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05-05-03, 03:12 AM
i was at the Lake Garda Bike Festival in Italy last weekend and rode the EXTREME MTB race distance which is 104km (65 miles) and 3530 meters vertical (11,700ft) with a finishing time of 7 hours and 13 minutes!!!
below is my report for the weekend:
Well, got back to Munich at 11:30pm Sunday night. 4 GREAT days in Italy again... again rode just over 6000 meters (19,800 ft) vertical!
we (Ingo, Andi and I) left Munich at 4:30am on Thursday (holiday here in Germany and i took Friday off) and the 3 of us got to Lake Garda around 9am, checked into the holtel... and off for the first tour. we rode the Tremalzo trails that i rode last fall and have been dying to ride again... it was awesome, riding a techincal singletrail along this ridge. the weather was perfect... and we explored a new trail that's on the map but not in any of the trail guides... well, i now know why: we had to carry the bikes quite a lot and it was a VERY small and rugged path.
anyhow, Friday was our rest day before the race, so we hung out at the Bike Festival (the largest in Europe) and i bought quite a few things on the cheap (full finger gloves, full-face helmet, etc). we were going to do a short tour Friday afternoon but it rained and then it rained hard Friday night and it looked bad for the race...
the RACE: i was really worried as this was one of my longest rides ever (104km (65 miles) and 3530 meters (11,700ft) vertical). anyhow, i was spectulating i'd finish in about 7:30 on the bike. was really hoping for less than 7:00 and (also really hoping) i'd finish in less than 8 hours...
well, the morning started with a few clouds and by race time it looked decent. as the race went on the sun came out and it was brilliant. anyhow, the beginning was packed as there were something like 3000 racers... so the start was a little slow and going up the first climb i decided to pick my glasses in my pack as they were fogging up and it goes uphill for the first hour and a half... i thought i had them in the pack... and... oopps. they fell onto the asphalt path. i dismounted and watched as 15 or more riders succeeeded in missing the glasses and almost had them in my hand and CRACK... oopps... and i lost Ingo in the croud as he rode on and i had stopped.
anyway, the race went amazingly well and i really used my heart-rate monitor to "control myself" and not go to fast. my goal was to finish the race and i knew it would be 7 to 8 hours... well i did a good job and i stuffed myself with bananas and bars at every "filling station" and drank TONS of water. i had a few weak moments but it was great. as usual on the downhills i passed tons of people... and it makes the trails much harder when the good line is taken and i have to pass to the side... but it was fun and i had NO crashes! there are cut-off times and at one point i was a little worried -- i had estimated 2:15 for the first mountain, and 3 hours for the second and the cut-ff after the 2 was 5:45. i finished the first section in 2:30 and i was worried, but then the 2nd section i did in 2 hours!!! so i was headed downhill for the turnoff between the "long" and the "extreme" course (you can decide up till the last moment to ride more)... i was feeling great and i was ahead of schedule and i was on track for less than 7 hours!!! and then CRACK. my right pedal falls to the ground! i tried to put it back on about 3 times and no use, so i rode downhill to the turnoff. and i tried to fix the pedal. i even took the tie from my shorts and tried to bind the pedal on with it. uh-uh... so i sat there for 5 minutes pissed that it was broken and trying to think of any way to repair it and then just decided to ride the extreme route anyway (what the heck, how hard can it be?): basically one huge climb up a mountain 1600 meters up for a distance of 40km. for my right pedal there was just a thin metal post sticking out. with even stroke my foot would slip off and i would have to repostion it. worse i could not stand on the bike which meant sitting the WHOLE time!
anyway, i started up the climb... about half way up i hear a friendly voice behind me... it was my friend Ingo whom i had lost when i dropped my glasses. i had thought he was in front of me, but no, he had a flat on the frist big downhill and i had passed him. well, unfortunately with my broken pedal i could not ride as fast and he took off :( this climb is between 5 and 18% for almost 1 1/ hours with corner after corner after corner! near the end my back was killing and my foot was hurting from tensing the muscles to keep it on the stupid post... so i reached the "filling station" at 1400m and took a long break... ate some bananas, drank a LOT and took a piss and a short walk. then i got back on the bike for the final climb which includes a 20-24% grade! everyone else was walking and i rode the WHOLE section without standing on the stupid broken pedal, including 2 funky-balance track stands when my right foot slipped off. there was a control point at the top and the guy seemed inmpressed that i had ridden and after spray-painting the point on my numbner shield (to verify i made it there) he gave me a big push the last 5 meters or so...
then the downhill sucked! i could not weight the right pedal so i had to sit on the seat and let my butt take a beating(thank goodness i have rear suspension). i wanted to catch Ingo but i just couldn't go that fast without the control on the pedal - and one guy even passed me on the downhill!!!! urh! yes, someone passed ME on the downhill!! i was pissed! but whatever. then we were almost down and - surprize! we had to do 3 or 4 short climbs! my legs were burning and i started getting cramps. i met up with another rider who also had cramps and was also a "downhill specialist" and we rode the last trails, descents and short climbs together and then we drafted together the last 7 kiometers of asphalt into the finish, chatting the whole way. and then we rode across the finish line together, both riding a wheelie!! sweeeeeet! i was SO happy!
my finishing time WITH about 15 minutes off the bike working on the broken pedal, plus much lost time riding the last 40km with a broken pedal: 7:14!!! and i would have easily finished in under 7 hours without the mishap.
well, the top pro finished in an amazing 4:44!!! and Ingo beat me by 23 minutes (stupid pedal - i was actually ahead of him and he had lost about the same amount of time with his flat tire as i had with the pedal). for a rank of like 229 from 301 which doesn't sound great, but remember that most of the other 3000 people didn't ride the long distance. most cut out after the short distance of 50km and only 1600 meters vertical, HALF the distance and ONE THIRD the vertical!
for results see for http://services.datasport.com/2003/mtb/gardasee/ general or http://services.datasport.com/2003/mtb/gardasee/RANG031.HTM for Extreme Men's
or for general race info see (in German) http://riva.upsolutmv.com/marathon/
then Sunday we met up with the 2 Italian guys (Marco and Ugo) that i rode with 2 weeks ago and did a short tour with "only" 1100meters vertical and rode the sweet Adrenaline trails! today was perfect weather, about 80F, clear blue skies and great views on the lake. below is a photo from Sunday.
and i bought new pedals: got the Crank Brothers Eggbeaters for 80 Euros at the Bike Festival -the normal price was 140 and they were selling them for 100 but the American girl sold them to me for 80 - and she really was selling them for 100 to others. i hung out and translated for a bunch of other German-speakers and they all paid 100!
so another great 4 days in Lake Garda. you guys should all make it out there some time - great mountain biking, great rock climbing, windsurfing, beautiful views with the lake and mountains and of course great Italian pizza, wine and ICE CREAM! and not a single crash!
-Nathan
below is my report for the weekend:
Well, got back to Munich at 11:30pm Sunday night. 4 GREAT days in Italy again... again rode just over 6000 meters (19,800 ft) vertical!
we (Ingo, Andi and I) left Munich at 4:30am on Thursday (holiday here in Germany and i took Friday off) and the 3 of us got to Lake Garda around 9am, checked into the holtel... and off for the first tour. we rode the Tremalzo trails that i rode last fall and have been dying to ride again... it was awesome, riding a techincal singletrail along this ridge. the weather was perfect... and we explored a new trail that's on the map but not in any of the trail guides... well, i now know why: we had to carry the bikes quite a lot and it was a VERY small and rugged path.
anyhow, Friday was our rest day before the race, so we hung out at the Bike Festival (the largest in Europe) and i bought quite a few things on the cheap (full finger gloves, full-face helmet, etc). we were going to do a short tour Friday afternoon but it rained and then it rained hard Friday night and it looked bad for the race...
the RACE: i was really worried as this was one of my longest rides ever (104km (65 miles) and 3530 meters (11,700ft) vertical). anyhow, i was spectulating i'd finish in about 7:30 on the bike. was really hoping for less than 7:00 and (also really hoping) i'd finish in less than 8 hours...
well, the morning started with a few clouds and by race time it looked decent. as the race went on the sun came out and it was brilliant. anyhow, the beginning was packed as there were something like 3000 racers... so the start was a little slow and going up the first climb i decided to pick my glasses in my pack as they were fogging up and it goes uphill for the first hour and a half... i thought i had them in the pack... and... oopps. they fell onto the asphalt path. i dismounted and watched as 15 or more riders succeeeded in missing the glasses and almost had them in my hand and CRACK... oopps... and i lost Ingo in the croud as he rode on and i had stopped.
anyway, the race went amazingly well and i really used my heart-rate monitor to "control myself" and not go to fast. my goal was to finish the race and i knew it would be 7 to 8 hours... well i did a good job and i stuffed myself with bananas and bars at every "filling station" and drank TONS of water. i had a few weak moments but it was great. as usual on the downhills i passed tons of people... and it makes the trails much harder when the good line is taken and i have to pass to the side... but it was fun and i had NO crashes! there are cut-off times and at one point i was a little worried -- i had estimated 2:15 for the first mountain, and 3 hours for the second and the cut-ff after the 2 was 5:45. i finished the first section in 2:30 and i was worried, but then the 2nd section i did in 2 hours!!! so i was headed downhill for the turnoff between the "long" and the "extreme" course (you can decide up till the last moment to ride more)... i was feeling great and i was ahead of schedule and i was on track for less than 7 hours!!! and then CRACK. my right pedal falls to the ground! i tried to put it back on about 3 times and no use, so i rode downhill to the turnoff. and i tried to fix the pedal. i even took the tie from my shorts and tried to bind the pedal on with it. uh-uh... so i sat there for 5 minutes pissed that it was broken and trying to think of any way to repair it and then just decided to ride the extreme route anyway (what the heck, how hard can it be?): basically one huge climb up a mountain 1600 meters up for a distance of 40km. for my right pedal there was just a thin metal post sticking out. with even stroke my foot would slip off and i would have to repostion it. worse i could not stand on the bike which meant sitting the WHOLE time!
anyway, i started up the climb... about half way up i hear a friendly voice behind me... it was my friend Ingo whom i had lost when i dropped my glasses. i had thought he was in front of me, but no, he had a flat on the frist big downhill and i had passed him. well, unfortunately with my broken pedal i could not ride as fast and he took off :( this climb is between 5 and 18% for almost 1 1/ hours with corner after corner after corner! near the end my back was killing and my foot was hurting from tensing the muscles to keep it on the stupid post... so i reached the "filling station" at 1400m and took a long break... ate some bananas, drank a LOT and took a piss and a short walk. then i got back on the bike for the final climb which includes a 20-24% grade! everyone else was walking and i rode the WHOLE section without standing on the stupid broken pedal, including 2 funky-balance track stands when my right foot slipped off. there was a control point at the top and the guy seemed inmpressed that i had ridden and after spray-painting the point on my numbner shield (to verify i made it there) he gave me a big push the last 5 meters or so...
then the downhill sucked! i could not weight the right pedal so i had to sit on the seat and let my butt take a beating(thank goodness i have rear suspension). i wanted to catch Ingo but i just couldn't go that fast without the control on the pedal - and one guy even passed me on the downhill!!!! urh! yes, someone passed ME on the downhill!! i was pissed! but whatever. then we were almost down and - surprize! we had to do 3 or 4 short climbs! my legs were burning and i started getting cramps. i met up with another rider who also had cramps and was also a "downhill specialist" and we rode the last trails, descents and short climbs together and then we drafted together the last 7 kiometers of asphalt into the finish, chatting the whole way. and then we rode across the finish line together, both riding a wheelie!! sweeeeeet! i was SO happy!
my finishing time WITH about 15 minutes off the bike working on the broken pedal, plus much lost time riding the last 40km with a broken pedal: 7:14!!! and i would have easily finished in under 7 hours without the mishap.
well, the top pro finished in an amazing 4:44!!! and Ingo beat me by 23 minutes (stupid pedal - i was actually ahead of him and he had lost about the same amount of time with his flat tire as i had with the pedal). for a rank of like 229 from 301 which doesn't sound great, but remember that most of the other 3000 people didn't ride the long distance. most cut out after the short distance of 50km and only 1600 meters vertical, HALF the distance and ONE THIRD the vertical!
for results see for http://services.datasport.com/2003/mtb/gardasee/ general or http://services.datasport.com/2003/mtb/gardasee/RANG031.HTM for Extreme Men's
or for general race info see (in German) http://riva.upsolutmv.com/marathon/
then Sunday we met up with the 2 Italian guys (Marco and Ugo) that i rode with 2 weeks ago and did a short tour with "only" 1100meters vertical and rode the sweet Adrenaline trails! today was perfect weather, about 80F, clear blue skies and great views on the lake. below is a photo from Sunday.
and i bought new pedals: got the Crank Brothers Eggbeaters for 80 Euros at the Bike Festival -the normal price was 140 and they were selling them for 100 but the American girl sold them to me for 80 - and she really was selling them for 100 to others. i hung out and translated for a bunch of other German-speakers and they all paid 100!
so another great 4 days in Lake Garda. you guys should all make it out there some time - great mountain biking, great rock climbing, windsurfing, beautiful views with the lake and mountains and of course great Italian pizza, wine and ICE CREAM! and not a single crash!
-Nathan