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The Tour de France is every year one of the toughest sporting events, but the 2018 edition has been particularly difficult. On Friday, 152 riders took the start of stage 13, which was the smallest number of drivers since 2000. Stage 12 was particularly difficult: a series of sprinters were eliminated from the race after having missed arrival at the finish. Alpe d'Huez
Lawson Craddock was, fortunately, one of those 152 survivors. The 26-year-old American broke his shoulder blade during a brutal crash on the very first stage of the Tour. With a bloody face and a ragged kit, he was able to finish the day, and the 12 steps since, although he's often the last runner on the line.
There was a glimmer of hope at the Craddock accident, however. His ability to grind his teeth and make his way through the stages has garnered worldwide attention for a good cause. After the crash, Craddock launched a GoFundMe in support of the Greater Houston Cycling Foundation and the Alkek Velodrome, where he raced when he was younger. Starting Friday, GoFundMe has raised more than $ 113,000
Although it still ranks last in the overall standings – two hours, 36 minutes and 36 seconds in first place – Craddock has gotten better and better the pain even on a brutal ground like the pavements of step 9, and three consecutive days of steep alpine climbs.
I spoke to Craddock about the first day of rest of the Tour de France – a day after the pebbles – with the collaboration of WHOOP, a biometric data company with which Craddock joined to publicly share his race and recovery data. We talked about how to survive the most grueling race in the world, both physically and mentally, and especially when all the goals you had suddenly disappeared.
If you could clbadify what is painful, or what hurts the most, from one to five, starting with what hurts the most, what would be the five things?
Lawson Craddock: No. 1 is definitely the injury itself. But even then, the fracture itself is not as painful as it was a week ago. Right now, I've spent nine days racing at the highest level of cycling that you can and have compensated differently on the bike. So now all the muscles around my shoulder and my pecs feel that way. Especially after the stage of yesterday on the cobblestones. The [chiropractor] and the doctor called DOMs [delayed onset muscle soreness] which equates to doing a thousand pushups and push-ups at the gym
So, right now, it's the most painful thing . That kept me a bit last night.
No. 2 is the shoulder. So I do not know, can you put the whole body at No. 3? [Laughs]. Right now, these are the biggest concerns. And then of course, you have the pain in the toll legs that you have put in over the past nine days. So, I would say that my left and right legs are No. 4 and 5.
You raised the cobblestones yesterday. What was the pain like when you walked through these cobblestones, and did you anticipate that?
LC: To be honest, I did not know what to expect yesterday. I am very lucky that this type of fracture is stable and safe. So the only strength of the pavers would not do more damage. But for me, it was really hard to mentally prepare for the fight in the race, to fight for position, and so many accidents yesterday. The last thing I want to do is go down.
Yesterday it was quite difficult mentally for me. And then, during the first pebble areas, I thought to myself: "OK, I do not feel absolutely terrible. It is not atrocious. "But by the time we hit the last six or seven, then the pain definitely started to settle in, the adrenaline was a little dissipated." It really started to hurt me , just holding the handlebars on the cobblestones was pretty difficult, you try to keep a little in the way, but you're arguing a bit everywhere
At the end of the scene, my body definitely been beaten, and I really feel it a little.
You mentioned mental preparation. What does this mean to you?
LC: When you enter a scene like yesterday you almost have to prepare for the war in your mind.And it's a bit of a feeling that the pack has.Nobody's friends, especially a day like yesterday.Everyone has a goal, and either put himself in position to win, or put his leader in a position to win.And no matter how you do that, as long as you do your Work is really the only thing that matters.
This of course makes the pack extremely nervous, extremely stressful. We saw it yesterday with only the amount of accidents, and only the mechanics that everyone had. Just a very difficult day. There is not a moment during the whole scene where you can relax a little mentally. It's only four hours, or three and a half hours for the winners, just for concentration and fighting.
Did you have close calls yesterday? Have you ever had to get off the bike or has anyone fallen in front of you?
LC: When Richie [Porte] crashed, it was just after a bend, so we arrived pretty quickly in this bend, and everyone braked. So that was my closest call. I got myself able to be as safe as possible yesterday. It was not the easiest race for me, but I was a little off the pavement, just to have time to react. But it's a tough day, it's a difficult step. you never want to see someone crush them. Unfortunately, it's exactly like that roubaix.
It seems that you had easier to hang in the pack every day. Day to day, does the pain diminish or you get used to the pain?
LC: I think the pain has certainly diminished a bit. We have done so much detox, so much work to make sure that the muscles around the shoulder are as loose as they could be. And that made the biggest difference. But it's also a bit of comfort in the pack – get your nerves back, mentally get back into the game. And that was also a huge role.
Since the crash of the Tour, I was taking part. And then, in recent days, especially for the paved scene, I was slowly trying to put myself back in the mindset of "OK." The work we have done on the shoulder has been very encouraging, now it's time to get into the mentality of running the Tour de France. "
So that 's something I' ve really worked on, just get into that state of mind, and I'm just getting ready for the fight for the task at hand, just to be able to Contribute to the team.
I imagine that it would be pretty easy to get shaken by a big accident, especially. What's motivating you during this tour? As far as, for the moment, you are at the back of the pack?
LC: The biggest motivator has been all the support I've received from everyone, from my wife to everyone on social media, the fact that we were able to take this big negative, an accident that could end the race for me, and make it a huge positive to ambad funds for the Houston Alkek Velodrome.When seeing the result we got from that, especially the first days after the injury, after the accident, they were so di on the bike.
But just knowing that I was doing it for a good cause, I was suffering for a good reason and I was doing velodrome outreach, it was by far the biggest motivator for me and the biggest thing that kept me in the running. And it keeps me in the running.
I was very impressed by that too. Were you surprised by this support, and was it even bigger than expected? It's almost by chance that you crashed because it made you aware of what you are doing.
LC: [Laughs] I am completely blown away by what everyone could do, what we do. We all could accomplish for the velodrome there. They have done so much with so little, the guys around the velodrome have done an amazing job of giving the kids in Houston this environment to exercise safely, and really just have fun. Because that's what it's about. Exercise should be fun, especially as a child. There are no commitments, there is no crazy lifestyle you have to live. It's just going out and enjoying your time outdoors.
So for me, it was absolutely huge. I can not wait to see where it's going from here.
You did the Tour for the last time in 2016. I'm curious to know what you got from this Tour, or better prepare for this time.
LC: I think that's where WHOOP comes in. The 2016 Tour – and to be honest, I think I got a little overcooked. I got a little excited with the training, with the fact that I was competing in a Tour de France, and I was a bit too pushy.
And that definitely ended in 2017. I just fought with overtraining for the entire year. I was not myself, I was not in a good place. That's how I discovered WHOOP, and that's how I understood it. And since then we have taken this different approach to training, you know? You still have to work incredibly hard to be on top of your game, but you have to do it in a smart way. So it's one thing we focused on at the first edition of this year's Tour: Train Effectively and Train Smarter. This takes into account everything from the power data of your workout day to how you slept that night, to your resting heart rate in the morning, your variability of heart rate . All of these things really helped us refine my fitness just to be at the absolute top of the Tour de France.
And I think we can honestly look back and say, "OK, we did it the right way" I had a broken shoulder blade on the first day and I ' I was able to run at the highest level of sport with a broken bone. So, obviously, we have done something good with our training, and WHOOP, having these data, having a good foundation over the past year, has been an integral part of my arrival here.
You mentioned overtraining.
LC: One of the biggest challenges was to struggle mentally during the season in general. Before I could get back on the bike and start training again properly, I had to be motivated to do it, I had to put myself in the head to want to go out and suffer, and get better. It's sure that it was a big change. And as I've said before, just have the WHOOP data that we can look at, and we can look at the trends and see how the body reacted to what we had done.
That goes hand in hand – you wake up with a bad recovery score, you feel depressed all day long. So you start taking steps to maximize recovery, have good nutrition, good hydration, a good nap throughout the day – just all those little things that may not look like this huge life process, but you add them all together – maybe 2% here, 3% here – the next thing you notice a slight rise in your recovery.
It may not make much difference tomorrow, but it's something that could make an incredible difference in a week
If there was one thing you could say to a young rider – you want every three weeks, and you want to be at your strongest – what is the thing you have to do?
LC: Oh man, enjoy it. It sounds like something so small and naive, but it's so important. I am very lucky to be part of a team that is a very good group of runners. We also have a lot of fun cycling. And that's the biggest thing. I have the impression that much of this conversation also relates to the mental aspect, and it is so true. If you can be happy with what you do, and enjoy it, it will make your life 100% easier. You begin to notice that your mind has been a little quieter, you start to sleep better, you are more rested in the morning. You're just happier riding on the bike and suffering, which seems a bit strange, but yes.
What is your favorite thing about the Tour de France? Why do you benefit the most?
LC: When you're at the Tour de France, you know you're really at the top level of the sport. There is no race harder than the Tour de France. And for me, and everyone, it's just the pinnacle. You must compete at the highest level, against the best, on the best course.
And for me, having the opportunity to show your talent on a stage like that, it can not be reproduced.
From the rider's point of view, what is the worst thing about the Tour de France? ] LC: Probably the stress. Stress in all aspects of this race. About the time you wake up, you are on a tight schedule to ensure you have the right amount of food, making sure you do not consume too much fuel, making sure you do not overdo it. consume fuel. I am at the moment for the bus, I badure you that you are at the time for the race and that you are fighting on the whole stage.
So for me and probably a lot of drivers, it's the hardest part. There is so much visibility around the Tour de France, it does not look like any other race in the world, and it's not something that one can prepare to do anything else.
In the future, climbing begins. What are you waiting for these steps? Do you feel like you are going back to a place where you can help [team leader Rigoberto Uran] to move up the general rankings?
LC: I really hope to bounce back. It is quite difficult to recover from the Tour when you are completely healthy, but I really hope that I have gone through the worst of my injury and that I can start moving forward in terms of recovery and start to do what I came here to do, and that is to help the team and contribute. It will certainly be a challenge over the next 10 days, but it is a challenge that I look forward to.
Being at the back of the pack, you are not necessarily surrounded by your teammates, but you are surrounded by many other players who hope to stay hooked for whatever reason. What is the team work with these guys, and do you form some kind of kinship with them?
LC: It's definitely different at the back of the pack than at the front. There is a lot less stress. Take the example of yesterday, there was a rider from a completely different team, he called Jay Thomson from Dimension Data, and he was going to leave the back in those areas Paving stones in the last group of the road and help me get back in front after them. For me, it will show you the difference at the back of the pack. He'll quickly get everyone fighting for position and real stress at a camaraderie of "Ok, let's work together to finish."
What did you plan for after the tour?
LC: [19459014It'sdifficultytohavebecauseIhavepredictedmymainobjectivewillbecomingsometime[Laughs] If all goes well and I finally arrive in Paris, my parents fly over, then they will be in Paris. And then we will go back to my base in Toronto for about a week. And at that moment, just unpack, relax and try to regain a normal life.
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