Amazing terrain!
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It was hard to believe that we were half way through the TransAlp Challenge. Jenn and I were thrilled to be sitting comfortably in third, but also wary that there were still four very hard stages approaching and anything could happen in that time. The two leading German teams were both very strong, with only minutes between them. The favourites were Team Zwillingscraft or better known as the Klose sisters (Peggy and Sandra), identical twins, who were one of the most experienced teams here at the TransAlp. The team in second by only a few minutes were two young German girls on the national mountain bike squad racing as Team Rothaus-Cube/TREK/BDR, who would you believe were using the TransAlp for training. One of the girls was the current under 23 world champion, but both girls were very strong and experienced riders.
Today I was feeling very nervous as it was the longest stage of the entire race, we would be racing for 118.8km and climbing to around 2800m. Jenn decided to use the Specialized Women's Stumpjumper to give her more comfort on the rocky descents. I was still enjoying my Specialized M5 hardtail and decided to keep using it as it was looking after me both on and off the technical terrain.
This morning the neutralised start was more aggressive than usual, with bikes and bodies touching and quite a few angry words exchanged between riders. This to me was a shame as the first climb would soon sort everybody out, and there would be plenty of places to overtake along the 118km route.
The first climb had a few undulating sections where you could recover, but the majority of it was tough and quite technical in places. There were some short steep sections over smooth rock, followed by loose gravel switchbacks that were never ending. As much as I love the challenge of climbing, today was my first walk, as it was quicker and less taxing on the body. In fact I think most people had called it a day as everybody were walking their bikes. It was a great opportunity to look down the valley at where we had been, only to look ahead to see a never ending trail of riders to where we were heading.
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When Jenn and I had reached the top of the Bocchetta de Forcola pass there were a group of spectators who knew we were from the southern hemisphere. Together they called out our nationalities followed by an overwhelming loud cheer. I was touched by this gesture and for a moment felt slightly home sick. However I didn't have time to miss home for too long, as before I knew it we were riding some very tight switchbacks. There was virtually no room for error, and to make matters worse the group who were cheering us on continued to watch our every move as we attempted the first tight corner. I have never been so happy to ride a switchback in my life and almost lost control of the front end as my nerves set in.
A 30km road descent followed, which in many ways was quite a relief on the body and didn't require so much concentration…so I thought as I headed around a bend to see a group of cows and the largest bull I have ever seen meandering up the road.
The rise in temperature was apparent as we dropped from 2800m to 1000m. There was still just over 60km to go and already we were over four hours into the race. The next 3 hours were surprisingly easy compared to the first part of the course. There were some fun sections of single track, more tarmac and a lot of fast gravel tracks. Often we found ourselves caught up with a group of men, where we took it in turn to stay on each others back wheel to keep the pace high and push each other along. By this stage in the race everybody just wanted to finish. The last hour was by far the warmest conditions we had experienced.
Finally Jenn and I were in Naturns desperate for cold water, before a wash in a huge fountain, where a large group of English speaking riders gathered, sorted us out. Together we all exchanged long winded stories of the hardships we faced, how we dealt with the heat and the most exciting sections of the course. It was the best feeling in the world to finish stage 5 in what was just under 7 hours. It made me realise just how exciting races of this nature are and always will be. Everybody faces the same competition and the same test on the trail, no matter where you finish. The most rewarding feeling is surviving each stage and crossing the finish line at the end of the day to the cheers of the crowd.
Once all the excitement of finishing the longest stage died down, all my stomach could think about was food, calories and as many carbs as I could muster. By now you think I would be really sick of pasta, but all I could think about once I cooled off was the largest bowl of pasta I could get my hands on. We were in Italy so you would think it would be easy to find an Italian who would want to feed me never ending bowls of pasta…nope. Jenn, Andy and I faced another challenge, to find a restaurant that served food before 7pm. Three hours later we finally found food!
Photo's thanks to www.pattersontraining.com and www.aquickrelease.com
Bikescooby
