<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hours ahead of the caravan of cars and motorcycles on the course and helicopters up above, throngs of excited Tour de France fans line the side of the road awaiting the peloton to race by on Alpe d\u2019Huez. When the cyclists start to appear, the crowd roars with enthusiastic cheers, but the group taking on the challenging French Alps\u2019 terrain during stage 18 isn\u2019t made up of Tour de France cyclists. This group is a small pack of amateur riders from a wide spectrum of backgrounds: garbage men, podiatrists, teachers, flutists, police detectives and yoga instructors, all ranging in age from 35 to 70 years old, all part of a historical cycling trip.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cycling vacations\u2014especially those scheduled during the Tour de France\u2014are increasingly popular, but Fintan McCormac, one of the chief organizers from New Jersey-based Reilly Cycling Tours, says his company is a modest mom-and-pop shop compared to the other \u201CWalmarts\u201D in the industry. The Alpine stages trip travels to France during the height of the Tour and can only accommodate up to 16 riders, plus eight staff members. \u201CWe give individual attention\u2014there\u2019s a guide for every two people in our trip,\u201D says McCormac.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Steve Widder, a 70-year-old retired parks and recreation department worker, remembers watching the Tour de France on television in the 1980s as a recreational cyclist and dreaming of seeing the mountains in person. He\u2019s traveled with Reilly Cycling Tours to France nine times.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CWe stay in a chalet right next to Alpe d\u2019Huez and get to ride and see some of the most iconic climbs,\u201D Widder says. \u201CThe first impression [of the professional riders] is just how fast they are\u2014they go up the mountain 3 to 4 times the speed that we do. Their ability to accelerate in a shortened burst is remarkable. We\u2019re just lucky to maintain our pace.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Widder says witnessing the speed of the Tour de France riders in person is incomparable to watching the competition on television. McCormac estimates that while his riders may complete the climb at about 6 mph with an all out effort, the Tour cyclists swiftly pass by at 16 to 20 mph. But for ordinary folk or extraordinary athlete, the distress and determination to push through the pain on the course is still evident.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u200B\"We\u2019re riding the same exact course,\u201D McCormac says. \u201CAfter we finish riding, we can watch 40 minutes of riders passing through, and everybody is suffering in the same way we did.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;While many riders and spectators regard the climb as the toughest part of the course, 66-year-old Nancy Cattabiani believes that the descent is where the gap between amateur and professional riders is most apparent. During her time on two of Reilly Cycling Tour\u2019s trips, Cattabiani remembers the cautions from McCormac and the other guides about the perilous the steep &lt;em&gt;downward&lt;/em&gt; climbs.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CThey warned us and said \u2018We don\u2019t have a rubber band on you if you go over,\u201D she says. \u201CYou can\u2019t understand how dangerous the descent down the mountains is until you are there. These guys go down at 40 mph\u2014to me, that\u2019s when you realize the difference in talent.\u201D\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;McCormac says it\u2019s a big leap of faith to go on the Tour de France trip because it\u2019s not only a physical challenge but also an emotional experience. After his group finishes its ride and watches the best cyclists race on the greatest bike course in the world, he says there are always a lot of teary eyes. Widder remembers the feeling. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CWe aren\u2019t going to get into Yankee Stadium or Wimbledon, but we can be on the same climbs as the tour riders which is just amazing,\u201D Widder says. \u201CWe have the dreams and they make it possible.\u201D\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/edge/2014/07/26/tour-de-france-riding-like-the-pros>