1 day in hell

Yesterday I did my first ever 24hr road race. We had a team of three and had to ride around a 10km course for 24hrs straight. None of us had ever done one before and we had no idea what to expect. So we set ourselves a massive goal. 



The world record for the course meant that we had to average 42kph for the whole day. Personally, I thought this was insane but apparently it is achievable if other teams are willing to work with you. If you all ride together, it's much easier to maintain the speed. So we went as fast as we could from the start. 

Deon was first out of the gates at 4pm, followed by myself then steven. The plan was to do 4 laps each and by the end of my turn, we were off the front with two other teams and had an average speed over 46kph. 

When steven came out for his laps we found out how they manage to keep their speed so high. After 8 laps, riders are permitted to use time trial bikes and as steven rolled out, so did the tt bikes. Consequently, the speed went up again and steven lost contact with the two leading groups. So we chased. 

Our only chance to stay in front was to chase the leading groups. It was going to use a lot of energy but it was our only option. We all went as hard as we could but after about 90km, the gap was growing. We had lapped the entire field and was stuck by ourselves in the middle of no where. It was not a good place to be. So we sat up and lost a lap. 



The leading teams came around with others that they had picked up and we jumped in with them. We then realized why we were not catching them- they were still going as hard as they could! We sat on the back and did nothing and just hoped for a Steven Bradbury like event. We went through some highs and lows over the next few hours but we were sitting comfortably in 3rd. Then at 1am, it started raining. 



It was cold, wet, dark and we were suffering. We were taking 3 to 4 lap turns so that the others had time to eat and rest between turns. The average was still up near 45kph when the worst possible thing happened. I punctured at the rear of the course and had to nurse my bike back around, dropping off the leading group. So we lost another lap. 



By 6am, we were all tired. I had used almost every piece of clothing I had and was regularly adding to my pile of wet clothes. We had been riding in the dark for 8hrs, following others as they flicked water into our faces from their wheels. We were two laps down and happy to just finish in third. Then I got another puncture. 

This dropped us down another lap and into 7th position. It was bitterly disappointing as the other teams were also beginning to tire and weaken. The only thing left to do was finish. Although that sounds easy enough, it was still 10hrs away.  So we just kept riding. 

We sat in with the lead group but we were 3 laps behind the two leaders. Every now and then, we would try to hurt them by pulling huge turns at the front when we saw them beginning to tire. Then it rained again. 



I was down to my last set of clothes and just wanted to sleep. We kept on and at 3pm I got ready to take my last turn. After 4laps, I had done a total of 350km with an average speed of 40.8kph. The team had done 1010km in total and the winning group did 30km more in the same time, falling just shy of the world record. We were all destroyed and just wanted to rest. So we rode home. 

Kinect

Last night I was able to experience the joys of Xbox Kinect. For those over 40's out there, its part of the new gaming style that senses body movement instead of hand controllers. Theoretically, it turns computer gaming into a physical activity and not just a couch potato activity.



There are games like golf, tenpin bowling, tennis, ping pong, football, aerobics, track and field and a huge loist of others. If you get involved, it can actually be a solid workout and after playinmg bowling, tennis and javalin and discus, I experienced just that.

I woke up this morning with a sore shoulder. Thanks to cycling and my inherent ability to avoid manual labour, I have very little upper body strength and the heaviest thing I lift is a water bottle. So it appears that swinging my arm around in the air is too much work for my shoulder. It is the kind of sore that you get after you go to the gym for the first time in 12 months. You don't notice it at the time, but the next day you suffer.

To those sitting and watching the screen, the players actions all make sense. If you didn't know what they were doing, the players just look plain crazy. To demonstrate, here is my team mate Simon, playing long jump...



The funniest event would have to be the 100m hurdles. Here is some footage of me setting a new world record against Simon...

Dead flat

Riding around Munich is pretty uneventful in terms of terrain. It is pretty much dead flat for 70km south of Munich until you hit the small climbs at the base of the Alps. I didn't think that riding around Europe could get any flatter. Then I went to Belgium. 

Belgium is flat, extremely flat. You can ride for hours on end and the biggest rise you will go over is a bridge. 



Racing in Belgium is renowned for being for hard men and now I can understand why. With no hills in sight, speed is high and with very little to block the wind, riding at 50kph+ into a headwind is tough work. Combine that with cobble stone streets and hundreds of riders and you have some hard racing. 

Below is the profile of a three hour ride in Belgium. The only rises we went over were three bridges. See if you can spot them.

Tired.

I'm tired. Very tired. Ever since leaving for the Tour de France over two weeks ago, my life has been one big car trip. Here is a breakdown of the last 15 days.

Day 1. 10hrs drive from Munchen, Germany to accommodation in Avrieux, France. 2hr ride in hills.
Day 2. 3hrs drive from Avrieux, France to Briancon, France to watch tour stage then onto accommodation in Italy. 4.5hr ride through Alps. 
Day 3. 8hrs drive from Italy to Alpe d'Huez, France to watch tour stage then onto accommodation outside of Grenoble, France. 3.5hr ride in alps. 
Day 4. 3hrs drive from the accommodation down to Grenoble and return. 
Day 5. 10hrs drive from Grenoble, France to home in Munchen, Germany. 1hr ride. 
Day 6. Home for a day!. 3hr ride.
Day 7. 4hrs drive from Munchen, Germany to Bad Ischl, Austria to race criterium.
Day 8. 4hrs drive to Innenstadt, Austria to race a criterium then onto accommodation in Purgstall Austria. 
Day 9. Day off! 3hr ride.
Day 10. Race criterium.
Day 11. 8hrs drive from Purgstall, Austria to Bochum, Germany. 2hr ride.
Day 12. 180km road race then 2hrs drive to accommodation in Dessel, Belgium.
Day 13. 6hrs tourist drive to Brugge, Belgium. 3hr ride.
Day 14. 7hrs drive from Dessel, Belgium to Correze, France. 1hr ride. 
Day 15. 180km road Race and 1hr transfer in car.
Day 16. 180km road Race. 6hrs drive from to accommodation in Dagmersellen, Switzerland.

Unfortunately, this is not the end of my trip. After a 24hr road race this weekend, it's then another long drive to Italy for a training camp in the mountains!!!

I can't wait to get back to a normal life!

The Wife of a Cyclist: The Tour - Part 3: The Long Trek

Here is a link to another perspective of our day on Alpe d'Huez...
The Wife of a Cyclist: The Tour - Part 3: The Long Trek: "Day three saw us heading for Alp D'Huez! We were all fairly excited to be going to this part of the tour - some were excited about cycling u..."

Alpe d'Huez

Every year when I watch the Tour de France in the wee hours of the morning, I cringe at how close the crowds get to the riders as they climb over the mountain passes. They seem to ride towards a wall of people that simply opens up at the last second to let them through. The riders must just ride blindly and hope that people get out of the way as they approach.

Then there is always that person that likes to run beside the riders for as they can before another spectator or official tackles them out of the way. All it would take is one tiny mistake, one small misjudgement for them to ruin the race for someone. But it doesn't seem to happen.

This year, I got to be one of those crazy people waiting on the side of Alp d'Huez as the race came through. We parked on the back side of the mountain and not wanting to miss the opportunity to ride up the infamous Alpe d'Huez, I rode down the back side, around to the front and up for about 9km until the barriers started and bikes were not allowed through. For the entire length of the climb, the road side was lined with people. So much so, that it was a struggle to find an empty piece of road side to watch the race from. As I rode up, people cheered and screamed like I was in the race. As I came through 'Dutch corner', I was met by a sea of drunken revellers dressed in orange who had been camped on the mountain for the last 3 days to reserve the corner for themselves. They drapped flags over the road in front of me and raised them up as I rode through. It was insane.




After finding a place to watch, I had some regrets. Firstly, sitting on the side of the road for a couple of hours means you don't get to hear exactly what is happening in the race. You can listen on the radio or watch it on television but unfortunately, I had niether. Secondly, I had no real way of standing out in the crowd. Friends and family were watching at home, hoping to see me on the side of the road but it was going to be difficult. I had no Austrlaian flag, no full-body orange skin suit, no giant stuffed kangaroo and I had even forgotten to bring my cow bell with me. All I had was a bright green umbrella hat and a plastic hand clapper that the promo caravan had thrown out earlier. Lastly, I decided not to run alongside the riders. I didn't want to be that guy that everyone remembers because he did something stupid on International television and knocked a rider off his bike in the biggest race of the world.

After a couple of hours of waiting, the helicopters began to circle above and the race was near. The crowds all packed onto the road and only moved aside as cars and motorbikes came through, missing by centimeters. The cheers and screams became louder as Alberto Contador was the first to emerge from the crowd. He passed by me so closely that I could have reached out and slapped him in the face. Eventually, Cadel Evans came through and every Australian on the mountain went nuts. From the guy wearing an Aussie flag as a cape to the guy dressed in a full 1980's Australian cricket player to the guy dressed as a giant green crocodile. The atmosphere was crazy.





After the peleton passed by, it was time for the mass departure from the mountain. 500 000 people wanted to go down the mountain at the same time including walkers, cyclists, cars and camper vans. My hands cramped the whole way down the mountain as I squeezed the brakes to slow down and dodge the masses of people. After reaching the bottom, I rode back around to the back side and climbed my way back up to the car. It was a long day, but well worth it.

Below is the profile for the riding that I did that day. Apparently, the side where I parked the car was the 'easy' way up the mountain!

Embarrassing

After spending 3 months in Germany, I thought that I would have picked up some of the language but it appears that I have not. 'Please', 'thank you' and a few other random words is about as far as my vocabulary extends. 

Today, it dawned on me... Dogs on the street know more German than me! I can call them in English, tell them to sit and they don't do anything. When their owners speak to them in German they know what they are saying and do what they ask. 

It's a bit sad really that a dog understands more German than me. Someone can tell me to 'sit' or 'come here' in German and I wouldn't know what they are saying!!!

Back to Earth

The Tour de France has always been a bit of a mystery to me. Not in that I didn't understand it, but in the way that it was only something that I ever saw snippets on television in the wee hours of the morning. It was like watching an event manufactured for Hollywood rather than a bike race. 

Consequently, in my mind I exaggerated a few aspects of the event, such as the sheer steepness of the climbs and the speed at which they fly up them. To me the Tour was a race of supermen, levels above anything else that I had seen or done. 



Being able to sit and watch the Tour by the side of the road and ride some of the parcours has brought it all back down to Earth a little bit for me. Yes, the mountains are long but they are no steeper than the mountain roads in Australia. Yes, they ride up them fast but they don't fly past like freaks of nature in the big chain ring without a look of strain on their faces and the gruppetto rolls through at speeds that look achievable to some.  

I'm not saying that I'm disappointed in what I've seen, I'm now just a little more realistic. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that this year's tour is being proclaimed as the cleanest ever with seemingly more human like performances from it's contenders. From close up, I certainly didn't see anything that made me think it was freakishly super human. 

Mother load

When choosing a spot on the side of the road to watch the tour go by, you need to choose very carefully. If you find somewhere on a flat section of road, the race will go by in a flash and you won't see much. If you go into the final km's of a climb there is generally so many people that you can't find your own section of road.

As a result, we set up camp in the town of Briancon at the base of stage 18's final climb up the col de Galibier.  The riders will be strung out going slowly past as they begin the climb and there was (relatively) fewer people around. 



But there is another thing that you need to take into account when choosing a place to watch... Where is going to give you the best opportunity to catch free stuff?!

2hrs before the race rolls by, a caravan of publicity cars and sponsor promotions drives the race course. It keeps those that have been waiting for hours on end entertained and they also throw samples and free stuff out as they go. From hats and keyrings, to samples of laundry detergent and newspapers, there is a constant stream of freebies for more than 30mins. Cars in the shape of ducks, giant chickens, water bottles and a plethora of other shapes drive by with music blaring as people in the back dance and throw the items. How they keep this up for 5hrs a day for three weeks is amazing. 







So on the side of the road in Briancon, we were not well positioned for catching the free stuff. We had to battle small children and an elderly couple that seemed to catch everything. I'm pretty sure he used to be a baseball player. 

After a while, you get that kind if rage where you know you are doing the right thing but it still annoys you and there is nothing you can do about it. Like giving your seat to an elderly person on the bus or letting an upset child watch their cartoons when a game is on. 

Fortunately, we were a lot luckier the next day on Alp d'Huez. A company was wanting sone promotional shots as the tour rolled past so they set up a large banner behind us with their logos all over it. As the caravan rolled by and threw out all the freebies, the banner acted like a giant net, catching everything that was thrown and dropping it conveniently at our feet. We didn't have to do a thing. 



We hit the mother load and many people saw this. You could see the jealously in their eyes, but like us the day before; they just had to shut up and accept it. 

Five in One

If you are in the right place in Australia or if you are prepared to drive for an extended period of time, you may be able to visit 3 or so States in one trip. This can be a big task as most states are larger than many overseas countries. 

Today, we left on our journey to watch the tour de France in the French Alps. To do this, we had to drive for around 9hrs but we also visited 5 different countries during the trip!

The trip began in Munchen, Germany, where we crammed our Audi rental car full of luggage and struggled to squeeze our bikes in. A trip to watch the tour de France would not be the same without riding some of the course so it was concluded that it was worth nursing a set of wheels for the entire journey. Driving across Germany, I took full advantage of the autobahn... 



The next country was a brief transition through Austria before moving into Switzerland. Here we entered the Alps and also some sort of price vortex as everything almost doubled in cost. 



From Switzerland we drove into Italy for lunch at the beautiful lake Como. Thankfully, the sun came out and we were able to enjoy the amazing surrounds. 



France was our final destination and after what seemed like $1000 in road tolls, we drove into what can only be described as absolutely amazing mountains. Huge snow capped peaks surrounded us with tiny picturesque Alpine villages and ruins of castles and forts dotted throughout. It made for some spectacular cycling scenery. 



The one downside to this amazing back drop is that when you do want to go for a ride, you have no choice but to go up. We rolled out of the drive way and in every direction we had to climb a mountain. 

Thankfully, what goes up also comes back down so we also enjoyed periods of speeds around 70-80kph without having to pedal!