July 28, 2009 – There’s no doubt about it. After this year’s Tour de France, Lance Armstrong is clearly one of the world’s greatest and enduring athletes. His seven tour wins, followed by three years off, to finish third on the GC at this year’s Tour is simply remarkable. His first best-selling book with Sally Jenkins, “It’s Not About the Bike” was an apt metaphor for a broader vision of sport – and all that it has to offer – the experiences, the friendships, the passion of achievement, the attempt to tackle a race with a defiant, courageous persona. If you listen – like Armstrong or not – you can learn from him.

That’s part of the reason that coaches and members of the US Nordic Combined Ski Team were recently able to merge the best of both worlds by holding a ski jumping and Nordic combined training camp in the village of Courchevel, France where the camp is still continuing.

Courchevel, southwest of the 1992 Olympic Winter Games host city of Albertville, is a hot bed of ski training of all sorts, and is the home to a fine ski jumping complex with plastic for off-season training and competitions.

Most have heard about the bike-car crash involving Todd Lodwick at the camp and we all take great stock in the fact that he is ok. He’s banged up and bruised, but otherwise ok. Lodwick will head back to Steamboat soon and will resume training – yes, he’s that tough.

The US training camp was and is a great idea – it’s not new. But combining all that’s good about the illustrious Tour and rolling it into one great training and motivational experience is new. All the guys on the team are fine cyclists and the coaches evolved this into a great opportunity including an unabashed celebration of the power and energy and one of the world’s greatest sporting events. A celebration of sports that make each discipline better. I have seen it often.

Most of us whose lives have been touched by good old- endurance sports like cycling and cross-country skiing, revere the athletes of these sports. So watching the Tour on site, cheering the cyclists on and riding the same cols, is not only an exercise of taking in the splendor of Alps, but also just great exercise, and very ski specific.

Recall some of the great climbs in the Tour… they did ’em. The massive climb of La Grand-Bornand; the Col de la Madeleine; even at trip up the famed Alpe d’Huez.

Coach Dave Jarrett said it well, when he told me, “This is a great opportunity for us to get in some training on the jumps and get motivated by seeing some of the great athletes of the world ride by.”

Billy Demong, a world champion this past winter at the VM in Liberec, has long enjoyed cycling and has developed into a fine bike racer. Demong loved the experience of riding in the cycle tracks of the giants. “A lot of people compare the climbing in the Tour de France to the climbs in Utah and Colorado. But knowing a bit of the history of the race, and seeing the old paint on the roads from past races – it’s epic indeed to relive those moments, on those staggering climbs.”

As a long time fan of the Tour, who can ever forget the likes of Fausto Coppi, or legends such as Jaques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx, LeMond and Armstrong…and the list will go on as long as there is a Tour. Remember just a few great skiers that were also cyclists, people like Pierre Harvey, Bob Gray, Jim Galanes, Mike Gallagher. In the 70’s I had a chance to ride with them many times…I just couldn’t stay with them for long !

With those memories close at hand I see things differently today. When Jarrett remarked, “I hope seeing these guys, if only for a minute, as they go by will inspire and motivate our athletes to prepare and execute next February at the Olympics is Whistler.” – I get it, and I agree.

No doubt the skiers have worked hard and learned the lessons of those tough, challenging rides – filing them away in their memory banks to be pulled out again and again. Johnny Caldwell did it with the fabled Long Trail hike, the length of Vermont back in the 70’s…..he made memories and muscle memory. Back with the USST in Vermont I joined them for two days and was filled with the bliss of meeting my heros. This stuff works.

These athletes, now comprise one of the world’s strongest Nordic Combined teams on the planet. The lessons learned while training on the most daunting climbs in the world apply to anything.

What a great way to enjoy a trip to France.