April Galda Joyce’s Journey: Riding Every Kilometre of the 21 Stages of Tour de France

Get ready to be inspired: Join April Galda Joyce as she shares her incredible journey of riding every kilometre of the 21 stages of the Tour de France. In this exclusive interview, April opens up about her motivation, the challenges she overcame, and the unforgettable moments that made the experience truly extraordinary.

Tomek: How did you decide to ride every kilometre of the Tour de France?

April: I sometimes have some pretty crazy ideas. I’ve ridden across the U.S., done the jog, and just love spending time on my bike. I was at a bit of a pivot point professionally and decided, you know what, I wanted to use this time to do some epic things. And this was top of the list. I love watching the Tour every year through the mountains, through the sunflower fields. It’s just all gorgeous. And so, I was like, maybe I can do that.

I did a bit of Googling and found Only Grand Tours Project, which did this for people to show up and ride. That was about nine months ago that I think the idea really came to be. And I’ve spent that time training for it since then. One of the reasons I’m doing this is as a personal challenge. The other is because I’m involved in a charity called Cycle Kids. We put cycling and nutrition programs in elementary schools across the state. I am riding to raise money for this organization because there’s just so much that you get from being on the bike. I was talking with the poor guy that’s been riding a lot of the mountain stages with me, Tomek, and having such conversations on what the bike brings you—the ability to persevere, the grit, the confidence to do things you never thought you could. I love that and I want to make sure that as many kids have those opportunities. That’s why I’m doing this as well—to raise money for Cycle Kids.

Tomek: Cool. And what was the most challenging stage up to now?

April: There were a few. The first day was brutal. I actually, back after the first day, beginning of the second day, I thought, I had made a horrible mistake. I need to call up the company (GTP) and do the Experience type of tour because there is no way I can finish this thing. But Pete and Jack, the guides with us, were fantastic and kept pedaling forward to finish the stage. Now, we just finished the 16th stage and have stayed on the path of the full ride every kilometre, and it’s been fabulous.

Probably the other biggest challenging one was the Tourmalet day. Over 4,000 meters of climbing, which coming from the coast of New Hampshire, pretty flat, that’s a lot. Everything was fog, both up and down, added some rain, added some cows, added zero visibility. It was insane, but it was probably one of the most awesome days I’ve ever had on a bike.

Tomek: So that’s both the most fun and the most challenging.

April: Some of the descents have been pretty wild, too. I’ve gotten some good coaching from Tomek, the interviewer right here, which has helped a lot.

Tomek: That’s great. One more question—how does it feel being a woman and doing that? How is it that special?

April: We’ve actually seen a lot of other women on the road. There’s a group of French women that do it every year, I think there’s nine of them doing the whole thing and then lots of others jumping in. I know there are a few women a week ahead of us with Leloup, so I would hope that any woman who doesn’t think there’s a place for them realizes there really is. The reception you get going up the big climbs from the crowds, like “bon courage,” everyone’s so excited to see women doing this.

I hope any woman who’s pretty serious about their cycling and wants to do this absolutely should. I just need to convince a bunch of my girlfriends to take three and a half weeks off and come ride through France with me in another year. So, that’s one of the things I’ll try to do when I get home.