Tucsonan gets feel of Tour de France

The luster of the Tour de France bike race has been smudged by doping scandals. But the race route remains a mecca for serious cyclists -- and Tucsonan Rupert Laumann wanted to sample it.

He did so last September in a grand and gratifying way.

"I rode what's called the Raid Pyreneen in France," said Laumann, 51, an avid Tucson cyclist who rides about 10,000 miles a year. "It's an incredible route -- covering about 440 miles. . . . It crosses a lot of the mountain passes covered by Tour de France riders in the Pyrenees Mountains."

The Raid route spans the spine of the Pyrenees from Hendaye on the Atlantic Coast to Cerbere on the Mediterranean -- crossing 18 steep passes along the way. Posing a personal challenge for cyclists rather than an organized race, the Raid's requirements are straightforward and enormously challenging: Complete the route in 100 hours, including sleep time.

Laumann, who works as a flight-test planner at Raytheon, succeeded on the Raid with the help of a France-based guide who is an expert on the route and accommodations along the way.

"There were some huge, challenging climbs, but I had trained for that with lots of rides up Mount Lemmon," he said. "The scenery was spectacular. You go above timberline in the Pyrenees and you can see forever. . . . I did the Raid in the first week of September. The weather was clear, and I was riding in bare arms and legs the whole time."

Why spend the time -- along with about $1,500 for the guided trip and $1,200 for air fare?

Laumann says he likes to choose an annual cycling challenge and then go all out to prepare for it.

In 2004, he pedaled a 250-mile route in Cochise County and New Mexico. In 2005, it was something called the Death Ride in California. The Raid Pyreneen was his 2006 test.

After getting into solid shape on a six-day, 420-mile bike tour in Colorado last June, he stepped up his training with rides up Mount Lemmon and elsewhere around Tucson.

"I averaged over 250 miles a week and over 18,000 feet of climbing each week," he said.

By the time he hit the Raid route, with about 36,000 feet of climbing in all, "it wasn't all that hard," Laumann said. "It wasn't a quantum leap in difficulty from riding up Mount Lemmon."

Still, pedaling over passes made famous as part of Tour de France race routes -- including the Aubisque and the Tourmalet -- increased his respect for the racers.

"I wasn't racing anyone," Laumann said. "It was more of an exercise in pacing for me. But it must be extremely hard if you're actually racing those passes."

What's next?

Laumann apparently has caught the Pyrenees bug.

"I really want to go back for a few days and do some relaxed cycling," he said.