apologies for length:
Saturday 10 October 2009
We woke at 6am initially to the sound of my watch alarm. Then 30 seconds later to the sound of the mobile phone alarm. We’re weren’t taking risks today. But then naturally we weren’t fully asleep either.
The next sound we heard was the rain. Not panicking as there has been a bit overnight of late we trusted that our run of good weather would continue and that the rain would clear by our scheduled start time of 8:30am. Who cared if the weather forecast was the worst for today of any day on our trip so far or that the owner of the local bike shop said that it would snow today above 2000m?
I gave the bikes a quick check over prior to getting dressed and noted that Sharon’s rear tyre was flat. Crap. Maybe the Gods are against us today I mused. Clearly the full CO2 canister that I put into an already reasonably tight tyre was too much. So I changed it. Pumped it to only 80 psi and then dumped 90% of the canister in. And promptly let the teensiest bit of pressure out of my rear wheel lest the same thing happen to it.
Breakfast was magnificent today, yet we had to control ourselves ahead of the ride. On low intensity days we can really go to town as the full feeling isn’t so bad. But knowing that our heart rates would hit 170+ bpm in the next couple of hours we couldn’t afford to overdo it. Today there were fried eggs, scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs. If we’re lucky we usually get just one type. And even blue cheese and gorgonzola. Many more breads than normal and so the list goes on. But we restrained. A little anyway.
By 8:30am the day was starting to look much clearer and we sort of gave each other a smug look without putting a curse on the weather by speaking about it. We each knew what the other was thinking. Fingers and toes crossed, we set off in what was the most perfect temperature of 12 degrees and whilst 100% overcast, not currently raining.
The first 13km passed quite easily, albeit much more slowly than usual. With the climb to come we weren’t going to risk pushing hard early. Actually we were hoping to cruise for the first half of the climb too if we could to keep some juice in reserve for the later stages, cooler and thinning air.
We were in good humour early and then just 1 or 2km after the entry station and the start of the real climbing (10% grades) Shaz tells me she has to stop. “It’s just too hard†she says. “I’m suffering, my breathing is laboured†she says. “You’ve got to be kidding†I say, “we’ve just begun.†I looked up to my left at the clouds sheltering the peaks that I’ve dreamed about cycling over for years and started to wonder if we were going to make it. At an elevation of just 1000m and with over 1500m still to go we were in strife. At this stage I did consider a smart-ass comment like ‘of course your breathing is laboured, you’re climbing a damned mountain’ but figured that with one black eye only just starting to heal I could ill afford to receive another just yet.
“Ok, give me your baggage†I said. And I took about 3kg out of Sharon’s packs. So I now felt like a mule at the end of a baggage train, but if it made the difference then I was happy to take the weight.
We set off again. Got another 3 or 4km at most and Shaz tells me she needs to stop again. I didn’t want to panic, but I was starting to get worried. And every stop fatigues the body. Lactic acid builds up from the changes in intensity, muscles get cold and sore and generally you start to feel demoralised. So after a stop and then a very brief start Shaz stops again. She gets off the bike and hangs her head. ‘This is it’ I think. Then I tell myself that she’s confronted a hell of a lot worse than this and sucked it up. So being tough love time I say to her “Bull !! BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING !!. You’ve done tougher than this. Treat it like a 24 hour and don’t stop. If you can’t ride then start walking. Come onâ€. So she starts pushing her bike up this ridiculously huge mountain at 10am in the morning on a cool European Saturday in October. When you think about it, it’s both funny and gusty.
At this point I also ride off into the distance with the intent of waiting for Shaz in a few kilometers. This not only allows me to enjoy a riding tempo for a while, but ensures that she doesn’t completely give up. So she felt sick and light-headed, but that’s abnothing normal for us.
About 20 minutes after I stop, somewhere around 2000m, I see Shaz pedaling up the hill toward me. The pace sure isn’t great, but she’s doing it. She’s actually doing it. I gave her a hearty dose of congratulations and encouragement and then told her that I’d give her about 5 minutes and then start off after her. After she had a couple of minutes to catch her breath she went on.
I was pretty cold at this stage having had to wait around, but knew I wasn’t doing it as tough as Shaz. After taking my own dose of TTFU I set off to make the ‘catch’. I was moving OK and generally doing about 8k/h up the 10% slopes. Considering that I was lugging about 18kg and that the main part of the climb was 1500m in 15km I was happy enough.
And Shaz was moving OK. Once we got past the 2000m point I knew there’d be no stopping her. She is one very gutsy and determined woman and I love her for it. Some would probably say pigheaded and stubborn, but I can’t agree again in fear of my good eye (for those not in the know regarding my sense of humour, or lack of it, Shaz didn’t really give me a black eye. She wanted that clarified, OK).
At the 2400m+ point when we got to the top of the first main climb it was clear that we were going through. The weather had remained fantastic, and whilst it was only about 5 degrees and cloudy what else could be expected of an alpine area? We didn’t get any sun, and we did get thick cloud between about 2000m and 2300m, but really I think we got pretty close to the best conditions you can get.
After a brief and quick downhill section we made the final climb to Hochtor. At a road elevation of 2504m we knew that we had, in our worlds, achieved something special. No doubt there’s a cyclist or two goes over that pass everyday, but still I’m betting we’re in a reasonably exclusive group.
The fun really began on the way down. The first 7km were covered at about 50 k/h and then as I flew through a roundabout with a car coming the other way the road started to go uphill again. “I don’t remember this in the elevation profile†I thought. About 5 minutes of climbing later I flagged a car down and realised I’d taken the wrong turn and was heading toward the viewing point for Grossglockner, not the road down the hill. Fortunately, being in better condition that Shaz I managed to keep out of her reach. My good eye was fortunately untouched.
After quite a few more km of serious downhill stuff we arrived in the first of our potential destination towns for the day – Winklern. We did some shopping so we could eat tonight and had an ice cream in the cone.
The next section of road immediately out of Winklern was a 200m climb and I didn’t feel like leaving it for first thing in the morning. So I asked Shaz if she could go on for a bit. She agreed and it was good to get that climb out of the way ahead of tomorrow. The best bit was the downhill from this climb. As the roads down from Grossglockner were wet we had to be a little bit careful. Although we hit speeds of 75 k/h I was disappointed that I never managed to complete a full kilometer lap in less than 1 minute (60 k/h). I registered a 1:01 and thought that would be it. But coming down from the Winklern climb with longer straights and a slightly drier road I managed to hit 75 k/h again and did manage two laps at greater that 60 k/h (59 seconds and 57 seconds apiece). Woo hoo!
In the end we even made 100km for the day and have settled for the night in a little town called Norsach, right in the view of the Dolomite mountains that we climb over tomorrow. Our room is awesome with even a crystal chandelier! Heaps of photo’s will be on Facebook shortly.
So, we’re tired and a little sore but very happy with our days’ accomplishment. Today was never meant to be an easy day or a fun day, but rather a day to test ourselves. It probably wasn’t as hard for me as I expected, but as a team I think Shaz and I got out of it exactly what we were hoping for.
For those interested in the stats, I figure that the total climb today was about 2700m even though the Garmin gives a lot more, and my final pace was 17.6 k/h at HR average of 136 and max of 176. We finished at an elevation about 80m lower than that at which we started.
Tomorrow, it’s hello Italy. Or should that be bongiorno? Anyway, auf wiedesehen Austria.
Total km so far (18 days) = 1685.
