Ready to go!
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Another early start, another bowl full of oats and a quick 15 minute stretch to wake my well used muscles from their slumbering state. Last night was the first decent night sleep I've had over the last few nights. The temperature was much cooler here in the village of Falgarida where we stayed. It was situated high in the mountains above Male where the sun probably wouldn't bear down its full strength until much later in the day. When we arrived in Male at 8.30am it was already very hot. Both Jenn and I clung to our water bottles as we forced more water into our system to prepare for the conditions ahead.
The first climb to Naturnser Alm started virtually straight away. The race profile was very deceiving as it looked like it was going to be a very steep slog to the highest point at 1900m. Jenn and I rode together for the first half before Jenn told me to take off so that she could catch me on the descent. It was like being let off a leash, as my legs have never felt as strong as they have this week and especially on this particular climb. It was quite a gentle gradient compared to earlier climbs at the start of the week. When I reached the top, the terrain suddenly turned to an undulating rooty and rocky section that was great fun to ride, even on a hard tail.
Then the course changed to a very fast gravel descent, and I knew it wouldn't be long before Jenn would catch me. In fact I think she scared quite a few of the men as she sprinted down the straights and carried her speed around the corners, overtaking many a rider in her sight.
Together we entered a very steep technical rocky section. Bodies were flying everywhere as people were stumbling off the trail or making last minute decisions to stop in front of other riders to walk certain sections, only to cause other people to fall from their bikes. It was total carnage and quite terrifying at times, but thankfully Jenn and I arrived at the bottom without any problems. I think Jenn knew I was stressing out as I didn't want to hurt anyone or be hurt myself. I could hear her Kiwi twang (which I might add is very different from my Aussie one) encourage me to be confident and stay calm. Together we remained unscathed and crossed the first timing check point at the bottom of the descent, before a quick refill at the feed station and an encouraging pat on each other's backs for surviving the mayhem.
The next section started at 600m, but for the next 38km we would be climbing to just over 2400m. Most of the first part of the climb was on an unrelenting road climb where there was no relief from the sun or the humidity.
Chain gang time!
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Andy met us along the way and threw bottles of water over us, but five minutes later we were dry and overheating again. Jenn and I found ourselves riding closely together with two friends we had met at the start of the Transalp, Vic Chaudhuri and Mark Neil. Both riders are very experienced at stage racing and were always very supportive to Jenn and I at different points throughout the event. Mark was very strong on the road and helped Jenn and I by riding hard at the front, while we were glued to his back wheel. I then took my turn at the front for short bursts while Mark recovered, before he took another longer turn at the front, which was a very kind gesture (thank you).
It was a relief to start riding off road again. As the climb progressed it became cooler and the humidity dropped. The last feed station was at the perfect point as I had just finished my last mouthful of water.
The next part of the trail was quite dull to begin with and both Jenn and I could feel fatigue starting to settle in. The gradient wasn't steep, but every gravel corner revealed a longer stretch of gravel road ahead. Would you believe I was crying out for steep, technical terrain to relieve the monotony of this part of the course. Soon enough my wish was granted. At first I wondered whether I should have been more thankful for the earlier gentler sections of gravel road, as the climb ahead looked more painful than I had anticipated.
In the distance most people appeared to be walking. I decided to just keep peddling until I dropped. I was hoping that this 'little' challenge would wake me up for the descent to follow. I don't know if 'little' was the right word to describe this climb….it was seriously brutal in places, but my little hard tail managed to ride 80% of the steep fire road section. My excuse for not riding the other 20% was that riders around me were talking to me, I didn't want to be rude and ignore their questions….but seriously my heart, lungs and legs were thankful for the rest.
The very top section could have been ridden and cleared if you were a trials rider, as I'm not I was quite happy to carry my bike over the rocks. I thought we must be close to the top now as we had been riding and walking for some time, when a walker (a non participant) called out, 'Only 30minutes to the top!' If only she wasn't english speaking as I think it would have been better not to know.
Eventually we arrived at the top and descended for over 20km to Male. If only I could say this descent was such a relief from the last climb. The first half was steep, loose and technical. Different muscle groups were forced into action as I manoeuvred the bike down the descent. There was no opportunity to rest, but at one point I was forced to stop as the dust made it impossible to see what I was approaching.
The single track turned to gravel, before we were back on tarmac again. I have never desired the sight of tarmac as much as I did at this point in time.
Jenn and I were in full tuck position, with no gears left to pedal, we relied on our body weight and aero tuck position to catch the riders in front. Nope, didn't work, as we were passed by a dozen men. Unfortunately a good power to weight ratio only works on the climbs. With only a few kilometres of descending left Jenn decided to sing the New Zealand National anthem. I followed in her slip stream with my own mixed up version of the Australian national anthem and 'Once a jolly swagman, or should I say once a jolly biker…'. The two of us were competing for ear space as we drowned each other out all the way to the finish line. I think the sun had definitely had an effect on our senses today, but it was a fine second place finish in 5.49 hours.
To our surprise Team Rothaus-Cube/TREK/BDR who had been leading the competition early on had pulled out, which is a shame with only two stages to go. Jenn and I were now in second place overall, but there were still two races left and we both knew anything could happen.
Photo's thanks to www.pattersontraining.com and www.aquickrelease.com
Liz152
