Having missed out on the Epic this year
Ischen was determined to race the Transalps this year and I was not going to
say no. Having done stage races in
South Africa I was super excited to race in my own back yard in Europe. First hurdle was traveling there.
Trains are a relaxing way to travel until you add a 25kg bike bag to the
equation! From leaving Rob at York
I got the train to Manchester, got fleeced 70 euros at the airport for my bike,
flew to Munich then caught the underground to the city and finally a train to
‘somewhere near’ Oberammergau in Germany.
I say ‘somewhere near’ as me and Ish had a little miss understanding…
I’d text to ask if it was ok to arrive at this place also beginning with an O,
which saved trekking to a bus stop and getting a 15 minute bus journey but
Ischen thought I was abbreviating so we both ended up at different train
stations looking for each other.
All ended well and soon I was relaxing in the comfort of a lovely double
bed.
The next day we did all the paperwork,
registering and getting rid of our bike bags before heading out for a pleasant
pre race ride along with Pete and his partner Dirk. It was good to get back off road, having done nothing at
home with such sodden ground!!
Day One
Oberammergau – Imst 97km
South Africa organizers take note… a 10am
start, what luxury when I think of those dark 6am offs over there!! By 9 the pen was filling up though we
didn’t have to worry been a woman’s UCI team as we were in the front pen. The start was fast; someone said we’d
averaged 35km/h the first hour before leaving the road and hitting the single
track. It was my first experience
of how aggressive some of the European men are pushing through on the descents
and very often ending up in the hedge because of it.
The weather turned nasty and up the last
climb I rode on a little to keep warm.
That was when I spotted what I thought was another woman’s team. That was it, full gas and me and Ischen
chased hard, passed them then rode a pretty risky descent to the finish pleased
to come in ahead of them in 2nd place to Centurion Vaude/Topeak
Ergon Team, Brit, Sally Bingham and her partner Milena Landtwigg. We both had to laugh when the pair we
chased so hard were a mixed pair, he definitely had a feminine look to be fair
and was only my height! The effort
of the day continued walking over a km with my big bag to the ‘camp’, a sports
hall with a few hundred riders sharing a couple of cold showers. I managed to move from my allocated
spot to lodge by the lockers and met a friendly Norwegian as we had a laugh
about how liberal a lot of the Europeans were stretching away in the nude and
rubbing on their oils and creams (not that we were trying to look it was just
so in your face!!)
Day Two
Imst – Ischgl 77km
Started with what was going to be quite a
common reoccurrence to the week, a long climb but then I guess it is Trans Alps
after all. 10km up and we were
still going. Into the rain we both put our jackets on for the descent. At the bottom we turned into another
long climb and settled into it.
It’s a good job I like em hilly with 3274m ascent today! Having set off in the first group
another thing to get used to was having the men constantly passing us and while
we could hang on for a while we often just let them go. I ran most of the last descent finding
it quicker than getting on and off the bike through the rooted wet forest
before a drag to the finish. 2nd
again with team Metz – Kraftwerk in 3rd.
Day Three
Ischgl – Naunders 67km
Woke to see snow on the mountains we were
heading up to. Forecast wasn’t
great and it was only 8 degrees at the bottom so I layered up as if we were
heading into the Arctic! Knee
warmers, undervest, thermal, thick winter gillet, waterproof and even my
lobster winter gloves! Needless to
say I was never cold though still appreciated the lovely mug of soup I found at
the first feed station, while I could pocket a banana or bottle for Ischen soup
was a little impossible and I decided not to tell her of my find till on the
warmer slopes! Climbing up to the
snow was amazing, I’ve always wondered what the mountain look like in summer
when I’m so used to skiing on them.
The answer, so pretty and varied… the climb up was bleak: scree slopes,
open and barren wheras the descent was through green meadows. Its odd to see ski lifts in the middle
of no where and I spent a lot of time trying to guess whether the slope was a
blue, red or black. Descending
down the temperature crept up and soon my layers were stuffed anywhere I could
put them! Luckily I recognized one
of the feeders and left him with a new wardrobe! Ischen had a bad day, which was a shame as the scenery was
so beautiful but I could see she wasn’t able to take much in. We still finished 2nd so GC
remained the same. That evening
after relaxing on a real bed sharing an apartment with the others, we then
headed up the mountain in a Gondola for dinner. It made the day extra special, as the views were fantastic
even if it was more spag bol!
Day Four
Nauders – Scuol
After the long first climb we were treated
to such a postcard view of the snowy mountains right down to a huge lake at the
bottom that we gradually descended down to. Despite feeling a little nauseous today I still enjoyed it
especially the last 10km as we tagged onto a good moving group. Back in the
camp I had to move from my allocated spot. 300 squeezed in a sports hall and I was up against the back
wall, which had turned into an airing line for smelly kit! What with that and massage oil and
numerous other smells I had to move. Risking the damp I set up camp in a
changing room once the showers were finished. Ended up having a great night, 6 of us in there, Dutch and
my Norwegian friend from night number one and after a lot of banter they were
all quite sleepers and none of us stirred until 6 ish.
Day Five
Scuol – Living 69km
Starting the 2531m ascent from the go again
we were soon on a single-track climb up through more stunning scenery. Today was Ischen’s turn to feel rough
and we backed right off, as there was no reason to kill ourselves. Pete and Dirk and 2 other South
African’s came up to us and we rode together for a while until I got a puncture
which just needed plugging, thanks to Ischen the team mechanic as usual! The third place girls came past us so
we had to chase hard passing them up the last climb and into Livingo via some
pretty nasty climbs. Once finished
we dropped our bikes off at Scott who were offering a fantastic free service
all week of cleaning and checking any Scott bikes in the race. Considering the queues for the bike
wash this saved us loads of energy and peace of mind that the bikes were
checked. We also had a little help
if we needed it from Team Bulls mechanic who at Livingo gave my bike an extra TLC
before the big day to come.
Day Six
Livigno – Ponte di Legno 106km
The longest day and with 3451m of climbing
it was going to be an epic! I
slept well in a big hall with some soft gym floor and so my hips didn’t feel so
stiff either. In fact I over
slept and with an earlier 8am start my bowl of cereal was still making an
appearance 10km in! Luckily it was
a steady start, straight into a queued up single track climb which was fine and
rideable for us in batch A but apparently was a long slow walk for the teams
further back. The descent down was
a steep wide and very rocky descent and for once with the Epic training it was
our turn to pass the Europeans following camp mates, Mike and Niome from
Australia who finished 5th in the end in the mixed. Onto lovely flowing forest tracks I
came to a sudden stop with one pedal missing! Somehow I didn’t fall off and ended up running down the
track wondering what had happened.
I rode down to the feed pedal in pocket but found no mechanic down there
thinking it was threaded. I
managed to screw it back in but spent the rest of the ride worried it might
fall off again especially as we had a 1700m ascent, 12km ave 12% climb to go up
which would have been a little difficult with one foot! It was my turn to suffer towards the
finish after a hard chase following a tricky descent I decided to run down
feeling low on sugar and concentration and not trusting that pedal. The last 5km I had a real loss of humor
and cursed the organizers for another ‘round the houses’ finish!!
Day Seven
Ponte di Legno – Madonna di Campiglio 72km
With another 3200m of climbing Trans Alps
own Dr Evil was at work with lots of lose rocky climbing to be done. On the
descent I hit the rim and got a flat.
Lucky for us Dirk and Pete were behind and helped us put a tube in after
bombing it didn’t reseal it. With
a tyre pumped up hard I really noticed the lack of grip and on one turn ended
up somehow facing back up the slope, ‘controlled 180 skid’ I think not!! With Ischen also having a flat, Pete
insisted on staying with us for the rest of the ride, which was so good of
them, but I did feel so guilty and was pleased they ended up coming in 15th
in the Masters improving their overall GC all the time. Near the end we had a marsh to get
through and my new camp friends from CW Cycles in London came running past
putting their cyclocross skills to the max. With a huge
walk to find the camp after the finish
(which was in a ski lift car park!!) and back to get my bike I was pretty stuffed by bed time and
after some red wine, which was becoming compulsory with the other camp
survivers I fell asleep listening to some Scot drone about his training and
race prep!
Day Eight
Madonna di Campiglio – Riva del Garda 75km
Breakfast in the car park was a large bowl
of milky coffee, highly amusing as other than the Italians I think we are all
more used to having our coffee in a mug! I was glad for the sponsored posh
porridge (15 Euros a box I was told as I passed our prize of one last night to
some new friends!) The race started overcast and a bit wet. Warm up consisted of a real coffee in a
cup before rolling down the road for 15km behind the car. The neutralized section was more risky
than some of the mountain descents and it was difficult to keep an eye on each
other. Eventually onto the climb
we climbed into deteriorating weather.
I put my jacket on but still froze on the descent. I have to admit to singing ‘Always look
on the bright side of life’ over and over, hearing your own voice really does
help when on the verge of crying!!
Ischen was a lot worse and at the bottom I was really worried about
her. Luckily a team van was there
and she managed to borrow a big jacket.
Dirk and Pete were there soon after borrowing any layers they could
find. Getting going was hard after
that but as it warmed up and the km kept going down spirits picked up and soon
after some real sticky tracks we descended onto the road into a group heading
to the finish. As we looked at
each other and grinned Ischen’s chain jammed and we had to laugh as we stopped
again to sort our last small mechanical problem. Arriving by Lake Garda was pretty special and with the sun
out everyone was so happy. After
the presentation our big night out consisted of ice cream and hot chocolate before
bunking down on the last hard floor for a while and with next doors disco in
full swing I slept all of a few hours before heading home. As luck would have it I found some
riders on the same flight as me so shared a taxi to Verona meaning I had time for
a nice relaxing breakfast by the lake
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| Spag Bol in up the mountain |
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| Breakfast by Lake Garda |
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| Pre Race Ride with Dirk and Pete |
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| Post Race ice cream |
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| Finish Line |
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| 2nd in Woman's Catergory |
