super finish for all

Viva La Riva. Stage 8; Folgaria to Riva del Garda.

Today was the last dance of the Transalp for our VT/CO crew. It was also unquestionably a mountain bike race. It started with a couple of dirt road climbs that were an anaerobic, barf-up-your-heart sprint for the singletrack descent. Remember, these euros can climb a lot better than they descend, particularly when the singletrack is a two foot deep trench filled with scree. Tempers were flaring and fingers were pointing as there was a very wide variety of skills trying to get down this trail. Perhaps one of the finest parts of the course was the singletrack ducking behind the vineyard, down the gully, over the rocks, and through the farm. Fantastico!

After finishing that 4000 foot descent with a blistering mile or two down the road, we had a very quick trip through Roverto, with nearly no flats. And then the climb up to Passo Bordala. This was to be the last climb of race, and boy did it leave a mark. Hot in the valley floor, it rose quickly in the hot sun. Mercifully, it became narrow pavement through orchard and vineyard. When you are climbing pavement on a mountain bike, and have like one gear left, it is damn steep. Even Tyler sort of fell apart on this one. As with all Transalp climbs, you think you’re there, but you are not. Is it going down? Oh it is, but hello, here’s the last 750 vertical feet of the climb. 3200 feet of pavement to singletrack to loose double track brought us to Riva. 4K of hot pavement brought us to the lake and the end of the race. We all celebrated with a shammy-freeing swim in beautiful and refreshing Lake Garda. It was a beautiful scene, with a cliff lined lake, azure waters, hundreds of wind surfers and palm trees. And the it was time for brews.

Here’s the breakdown:

Green Mountain Boys: Damn. 40th overall, photo finish with some great Canadian racers, lots of singletrack. Best day yet, and T Merritt was in all white. Yes folks, white bibs on ol’ T Bag.

Mile High Riders – Lucky 13 today! Funny thing is that was our hotel room number the first day of the race. Fighting the one-footers down the single track and surviving the brown pow on the first descent was enough of a challenge. Thanks to the nameless crew for pulling us to the last, brutal climb of the race. More fast riding on loose terrain to the bottom and a greeting from a mean head wind at the finish. Whew, it’s over!

Team Cath: With IP in a hand brace and vicodin haze, SupaCath towed the line on her own and turned in a superb performance on her own. For those of you who don’t know, this babe can ride and she spanked some euro ass on the steep singletrack. We did such a good job supporting her as well, as we missed her make the turn in Riva while we were swilling brews. We totally have a good excuse, as we were almost ten feet from the course.

So, in the interest of stirring controversy, now is the time each rider will now comment on the riding and companionship of their partner.

Carter on Tyler: What can I say- he is an unwavering rider who gave me someone to chase. He was also a fantastic teammate, using the Jedi mind trick and anything else to get me to go faster. If I uttered a whole sentence to him while we riding, he’d take off. You know what he was thinking: “If Carter can talk, he’s not riding hard enough.” Thanks Tyler.

Tyler on Carter:
Let’s be honest, after stage 1 we were frustrated. But holy cow, I’ve never seen someone rebound and strengthen with such intensity as Carter did during this unbelievable week. After stage 1, we were 160 in men and 199 overall. After today’s final stage, we finished 40, 59 in men overall. That is all due to Carter. Last time we raced this, he said it was the most difficult achievement of his life. This time he proved that he is one of the strongest riders on either side of the Atlantic. I must thank Carter for his positive attitude, down hill aggressiveness, and overall incredible partnership during this adventure.

Brian on Liz – Motivation and determination sums it all up. Pretty unbelievable. Every time that German blonde appeared, you were ready to go. The more difficult the day, the more you stepped it up. I didn’t think we could go that fast on the flats, but we did. Awesome job, Liz.
Liz on brian: words can’t express the gratitude I owe to bri for pushing my WIDE ass (as per bill merritt) up these ridiculous climbs. Brian was a total rock star, suffering himself, but pushing me regardless. I owe our finish to brain’s self sacrificing tactics. Brian, you are my hero! Much love!
OK,

This is IP.
Cath is great.
She didn’t ask for this.
She hates to race.
If one was to describe this experience, it would be a race, a race of pain and beauty.
After finishing 7 of 8 stages she has doubled the number of races she has entered.
I pushed her, pushed her hard.
It was cool to see cath progress, balance her endurance and competitiveness to the enormity of the race,
Two things stand out.
One, when I was waiting for Cath at the end of a scary road down hill on a flat to see her fly by me 2nd in a pace line of 4, as she passed I whooped “All right Cath!”-I was about to cry.
2nd was when I crashed, taking her out and 3-4 others at 20 or so mph, her concern, her insistant cry Aaron!- when I was the one who made her cartwheel 30 feet.
And her kiss on my fore head as she left me to in the Hospital in only shorts for stitches.
Lastly I’m psyched and crushed that She, solo rode the last stage and came in 30-50 min. before we expected to no-one , no one to congratulate her finish.
Most lastly I- rode with Bill-the glue (and Chris) to Lago Gurada.
After doing so I can honestly say I’m not sure what is more stressfull, driving to the end of the stage or riding.
As I said before, I have never felt better than when at the hospital all banged up to hear the booming voice of Bill in the lobby, of all things picking up my hospital bill.

Cath on Aaron:
Aaron was pretty much the glue that held our team together. With another partner, he could have done incredibly well, but instead Aaron persevered more than you can imagine. I was beyond toast for two stages, and Aaron pushed me up hills, pulled me up hills, fed me water at his own expense, fed me whatever food I could stomach, gave pep talks and even offered to quit riding if that’s what I needed. He basically talked me off the ledge. At times, I was going so slow he was practically in a track stand, but beside me the whole way. I couldn’t have gotten through those first two stages without him, and we couldn’t have continued without him. I think a lot of people joked before we left that I’d be the person towing Aaron. Oh contraire. I talked to many racers in the stage he wasn’t able to race who commented on his strength pulling me up all the days before. I wouldn’t have been able to cross the line without him.

And with that, we’re done. A huge achievement for all…… Let’s see what’s on the horizon next.