Expresso Bikes - 9th Annual Tour d'Expresso

Expresso Bikes – Studio Cycling, Road Racing & HIIT Gaming all in one beautiful bike.

A few months ago I decided to experiment with a stationary bike. My cardio is pretty much always walking/jogging/running, but we have these new Expresso Bikes at The Fountaingrove Club, and they look fun. We have 2 of them, both with a large 17 inch flat touchscreen to keep you entertained while you ride. Not to watch TV or browse the internet, rather interactive rides, spin classes and games. More on that later.

I jumped on, created an account and started riding. There are several default rides you can choose from, but the games are fun. I am obsessed with tracking things, and you have to earn so many points to navigate through the different levels. There are also trophies you can earn. There is even a ride of the week that I try to complete every week. Due to my travel schedule I won’t always be able to finish these on time, but I do add them to my calendar every week. In June I got an email about the 9th Annual Tour d’Expresso.

I did some digging and found it was 21 stages over 23 days. It was only 125 miles, though, compared to the Tour de France which is 2,121 miles. Keep in mind the Tour de France is also 21 stages over the course of 23 days. This was going to be easy… Or so I thought!

I printed out the schedule and looked at my calendar… I was committed to not only finishing the race, but doing each stage on the day it was assigned.

There was a Bonus Challenge if you completed all 21 stages on the days they were assigned. Challenge accepted! There was also a t-shirt you could buy and I told myself, if I finished all the races, I’d treat myself. Below are all of the stages:

Stage 1: Ocean Plunge
Saturday, June 26, 2021 • 11.8 mi • 1:06:21

All of these rides are available, and some I had completed either for fun or as a Ride of the Week. Ocean Plunge was a ride I knew and a great place to start. The ride is 11.81 miles. You can control your resistance on these bikes and there is a lot of undulation throughout each ride. Except for Expresso Speedway… About as flat as it gets! Since it was my first ride I didn’t want to overwhelm myself. I completed this ride in 1:06:21. Average pace was 10.7 MPH and I burned 494 calories. I didn’t plan on doing this, but knowing this data is readily available now, I will keep track of this for each race and provide updates for each stage.

Pick a Level and Complete all the Stages!

After each stage you unlocked a Trophy. The Tour actually had 3 options… Mini Tour (stages 1-9), Tour (stages 1-15) and Grand Tour (stages 1-21). If I was going to do this, I was going all out. So I made the Grand Tour my Wildly Important Goal and started riding. If you completed the Grand Tour both Mini Tour and Tour took care of themselves. After completed Stage 1 I went to my Trophy Room to view the prize:

This actually helped get me through some of these tough rides and as you will see, some of these rides took longer than others.

Stage 2: Odyssey
Sunday, June 27, 2021 • 7.6 mi • 40:22

Odyssey was a shorter ride, only 7.6 miles. Was able to finish that in 40:22. This time was actually my Personal Best for this route. The more I am digging in here, Expresso provides some amazing data. They are tracking distance, speed… Calories burned. But they are also tracking Power (Watts), Cadence (RPM) and Heartrate (BPM). On this ride my average heart rate was 132 BPM. My max… 163. Incredible! I don’t feel like I burn a lot of calories on the bike, even though I am sweating like crazy and am tired when the ride is over… But knowing my heart rate is this high, and how I feel after a ride makes it worthwhile.

Stage 3: Sunday Afternoon
Monday, June 28, 2021 • 7.0 mi • 35:40

I found it weird that Sunday Afternoon was actually on a Monday… It was a short ride, though. I am normally off Sunday/Monday, but the Athletic Center is only closed on Christmas Day. So I went in on my day off and finished the ride. While this Tour was technically a race, I didn’t stand a chance at competing. I finished this ride at 35:40. Not bad… But the winner of this stage finished in 18:25. Incredible.

Stage 4: Lost Trail
Tuesday, June 29, 2021 • 2.9 mi • 14:21

4 rides in I am starting to feel it… This is a commitment. Having reviewed the rides on the schedule I knew they all wouldn’t be this short. So I took it easy when I could and trying to pump myself up for the longer rides. It would be fun to pick a random ride out of this list and see how much faster I got. One thing I didn’t do was weigh myself before I started. Oh, well. I am sure I lost weight. And my legs feel stronger. Can’t imagine the training it takes to compete in the Tour de France.

Stage 5: Stump Puller
Wednesday, June 30, 2021 • 6.9 mi • 35:51

Stage 6: Expresso Speedway
Thursday, July 1, 2021 • 1.0 mi • 3:37

This is my favorite ride! Sure, it’s short… 1 mile. But the track is fun. It is flat, too. I’m not sure if they are adding new races ongoing, but this is a simple ride you can knock out in 5 minutes or less.

Stage 7: Quicksilver
Friday, July 2, 2021 • 6.3 mi • 30:37

Stage 8: Alpine Splash
Saturday, July 3, 2021 • 2.9 mi • 15:38

Stage 9: Catacombs
Sunday, July 4, 2021 • 3.7 mi 18:17

The 4th of July is usually a time for celebration. Well, this year, it was time for me to get moving. The ride was less than 4 miles, but I still had to get up, get ready and drive to the gym. It was worth it, though. I could feel myself getting stronger, and we didn’t have a ride on Monday, July 5. We did get 2 days off during this adventure. Looking at the next week, I needed all the rest I could get.

This ride was fun for me, though. I’ve had the chance to visit The Paris Catacombs and while it wasn’t quite the same experience walking around rooms filled with skulls and bones, it was close. And I will forever associate the word, and this ride, to my first visit to Paris.

Stage 10: Ravens Roost
Tuesday, July 6, 2021 • 7.2 mi • 39:05

It was nice having a day off. Do they take days off during the Tour de France? Curious what those riders do on their days off. Anyway, it was nice to get some rest. Because this week… Well, you’ll see. Some big rides this week.

Stage 11: Falcon Flight
Wednesday, July 7, 2021 • 8.3 mi • 40:10

Stage 12: Moody Ambush
Thursday, July 8, 2021 • 5.4 mi • 25:07

Stage 13: Redwood Dash
Friday, July 9, 2021 • 1.5 mi • 5:47

This is a really fun ride. Especially living in Northern California surrounded by redwood trees. This is a short ride, too, and was easy to pick off.

Stage 14: Drifters Peak
Saturday, July 10, 2021 • 10.1 mi • 1:00:33

Stage 15: Titan Time
Sunday, July 11, 2021 • 1.8 mi • 9:56

Stage 16: Ascension
Tuesday, July 13, 2021 • 18.2 mi • 1:53:26

When I saw this, well… I was not excited about riding for 18.2 miles. But I came in well rested with an open mind. Yes, this ride took a long time, but I felt great when I finished the ride. It was fun chatting with some members during this ride, too.

We’ve all seen people whether finishing the Tour de France or finishing a marathon raise his or her hands as they cross the finish line. Well, I did that, too, for every stage of this ride. I’d also sometimes clap and congratulate myself when I finished.

Stage 17: Oblivion
Wednesday, July 14, 2021 • 5.75 mi • 28:24

Stage 18: Coastal Run
Thursday, July 15, 2021 • 3.37 mi • 15:27

Stage 19: Bent Spoke
Friday, July 16, 2021 • 4.01 mi • 18:20

Bent Spoke was actually Ride of the Week a few days later. It is only 4.0 miles, but still a good ride.

Stage 20: Oh Mama
Saturday, July 17, 2021 • 7.87 mi • 42:30

Based on the name, I expected this to be a tough ride. It was only 7.8 miles, but it still took me 42:30. Good timing, because this, too, was the Ride of the Week recently.

Stage 21: Evening Bliss
Sunday, July 18, 2021 • 2.36 mi • 11:03

Throughout the Tour several of our members stopped me to ask what I was doing. It was fun to share my journey with them. A few have since stopped me to congratulate me on finishing the Grand Tour. Hopefully this blog post was a nice recap for you and inspires you to jump on a stationary bike. I see friends on Facebook posting about their rides on Peloton, and while I’ve never used one of those, I am sure it is a similar experience.

Not sure if Express has any more rides like this planned, but sign me up! 125 miles is a long way to drive… Let alone ride your bike. And while it’s no Tour de France, I am proud of what I accomplished and will wear my new t-shirt proudly.