Yesterday we were supposed to have a group training ride along the Delaware River from Lambertville, New Jersey to Frenchtown and back for a total of 35 miles.

But Mother Nature had other ideas; namely torrential rain and hurricane force winds.

As an alternative Tommy and I decided to go to Knapps and try out the CompuTrainer.

Pete, the owner of Knapps, told me that we could simulate our ride up the Tourmalet in July on the CompuTrainer and this would be a way to benchmark our fitness and measure progress.

When we get to the shop, Chris, a personal trainer, is there to get us set up. He explains that rather than do the whole Tourmalet ride, which would be 80 miles, he has programmed in a 24 mile ride that has an undulating terrain ranging from downhills to 1.9% grade all the way up to 9.9% grade that would be comparable to the final climb.

The literature on the Etape for this year says the Tourmalet averages 7.5% grade so Tommy and I thought this would be a good test.

We are all plugged in and the iPod is in the docking station and off we go.

The Computrainer is connected to a PC which is connected to a flat screen TV which is connected to the thigh bone. The thigh bone's connected to the hip bone. You know the rest.

Up to 8 people can be training and competing against each other simultaneously. It displays your heart rate, cadence, percent of the climb, distance, watts, mothers maiden name, you name it. It can show you the profile of the climb or a scenic 3-D view like your Garmin GPS. It can even do a colonoscopy.

We are on this thing for about 10 minutes and Tommy is already ahead by a mile so I program in the shortcut on the trainer and Tommy doesn't notice until too late that I am ahead in points for the King of the Mountain jersey.

It is fun and hard and keeps getting harder and harder. Tommy finishes in 1:41. Even though I struggle on for another 40 minutes I am encouraged because I am leaving my bike at the shop for some equipment changes. I tell Tommy that I had to circle back because I didn't get a musette at the simulated feed zone. He believes me.

Tommy's bike was something he found in his barn which looked like it had a 21 cog and no front derailleur. He shifts from the small chainring to the large chainring using just his finger to guide the chain. This is what it must have been like in the old days before derailleurs were invented. It also explains why Tommy has a shorter, dirty index finger on his right hand.

I have standard gearing on my bike: 175 mm cranks, 42/52 chainring and a 25 cog in the rear.

During the ride I had a hard time when the climb was 9 or 9.9% grade and I was maxed out on heart rate at 154 (just at my threshold). Alex at Knapps is putting a compact crankset on my bike this week which will have a 34/50 chainring. They are also ordering me a larger, younger heart from Specialized. They told me it is the same model that the Astana team is using this year.

I will go back next Saturday to compare and I am hoping that this will help me with the steeper parts and raise my average speed.

At yesterdays rate I expect to spend over 6 hours climbing the 3 mountains at the Etape du Tour.

SIX HOURS OF CLIMBING. Holy crap batman!!!

Yesterday I was fresh when I got on the bike and it took me 2:20. It may take me much longer after two mountains and 75-80 miles under my belt.

I was telling someone in work about the Etape du Tour. They said it sounded like fun and asked me how many days it would take. Maybe they know something that I don't.

This workout on the Computrainer was the hardest I have had since Army basic training. I haven't suffered this much since racing in the hot summer heat in my wool jersey and shorts.

It seems odd but after this excruciating workout I insisted on buying my very own Computrainer so I could suffer in the comfort of my own home.