Report from the marathonmtb.com team riding the 2011 Craft Bike Transalp. Day 5, from San Vigilio to Alleghe
Lio’s day
I was not on the starting line this morning, I was freezing, then boiling last night. I got cold at some point and it seems now that my body can’t do it all, racing and recovering and sorting this cold issue. Signals were plenty: pain in lung muscles, swollen eyes, cold and then boiling and sweating in bed, still no sleep. Usually those decisions are difficult to make, but this morning it was kind of easy. I can’t ride. I am sick and I need to sort it out. Yesterday, queen stage with 3500m of climbing was not a day for a sick rider, It was pain. The first two days I had power to deliver, well seated, I would have turn my legs on the middle ring with authority. Never I was able to get there since, worst I was contemplating my power output going down dragging us to a lower ranking. What I know after all those years competing is train or race ill and it will just get worse. It sounds obvious, but when you have a very strong competitive spirit you may just carry on to the point your body brakes up. I thought initially I could take a day off and then jump in again, never mind the results let s just have fun, but this won t happen, I just feel to sick for a short recovery.
Now it is going to be very interesting to watch out Will’s results; he seems at the top of his form. With no sick team mate to drag or push he is a free man, fasten your seat belts! Throw at him never ending climbs, snow and cold rain it doesn t matter because he is on a mission, Lake Garda tomorrow please!
Will’s day
The Transalp is a team event. So when it stops being a team event, it just isn’t as much fun any more. I was gutted this morning that Lio wouldn’t be riding. Even when feeling below par, and not really enjoying his riding, he’s been excellent company, remaining cheerful and ready with a joke at any point. Based on what he has said both above and to me, it sounds like the right decision though. I was hoping that a day off would do the trick and he would be back riding for the last couple of days, but it’s not to be – he’s going to (probably quite sensibly I guess) call it a day and not try to thrash himself any more.
So it was with mixed feelings that I lined up at the start this morning. It certainly didn’t help that it was raining heavily in San Vigilio, contradicting a rather more positive weather forecast. Even worse, it was cold and we were headed for a day mostly spent towards or above 2,000m. I packed according to last year’s Transalp, which was mostly sunny. This was a mistake… I clingfilmed my feet under my shoes, and cadged some surgical gloves from a cafe to add some wind resistance to may hands. Not ideal to say the least.
I had said to myself that I would probably just have a relatively relaxed day. However, with disappointment to vent, this wasn’t to be as the red mist descended pretty quickly from the start, and I was leapfrogging from group to group on the gentle tarmac climb before the gravel started. It was properly cold on the way up, and the snow kicked in for about the last 2k, as we got past 2,000m. I had a lot of fun letting the Spark rip down the descent, not really able to see brilliantly and pretty much unable to feel my hands or feet.
Major bonus – at the first feed there was a chap holding up a sign to say that the stage had been shortened to leave only 20k remaining – several inches of snow on the last peak (nearly 2,500m) made this a safety decision. The pace went up as everyone took this in, and I smashed it to the finish with a motley assortment of Dutch and Portuguese. Less good news – the new finish was still miles away from the finish town. A 6k climb on the road to the Falzarego Pass, then 25 cold km downhill on the blacktop. A pretty miserable day really. At least my time was decent – I’m not sure, but I think it would have been good for about 30th-40th.
So the next three days are not really going to be as planned – no triumphant entry in to Riva del Garda, hand in hand with a happy team-mate. And at this rate, not enough sunshine either! Still, you have keep the positives in mind – I’m still in the mountains rather than behind a desk, and Lio and I will be riding together again soon enough.