Eroica Part 2 Ottobre 2011

http://www.eroica-ciclismo.it/ We were ready to go. The night before we had stashed spare sports drinks bottles on the course for emergencies and we could go. Up at 04:00 aiming to be away for 04:30 and there and ready to go at 05:00 it all got a little rushed. We left at 4:45 and by the time we were 5 km away from Gaiole the first riders were coming down. It took ages to put the bikes together and Riccardo was waiting all the time. Then getting through the registration was very slow, eventually we got underway at 6 am. It was still very cold and dark, but we were very excited.
The race begins downhill on tarmac and then climbs up on tarmac. Then there is a sharp and hard climb through the first white road, which is torch lit as it is still dark. The first descent came and there was a big noise from my bike and then bang! an explosion. I think a stone had gotten stuck in my brake blocks and my front inner tube had gone. We changed it in the dark, learning that my bike was badly bent, and it took two people to get the front wheel off - one to bend the frame and forks while the other hit it with a hammer or equivalent. However, my wheel was no longer round. So we changed the inner tube again. And again. And again. In fact we must have wasted at least 45 minutes, and that was after starting late. And my wheels was still egg-shaped and quite entertaining going downhill fast. At the same time, Riccardo's bike was worse than ours and had a 23 tooth back cassette which meant that he was slow getting up the hills.

Still, we were enjoying it, the weather was great and the atmosphere amazing. We kept it ticking over and enjoyed the first food stop which was late, maybe after 40 miles. We stopped and had a long break. After we went on the traffic started to thin out. We were good uphill (except for Riccardo) but amazingly slow downhill. I'm not sure about these Italians - they either have balls of steel or amazing balance, but they made us look shoddy. We even saw someone in a fixie go past us at one point. Finally we came to the big decision point when you could turn left for 125 km and right for 205 km. We turned right, most turned left, and we only ever saw a handful of people again. Riccardo got dropped and we decided to stop waiting for thim, as we were getting behind time. There are set time limits for the checkpoints and we were in danger of missing some of them. At Montalcino we met our support crew after a big lunch. Riccardo was long gone and we stopped for a good while and changed my front wheel with one from my Claud Butler which I had stashed in Dawn's car. We carried on in good spirits.
Some of the climbs were incredible. It was very hot, the bikes are terrible, and we were not fit. Riccardo eventually snapped his seat post and didn't make. Sadly, Stuart who had never failed anything in his life had to stop as he was getting dizzy and could not breathe and was frankly looking unsafe.
I left Stuart at Asciano and carried on alone. I met up with a brit who had just left his brother behind too and we carried on together for a bit. This was the steepest part of the whole course and I was reminded of the Great Wall of China. It was like someone had built the course across the crest of the hills rather than taking the easy part. We were in the Crete region of Tuscany - the craters and the landscape was barren. The brit left me quickly even though we had actually walked a couple of the hills together, the only time I did that. I started to be alone, only one guy I saw and now they were no longer stamping my card as I was too far behind the pace. At Castelnuovo Berardegna they told me that I could no longer complete the full course and had to go back the main road as it was not safe to carry on on the white roads in the dark. This nearly broke me and the next few miles were really really hard. Again I met Dawn and the support crew at Pianella and this stretch had been simply unbearable. I was miserable, it had got dark, lights on, yellow jacket on, and I was really tired. Not muscularly tired, just tired for having been awake for hours!
At Pianella I was really really hoping the organisers would tell me to go home the short way. I was exhausted and miserable. However, there was noone there except my lovely support team and so they geed me up and I went on. Two head lamps and into the blackness of the white roads in the dark. I got slower and slower through the incredible darkness, but eventually I made it. I got in to Gaiole at 22:40 a full 16 hours and 40 minutes after I had set off and over an hour after they had dismantled the finishing stage. A rapturous welcome from my support team - thanks a million to Dawn, Suzy, Stuart, Derek and Riccardo and I ate a whole load of beautiful pasta. I was tired, very very tired, but I think just the tiredness of someone who had been up for 18 hours. My data is below....well most of it - I had ridden 128 miles but my GPS had run out of battery at 111 miles. I had never ridden so far and doubt I will again, unless I do this again. Al

though next time I would like to do the shorter route so that I can start in the light and finish in the light! http://app.strava.com/rides/1835925
In fact I was tired, but for the next days I had no muscle fatigue. Next year.........