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Debra was a complete new comer to the sport of long-distance cycling, but then she couldn’t sail before she sailed the Southern Ocean and couldn’t row before she signed up to row the Atlantic! In a bid to throw herself in at the deep end Debra joined a team of professional athletes to take part in the 2007 L’Étape du Tour. The Tour took place on Monday 16th July 2007 and followed the exact route of Stage 15 of the 2007 Tour de France in the Pyrenees Mountains.
The 2007 L’Étape was a very difficult route. The stage was a classic Pyrenean mountain stage that started in the town of Foix and climbed 5 mountain cols. But this was not ridden over a series of days. The whole lot had to be ridden in less than 12 hours. This meant that to make up for the few hours of crawling up the 5 steep mountain sides it was necessary to gun it at up to 70km per hour down the other side of the mountain around the hairpin bends to make up time.
Debra completed the race in 11 hours and 39 minutes. Over 7,000 cyclists started but almost half did not finish it. Less than 100 starters were women. Debra has also taken part in the Time Megeve Mont Blanc Race and has a number of long distance UK sportive races on the horizon.
16th July 2007
Once upon a time the hills on Dartmoor had seemed long and steep. They still seem steep in places but having taken part in L’Etape Du Tour even the longest climbs on Dartmoor now seems EPLS (Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!).
The 2007 L'Etape du Tour (stage 15 of Le Tour de France) was deemed to be one of the hardest races in years, so I am enormously proud that I completed it, even though it nearly broke me! Five mountains was bad enough but the heat made it unbearable at times. The side of the roads were littered with cyclists who had collapsed in the shade of trees due and the tarmac was melting as temperatures neared 40 degrees. Hundreds of people attempted to make it to the summits by pushing rather than riding their bikes but with time elimination points all along the course it meant thousands of the 7000 starters did not finish and were sent home on coaches with their bikes in the back of a lorry.
The thought of having to be taken to the finish on a coach gave me huge determination to keep spinning those wheels. I had no aspirations what so ever about putting in a fast time. I simply wanted to complete it in the time limit of 12 hours. Mercifully I did not take a flyer over the edge of the many hairpin bends we belted around on the descents, which is a minor miracle considering I cycled like a woman possessed down the last mountain in order to make it to the finish before the cut off.
I just made it! I completed the 200km in 11 hours 39 minutes. It hurt heaps but what a fantastic event. They closed the roads for the whole route across the Pyrenees and all the French villagers came out on the streets to cheer us on. Many were armed with hosepipes to cool us down.
As one of only about 100 women to enter L’Etape I was very aware of my minority status, none more so when I went through a village. The locals love it when a woman is still going for it and scream “ALLEZ ALLEZ MADAME”! Their excitement increased the further along the course I got. I felt a bit sorry for the guys cycling around me as the attention and encouragement from the locals was all directed towards me!
Thank you so so much to TriUK (Ali, Chris and Richard) for sorting me out with such a fab bike and to Mark Turner for letting me join Team OC. I blame you entirely!
L’ETAPE du Tour
“Bizarrely I was more concerned about the physical challenge of L’Étape than I was about rowing the Atlantic and I was right to be concerned. I have never come so close to reaching my mental and physical limits as I did on this race. I loved it! “ Debra Searle
"The sheer distance and the severity of the course profile is a challenge even for the experienced sportive rider. For the first timer it borders on suicidal!”
Quote from ‘Etape du Tour 2007 uncovered’ - Cycling Weekly Magazine
DEBRA’S L’ETAPE race report
I can highly recommend this race... if you like tormenting your mind and body! It was a fantastic challenge in the truest sense so if you are looking for an adventure that pushes you to your mental and physical limits then this is the one for you. But be prepared to put in a fair amount of training for at least 6 months before as this isn’t one to take on lightly.
bike l’etape
