Day 1 of the Transalp. Pain all about. From Mittenwald,Germany to Reith, Austria. The stage was tough in that there was an 11 AM start, a 1 hour wait in the hot sun, and a sprint start that was not kind to anyone.
The course had two huge climbs with loose, twisty, sketchy descents filled with euros and their notoriously lame descending skills. A lot of folks to pass, but damn can those euros climb. Roadies probably.
The green mountain boys had a fair day. As always, tyler was fast. I’m not sure where my legs were today, but I managed to pull it together and get faster as the day went on. I didn’t cry, but it was damn close. I had a tactical error of running my shocks to rigid, adding a beatdown to my body. Sweet.
Mile high riders were strong. Liz and brian rode well together, and liz is her vivacious self as we wait for dinner. I think she cried once or twice, but finished strong.
Tough day for cath in team soft core. Nothing soft about her performance though. She had the line of the day, renaming the “squeezy” energy gel “queezy” as she barfed her brains out after eating it. Oh, did we mention it was 80 degrees and sunny? Great day to be nauseated and unable to eat. IP was a champ with super support, but her performance was truly heroic.
The white jerseys were fantastic in the hot sun. appalling as they were, I was fairly pleased to be wearing white shorts as well. Tyler has a new pair he promises to wear in the VT 50. Perfect for the mud.
Now we sit in a pretty garden restaurant with insufferably slow service. I am so damn hungry I had to run upstairs and have GU as I was bonking. IP ran into the street and got 4 ice creams to tide us over.
So tomorrow is the same length, but 11,500 feet of climbing. Should be a great time, if suffering is your goal. Thanks for reading, and I’ll write again tomorrow pm.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
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