A spectacular event: Maratona Dles Dolomites 6 July

Finally the build up is over and we are up at 4.45 for breakfast, and head off to queue for the 6.30 start.

The pre race energy gels are orange, guey but certainly get the system going; a very good reason for starting close to the WC!





Sarah does not like early mornings even when it means getting up for exercise but she is putting on a brave face before saying "Ciao" and cycling like fury.

Luckily it was a fabulous morning, with the sun peeking cheekily over the mountains, just teasing us as we had yet to climb on the bike let alone ascend that high!  

Full marks to the organizers, who put on entertainment pre race with clowns on stilts and lots of traditional music throughout (bells, oompah bands, accordians and a variety of brass instruments playing striking tunes to try to get us pedalling faster)

And we are off!

Sarah left me standing within seconds and I spent most of the day cycling (mostly) breathless. Fortunately it only rained after 6 hours (then the coughing began) but by then it was almost over and all worth it.  

Helicopters with the Italian national press onboard buzzed us frequently  but apart from the start, they were more focused on the speedier cyclists way ahead of both of us.

I managed to take some photos on the way, whilst Sarah was so focused on completing the whole route, she forgot all about it.

This is top of the Passo Pordoi (second ascent of the ride looking down towards Passo Sella) this was my unofficial but incredibly scenic pee stop! I am surrounded by blokes all doing the same (no pride in a cycling event; it’s a matter of go where and when you can!) They were a bit worried when I got out the iPhone :0)

This event is the only time in my life where I have had penis envy. I mean blokes can even pee without getting off their bike; the ultimate in convenience and efficiency.

Lucky for us there were some official photographers that could capture a few moments for us both (even when we cycled so far apart). Just to prove it, here we are at the start of the ascent to Passo Gardena (2121m).

When I get to the top of each pass, I spend a few minutes putting on wind proof clothes and eating something; I even persuaded other cyclists to take photos for me.

Luckily I managed to get through the 55km cut off time with plenty to spare, but then started struggling  on the next stretch of road (despite gels, bars and nuts) and finally made it to the next cut off for the longer route with 5 minutes to spare.
Decision time for me - do I try for 138 or stick to the game plan of 106km?

I know Sarah has gone for 138km and is way ahead. I chat away to a couple of British lads, who tell me they are also knackered and have decided on 106km as enough. At that I feel a bit better (they are at least 20 years younger than me!).

I opt for 106km and a shorter ride. I take it easier up the next two ascents: Passo Falzarego (2117m) and Valparola (2200) and happily whizz down to the finish.
Sadly no café was open at the top of Valparola otherwise I would have stopped for coffee and strudel! 

Meanwhile Sarah is on her way up Passo Giau (2236m) wondering why she decided on taking a pass with 30 switch backs, the first 3 all 15% climbs with an average of 10% for the whole mountain. She then drops to 1535m before climbing back up to Valparola (2200m).

I missed taking probably the photo of  the race where Sarah had to stop and put her legs in the air for 15 mins to get rid of very sore feet at the top of Giau (a very sweet medic rushed to help her, offering painkillers!) and then again at the top of Valparola.

And as for Mur Del Giat - 19% climb. Best forgotten. Suffice to say that is the steepest climb either of us has ever done. It was particularly mean being located 5 km from the end! We were both very pleased to finish - all the more so as the rain was starting to set in. Sarah looking particularly pleased with her self at the end :0)

We are still recovering from this event. We were exhausted.

Jo doubts that we will compete in such a tough race again but as it was her silly idea watch this space (as there has to be a payback!). We were very proud that we did not come last. In fact we were both in the middle of the pack.
Jo rode for 6 hours 43 mins for 106km (2970m of ascent) and came 178 out of 279 women
Sarah rode for just over 8 hours for 138km (4009m of ascent) and came 154 out of 249 women.
The fastest times in the 106km were 3hours 33 mins (men) and 3 hours 59 mins (women) and in the 138km 4hrs 44 mins (M) and 5 hours 24 mins (W).

Good bits
We were very impressed by this area of the Dolomites and recommend it for cycling tours for anyone interested in road or mountain biking. The scenery is superb and the road surfaces good. It is a bucket list item for anyone with a love of cycling up mountains. There are also fabulous walks everywhere.

The restaurants in San Cassiano are great - especially the Rosa Alpina Wine Bar and Grill; the pasta and pizza especially good after a good day on the bike. There are also 2 Michelin starred restaurants in the same village! The road detours around San Cassiano so this is the place to be based. And there is a good bikeshop here.

The organisation of the event; cannot fault it, great refreshment stops and loads of information on the event before and after really helped.  The finish was a bit zoo like and we did not hang around in the cold for the pasta party (both of us preferred a hot shower, recovery shake and heading to a good restaurant).

What we would do differently if we did this event again
Train more on mountains and steep climbs. Cycling in Germany and Austria for long distances around lakes and rivers on the relative flat helped endurance but did not help with the steep ascents that burn loads of calories.

Stay another day after the event; leaving on Monday morning with 9000 others takes some time to get out of the mountains onto the Autostrada. Maybe plan a wind down ride.

less than 12 hours to go and its raining..

Less than 12 hours to go and it's raining. It is also bedlam as 9000 cyclists and their families try to get in and out of registration in Alta Badia, via La Villa and Corvara. The roads are full of cars, cyclists and pedestrians vying for space.  No point cycling very far today; road rage everywhere.

The serene view of Corvara from the empty car park above the town has disappeared under a throng of caravans, cars, cyclists and walkers all trying to get a photo with the sign. Cycling Weekly organizers picked this spot for a photo shoot with 500+ other cyclists for the magazine this morning. It was chaotic, however we had a plan, get to the back and high up, wear bright yellow and hope we can spot ourselves in the magazine photo ☺
Before the official shot, we tried to get a photo of the sign, but only managed to bag the end letter A:

for 10 seconds before it was someone else’s turn. Brits and Aussies are good at queuing!

Quick change, last minute food shopping and off for a walk to San Cassiano along the riverside path taking in the artwork (which we tried to emulate) on the way..

Time for a large gourmet pasta lunch with apfel strudel and expresso at the Rosa Alpina winebar and grill. (this place is highly recommended for food)

Next door we spotted more local artwork. The cows around here seem to have a good life.

We have spent the arvo watching the Tour De France on Italian RAI Sport channel and tonight we will put our legs and feet up and enjoy the footie. Tragic that Cavendish crashed out in Harrogate on the final straight of TdF stage 1. Hope he is ok. We loved the views of so many people out supporting, aerial views of "le chateau de Bolton", the yellow sheep, the drawing of the sheep on the bicycle in a playground, the green green grass of the Dales and, of course, the typical (awesome) Yorkshire weather!
The RAI channel will cover the Maratona Dles Dolomites tomorrow but little chance for Sarah or I to be on it (Sarah will not be wearing her See You Jimmy Hat) I am in my Clarence St Cyclery Sydney yellow shirt and that will be the closest I ever get to the Maillot Jaune.

I am still not 100% well and although the cough is a bit less, it is still painful and noisy. I am settling for the middle course at 106km and will watch my heart rate throughout. I might even stop for coffee and cake and put my feet up for a while once past the timed cut off at 55km☺ and fit in a massage at the end (a cunning plan!). Sarah meanwhile is aiming for the 138km as long as she can beat the cut off times (but it's going to be close).

Weather forecast is not good for tomorrow - starting out clear at c 10C at 6.30 with rain by 11am.  We will be doing a sun dance later. Fingers crossed for an enjoyable day for us both.

Day of cross training and reviewing the kit

Rest day today, or so I thought!

After another night of coughing  (waking up the baby in the floor below) Dr Sarah decided that the only cure was to hike up the nearest mountain.

Fortunately we both like walking and there are wonderful views here.

We also had to kill time before the Alta Badia maratona registration.


Luckily it was another sunny morning; time to "climb every mountain"

Trekking up the hill, far behind Sarah!











We even had a few verses of "the hills are alive" (just for Gilly) Sarah still does not know all the words to "Doe a deer" so obviously her Cheltenham education was not complete!

The mountains reminded us of the sandstone cliffs in Katoomba (maybe we are getting homesick)!

We spent most of the morning trying to spot Edelweiss although Sarah kept darting off into the long grass and flowers to see if she could take yet another photo of wild orchids, although most of the flowers were buttercups and daisies.

At the top of the hill we found a refuge and decided to carb up early.

of course..I could not resist the Weiss beer (i may not be as fit and healthy as i would like,but I am going to enjoy it anyway :)

The registration and information sheets gave us an opportunity to consider strategy for the ride. Sadly we realised that we will not have time to stop for coffee and cake otherwise we may miss the cut off time for the medium and long courses. :(

Worse still, with my current average km per hour (on this route with a bad chest and heavy breathing) means that the best I will probably be able to do is the 106km course.  Sarah will just have to leave me and cycle on ahead. Sarah will then have a very good chance to ride all 138km.

Not only have we carbed up today, we have been shopping too. We now have matching official Maratona lycra kit; Modelling front and

Sarah "I am getting so trendy" modelling the back with the Maratona top and matching shorts (complete with label) ...

Sarah has been so excited about all the food she is amassing for the ride. Here is her current selection (maybe she should open a sweet shop)

Of course, I am more focused on what to eat afterwards..

Here is my selection (including cough mixture minus pasta)

We are also very excited about the Tour de France starting in the Dales tomorrow and have enjoyed all the media attention - the pork "piecycle", the sheep in yellow jerseys and a report of some civic bigwig from Cambridge (responding to a question about why so little had been done in Cambridge in preparation for the TdF) who said there was obviously little else to do in the Dales!

Finally sun in the Dolomites: 2 days to go..

What a difference the weather makes for cycling in the mountains. After yesterday’s misery, today began in glorious sun shine Here is the view towards La Villa at 10am.

Unfortunately, last night I kept Sarah awake with my coughing and as I dropped off into delicious slumber, Sarah was wondering if I was going to make it, despite me downing 1 bottle of Benylin in 1.5 days.
As I am determined to complete this race, I decided to try to ease her mind:

1. Sarah was worried that my mother would blame her if anything happened to me (as we encounter other mad cyclists or lorries mid road) Yesterday I made a legal disclaimer to my mum stating it was all my idea and Sarah would not be at fault in event of an accident.

2. This morning at breakfast I re-confirmed that I was not trying to annoy Sarah by being so slow up hills (I usually whizz past at some stage laughing) but I just needed to breathe and it is difficult with a chesty cough.

3. Sarah cheerfully commented that most top cross-country skiers die when they exercise with coughs and colds.  (Although I am a mere amateur cyclist and not a top cross country skier) I promised to watch my heart rate monitor and try not to exceed the max %
All good?
The first hill Sarah chose for today’s training ride within the first 1km was the Mur Del Giat (max 19% according to the race blurb but the garmin showed 21%). This beats every other incline we have ever done anywhere - thankfully, and hopefully it will stay that way!
No sympathy despite my wheezing, coughing, difficulty breathing and tight chest!

At least we now know we can get up the steepest hill without stopping;  the real question is: will be able to do so after 134km right at the end of the ride…?

Today was a more leisurely 50km taking in Campolongo, and Passo Falzarego and Valparola (the last 2 passes totalling 11.8km of ascent) followed by a long ride down to the bike shop at San Cassiano (for a quick check of gears) and La Villa (for a recovery shake and sauna)

There were many more cyclists on the road today which led to a bit of road rage (other crazy cyclists in middle of road vs oncoming traffic)

We (or rather I ) just pootled along at my own speed; Sarah (probably feeling bad after earlier comments) waiting every now and again until i caught up. 

I tried out my new gear and I can thoroughly recommend the neck warmer when you feel a bit rough. I also tried it over the face on the downhills but not only did i look like a highwayman, it made my glasses steam up. Not good when hitting 50km/hr on sharp bends.

Today we learnt from the previous ride and despite the appearance of the sun, we wrapped up warm every time we got to the top - as every descent is very long and very cold.

The best bits today were on the ascent to Passo Falzarego. 

Pine forest and towering mountains above. Fresh mountain water springs, ruined castle, windy roads and a long time to enjoy it on the bike.

This was the road we cycled up (no sign of Sarah) but evidence of snow and the snaky switch backs we have come to love.











Funnily most people take the cable car up these mountains:

Finally I catch up with Sarah enjoying the sunshine and relaxing.

This was just outside a war museum on the top of Passo Valparola.

We learnt today that this area used to belong to the Austria-Hungarian empire and the Italian and Austrians fought over it from 1915-7. Until the end of WW2 it was part of Austria. This is why German is the first language in this area and most signs are in German and Italian.

The museum seemed quite proud that the ruined fort was used as a dummy by the Austrians in 1915-7 (they kept the lights on so the Italians kept shelling it whilst they built new ones elsewhere!) This is very close to the Tre Sassi mountains:  Checkout: www.dolomiti.org/dengl/cortina/laga5torri/musei/tresassi.html

Finally the descent - yippee and off for a long recovery.. Towards San Cassiano.

Thanks to Sarah for cleaning my bicycle after cycling through wet tarmac on the way down and letting me eat most of the snack /banana power bars (she does care - really! )

3 days to go..rain and whispy clouds

We took one look outside this morning and changed our training plans. We postponed cycling part of the rest of the route until Thursday (as sun forecast) and decided to focus on other prep instead.

Clothing
As rain is forecast for Sunday's race, we decided to review what else we needed. Fortunately we have trained in torrential rain in Yorkshire with the LEJOG team earlier in May (thanks guys!) and have all the kit with us (although packed away) After digging out the waterproof trousers, beanie; Altura not so waterproof gloves and bum bag, we were still missing essential things.

The bike shops are starting to get crowded and stock running low on waterproof essentials in medium size, such as overshoes but all shops still have plenty of windproof stuff! Get in quickly if you are staying in the region or make sure you bring enough kit from home.


Today's purchases:

Jo: CRAFT lightweight windproof beanie; Mavic techdry+ overshoes;bike line neck muff;

Sarah:

For us both: Milk, batteries and bananas!








More on the route
As the route does not go into some of the local towns and villages we decided to check out Cortina and a village called Marmalada.

Both are in magnificent valleys; Marmalada is in the valley below Sarah (taking a photo on right)

The rain gave us a perfect excuse for stop for an espresso in each place. Especially as there do not seem to be public toilets anywhere.
The low whispy cloud is the post rain effect we have seen almost everywhere in these mountains.








We decided not to cycle Passo di Giau before the day itself so to conserve energy (tomorrow's training ride will bypass it) as it is the toughest with 10km of ascent at 10% with 29 acute switchbacks... it seems to go on forever.

 We drove up it instead to find hundreds of mad cyclists racing it in the rain.

We used the opportunity to take some photos.  One of the most frustrating things as a female cyclist is where you can find a toilet stop. It is ok for the men (many just use the side of the road) and many today on the top of Giau did not care who was in the vicinity; the need must have been that great as bikes were just flung on the dirt across the car park. I suppose it gives us an excuse to stop in a cafe on the race day but we are still hoping the organisers arrange some portable loos on the route.

After Giau we stopped to take photos of Cortina and the valley below

 before heading up to Passo di Valparola. More on that tomorrow as we cycle through it.

Health wise we are both reasonably fit for this race but there is always some eccentric behaviour on display.
Jo has developed a chesty cough from cycling in the rain yesterday and (desperate to get a remedy before Sunday)  resorted to opening a very stubborn cough medicine bottle with a cork screw.
Sarah has headed to the sauna to relax (she will be bouncing around like a Duracell bunny tomorrow as she has not done enough exercise today) but is excited about the amount of energy food we are amassing pre race :)

Overall it has been a very relaxing recovery, shopping and planning day. We now know what to expect from Passo do Giau and will have to pace ourselves to get up it without killing ourselves in the process. Thankfully we both have heart rate monitors; you never know as we old girls get short of breath easily...:)

4 days to go...

We arrived last night in La Villa, exhausted after a 7 hour drive from Vienna in torrential rain dodging lorries and other mad motorists on the way.

On the way, we stopped at the home of kitsch at the Kristallwelten Swarovski art display in Wattens. It has to be seen to be believed.

According to CNN, this is supposed to be one of the seven wonders of the world.

Complete with fountains and a zebra in a pink shoe

 Various heads

 Crystal palaces

and the Flake lady

Finally we arrive in La Villa.
The view from the room is spectacular! but shock and horror. The Dolomites are still cold with remnants of snow and it is now the beginning of July.

1 July and cloudy and wet. We had a long and winding route today:
La Villa to Corvara, Passo Campolongo, Passo Pordoi, Passo Sella, Passo Val Gardena then a long winding downhill back to Corvara and La Villa (60km in 3.5 hours)

Sarah was surprised by a cow in red headphones on the way up Passo Pordoi!

View from half way up Passo Pordoi

 Time to take in the surroundings as this ascent lasted 9km. Thankfully, not so much traffic and it was ok to weave a bit whilst taking photos one handed with the i-phone. (all that practice on LEJOG2013). Lots of wild flowers too to help take your mind off the task in hand.

 Getting steeper up to Passo Sella

It was tough but enjoyable (spectacular scenery) despite the damp, cloudy and windy weather

Top temperature was 13C and on one mountain pass it went down to 7C with rain and strong winds.

Climb every mountain! Trying to breathe, smile and take a selfie one handed :)

We ended up wearing every single piece of clothing and wished we had brought more.

Come on! This is supposed to be summer in Italy!@@!!

Fortunately with training in Scotland we have the full wet weather gear but it is far too hot to wear  going up the mountains.

More from the cold mountains tomorrow. A Presto!