cold and finished in the burning afternoon heat, this was
perhaps the greatest torture of all. It proved too much for Henri
Pélissier, who withdrew from the race claiming that Desgrange would soon
insist on riders carrying weights "since God made humans too light".
