Giro Sardegna 2013

[John D]

Hi all...

A number of people have suggested that we create a thread to post news from this year's Giro Sardegna, so here it is. Stay tuned for daily post-race reports from TSC's resident colour commentator, John Taylor. The Giro kicks off on Sunday with the individual TT. Michaeal, Marcus, and Richard are already on the ground, the rest of the team leaves Wednesday.

J.

[Stéphane Tran]

. Michaeal, Marcus, and Richard are already on the ground

Ouch.

[John D]

D'oh! I meant "in country". Let's hope everyone stays upright.

[Marcus]

While those other guys are flying I'm riding upright on Corsica. I think the riding here might even be better than Sardegna. Lots of climbing, descents, pine forests, quiet roads (at least if your not in Ajaccio where riding in traffic takes another dimension) and views of the Mediterranean. Check out stage three of this year's Tour de France. At 70kms there is a very technical narrow descent of about 8kms through some picturesque red rock hills. Two workmen were painting rocks protruding from the rock walls on the side of the road to help prevent riders hitting their heads on the wall. The riders will definitely not be checking out the wonderful scenery.

[JohnT]

The Wednesday morning departure group made it to the Sardinia hotel (“Sighientu”) this evening. Richard was already here and Marcus and Michael W. arrive from their respective holiday/work spots in Europe soon. Really nice hotel and an amazing first evening: We built up our bikes and had a 10 km ride along the coast - sun low in a cloudless sky and the temperature about 18C (bib shorts and short sleeved jerseys).

Three are sporting shaved legs – can you guess who? The Sardinia-specific kit looks great and matches several red, black and blue bikes perfectly. “Just a three dressed up as a nine …….” comes to mind.

Flights were good, though there was a little confusion upon our arrival in Cagliari – Dave, JohnD and Ritchie simply disappeared. We thought maybe they were held up in customs. Nope. Somewhere else in the airport. Nope. They were behind us and then they weren’t. Turns out they had headed off to the car rental office. We waited, then searched, then waited, then got two taxis to the hotel. ….., and arrived at exactly the same time they did. All good now. I’ll post photos tomorrow.

[Stéphane Tran]

Thanks for the update John! I look forward to more news and photos. In bocca al lupo!

[Kinross Clan]

John T: Hope you are resting well and recovering from the flight. Hydration is key right now.

We are all sending positive energy from the 'hood your way. We look forward to your updates.

the Kinross Clan.

[JohnT]

Sig said that the ride today, 90km and 1300m elev., was worth what he spent on the entire trip. Not much more to say really, though I’ll fill in a few details. We headed out at about 8:30 am in sunshine. It was around 15 degrees at the start and high twenties before we were done. Smooth roads, lots of hills, some long, but nothing especially steep, and great car, truck, and bus drivers; they wait, or fly past, but without any of the contempt we get every day in Victoria. Unbelievable scenery – the coastline is a little like what you’d see on a trip down the Oregon coast, just add a tropical beach every 15 km. Wild flowers blooming everywhere, pastures of sheep and goats here and there, Olive tree groves, and wisteria vines blooming along many of the fences. If this sounds a little story book-like, then you’re getting the right idea.

Tomorrow we’ll ride the Time Trial course, but that will probably be it. Race starts on Sunday

[JohnT]

a couple of images

[Marcus]

JT wrote, Wild flowers blooming everywhere, pastures of sheep and goats here and there, Olive tree groves, and wisteria vines blooming along many of the fences.

Yeah but did you have a pig family, mom, dad, and five little piglets come out of the alpine forest and wiggle along beside you as you climbed as I did in Corsica?

One of the things I like about cycling is that I am always learning about something, when to jump, how to hang on, when to take it easy. Today I learned that it is not a good idea to pedal through a smaller radius roundabout. Nancy and I decided to go to Stentino today as we heard it had the nicest beach in Sardegna. It's about 60 Kms north of Alghero on the NW tip of the island. I rode and Nancy drove. I only started to feel good after 40 Kms and then I felt like I was flying when I came to today's lesson. I thought I could just keep pedalling through the roundabout but it had a reverse camber and ripples in the pavement, once of which I tagged with my pedal, and then I was flying. Fortunately, my bike is okay and I only have some nice Italian road rash on my tricep, elbow, hip and shin. It was my first day riding while wearing the Davide designed Sardegna kit which was the first thing I thought about when I stopped sliding. The Procity kit doesn't hold up any better than TS gear. Also, I can assure you that removing Italian asphalt hurts as much as the BC stuff. Nancy did most of the picking and now calls the town Stingtino. By the way the Spiaggia La Pelosa is gorgeous - shallow, warm, emerald green water with fine light coloured sand. I fully recommend travelling with DuoDerm CGF dressing. It is a skin saver. I can already see the goo working. I wonder now if Nancy will let me ride tomorrow?

[JohnT]

We rode the TT course this morning. There was a strong head wind on the way out and a tail wind home. The course is smooth but not flat – hills like the Pat Bay highway between Sayward and Mitchell’s Farm with flat sections in between.

Today was arrival day and the atmosphere has changed – Team cars, fast looking Italians with bright running shoes. I am getting anxious.

The last two members of Team TS arrived; Marcus and Michael W. No missing shoes, no damaged bikes. It’s all good. I’ll attach a couple more photos. Ritchie took the two I posted yesterday. These are from Darryl.

[Kinross Clan]

Hope the race today went well for everyone. John, we are anxiously looking forward to your review of the day.

All our energy,

Kinross Clan

[Kinross Clan]

Gorgeous morning here in Victoria - sunrise over Cattle Point was spectacular. But cool - ice on the windshields. Hoping the race today was safe and enjoyable for all. Yesterday's post mysteriously disappeared - hmmmm.

[Marcus]

Time trial on Sunday went fairly well for everyone. I can't remember the times now but Sig or Chris had the best TS time. I was the first male (not the fastest) to the turn around and there was little in the way of directional support so I took a minute or so detour until they tracked me down with a van. Ritchie was third of eleven in his age group. Today was a day of bad luck. Shortish course of 88 kms with only a few Sard bumps of 80 meters vertical. Ritchie flatted which his personal mechanic Davide changed for him. There were at least two crashes. One involved my Swiss friend Michael and the second took down JT, Sig, and Chris when they were in or near the lead group about 20 Kms from the finish. Everyone seems okay, just the usual scrapes and the equipment all seems good too. Darryl finished first amongst the TC crew but he may be done riding hard as his knee is flaring up again. John Dower and I hooked up with three others near the tail end of the riders and cooperated well but I was humiliated in a Sylvanesque sense when John and the others dropped me on the final short hill. Despite the vicissitudes everyone seems to love the event. Tomorrow's ride basically replicates the free ride the guys had last Friday which John wrote about. Gorgeous scenery with some technical descents. Should be fun. Everyone is good to go except maybe Darryl. Ciao, Marcus

[JohnT]

And from JT:

Two days done. The TT went well, the first road race stage, not so much. Sig was fastest over the 18 km TT, but only 6 seconds faster than Chris. I was 30 seconds behind them and Ritchie came in behind me. Ritchie’s performance put him 3rd among the 50-59 years olds. Next Dave, then Richard and then Marcus, who did well despite going off course, twice. They were followed by John D and Michael.

For the TT we left the starting grid one after the other in 30-second intervals, so it was fun trying to catch one another during the race.

That brings me to today (Monday): A 90 km stage with only two hills to speak of. Both were a lot like the climb up Willis Point Road. It started fairly fast and was especially exciting for those who had never raced before. About 150 in the pack - “Never look back, no matter what you hear” is the best advise anyone can give. Best to not even talk – just concentrate on the rider ten positions up the road. Two crashes, just a few seconds apart, at the foot of the first climb at about the 18 km mark unnerved us a bit. Sig got bumped at that point but didn't go down. I unclipped, but managed to get going again and we hammered up the hill so as not to loose the group. “We” included Sig, Chris and I, but Dave, Ritchie and Darryl, after losing us on the climb, managed to bridge – it took them 10km to make that catch (very impressive). Shortly after that things began to unravel. Ritchie got a flat, which was especially upsetting given that he was our contender. Dave (surprise, surprise) stopped to help him. Chris, Sig, Darryl and I continued. Come to think of it, Richard was also among us, but we lost him some time later. Things were looking really good. We could comfortably manage the pace of the large lead pack. I was beginning to think about the finishing strategy when the pack squeezed from right to left in a fairly fast downhill section. Darryl, Chris, me, and then Sig were in a line over on the left side of the peloton. Darryl was pinched against a guardrail but managed to get his front wheel back on the road and escaped. Chris wasn’t so lucky. He went down hard and ended up under the guardrail. I was able to stop but got hit hard from behind. Sig hit the road behind me and the group was gone. We’ve been trying to convince Darryl that he did the right thing (continuing) but he’s felt bad about it ever since. Of course he had no idea what had happened behind him but feels bad nonetheless. After checking to make sure I was pulling the stronger of Chris’ two damaged shoulders, I helped him up. His rear wheel was no longer attached to the bike and his first impression was that the frame must have been wrecked. Sig discovered that electric shifting has one big drawback – it doesn’t work if you sever the wires. Chris’ bike turned out to be OK. Who knows how the wheel came off. Injuries looked bad but weren’t race-ending. As we contemplated continuing, I discovered that despite not falling, my rear wheel was seriously bent. Some rear brake adjustment allowed me to ride – in fact, I discovered a little while later that squeezing the brake helped the wheel clear the seat stays. Luckily Sig’s bike crashed while in a good gear.

A trailing pack of about 8 riders came upon the scene and we decided to try to run with them. This group included Richard, who thought, great, a team of four TS racers. We’ll kick this little pelotons ass. But he soon discovered he'd come across the survivors of a battle and would need to carry them all home. Race numbers flapping in the wind, one on a single speed, another using the rear brake like a truing stand and the third still seeing stars after a big bang on the head.

By the time we crossed the line, that crash had cost us 13 minutes to the main pack.

I got my wheel repaired for 10 Euro. Not bad given that I was ready to buy a new wheel. Dave is in the room next door doing surgery on Sig’s Di2 system. I think an airplane headset has donated the wires necessary for the repair.

What a day!

Everyone is able to race tomorrow.

[Rolf]

Wow, bad luck but great stories. MacGyver-ing with headphone wire! Keep it up, fellas.

[JohnT]

I'll keep this short, but after yesterday, I figured some good news would be welcome. Today was a hilly 120 km road race. Sig, Chris and I stayed with the lead group for about 40 km. We fell off at different times, but ended up together n the chase group that assembled over the next 20 km. This group was a combination of others dropping off the lead and a bunch of small chasing pace lines that all ended up as one. Really cool: One of those pace lines included Ritchie. So, for much of the race there was four of us in the chase pack. Dave flatted just before the start but got it fixed. He flatted again at about the 60 km mark and, I think, rode more or less alone after that. JohnD caught him late in the race. I haven't heard the race stories from Richard, Michale or Marcus yet. Sunny, warm, no crashes and an exciting run into the finish line for some of us. The lows are low and the highs are high - I think that's racing.

I'll add a photo from Cagliari.

JT

[Marcus]

That was a tough day for me. Both stages now my legs have stopped working 20kms from the finish and I could only soft pedal in. Maybe it's my head or lactic acid build up. A similar thing happened to Richard yesterday at km66. He thinks it's lactic acid. Anyway I finished ahead of four other guys. John Dower and I rode about 60kms with four others which makes the suffering more pleasant. They all dropped me near the end. The finish was whacky as the finish line was not at the start line but another km up the road. I turned left towards the start line with two other guys and outsprinted them to the false finish. Then we turned around and i turned left and they turned right when we got back to the highway so that gave me a head start to the finish. John finished four minutes ahead. Michael took the medio course short cut. I now sit last overall of those who have completed all stages just behind John. I sense a black jersey may be near but with 167kms tomorrow and 120 Kms the next day with each day containing about 1800 meters of climbing anything could happen. Today is super windy so we are on hold for the TTT which may be cancelled. I could use the rest for sure.

[JohnT]

TTT canceled. A couple more photos:

[Rolf]

From the riders reflected in the glasses to Chris' macho wave, that is without doubt the best peloton selfie I've ever seen.