I am not sure if I am stronger. Stronger for some things, maybe. I don't have to use my granny gear as much on some hills, but if it's near the end of a ride, that wipes me out and hurts my knee. I guess not using my granny to get up Strawberry Hill is an accomplishment. I used to think it was really hard... before I moved to a street with a bigger hill! I did more 40-60 mile rides, consistently, and that made a difference. But, I have a different attitude. It's mostly been fun, with little emphasis on speed, although at the peak of the season, my speed was up where it was 3 years ago, which is fine for me. I did about 10-15 club rides and was able to hang with the faster group, but they are not fast by most club standards... we're too social.
Yes, the tour helped, but it wasn't a tour with huge mileage-- just about 30-40 miles a day for 8 days. Just hard climbing! Unlike last year, I didn't do a lot of errands on my Jamis, which counted for about 300 of my miles in 09. It was just too hot to be running around to farm stands and bakeries when it was 95 out.