Jul 10
1
Day 5 Alleghe-Kaltern
Day 5
Wow that was a hot one! With Mike spending the night in the hospital in Brunic we were unable to start as a team therefore we will have a DNF as a team. I am still able to continue riding and enjoy the rest of the routes they have planned for us. Today was the Passo San Pellegrino, yes the very same San Pellegrino we all enjoy, and it is a nasty climb! A long section of 14% grade that pops your knees at every switchback. Very beautiful though and the descent down the other side was worth any of the pain we went through. I started with Jimmy, Chris (from the Bike Barn), Ellen, and Lisa. The girls dropped us very shortly into the climb but we did add another rider to the mix as we picked up Ian MacAndrews (apologies Ian if I miss-spelt) who was having a very rough day. He could pedal on the flats and had lots of energy but his uphill muscles just did not want to fire. We coaxed him into joining us to the top and he said he was going to pull the plug. He didn’t cause we convinced him to stick it out. His partner Gary was waiting at the top for him as well and he wanted to help Ian get to the finish line and not quit. Good on him.
Jim was feeling terrible again today and was still having issues with keeping food in so at the water station we grabbed one of the medical team and she gave him something to settle his stomach. It helped cause he bounced onto his bike and hit the descent like an italian skier. We started the second of three climbs and had much the same effect as the first one. Thankfully it was a short one and we were able to get everybody to the top, with some minor coaxing this time. There was a second water station here and this is where we parted ways. I was given the mission to go to our neutral support station on the third climb where Tobias would be and ask him to come back and pick up the boys. So off I went. On the way to Toby I cam e across one of the faster teams rider, Duncan, he was ont lookiing very good, chills (in 35 degree heat) and sick to his stomach. He told me his wife Tanya was ahead of me by about 20 minutes. I told him my mission and that I would add him to the list and took off. Funny enough I caught Tanya just as she was reaching Tobias. Quick drink and some bottle fills and off we both went. We finished together after some amazing descending into the valley near Kaltern and then pushed through a few teams on the stretch home. Great finish to a great day!
Mike is on his way to us right now and will be joining the group this evening.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/39122257
