Mr President asked me to be the “liaison officer” for the ATTA events so I thought it’s time for me to post something.
Next Sunday the 23rd is the first Wandi TT event of 2011 and I think it is an opportunity for those of you who haven’t done a Time Trial before to have a go. I’ll be there as well as my fellow regulars, Stuart ” Gee he’s strong” Gee and Nick “Winston” Churchill.
Wandi is a good course, I like it. It’s reasonably flat with some undulations and there are no real tight corners. You have the option of doing 4 laps = 40 Kms or 8 laps = 80 Kms.
To all of you who are riding with tubular wheels and power taps, this is your opportunity to put them to good use. You won’t be able to hide from the wind, stick behind someone or try and “steal” the sprint, this is a true measure of your fitness. So come down next sunday and let’s see how strong you really are
Not a bad turn up despite missing most of the regular sunday riders who were away in Pemberton. The forecast was for a windy morning again but not as hot as yesterday. The plan was for all 3 groups to head together to the Kuhuna then go separate ways from there.
Here are the highlights in point format
– Simon showed up in his new folding Ritchey Bike, you need one of those to join the boys on a drinking / some cycling holiday in Victoria
– A puncture just before we got to Albany Highway
– Brother Dan was brave enough to rock up in his 808’s on a windy day, wise enough to cut his ride short
– Pete took the transitional group and turned right at the bottom of Kuhuna
– Julian led a helping “hand” to the Groupetto up the Kuhuna and then straight to coffee shop with the intermediates
– Kuhuna placing: Jerard-Shao-Sato-Damir-Schneiderman
– Rolleystone Highschool: Jerard-Phil-Scheiderman-John B-DeCastro
-Observatory: Jerard-Claire-DeCastro-Schneiderman-John B
Schneider said he didn’t see Mark DeCastro coming. Now you know, watch out for the South African fox!
– Mundaring Weir Rd: Jerard-DeCastro-Phil-Schneiderman-John B
I managed to crack the 8 min with a 07:55
– A good and very strong Samaritan (sorry I don’t know your name) who decided to set the pace on all the climbs and turning off before the KOM marks. How about we call you Yaroslav?
– After I complained to the manager of the Merchant last week about the cost of a can of Pepsi ($3.90), he went out and bought Coke for us this week and charged us ……$3.90!!
– DeCastro “Speedy Gonzales” clocked 90.3 km/h down Welshpool Rd
– Carl crossed the line first at Macca’s, but no salute to the adoring fans. I guess it’s difficult to come up with a special salute if you’re a dermatologist, it’s obvious for us urologists!
– Good luck to Schneiderman who will be flying the SPR colours in the 3 peak challenge in Victoria next Sunday. Remember your gold chain up mount Hotham Mark!
With the last event in the racing calender for 2008, team SPR was represented en force with a total of 18 riders: Brendan was the only knight in “A” grade, 13 of us in “B” grade and 4 in the “B” grade women. The forecast was for a scorcher with the maximum of 35 degrees, this was never going to be an easy stroll in the fields of wanneroo.
I drove up with the Bard “Le Kuan” who had traded his pink diary for his red R3 to enter in his first ever race. He was a bit apprehensive but I told him not to try his legendry sprints today and stick in the bunch as long as possible. We got there with an hour to spare, but Lorraine Fuentes was already waiting under the SPR tent she put up along with drinks and her famous EPO enriched chocolate brownies as well as her trainer!! This woman is serious.
Captain Pete could not make it, Kate went into labour with their second child the night before. Ryan thought it was inconsiderate of her!
We put our SPR kit on and went for a warm up lap with master tactician Bjarn DeCastro: The plan was to watch any breakaways and keep 3-4 riders at the front of the group. If Ryan manages to go up the road, then we should try and hold the main group from chasing him. It all sounded reasonable, let’s see if we can execute.
We took off at 9:03, with a scheduled start at 9:05. (This really annoys me as Bjarn DeCastro and I once missed the start of the hills challenge for the same reason and had to chase the group for 40 Km before we caught them, we need to buy these organisers some swiss watches). With nearly 60 riders at the start, this was a big group and everyone’s adrenaline was flowing. I was told by my other SPR team mates that the course is “reasonably” flat with some undulations as they had done it earlier in the year or late last year, 8 laps of 9 Kms with a total distance of 72Kms. The start is downhill then it flattens followed by a left hand turn with a gentle hill to warm the legs up. Then comes a long flat part with a sharp Lt hand turn with a nasty hill immediately afterwards giving you no chance to prepare for it with zero momentum. The rest is flattish with an uphill finish of about 250 meters.
The goup stayed together for the first 2 laps with a fairly fast pace and I saw few SPR jerseys around me, they all looked confortable and riding well, am I the only one starting to feel the heat? Or are these cycling sunglasses hiding the pain underneath?. We lost Le Kuan after the second lap, he did one lap on his own and then decided ” bugger that, I’m staying in the shade”. John and Paul soon followed and we went past Chris “Chuck” Norris on the third lap who was sufering from leg cramps, his Tour was over. James gave him a pat on the back ( or was it on the bum?) as he went past. Now I’m not sure about the tactics in these races or whether it is merely a herding behaviour but after each left hand turn the front boys will accelerate and everyone follows suit then slow down, what was that all about?
By the end of the third lap, I was starting to hurt and had already gone through over half of my bidons, it was stinking hot and sweat was burning my eyes. Negative thoughts started to creep in: not halfway yet and I’m feeling flat, maybe I shouldn’t finish this race. I’m sure my wife will understand and my kids will still love me. As we went past the start/finish line, I saw Le Kuan under the shade with a drink in his hand, was that a Martini mate! Now in our 4th lap and tired legs were starting to wobble, no more adrenaline here or attacks on the hills, survival was the name of the game now. Riders started to drop off but we had all the remaining SPR boys towards the front of the group.
I think it was on the 4th lap that disaster struck. I was in the middle of the group when I heard the familiar
just a flesh wound
sound of carbon on tarmac and calls of “CRASH”, bikes were flying in the air as 4-5 riders hit the ground. I managed to avoid going over a rider only to realise it was Stuart, with Ryan lying on the road with his arms up protecting his head from incoming traffic. It all happened in a flash and I considered stopping but saw Judd and Ben go past so I chased them. Even if I stopped I don’t think I could be of any use, I’m only a urologist and I don’t think Ryan needed a urinary catheter then.
There were I think 3-4 riders who didn’t slow down and had a reasonable gap on the chasing group, a group that had Judd, Mike, Ben and I in it. Mark and James saw the crash a good opportunity to call it quits and joined the boys for some Martinis. I’m not sure when but we lost Judd soon after and 2 more riders dropped off too. Mike, Ben and I were rolling through with another rider who likes to tell others what to do and when to chase, needless to say that we dropped him after one lap. Mike also decided he had enough of this burning heat and joined the Martini party. Ben and I were left to ride by ourselves and we were in no medical condition to try and bridge the gap on the 4 riders or so up the road, I believe they were A graders who decided to come and play in the B grade.
2 laps to go and we were literally cooked. Ben told me he had nothing left, I shared his feelings. We did turns at the front but the heat was unbearable, where are all these water spraying basque suppporters when you need them? As we crossed the line for the last lap, the organiser told us 2 more laps to go, what the?? We also need to buy them some swiss calculators. I ran out of drinks on the last lap, I’m really an expert at that ( after riding Hautacam with no water!) and I tried to stick my tongue out to catch some water from nearby plantation sprinklers with no such luck. I started to cramp, probably from dehydration, but that was no stopping now, 5 Kms to go. We were then joined by a passing train with Dan who rode with us last sunday as well as Judd sitting nicely at the back, we quickly jumped in for some respite. Ben was acting like super domestique Jens Voigt and handed whatever drink he had left to Judd who happily accepted .
We passed Lorraine who was riding by herself way ahead of the rest of the B grade women, these brownies are definitely working. At 700 meters from the end, Ben attacked and I thought he went a bit too early, but he kept going and no one responded. Judd then took off after him and I stayed in front of the other 3 riders. I pushed on but kept looking back to make sure no one will try and pip Ben or Judd but everyone was stuffed and we were happy to roll through the finish in ( I think) 6,7 and 8 position.
We watched the A grade finish and I think Brendan managed 5th place, well done.
The day however belongs to Lorraine who not only looked after us all but managed to win her division in her maiden race. What a fantastic result for someone who was getting dropped badly on the saturday rides less than a year ago. These wind training sessions with Monsieur Fynn seem to be working ( with some EPO of course).
I was so dehydrated that day that I drank all afternoon and did not empty my bladder once, incredible. To top it all, I spent the rest of the day in front of a 250 degree woodfired oven cooking Pizzas for my daughter and her 12 friends who came over for her birthday party.
Stuart went to Joondalup Hospital and went to theatre that night for debridement of a deep right elbow wound. No fractures but the wound needs to be dressed for the next few days. His R3 frame however is cracked and I believe his crankset and rear derailleurs are damaged too. We wish you a speedy recovery Stu.
Ryan has minor bruises and superficial cuts. He said he will be there on the thursday ride!!
Race report – By Jerard
After about 30 Kms, the packs started to thin out and I decided to push it a bit. A strong French boy who looked like a tri-athlete from the way he was riding came flying past me. I jumped on his wheel and stayed there for another 20 Kms, we lapped a lot of riders then. We were going at 40-45Kms/h.We got to Lourdes and the streets were lined up by cheering locals like in the proper tour. People of all ages were there under the rain encouraging riders with bells and calls of “Allez”. It was a great atmosphere and it makes you feel part of an important and special event. I didn’t stop at the first feeding station there as I was feeling fine and had not touched my GU’s and power bars yet.The course was undulating with hills of 4 to 5% gradients. I was feeling strong and my french domestique was spent and I went past him. I powered up the 2 small “blips” before the Tourmalet. In fact these are harder than what the picture below might suggest, I’d say like Kalamunda road.
A lot of riders started dropping off at this stage. Short descents with tight corners followed but it wasn’t raining much and you could see the beautiful country side then, it was awesome!.I eased off a bit as I knew what was coming….. THE Tourmalet.
The giant mountain of the Pyrenees was hidden under the clouds and nothing can prepare you for what was about to come!
The ascent of the Tourmalet is 23 Kms long. It starts gently at a gradient between 2-5 percent for the first 11 Kms. I stayed in a strong bunch of riders and did not do any work at the front. My heart rate was sitting at a healthy 140-145 bpm. I knew it will be harder later and wanted to pace myself.
Unfortunately for Todd he got pulled out of the race because he didn’t make the cut off time at the base of Tourmalet. His starting number was in the 8000’s so he had a handicap to start with. That’s why all these riders with higher numbers were racing past me at the beginning to avoid being stopped, I thought they were inexperienced and stupid! At 12 Kms from the village of Campan, things started to get serious. Let me mention it here that in cycling mad France, there are signs on the side of the road on all mountains telling you how long you have to go to the top as well as the gradient for the next kilometer.
The gradient picked up to 7 %, I was feeling OK, so far so good. Then it went up. From then on it was pure torture and agony! Unrelenting ascent which reads 8-8-8-10-9-10-9-9-9-9-9-8.5%
I have not experienced anything like it before. I have done the Mont Ventoux last year but it was all we did that day. This is an absolutely horrible climb after having been on the saddle for 100 Kms.
I kept my legs turning and maintained my heart rate around 160bpm, I did not want to blow up now because I knew that Hautacam was waiting for us at the end. It was cold and misty but there were loads of people on the side of the road cheering you on. Let me tell you this makes a HUGE difference to your morale and makes you ride through the pain. The majority of the riders were local boys and their friends and families were there urging them on. You could tell they’ve done their” Welshpool Road “ before.
Just when you thought you have covered few kilometers, you get that sinking feeling when the next sign shows you’ve only covered one and that the next km has a friendly 9% gradient. I had gone through 3-4 GU’s by then as well as a power bar. Half way up the mountain and I started to feel it! My legs started to go although my heart rate was around 150.
What the hell am I doing here? A long flight from Perth, a tiring drive through the Pyrenees two days earlier to climb a stupid mountain in the middle of the rain!
I tried to shake off negative thoughts and kept my focus on the road 10 m away. I decided to stop looking at the signs!
Later I learned that Schneiderman had another unlucky puncture half way up the Tourmalet. He could not get his pump to inflate his tire properly and asked the Mavic support van for assistance. He had to wait for his turn to come and lost a bit of time doing that. They changed his tube, sorted his tire and got him up and going again.
I then reached La Mongie which is a skiing station 4 Kms from the top. The road widens here and there was the second feeding station there. A lot of riders were filling up on food and drink. I thought about stopping to eat, but then I decided to save time as I still had a power bar and few GU’s in my back pocket. Mark did stop, had a sandwich / banana/ fruit gel and filled up on energy drink and water.Closer to the top, the smell of cows filled the air and the road was covered with their droppings! Beautiful, what more can you ask for.I was feeling spent then and it took an old woman on the side of the road to prevent me from stopping with “ Allez courage monsieur, juste 2 kilometres du col” ( Keep going, 2 kilometers to go)I don’t know how but I finally reached the top and felt exhausted. Nature called and it was the best feeling to do it at 2115 m altitude although you couldn’t see a thing below, the valley was covered with clouds . A lot of riders had stopped to have a rest. I ate my power bar, managed to get some water from the firemen there and filled my drink bottles because one of them was empty( I was using Cytomax, the energy drink I imported “legally” from the US and highly recommended by Mark DeCastro, it’s good stuff), put my wind jacket and started the descent of the Tourmalet.If the climb was excruciating, the descent was terrifying. The road was slippery, it was freezing cold and you couldn’t see a thing ahead. Those of us who did Ventoux last year know what I mean, only that it was longer, much longer! Your brakes become useless and your fingers ache so much that you have to release frequently to get some circulation through again. Will I see my kids again? I kept thinking in case I crash here as there were no road barriers, nothing between you and the bottom of the valley! Having said that, there were the local French riders flying past “a la DeCastro”, they obviously knew the road and what lies around the corner.
After the steep section, the gradient eases off a bit and the road is a bit wider. That part was the best bit as it had stopped raining and we were in the valley between Tourmalet and Hautacam. The scenery was breath taking and I felt like riding again. I took off my wind jacket and hammered it even though it was windy. I jumped from one passing train to the other and was do
ing over 40 km/h. I did brief stints at the front to catch the faster bunch ahead. I was loving it, Hautacam here I come.
The bottom of the climb is not too steep, between 2 and 5%. There was a group of 6 children doing the Mexican wave and an “Allez” with every passing rider.Then you take a right turn and it picks up suddenly to an 8% climb for 2 Kms. I had another GU and thought that’s it, only 15Kms to go. The gradient eased again and it was hard to get a rhythm going. Then came a left hand turn and holy Moses! If I thought the Tourmalet was tough, this was hell. The gradient remained between 8 and 10 % for 10 Kms and I had nothing left. Soon after I hit the wall, it was awful. Not stopping at the food station at the Tourmalet proved to be a very bad and stupid decision. If the professional riders need to eat then who am I, a part time social rider from South Perth Rouleurs, to ride 170 Kms without eating. What an idiot.No amount of GU could help here and I decided to do what a lot of riders were doing, stop. I stopped for a minute then took off again. 2 Kms later, I had to stop again. You could see the pain and agony on all riders faces, some had decided to walk up. A woman had stopped and started crying, not wanting to go on. The locals got her back on, gave her some water and pushed her up the hill. There were also the 60 year old men grinding it up, they must live down the road and do the Hautacam on a Sunday morning before church.. 4 Kms from the top there was a van selling drinks and I thought I was dreaming . Am I suffering from altitude sickness? I gave the guy a 50 euros note but he said he didn’t have change! I was happy to pay 50 euros for a can of coke then but he decided not to charge me for it, I must have looked really bad, A can of Coke never tasted so good.
I felt refreshed and took off with a renewed zest. I lapped few riders and finally saw the finish line in the mist on top of Hautacam. After over 7 hours on the saddle, I was about to finish the longest, the hardest and the best ride I have ever done. to As I crossed, I was handed my medal it was 14:45. I stared at 07:10 ( 7h35min total time). I wanted to do it in around 7 hours but I didn’t care. Rather than a sense of achievement, I felt relieved the ordeal was over. My computer read over 6000 calories used and I thought GU should be enough to take me up Hautacam!It was freezing cold and the top was packed with riders waiting to go down as they let you descend at intervals of few seconds to avoid the congestion on the road.Had a drink, put my wind jacket and long gloves on and went down. You descend the same way as you go up, so you could see the procession of exhausted riders going up. I kept looking out for Mark and Le Kuan but didn’t see them, I hope they’re OK I thought.
Back in the organizers van, I was told that Melvyn had a crash and was taken to the hospital but he was fine and back at the hotel ( see Part I). I was really worried and sent him an sms but got no reply. His bag and phone were still in the van. I felt sorry for him to have come all the way from Perth to miss out on the climbs. Maybe next time.I was given a hot drink and swallowed 2 sandwiches. We were driven back to the hotel with Todd and Linley and the other riders who were pulled off. The van would later make 2 more trips to bring back the rest as they come down Hautacam.I later caught up with Le Kuan at the hotel. He was very disappointed and upset with himself. I told him how painful it was to try and ease his pain. Schneiderman came later: he looked shattered but was happy he finished given how unlucky he was with two punctures.
We slept very well that night and had a big breakfast in the morning. Washed and packed the bikes and drove back to Barcelona, this time we took the highway through Tououse – Perpignan and down to Barcelona to save time. We talked about L’etape all the way back to Spain. If we nearly died doing one stage, how can these guys do it for 3 weeks! It’s incredible and gives you a perspective of what they go through. Maybe a bit of EPO is not a bad idea after all.
The French love the sport and seeing people of all ages lining the roads under the rain to cheer amateurs was unbelievable. It’s a different culture here and I can never imagine seeing that in Australia. Maybe I should retire here. I also realized that it’s not about the bike. To see old men riding up these mountains on old bikes makes me realize it’s about the sport, your fitness and determination. I won’t be wasting any money to save few grams anymore.It was an amazing experience and I highly recommend it. Will we do it again? I thought it was a crazy thing to do on top of Hautacam. Now I’m not so sure. It’s interesting how quickly you forget the pain. Maybe I’ll do it with Le Kuan one day as he missed out on this one. But next time, Le Kuan has to use his head on the descents, Mark will have to ride with different wheels and tires, and I have to remember to feed my brain.
