An Equinox member is attempting it this summer.
Allison Brack is really into cycling.
Since she started attending Equinox classes eight years ago, Brack’s interest in the sport has evolved into a full-fledged affair that often pushes her to attempt extreme feats.
Yes, she has traveled around the country and beyond to bike. (She took her first cycling-specific trip to Spain with her then-instructor in 2011.) But Brack’s unwavering pursuit to test her physical and mental limits on two wheels has also led her to the Tour de France—not to compete, but to ride stages of the course ahead of race day.
She’s cycled single stages four times: twice in the Pyrenees and twice in the Alps, never exceeding 100 miles total per trip. On July 18, she’ll supersize the challenge when she attempts to complete the last four of the Tour’s 21 stages, a total of 430 miles over four days.
“It’s really an adventure, that’s how I view it,” says Brack, a partner at Citrin Cooperman in New York City, who’s riding the route with the charity organization LeLoop. “Training for just one stage is a sufferfest, but once you do it, the feeling of accomplishment is unmatched.”
After prepping for eight months with help from her coach, Robert Pennino (a cycling instructor at Equinox locations in New York City), Brack feels strong and ready to ride. Furthermore caught up with her ahead of the excursion to talk about past attempts, uphill workouts, and more.
This interview has been edited and condensed for publication.