Stage 4 San Vigilio to Alleghe

Lets start with this...the Transalp race is by far the hardest sporting endeavour I have attempted. Ironman is a very difficult day and the suffering can be significant. With that said, Ironman ends the same day you start. This Transalp race punishes you for seven straight days. It is unrelenting, it never eases off. Each day offers a whole new level of suffering. Today was the fourth day and the most difficult. Today's route started in San Vigilio, Italy and took us over 5 passes, 11,000 feet and 130kms. The irony is that we are riding in some of the most beautiful scenery imaginable. The Dolimites are incredible mountains and the vistas from high up above are fantastic. Yet, the beauty can get lost in the suffering. One of the things Jeremy and I have done each and every day is take time to marvel at the scenery and chat with the other riders. We have had fun and met some really great people.


Today's stage started with groups of 300 riders being sent off on a 25km downhill start. These downhill starts can be very dangerous as the speed combined with the size of the groups leads to problems. One of the other riders in our group from Vancouver got taken out shortly after the start and suffered a serious concusion. He is OK but is being held over night in hospital. We had two other riders go down today and we had two go down yesterday. All are OK but have the road rash and bruises that come with hitting the pavement. Jim Miller spent 1.5 hours today tending to a rider who got clipped by a passing motorcycle. They had to helicopter the guy off the mountain. Point being that it is not only a extreme test but there are very real dangers each and every day.

Up until today Jeremy and I have been moving up the ranks each day. After the third stage we moved up to 77th place out of 230 Masters teams. We were in 90th after stage one. Unfortunately, today I cracked big time! After three hard days of racing and a hard fast start to today's stage I bonked 3.5 hours into the day. Jeremy being the consumate teammate waited for me after a huge descent to see if I was alive or not. Realizing that I was @#%# we agreed that it best for Jeremy to keep going so that I could try and get myself back out of the abyss of bonkdom! I still had two passes and 3 hours of hard riding to go. Long story short, Jeremy ripped it up and finished strong (despite a little crash going down the fourth pass) and I came in about 35 mins later. After today we now stand 96th in our age group. Hopefully, the pizza and full order of spagetti will put me in good stead tomorrow.

Tomorrow's plan is to let Jeremy attack on his own and go as hard as he can with the hope that I can bounce back and also have a good day. We'll keep ya posted!



Chris H