Approaching an international mountain bike stage race, it’s nice to come in feeling fit and strong. But it pays to set your expectations too. Coming into the Craft Bike Transalp 8 day race from Mittenwald to Riva del Garda, Imogen Smith and I set our goal as top 10 on the general classification by the end. This didn’t account for who was racing, or weather, or mechanical problems – it was just a general goal.
Finishing 12th on Stage 1 was a hit to the confidence. We didn’t quite gel, or pace well, and we had mechanical difficulties.
Time for some new wheels for Mike
We came back on Stage 2 and Stage 3, riding as we know we can. In fact, I’m riding better than I thought I could, and Imogen is astounding in how well she is climbing, descending, powering the flats, and riding single track. Right now, she’s world class.
But today, the 4th stage from St Vigil to Alleghe, brought in doubt about what we were doing. We raced the start hard. Bart Wellens found sanctuary on Imo’s wheel as we climbed the valley out of St Vigil. The pale rock was loose, and we rode with the strongest Black Tusk mixed team. I couldn’t help much physically, due to tiredness and terrain. Imogen carried on pushing herself to the limit.
And that’s ok – we wanted a good start. It was always set to be a fast start up the road out of town, and we didn’t want to get caught out. But that put us ahead of a lot of good teams, and our confidence took a knock on the loose descents and second major climb of the day. We were still directly racing other mixed teams – and it was the case that they were catching us. The climb continued and fatigue and emotion took over both of us. The stress of racing against the best teams for the past 60km was eating away at us.
After a hike-a-bike, we hit the long single track descent to Alleghe. This is Imogen’s terrain. But when you’re racing against top teams, if they have a wheel to follow – it’s their terrain too. We battled the team ahead of us on GC for a lot of the way down, but they gapped us on a pinch climb (I hate climbs on descents!). Coming into town we caught the previous race leaders, as Bettina Uhlig injured her knee yesterday, and will likely tumble down GC for another day or two.
The trials of communication when racing are well known, and I messed this one up on the run into Alleghe. Having enjoyed travel and racing in Europe for the past few years, I recognise a lot of people. Few recognise me, but approaching Uhlig and her team mate Nothegger, I knew we didn’t need to sprint them. We were 2km from town, and coming in with them would be fine. Racing an injured team for positions out of the top 5, especially one that was injured and had been in the lead, lacked class. Unfortunately, communicating this to Imogen as I swapped turns with Nothegger wasn’t possible – but essential. We came in together, but not without the stress of Imogen feeling I was towing a competitor to the line, as Nothegger soft pedalled his turns.
Racing does require a big mental shift, and it’s a big leap up from going pacey to racey.
Vegetables. Essential!
Full results are up on Datasport.