STAGE 4 – Monte Limbara
This was the stage that, since learning about it, has had me awake nights. The idea of a true alpine climb maybe sounds ok after a good go up Mt. Tolmie but upon arrival and seeing that what these folks call “flat” is what I think of as brutal I was working really hard to not become hysterical. Then we learn that in addition to the final ascent up Mt. Limbara there was a little leg loosener at about 24km in with 3k at 9-11%. And that is without talking about the 3 other climbs all of which saw double digit grades for more than a kilometre. All I can say is that while 1300m of climbing may not seem like much – in 56km it sure is!
Before any climbing though there was other work to do. First we had to survive the start through a cobblestone town where we seemed to have to go down every land and alley that had a 90 degree corner in it. Oh, and this was all done in a mad sprint by 300 riders going 10 wide where only 6 would fit (and only 3 would be comfortable!). Plus it was a steady downhill. Next up was about 20 k of descending along narrow (ish) roads in a frantic pack of about 150 riders all going unbelievably fast swooping around corners. I hit 80.3, spent 2 minutes (in a row) over 76km/h and 10 minutes over 65km/h. This was (surprisingly) for me the scariest part of the ride so far. I must have been passed by about 100 people going downhill. Dave and I were lucky (ok, cunning) enough to get a close to front row position for the start so I managed to spend a lot of the time through town etc in the front 6 rows but once the real descending happened – Wow! These guys were going around corners like they were on rails while I was rediscovering prayer!
Anyway then the climbing started – it started with a little leg warming 2k at 10%. This snapped my personal rubber band with the lead pack and I was once again in a smaller pack of guys. As we crested the top I could see another pack just a couple of hundred meters ahead. I know in a stage like this I can reasonably expect to lose time climbing so the faster I get to the climb the better. So over the top myself and a Dutch guy (note the lack of Italians here!) hammered along together trading pulls. We caught the group ahead and charged straight on to the next group. Then it was time to get a bit of rest. This took us back to the climb to the town with lots of cobbled pavers throughout it – that was fun in itself! After the feed station there was just 15k to the base of Mt. Limbara so we were somewhat sitting in as everyone girded themselves for what was described as a true alpine climb. Fortunately (actually I found this a little disappointing) the last 3k were in such rough shape they called off the last section and finished at a brief plateau 6km up.
I was channelling the TS climbers and felt pretty good going up. I picked off a number of folks and even got into a sprint at the end with a guy who looked like Tom Boonen which I won hitting 51.3 at the end of the sprint. Our sprint caused chaos as they were not at all prepared for folks to come blasting through the finish – that was extra exciting!
Dave had a similarly great experience (although ask him about the guy he saw bouncing off the pavement at 70 kmh). I even managed a great photo of Dave hammering through the finish line in what I can only assume will hereafter be referred to as Canadian Style!
Anyway when all was said and done it was a tough stage but not unreasonably so. Certainly one I will look forward to next year!
My results:
Stage - 115th OA, 34/56 MAS2 in 2:04:46, +28:37 behind winner
GC – 106th OA in 11:46:44
STAGE 5 – TTT
Today’s stage was on a small Island off the northeast coast that is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A very cool location but very windy and not even a little bit flat. Dave and I made a couple of friends here and were invited to join a Dutch guy and 3 Swiss guys to form a team of 6(time is taken from 3rd finisher). Neither Dave nor I were really excited about this as the Swiss guys are really strong. But it was sure to be a ton of fun. The nice thing here is that the organizers have managed to (mostly) neutralize the TTT in terms of the overall. Instead of having the time of the TTT added to each person’s GC times they deduct 1 minute from the GC time of the 1st place team, 55 seconds from 2nd, down to 5 seconds from 12th. Everyone else who starts the TTT keeps their GC time. If you choose to not start the TTT you get 1 minute added to the GC.
Anyway we arrived at the Ferry terminal to grey skies with somewhat blustery conditions parked the car and off we went. 15min on the boat and we were over. Then a quick warm up ride out about 5k to the start and we met the Swiss guys and apologized for what we were about to do! We talked a bit about start order and it was decided that I should take the first pull as the start had a slight decline so it was presumed that I would get us going quickest. So after the gun I was off, struggling to get clipped in and then after feeling like it was taking forever to get into my pedal I was finally ready to turn the pedals hard. I did for the first minute and then pulled over to let a Swiss guy through. However it was just he and I with a gap to the other 4. I had seen the Swiss on my wheel so presumed everyone was there (particularly after looking, I am sure, like a total clown not being able to clip in). So we sat up and I slotted back in behind the Swiss and we got rolling as a group. Then Dave was gone and the Dutch guy took 1 pull and vanished – I was not feeling super keen by this point I tell you! A couple more K and I finish my turn to see there was just 2 Swiss left. I was pretty cooked by this point as well and, lucky me – the big climb was here! They took off up the climb and it was all I could do to croak – steady. They did sort of sit up but over the top they attacked again – boy does it help to bring the speed up a little slowly – so I was back trying to chase and catch my breath. Plus I was the 3rd guy so I knew the time was based on me. Even though I knew it didn’t really matter I wasn’t able to let myself slow down and try to conserve anything and I was busting my hump to get to the finish. I skipped a few pulls and it was all I could do to not get dropped on the last 3k.
Anyway we finished the 20k in around 30:40 so about 38kmh which was in my eyes brilliant especially with the 250m of climbing in that short a distance. I am not yet sure of how we placed but compared to the proper teams that had cars chasing them and were hammering along on TT bikes with a 6 guys I cant imagine we were anywhere close but I am pretty happy with the effort after 4 hard days of riding.
Tomorrow is the second GranFondo so we are expecting 1300 riders to do 130km in the Shepherds Mountains. A ton of climbing again with a really long (2hr) transfer to get there. Then its just the TT and we will have finished out first proper stage race.
Stage 4 & 5
Moderator: mfarnham