from Dr. Allen Lim

“Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head. Found my way downstairs and drank a cup and looking up, I noticed I was late. Found my coat and grabbed my hat, made the bus in seconds flat…”

As soon as the riders get back to the bus after a stage the recovery process begins. Waiting for each rider on the bus is 1.5 liters of Cliff electrolyte solution (Apple Cider is their favorite), a liter of Cliff recovery drink, and a small buffet of white rice, eggs, fruit, and seasonings. Upon entering the bus, the guys are reminded to weigh themselves with a precision scale in their cycling shoes, shorts, and jersey (empty pockets). They’re asked to weigh themselves the same way before they leave the bus just before race start. The weight difference gives them an idea of how much fluid they need to replace immediately after each stage. So far Christian is the only one who’s made perfect attendance on the scale. And over the last week and a half he’s doing a stellar job of keeping his weight loss to about 1 to 1.5 kg or about 1.5 to 2% of his body weight. Ideally, the guys should be drinking and eating enough to keep their loss below 3% as performance can decrease significantly after that point. So in many ways, the recovery process really begins with each rider’s eating and drinking behavior on the bike.

Anyway, after the guys get back on the bus and weigh themselves, they then shower and clean off. Simple hygiene is one of the most important steps we take to keeping the guys healthy. For example, before anyone even gets on the bus or gets off the bus, they have to squirt in and squirt out with a hand sanitizing gel. Unlike most races, there are so many people that the riders and staff interact with that hand washing and sanitizing is a critical first defense against getting sick. After showering, the guys get changed and start drinking, eating, and sitting. At this point, the bus is already rolling back to the hotel – a transfer that can take anywhere from 15 min to an hour.

Upon returning back to the hotel, the guys head up to their rooms and lounge. Within 15 minutes to 30 minutes, they are off to get massage. We’ve got 4 therapists for 8 riders right now, so the massage load isn’t terrible, allowing the guys some decent time on the table each day. After massage, the guys usually get some more food to snack on and then spend some time napping or catching up with the world on their computers while sitting in their “space legs.” The “space legs” are a dynamic compression device, made by NormaTec. The riders spend about 30 minutes in them at a time whenever they are sitting in bed, and they help to decrease the edema that accumulates during racing, and that help assist with venous return. If it’s hot, or even if it’s not, they’ll also have their hands in their Avacore – a hand-cooling device that pipes heat out of the body. Alternatively, they may also keep some head cooling units on made by Cincinnati Sub Zero that helps to reduce and stabilize their core temperature. What we’ve found is that if the guys don’t cool off properly after the race, they remain catabolic and can have a hard time sleeping.

After massage, space legs, and cooling off, the guys will then have dinner made by our chef Willy Balmat. We’ve changed the diet up quite a bit at this year’s Tour eliminating wheat out of it. So the guys are mostly eating potatoes and rice as their primary form of carbohydrate along with a nice meat dish, veggies, desert, and all the fixings.

Dinner typically starts at 8 and ends at 9 for the guys, and they’re in the rooms getting ready for bed soon after. Most of the riders are asleep by ten. We hydrate the living daylights out of them, so most are up by 3 in the morning to pee. At that point, they’ve got empty bottles pre filled with Cliff recovery mix, and they’ll fill them with water, shake, and drink. The guys literally require so many calories to keep them going that it actually helps to feed them 400 to 500 kcals in the middle of the night.

Breakfast is usually between 8 to 10 am, bags are out by 10 to 11 am, and the cars and bus rolling shortly thereafter. On the bus to the start the guys chill, talk, and Danny updates his social network on Facebook. As soon as the guys get to the start, they meet for the pre-race meeting directed by Whitey and Lionnel. Then they go through their pre-race ritual. They play with their radios, sticker their numbers, grab race food, lube chamois with DZ Nuts, use the bathroom (#1 and # 2), and or course deal with the media. Then it’s sign in, hang out, and race. And voila, we’ve got a day at the Tour de France.