Jun 10
30
Day 2 Solden-Brixen
Day 2
Nutritional success! 1430 calories in which is way better than day 1′s 700. I felt way better at both the beginning and end of the ride. We had a challenging start right up the Timmelsjoch that started to go up 1 km from town 25km later we summitted. I climbed on my own in a good rhythm and ate Chomps every 5 minutes, drank water, and E-load in sips. I caught up to Helga one of the local girsl who is with Joerg’s group, she just finished a 37 day Ride Across America, Mike was in sight below me on every switch back. There was an aid station at the top and I waited for Mike, Helga took off shortly and Mike and I regrouped with the team from Kelowna, Lisa and Ellen for the descent. What a gorgeous descent! Mike was way out in front, as usual, and we swept through the valley as soon as we came off the mountain. At the bottom we made a left and started the next climb, the Jaufenpass. This was a bit of a spirit buster due to the heat and the sun we tried to ride in the shade whenever it would show up. I rode up with ellen and we would ride, slow down and wait to see Mike or Lisa then go again. We had a great ride together and kept the conversation going to numb the pain in our legs. Her husband Chris had just finished Ironman Couer D’Alene the day before. When we got to the top we waited for Mike and Lisa and then descended together, again with Mike out in front. This was a more technical descent and the organizers had asked the racers to slow down once we got closer to town due to the cobbles and the safety of the riders with traffic patterns and narrow roads. The timing mat was a little ways out of town.
I kept Mike in view once we had dropped into town, mostly due to traffic on the descent he couldn’t go Mach 10, we crossed the timing mat together. Once into town the heat was staggering so we joined the other racers by hopping into the town’s central fountain. The water was perfect as it was so cold! Then we had an interesting experience by staying in the youth hostel, where we had separate rooms, for the most part (sorry Juicy), and a shower that didn’t work (mine). A bit of fatigue, dehydration, and hunger are not a good combination when you’re caked in salt and sweat for sweet talking an innkeeper to move you to another room. Lesson learned. I was able to shower in Mike’s room though and then we joined the Penticton crew at a local coffee shop for some panini before we went for dinner.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/38742093
All in all a great day on the bike and a lot of fun today. You will notice that I have power for this ride today as I have switched to my powertap wheels rather than using my tubular wheels. Good choice for me as well cause the descent of the Timmelsjoch was a touch on the windy side for me…
You will also have noticed that we haven’t been able to post recently because they don’t believe in the internet in Italy. I will try to keep more up to date with it from here on out as we are now in some of the larger towns where we shouldn’t have a problem finding wifi.
