Ben Thomas and Tim Dunford are racing the Andalucia Bike Race as The Mountain Trax – Vauxhall Cycling Team. Today, Tim has retold their version of the days racing.
68 kilometres, 1775 metres were the vital statistics for today, the third stage of the race.
After suffering mechanical problems on the first two stages we were hoping for better luck today. The first challenge though was to fit two bikes, two bike boxes, 3 spare wheels, 3 people and their luggage into a small people carrier. The choice of front seat with your knees jammed against the dashboard or the rear with a handlebar in the ribcage was a tricky one..
The day started with a mad dash through olive groves. Strangely, stage racing doesn’t seem to be the best way to get over illness and I felt really bad for the first hour. I started to feel a bit better by the time we hit the first major climb, though Ben took “faster” to mean flat out! I should have kept quiet.
The riding was fantastic again though. Personal highlights were the steep, loose, switchback descent into a beautiful hilltop Andalucian village and a section through a meadow filled with wildflowers and topped off with a view of the snow capped mountains of Sierra Nevada. Had to remember to keep one eye on the trail!
There is plenty of rocky descending in the Andalucia Bike Race. And plenty of mechanical mishaps. Photo: Vermont Images
We made up places on the climbs and the descents – the latter mainly to my fantastic Cannondale 29er fully rather than any skill on my part. The organisers had one final nasty trick up their sleeves though; a seemingly vertical wall of gravel in front of us with 3kms to go. My Dad always says that hills always look steeper than they really are. Nope, was still horrendous!
So another great day in the sunshine riding brilliant trails. Then, just for fun we repacked the car to head off for Jaen the base for the second part of the race.
The two Merida teams unfortunately suffered mishaps out on course and lost time over their rivals putting Alban Lakata and Robert Mennen into the green leaders jerseys. The Topeak Ergon team will be a happy camp tonight with rider Sally Bigham and Melana Landtwing continued to build a big lead. Brits Seb and Hamish Batchelor finished an amazing 11th today.
Tomorrow is the queen stage of the race. Just read that the course has been altered due to snow so will now only have 2,500m of climbing. Should be a doddle then!
Tim.