Friday, July 12, 2013

TEAM L'ETAPE ON RACE DAY | THE RESULT

TEAM JOS - NIKE COURAGE PAINTED ON THE GROUND

The L'Etape du Tour and Team JOS - Nike courage achieved last Sunday the cycling goal of the year: we participated on the L'Etape du Tour race in Annecy, France. The race was fantastic and the best of all, the whole team completed the challenge within the elimination time. A great achievement from the whole team! Jos came all the way from Holland with his family to participate in the event and his presence in two points of the race gave everybody a great burst in motivation.

Look after the link how the day went.


Sunday, June 16, 2013

NIKE L'ETAPE DU TOUR TEAM RIDE

This Sunday 16th the Nike L'Etape du Tour, that is also fundraising for the ALS foundation, did the last team ride of the year before leaving for the Tour de France. The team did 156 kms hard and fast riding in the Veluwe park, around Arnhem. Now, 3 weeks for the big day in Annecy and of fundraising!

See after the link how the ride went.


Saturday, June 8, 2013

TOUR DU ALS: THE RIDE

Yesterday was the big ride day. And we didn't disappoint! The FULL team managed to complete the challenge: 3 times Mont Ventoux in one day. That was a tough job but all 11 riders completed the climbing each at their own time and pace but with a strong camaraderie. All supported by our head coach Jos, who was waiting for us in the meeting points just before the last 6 kilometers with well deserved rest, encouragement and supplies. That made a difference during the day for all of us.

Click on the link to see the highlights from the day, the event and lots of pictures!

Thursday, June 6, 2013

TOUR DU ALS - DAY 2


Day 2 of the Tour du ALS adventure. We went to the event organization to get our start numbers. The base camp was very well organized and relaxed vibe going. Got our number very quick and went for lunch in Bedoin, where we will start riding tomorrow.

From there we went back to the chalets to get ready for our first training ride to the top of Ventoux. Before, four of us stopped half way thru the climb to write the above message on the road. That should give us a good encouragement during the two times we will go up on that road. 

The training 5 kms of average gradient of 10% in a warm weather of 26 degrees. Luck for us the wind was cold and help keeping us cool. The team did a good job and we got to the top quite fast. Jos was waiting for us in some corners to take pictures and give us courage.

Take a look in the pictures after the link!

TOUR DU ALS - VENTOUX CHALLENGE


After the expected and uneventful 12 hours travel the Mont Ventoux, in France, the team arrived safely to be gifted with  a 23 degrees sunny weather and a perfect view of the bald mountain. The region is booming with Dutch license plates  for all  Nederlanders that came either to ride the ALS tour or to support the event. We passed several cars with the ALS  stickers on the way.

We can feel the high energy the spirit of camaraderie is already there. On the way to the top, we all could see what is  expecting for the riders on Friday: steep sections of 10% + and long swirling roads that never gives a break. Some  apprehension is on the air and that is a good thing: it prepares the team for the challenge. Dinner was in a small nice  restaurant in Malaucéne, where majority of the team order hamburgers for some mysterious reasons!

The Team Jos - Nike Courage is staying on a camping site 5 kms from the top of Mont Ventoux from Malaucéne side. A  beautiful place with magnificent views from the Provence region. Today we will go to Mazan the Tour du ALS  organization to get our start numbers and sort out the details and food for Friday as we start at 5:00 in the morning.

Enjoy the first pictures. Later today tune in to see how it went the first training ride up to the top of Ventoux.











Tuesday, May 28, 2013

TEAM IN PICTURES

NIKE TOUR DU ALS TEAM



Jos Rodermond-Durieux



Bart van Hille


Brian Wilson


Jon McCarthy


Niki Bruinier













Jeffrey Hagens






Peter van der Hulst


Richard den Hertog


Toby Hunter


Tom Harper


Wagner Costa



Sunday, May 26, 2013

HARD TRAINING IN LIMBURG

Saturday was another big day for the Nike L'Etape du Tour team that will participate in the Tour du ALS. Seven of us went to Limburg to another hard training as preparation for Ventoux challenge. This time racing in the Limburgs Mooiste esportive, a 175 kms race with 30 steep climbs, one of the toughest of the year.

Take a look how the day went after the link.


Sunday, May 19, 2013

180 KMS ROUND MARKERMEER

Today 28 members the Nike L'Etape du Tour team and Tour do ALS team did a hard ride as another preparation for the ride in 3 weeks in the Mont Ventoux and for the Tour de France in July: 180 kms around the Markermeer in around 6 hours. An average speed of 29 kms/h to show the team commitment and effort.


Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Update blog Jos


Nederlandse versie:

Wat een fantastisch bedrijf is Nike, dat was mijn slot zin in mijn vorige blog en kan nu vertellen waarom. Ondanks mijn ziekte heb ik de mogelijkheid gekregen om een andere functie te verkrijgen binnen Nike een stap verder in carrière. Los dat het een mooie stap is en het ook een move is waar ik mij zeer comfortabel voel, is het met name de manier waarop Nike omgaat met in mijn geval een ziekte en proces die onomkeerbaar is , maar wij waar we alles aan doen om het zoveel mogelijk te vertragen. De volgende zinsnede uit the announcement die gedaan is om mijn nieuwe functie is datgene waar dit bedrijf voor staat:

“ As most of you know, Jos was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s) end of last year.  This is very dramatic in itself, but the way Jos deals with it is just incredible, an inspiration to many of us that have the opportunity to work with him daily.  His mind is and will not be affected.  The energy he gets from going to work each morning, accomplishing challenging goals and supporting teams is next to his family quoted to be the best therapy possible.  And with his background and experiences, Jos is best placed to lead us forward in the new reality of market place mgt and operating an integrated account planning framework.  ALS is not hindering Jos picking up this exciting opportunity today and it would be a miss for all of us and for Jos if we would consider it as a limitation” .

Vrij vertaald in het Nederlands geeft het aan dat ik kan functioneren ondanks mij ziekte en dat het mij energie geeft en dat het een gemis zou zijn om mij ervaringen niet te delen voor het doel waar deze functie invulling aan gaat geven. Een beter compliment kun je niet krijgen maar geeft nog meer hoe Nike hierin staat.

Verder beloof ik nog dit weekeinde jullie een verder verslag te geven voor de Mont-Ventoux waar mijn collega’s gaan rijden en waar ik als verzorgen hen mag vertroetelen om de flanken van deze kale berg als zij voor ALS zichzelf in het zweet werken.

English version:

What a great company to work for.. that’s  how I ended my last Blog en I will tell you why Despite my outlook/disease Nike gave me the opportunity to move into a new role. A step up  in the Nike organization. The step by itself is for me give me confidence and trust that I and my team in Footlocker, focused on the right things and that my new role is one in an area where I feel very comfortable.

The way Nike is handling and supporting this, tell’s me and my family a lot of the cultural behavior and the mind-set of Nike. That by itself is something that is making me even more proud to work for and to be part of this big team.

The way Nike communicates and how they cope my situation is shown in the below part of my announcement:

 

“ As most of you know, Jos was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s) end of last year. This is very dramatic in itself, but the way Jos deals with it is just incredible, an inspiration to many of us that have the opportunity to work with him daily. His mind is and will not be affected. The energy he gets from going to work each morning, accomplishing challenging goals and supporting teams is next to his family quoted to be the best therapy possible. And with his background and experiences, Jos is best placed to lead us forward in the new reality of market place mgt and operating an integrated account planning framework. ALS is not hindering Jos picking up this exciting opportunity today and it would be a miss for all of us and for Jos if we would consider it as a limitation” .

The sentence underlined is telling the whole story!

Next week i promise to give you an update on the Mon-Ventoux experience where I will pamper my team mates when they concur the three sides of the "Bold" mountain. They will sweat I will enjoy sitting and feel proud how they will ride for the good cause ALS.

Tnx buddies!!

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

CLIMBING IN GERMANY


The Nike L'Etape du Tour team, which a group of 10 members will also participate in the Tour du Als in June, went to the Eifel region in Germany for another step in the training to the race in July. The group of around 40 riders met at 9:00 in the tow of Rott, after 3 hours of driving to start a long day of training and climbing. Jos couldn't participate but the team thought about him the whole day for sure!

Read more details and the effort the team is putting into the training after the link.


Tuesday, April 23, 2013

TEAM RIDE PREVIEW



This Sunday the Nike L'Etape du Tour team will be traveling to Germany to ride  around 110 kilometers in the hilly region of Eifel as one more ride in preparation for the Etape challenge in July. It is a car  travel of 2 and half hours but it is totally worth as this is a  very nice and scenery area. But also a region full of long and  steep hills, good tarmac and not many cars. 

Monday, April 22, 2013

Op en Neer


Nederlandse versie:

Het gaat de afgelopen week op en neer, voel me het ene moment beter dan het andere moment. Dat komt vooral doordat mijn herstel langer duurt dan ik zelf zou willen. Een voorbeeld een uurtje fietsen kost mij twee dagen herstel. En het herstel richt zich voornamelijk op de regio van mijn boven armen. Die voelen vol en heel zwaar, en beperken mij dan ook direct om bijvoorbeeld mijn kleren op een normale manier aan te trekken. Maar er zijn ook weer mooie dingen. Het voorjaar is eindelijk aangebroken en dat geeft de burger weer moed. Ook zit er iets heel moois aan te komen waarover ik in mijn volgende blog meer zal vertellen. Maar om een tipje van de sluier op te lichten, wat een fantastisch bedrijf is dit.......



English version:

Last week went with up and downs, sometimes it goes well and sometimes it doesn't. The recovery time is affecting me the most and is taken longer that I wished. For example one biking takes me two days of recovery. The recovery is mainly in the area of my upper arms. They feel heavy and sored en also restrict me in putting my clothes on in a normal way. But there are also good things. Spring finally arrived and that was needed. Also something else is in the pipeline and I will share with you more in my next blog. But to give you a sneak preview, what a great company to work for.....

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Afgelopen twee weken - Last two weeks







Nederlandse versie:

De afgelopen twee weken heb ik geen update geplaatst er speelden diverse zaken die mij dwongen om een keuze te maken wel of niet deel te nemen met de tourduals en de L’etappe. Met Pasen geprobeerd weer te gaan fietsen maar mij nek hield het niet. Afgelopen vrijdag is mijn nek getapet en zaterdag 25 km gefietst maar het verval in mijn bovenste regionen, schouders en bovenarm, zijn niet sterk genoeg meer om daar uren mee door te fietsen. Dat betekend dat beide stages door mij niet gedaan gaan worden.  Een dikke vette tegenvaller, maar dat betekend niet dat fietsen op ga geven. In de avond uren gewoon een half uurtje fietsen op mijn nieuwe racefiets zal ik blijven doen en dan kijken wat de impact is. Ook kijkt het revalidatie team naar een optie van een ligfiets zodat ik mijn zwakke plekken kan ontlasten en toch kan blijven trainen.

Ook mijn acupunctuur behandelingen zijn veranderd, sinds twee weken krijg ik een BA (Brain Abdonimal) behandeling met verrassende effecten. Mijn linkerhand was qua kracht 20-30% ten opzichte van mijn rechterhand. Na de behandeling zat ik op meer dan 90% en voelde tijdens de behandeling energie stromen in mijn linkerarm. Hoopgevend en ga deze week een behandeling krijgen in de zwakke bovenste regio (schouders, bovenarm). Ook heb ik het vooruitzicht gekregen op een apparaat wat sinds november op de markt is wat de neuro-transmitters stimuleert, wat bij mijn ziekte de oorzaak is van het afnemen van spierkracht doordat de zenuwen verzaken en ophouden prikkels naar mijn spieren ui te sturen. Die behandeling (30 maal) gaat op zeer korte termijn van start en hoop daarna een home-version aan te kunnen schaffen om de behandeling thuis voort te zetten. De behandeling vindt plaats 2-3 keer per week van ongeveer 10 minuten.  Mijn acupuncturist heeft het apparaat aangeschaft en mag hem gaan testen.  Volgende week meer en ik ga er weer een mooie dag van maken, hopelijk doen jullie dat allemaal ook want de vooruitzichten qua weer zijn goed eindelijk!


English version:

De past two weeks I didn’t worked on my blog. I had some issues that forced me to make some tough decisions on continuing participating Tourduals and the L’Etappe. During Eastern I tried to cycle again on my race bike but was not able to put my neck in the right position to see upfront what was going on. Last Friday Marc the Physio taped it and that worked well when I went cycling on Saturday. But after 25K, my upper regions in my body (shoulder and upper-arm) suffered and I was not able to control it. It felt exhausted, that means the stage(s) are taking too much time and I cannot cope with that, psychically. A big disappointment but I will continue to cycle on my new bike. During the evenings even if it is for half an hour, and track the impact but even more enjoying it. Also my rehab team in Heliomare is looking into the opportunity for a different bike, a recumbent , to allow me to cycle for longer than half an hour and to relieve my upper region and continuing training and maybe ……. there is a way to be fit for the 7th of June to do one stage of Tourduals.

My acupuncturist, who is amazing, changed my treatment, since two week sI am getting BA (Brain Abdominal) with surprising effects. My left hand was challenged to have 70% less power compared to my right hand. After the treatment it was 90% and I am still enjoying it! During the session (2 hrs. ) I felt the energy coming back in my left arm during that session. He,  I am Dutch and very realistic,  but this was amazing. This week we will focus on the upper region to see and determine the impact there. Also a new device showed up stimulating the neuro-transmitters, which is the root-cause of my disease hopefully it will also help to delay the fall-out of my nerves and will have a positive effect on my muscles. My acupuncturist bought the device and I am allowed to use it (30 times) and will start as soon as possible twice a week for ten minutes. Also a home device is developed which I hopefully can buy when it works to continue it at home.  Some good and some bad news but I am still enjoying every day and also this day, hopefully you also enjoy it and it will become Spring trust me!

Looking forward to next week Blog.

Jos

Thursday, April 4, 2013

TOUR DU ALS CHALLENGE: VENTOUX


THE GIANT OF PROVENCE

Curious about what challenge is waiting for the team that will face Mont Ventoux in the Tour du Als? Well, the mountain is unique as it has 3 ways to reach its top and the riders can chose to face all them, two or only the last one. See after the link everything about this mountain and what it will mean to the team to climb it once from Sault, twice or 3 times from Bedoin.

Friday, March 22, 2013

L'ETAPE DU TOUR STAGE STEP BY STEP

PROFILE OF THE RACE: 62 KMS OF CLIMBING NOT COUNTING THE 14 KMS 
ROLLING HILLS BETWEEN THE TWO FIRST CLIMBS. NOT THAT EASY...

Curious to know what are the members of the Nike 2013 L'Etape du Tour will face on July 7th? Take a look at this step by step review of the race. In here you will find a quick review of each one of the 4 big climbs of the day, what is between them and where the team will get refreshments. Later we will update this article with the elimination time tables and this should give you a feeling what the race day will be and how big is the challenge. Click on the link below to see the full review.