Today’s report from stage 3 of the Craft Bike Transalp 2011, from Mayrhofen to Brixen / Bressanone in Italy.
Will’s day
In a week-long stage race, it’s quite likely that not every day is going to be pleasant in every respect. Today was quite the opposite for a fairly long period!
The rain arrived yesterday in Mayrhofen at about 6pm, and didn’t let up until about 1pm today. That meant a pretty reluctant start, dragging ourselves from the warmth of a café to brave the persistent rain a few minutes before the start.
Sadly that means no video today too – no waterproof housing for the camera…
The stage was 30km steadily and at times not so steadily up, and then gently downhill, give or take the odd little rise and some flat bits, for the next 65km. Good thing too, because my knee started to get properly sore after about two hours, at which point we were still on the climb.
Indeed at that point we were above the snowline, approaching 2,000m, and had the challenge of the first hike-a-bike of this year’s Transalp. We were on one of the Grande Randonee routes (with the red and white markers), and a rocky trail which would have been a hoot going down was largely unrideable going up. Although I was disappointed at how few people wanted to try to ride some of it, and had a go myself at battering up and over a few rocks. It certainly takes it out of you when the air is thin though.
The first part of the descent was fun – I like the gravel when there’s a bit of moisture in it, perhaps because it makes it feel a bit more familiar and Welsh, but also because it feels as if there is more grip. Although that grip almost gave way for me quite dramatically, when the valve on my front tubeless wheel worked loose, and I dropped from 30psi to 10psi during the course of one high-speed corner. Just about managed to hold it; cue a few minutes of cursing with cold hands though, trying to fix it while what felt like half the race passed us by.
The run-in to Brixen was pretty attractive, on singletrack or tarmac bike-paths gently descending a valley. And at least by this time it was getting sunny – my photos from Brixen are not representative of the day!
We gave it as many beans as we could, but in the end had to settle for somewhere in the 130s. We reckon we can go faster again – luckily there are five more stages to find out! And tomorrow is a real tester – the queen stage, at over 3,500m of climbing, and more rain forecast.
By the way, spare a thought for lanternes rouges Sam and Naomi, who still managed to look exceptionally cheerful when coming in after nearly nine hours in the saddle!
Lio’s day
Well sounds to me Will just did a good description of today’s stage. I have to say he is the best team mate you could find, and on several occasions today he gave me a push or a pull, as I was struggling to turn the legs fast enough. Will has just been amazing so far! I am paying for my road training, there s nowhere near home where I can mountain bike uphill on the small ring, so I am used to riding on the middle one. Even more, my road training until pre-race training was really focused over the last three years on carrying a bigger gear, the idea being to be able to sustain 50 km/h on a flat section. Well guess what: not so useful here – it’s all about turning the legs fast, at least on the way up. Anyway we had one puncture at high speed and Will managed to stay on the bike thank god!
Then I went down once, we were going fast but it was muddy, somebody just cut my line and as my rear brake got loose (air in the system – sorted now) I went over the bar. After that it sounds like a long way to the finish line, it seems I am not eating enough during the race, burning over 4000 cal minimum over the stages there s no way I am replacing it. I am going to force myself to eat more in order to avoid those ups and downs.
The highlight of today’s scenery was at 2300m or so, when we had to carry our bike over the Pfitscherjoch pass, walking in the snow. It was beautiful.