Giro of Sardinia Tripleshot-Spinnakers Race Team Blog

[Barry McKee]

Hi everyone: After months and months of preparation, and waiting, the team (John Taylor, Chris Fraser, Dave Spiers, Marcus Gill and me...) is heading to Italy this week for the Giro of Sardinia. I have created a blog and the team will use it to post pictures (only the censored ones), stats and general information on the team and Giro, provided we don't have any technical difficulties. Feel free to comment on the Posts. Sign up as a Follower too. Enjoy the blog. Ciao!

http://girodisardegna.blogspot.com/

Barry

[JohnT]

I guess I should use the blog. Next time.

We're all here. It's raining, but not too cold. Paris was 25C and sunny - spring hit most of Europe a long time ago from the looks of things. Anyway, Dave's bag went missing, then showed up with Marcus! One of Marcus' bags also went missing, the one with his shoes and helmet. It's due at 6:30 pm this evening. Bike are assembled and we'll go out on a short ride this afternoon when things dry up. Walking throught the parking lot is a thrill. Team vans with absolutely amazing bikes loaded on top. A very large number of women in the race. Hotel isn't exactly as shown on the web - internet doesn't work, except this one terminal. Phones don't work. Pools is really cold and there aren't any topless women - can't trust the internet! Food, on the other hand, is really good - it's a buffet style operation. The competition looks scary, but time (i.e., the TT tomorrow) will tell.

Cheers,

JohnT

[M.LeBlanc]

Good luck guys!

[JohnT]

A shame we missed Sylvan's send off. Hope it went well. See ya Sylvan!

Short update: The TT course, 26 km, is perfectly flat and smooth. A great course. Road was wet when Dave and I prerode it today, but clean, so bike weren't too bad. Nonetheless, Dave showered with his. Lush green fields, the smell of fresh manuer on the pastures, ucalyptus trees and mushroom-shaped pines along the route. Really amazing. It's an out and back course. From the start times, at least three of us should be on course at the same time.

Later,

JohnT

[Greg Miller]

Best of luck guys, and looking forward to your updates.

[JohnT]

Quick update:

Sun came out, wind too. The TT course was shortened for some reason. Out only (about 13 km), instead of out and back. The wind seemed to pick up during the morning. We left by age, oldest to youngest, so Barry and Marcus might have had an advantage. Us 'young' guys wil be using that as an excuse. Barry posted a max. speed of 49 km/hr on the course, none of the rest of us got even close to that. Times aren't up yet. I had a flat minutes before the start but got it changed in time - nice adrenalin boost! There were motorcycle lead outs for many. I got one, and kept thinking that he must be wondering why I was so slow - it's a great motivation, but also a bit intimidating. Marcus rode in running shoes, but his bag has now arrived.

I'll post again when the time are available. Oh, something else that was a bit wierd. A fair bit of cheating on course. Not accidental/convenient drafting - deliberate extra guy on the course breaking the wind efforts (i.e., starting along-side the timed guy). A few team cars were also providing a draft. Competitive this is.

JT

[JohnT]

Results are up. I haven't memorized all of the times, mine was 19:44:50 over approx. 14 km. Around 36 km/hr - vague because there's a huge mass of people around the board, so you get a few seconds to see the numbers before someone moves in front. That was good for 26th in my age group (46 total between age 45 and 50). OK, given that the TT is not my strength. I mentioned it is competitive; one second faster would have moved me up six positions overall (that is, in the whole group, not in my age group).

Barry was fastest of the TS team and he is 5th in his age group. Chris was second, my time was 3rd, then Marcus and seven seconds later was Dave. We all know Dave's reputation for having the latest and greatest - this result will, no doubt, lead to some teasing in the future. Not at all because Marcus beat him, but because Marcus was wearing running shoes. Next time Dave's talking to you about electric shifters or carbon tubulars, suggest he consider a pair of Nike's.

Marcus's bag, with his shoes, arrived this afternoon. Fastest time was just shy of 50 km/hr average, and that was posted by someone in the 45-50 age group. Most of the other fast times were the young guys. Forecast for tomorrow (a 150 km stage with about 1500m climbing) is rain. Then things are supposed to get sunny.

Cheers,

JohnT

[Marcus]

What a day. They lengthened the course to 160 kms by doing two loops on the Monte Vecchio section because the short stretch of strada blanca was too wet to ride. I have never hurt so much on a bike in my life, and it wasn't a lot better when I got off. Dropped a coin in my room and I couldn't stoop or squat to pick it up. Curses to everyone for getting me addicted to this. Barb Bialokoz lowered my seat a month or so ago to get more comfort in my ride and more power in my butt, which is working well, but some muscles in the lower glutes very feeling very, very horrible sensations after 45 kms when I started my 115 km time trial. At one point, I never saw anyone for about 40 kms, no marshalls, riders police, nothing, and then those glutes came to acknowledge that I wasn't stopping so they just went numb and I picked it up and passed about 10 other stragglers to finish 220 out of 247 in 6 hours and 9 minutes. The winner was about two hours faster. Chris squeaked in under 5 hours. Nicely done. John was about 15 minutes later and Barry another 15 minutes or so after that. Dave came in at 5 hours 47 minutes exacting 22 minutes of revenge from yesterday. I knew I should of worn those Nike Frees again but my booties wouldn't fit over them and it rained for an hour or so just to make it more epic. It's warm rain here though. Only 105 kms or so for tommorow's fun. Ciao, Marcus

[JohnT]

Correction: Chris beat me by 3 minutes. I bonked after about 130 km (shuld have eaten a lot more during the stage). He passed me with 7 km to go and offered to ride me in, but I could see he was at the back of a small group and was planning something, so I sent him on. What a great course. But, 150 km and 1500 m turns out to be a lot. Beautiful farms and loads of sheep. The start had a fair bit of fast and slow - we took up the whole road, but it wasn't closed. Very few cars in this part of Sardinia, but when they do show up, the whole pack has to move to the right (even though the cars also pull over for us), hence the braking. I have to say that bike skills in the peloton are amazing. You'd expect problems when people at the front of a group of at least 100, hits the brakes, but no. Roads are in great shape, but the occassional patch of sheep shit, especially on a wet road, isn't nice. Grit on your glasses on Interurban ain't great, but at least it's not sheep shit. Weather is supposed to improve.

This turns out to be a full time thing: Eating, racing and then cleaning kit in the sink and bikes with water bottles, then eating again and sleeping. I am still 26th out of 46 (45-50 yrs), Chris' ride today moved him up one position to 24th. Barry, lost ground, from 5th to about 12th - old guys are really fast here.

Cheers,

JT

[Kevin F]

Way to go guys! Keep it up, show'm how to suffer Canadian style

I was thinking of you guys as I 'raced' up the Observatory hill in the pouring rain today.

Again best of luck!

[Marcus]

Blast off #3. Today's race was 35k of flat followed by a Malahat climb some more shorter hills, and another 35k of flat to the finish. At the start, the organizers announced that the first 15k would be pace controlled by a car until we got through two villages. The Italian style of pacing turned out to be 50k/hr in a group of 240 for 20 minutes. It was wild, and my Garmin was reading a steady 194 bpm. Shortly after the pace car left, I had to fade off the pack and think about settling in for another 90k of ITT. I could see one guy ahead but he stayed 100m in front of me, then a group of 8 "sponsor yourself" Assos riders came up and I jumped on. The next 10k were going well, and then we climbed an overpass over the highway. I felt like I was working hard but doing ok until I looked down and saw my Garmin smoking. Just before it caught fire I noticed that my heart rate was 207. Not good, but it settled down on the other side. Then, after another km, I felt the wave of shatteredness rise from the base of my spine wash over my head and down my front. Done, and the climb hadn't started. Anytime I tried to push at all, my heart rate would immediately spike by 20 beats. Then I passed a small church in Santa Lucia at 60k in and started feeling better. There's always little things that happen though that make riding the Giro special. Young kids encouraging everyone. Or the Assos support vehicle (a factory Porsche) coming alongside to hand me gel packets at 85k. Turned out they were caffineited and shortly after I crashed again and could only limp in with another guy who I edged out for second last pace. The winning time today was 2:39. Doctor damage did very well with a 2:51 but was still in place 111. I think John was 2:57, followed by Dave who had good day at 3:01 and Barry at 3:03. I was at 4:12. Ouch. Moral of the story for me. No caffeine tomorrow. Don't blast off at the start. Turns out that doesn't work for everyone Peter. Eat early, settle in and find the 10 other people who ride at my pace. Ciao.

[sylvan]

You guys are awesome. This might be the most epic event ever.

[JohnT]

Tuesday at the Giro, Report #2:

Like Marcus said, the 'neutral' start through several small towns was crazy. I think the driver of the car looked in his mirror and figured his job was to stay in front, whatever speed it took. They've promised to make some changes tomorrow.

What was great about the race today, for those of us that kept our HR below 200 was that we were in the race. Sure, none of us were in the lead group, but we raced to the end. And, the sun came out, which was nice. I screwed up a little at the top of the 'Malahat'. I fiddled with a bar (removed it by accident, returned it) and then struggled with a screw-top gel and lost my group (Chris was with me at the time). I'm not that disappointed because in the end, the gel was important. Chris' group finished 6 minutes ahead. I was alone for about 5 km and then got picked up by about 15 guys. Similar to Peter's experience last year, few in that group wanted to work. Once I'd recovered from the time alone, I did some work with two others to keep the pace up when we were on the flats. To make matters worse, the lazy guys didn't hang at the back, they followed all the way to second wheel and then stopped peddling. On the descents we were flying. Really amazing. Great views ahead, so we could go through corners with some confidence.

What was most exciting for me was the last 10 km. 15 of us, some working, some not. How was this going to play out? One guy jumped with about 5km to go. No one chased. I worried that he'd get away, but our pace went up just a little and he drifted back in. Same thing happened a km later. I was watching the guys who'd been working, figuring they were strong and a bit pissed. The pace went up a bit, then down to 20 km/hr. We're now less than 2 km out. When is someone going in earnest? With the finish in sight, still no attack. I couldn't wait any longer. I jumped from the left and another guy went at exactly the same time from the right. I jumped on his wheel and with about 40 m to go (with the other 13 on our tails) we caught about 7 guys who'd been dropped from Chris' group. They blocked the right and a car parked on the side blocked the left. Perfect, no opportunity for the group to get by. We did get swarmed by a few at the line, and I ended up 6th (in my group). That didn't matter - just to have participated in this end-of-the-race activity was amazing, especially compared to the bonk yesterday. Chris' group, which was much larger, finished in a big road-width pack and he couldn't attack in the end because he wasn't one of the guys across the front, but he was looking for an opportunity from about 5 km out. Dave and Barry finished in a group only 3 min behind mine. Barry's excitement came from drafting a ASSOS car with a few other riders. Not entirely legit., but this kind of thing happens a fair bit (e.g., with the lead out motorcycles too). That motor pacing lead him to Dave's group, and the guilt he felt prevented him from sprinting - but he said the speeds they were reaching behind that car on the descents were unbelievable (so I won't tell you cause you won't believe it).

Chris is now 22nd out of 42 in our age group. I moved up a few spots as well (24th I think). Dave moved up too (low thirties). I think Barry is in the same spot in his age group. Overall, Chris is about 120, I'm about 133 and the others are a little behind that. 204 left in the GranGiro (there's also a MedioGiro running at the same time, so the total number of riders on the road is greater that 204).

Lots of climbing tomorrow (steeper hills) and way more climbing on Friday. TTT on Thursday.

WiFi is working now too. Slowly this '4-star' resort is working it's way up to 3-stars by anyone else's standards.

In addition to the excitement, I think we're all finding it more than a little draining.

JT

[emilederosnay]

Don't forget to eat twice as much as usual!

[sylvan]

Don't forget to eat twice as much as usual!

For sure. A good plan for this, if it works for you, is a medium meal, like 500-800 calories, immediately after the stage of course, and then every 90 minutes to 2 hours for the rest of the day, as opposed to gorging 1500 calories at once, then feeling full and falling asleep. Nibbling might get you more net refueling and more complete digestion and glycogen packing. Note, I am not qualified to make these statements with any authority.

[jj12]

Great report guys!

[JohnT]

Hi again,

Today I had a gel 20 km after the start, another banana gel midway, and a caffeine-filled gel 20 Km before the end (eating before and after isn't enough, but thanks for the advise).

Because of the gels (at least in part), I felt amazing. I finished 117th out of 232, so amazing is a relative term but these NRG caffeine gels are legal doping! Like yesterday, the biggest thrill was the last 20 km. This time in a group of 36. Same thing as yesterday - Who's going? When are they going? But what made it even more exciting today was positioning. I was near the front of the pack with 100m to go. But in its midst, not at the side like yesterday. The surge began and you just hammer. As people fade before the line you have to find holes because slowing isn't an option. It's an amazing rush.

Back to the start: As Peter told us, the start is the key. The whole field sorts into groups in the first 30-40 km and that's where you stay. Bridging is almost impossible. To really make the point, here's a summary of today's results:

The first 36 riders (100 km and four big climbs) had times between 2:53:57 and 2:54:49 (less than a minute separated them all). Positions 37 - 75 came in between 2:59:59 and 3:01:11. One lone guy at 3:02:40, and then positions 77 - 111 were between 3:06:32 and 3:08:09. Then my group of 36 at 3:14. Bridging up, say from my group to the one that finished 6 minutes ahead, might not seem impossible, but these packs are hauling ass. To get away from a group doing 40-45 km/hr ain't easy and no one will work with you. No doubt, a rotating pace line with 36 guys could accomplish that easily in the last 50 km, but that isn't the way it works here. Who knows why?

Because of the group size, positions change real fast relative to time. Barry was only about 12 minutes back (and he rode in a group of three! way more work than me), but he was 60 positions behind.

Chris was sick and couldn't race today. Stomach problems that seem to have passed - he plans to be in the TTT tomorrow. Marcus is also suffering. He won the black jersey today. Ask Peter what that means - A guess would probably also be correct. Dave rode with Marcus, so his GC has suffered too. That's the kind of guy Dave is.

Regarding GC:

John: 11;34;27
Barry: 12:00:39
Dave: 13:51:40 (took a big hit today)
Marcus: 15:24:39

Chris no-longer has a GC time because he didn't ride, but he was ahead of me until today.

Cheers,

John

[JohnT]

Quick update: We all started the TTT today. It was a fairly flat course. Dennis (Peter knows him from last year) joined to make six. We finished the 31 km route with an average speed just below 38 km/hr. Good for mid-pack. The winners averaged just over 50 km/hr! Many teams are put together the night before (and look it), but a few are incredibly professional - amazing purpose-built bikes, not to mention the helmets. Marcus, who has been experiencing some bizarre jumps in HR (we thought maybe it was the monitor, but no), dropped off first. Dave drifted back at the half way point, and the remaining four crossed the line together. Chris is better. One more GC day left. We're having fun, but I think we're also all keen for this to be done. Unfortunately, tomorrow has the most climbing (2000m in 100 km).

Weather's much better. From Kevin's VCL post, it sounds like the weather hasn't changed much there. Good going Kevin!

JT

[Greg Miller]

Great work guys, what a challenge and an experience! Good luck on the last stage, and thanks for the posts.

[JohnT]

Report from Sardinia:

We're 98% done. There's a 40 km flat age-group race tomorrow that doesn't effect the GC, unless you don't show up. A no-show tomorrow means a DNF overall. Shit, none of us really want to race and the weather has turned cloudy, windy and cool.

Today (sunny and warm during the race) was amazing and hell at the same time. Almost 2000 m of climbing, one section had an average grade of 13% for two km. Also, everyone has max. speeds in the 80's on their speedos. I've mentioned before that the descents are amazing - today was the best. Crazy-fast for ages.

Great panorama views from mountain passes and great racing. I bridged from one group to another on the first long climb. That felt really good (I mentioned before that moving among groups is really hard, but it's a bit easier on hills)). I started the bridging alone, but was joined by two others and we caught the pack that was ahead just as we crested the climb. For me at least, it's really important to have help on the way down. Much later this group broke into two. I was in the first group until dropping off during another descent. This drop happened after I'd taken a pull through a series of hairpins. The group had stretched out and it was not easy to fit back in. Anyway, the second half of what had been one large group picked me up 5 km later. I finished 16th in the D group today (ages 45-50) today, better than my usual spot: 22nd.

OVERALL:

I've been racing for 14:48:00 and placed 113th out of 182 (that finished) in the GranGiro. Quite a few have dropped out for various reasons. I finished 20th in my age group.

Chris: As mentioned before, left early this morning. No GS, but leader of TS before getting sick on Wednesday.

Barry: 15:37:13, 12th in his age group and 141 overall. Barry pulled away from his group on the last climb today, and then some minutes later looked back and found Dave on his wheel!

Dave: 17:29:57, 33rd in age group and 167 overall. Dave rode with Marcus when Marcus was having an off-day and lost much time then.

Marcus: 19:45:43, 18th in age group and winner of Black Jersey (overall). So he's got two high-quality ASSOS jerseys now! Marcus had a nice ride today. Finished the stage in a battle with several others.

The 40 km Kermese tomorrow won't change overall times but might influence positions within our age groups.

Cheers,

John