I'm still trying to get my head around this one. I always find that the current 1200+ ride that you're on is the most difficult that you've ever done but this one will probably hold that place in my memory for quite some time. Brazil in 2018 and Rome in 2017 both had equivalent amounts of climbing but the grades were easier in Rome and the hills shorter in both of them. Neither of those rides had significant oxygen-robbing altitude either.
The ride
At a little more than 1500k and over 22,000 meters of climbing, it was bound to be epic. Col de l'Iseran and the Stelvio are epic climbs by themselves without accumulated mileage and climbing on your legs. In the middle of the ride, there's about 400k of flat ... that should be a nice break, right ? Wrong.
Remember in the following that you essentially define your own riding days.
Day 1 starts out right away with climbing, 2017 meters in the first 57 kms. In and out of Switzerland, you then descend to St. Moritz, mingle with the beautiful people ... not ... and continue. More choppy stuff later, you bring that total for the day to 3942 meters on 272 kms.
Day 2 is even more climbing intensive, naturally, with a lot of climbs earlier in the day but staying at lower altitudes. We then head up from 200 meters to almost 1500 meters with a particularly difficult section on a rough road with grades often hitting 18%. That made the climbing earlier in the day seem like child's play. At the top, now in France, we descend to Lanslebourg. 254 kms and 4467 meters for that day with that wonderful descent to Lanslebourg in the dark; city lights down below.
Day 3 starts out with the Col de l'Iseran. Starting in the pre-dawn, we climb up and up, see the sun rise on the mountains, glaciers, multitudes of waterfalls, advertisements for summer skiing, cows being milked at altitude with portable miking machines -- can't get any more free range than that ! -- the views are simply breathtaking. At this point, I'm convinced that this is the most beautiful ride that I've ever done. It can only get better. There are three major climbs that day with total accumulations of 4712 meters on 251 kms. While Col de l'Iseran is the highest point in the entire ride by a few meters, that climb isn't the longest because we start around 1400 meters and climb to just under 2800. There are wonderful descents too - well earned - seeing both the top and bottom of ski resorts such as Val d'Isere.
Day 4 is what people have been looking forward to, but are soon disappointed. Some define that day as roughly 400kms; I had cut it to 326 in our planning. At under 1000 meters of climbing, flat, windless and hot, hot, hot, it was a tough day. My Wahoo Bolt read upper 90's F all day. What could have been a day to make up time & distance, was not.
Days 5 & 6 take us back uphill with 4281 and 4056 meters of climbing respectively. Late evening on Day 5, at the high point of the day, we pass through a town before our descent to Spormaggiore that is in full festival mode. We have no idea what's going on but there are literally thousands of people in the streets. We have to wind our way through the people for a few kms and then we head down.
We start out Day 6 descending almost to sea level. It's again hot, giving us a sucker punch before we hit the Stelvio climb. From just under sea level, we start a gradual climb to 900 meters and then the 40 or so switchbacks, first in the trees and then above the tree line, that is the Stelvio. That entire section, 1800 meters of climbing, averages about 10%. At the top, Passo Stelvio, the ride is over. The organizers chose to end the ride there vs making people rush the 1600 meter descent back to Bormio. That was a safety move.
One thing that was totally unexpected was the farming on Day 4. Picture the better part of 300 kms being all rice paddies. Flooded with water from the numerous canals fed by the rivers from the summer melting glaciers, you could be in China, perhaps. Making that section harder, the roads were rough, very rough. Heat and rough roads made the flat day one of the worst of the entire ride.
The scenery isn't all about mountains. At many points in the ride we're skirting inland lakes with thronging tourists. Many of the climbs are up gorges, following the rivers upwards.
The ride provides some basic food a many Controls. Plates heaped with pasta, wafer cookies and 72% chocolate bars are staples. Many controls also had bread, ham and cheese on a help yourself basis. Water, both still and bubbly, were included. Coke, beer, wine ... those you pay for. There were enough spots along the way for food, coffee, spring water etc. that we had no difficulty. Apple trees overhang some of the bike paths and we sampled some of those and also hit some fruit stands. We hit a few supermarkets. With a full six days of riding, we did everything imaginable.
My ride
Hamid and I planned to ride together as much as possible, realizing that we could get separated with our different riding styles and strengths. I hardly ever draft but I was lucky that on the flat day there was no wind. I'm generally out ahead when we're climbing but we mostly waited for one another. Shab, Hamid's wife, wants it that way :). It's a good thing to have a buddy on the route. Shab did provide support, moving drop bags from overnight to overnight and checking into motels, arranging food.
In planning this out, I was very conservative, knowing that the climbing would greatly affect the distance that we could cover in a day and opting for shorter, rather than longer days. That worked out nicely although we could have gone a little further the first day. The latest day was a little after midnight. We had long night stops and got lots of sleep. Riding on the flat in the heat, we'd have been zombie-like otherwise.
The Stelvio was my biggest concern. The ride time limit set that at 3am at the top. Knowing that the temperature plummets after 6pm, I wanted to ensure that we were there and could ride down to Bormio without freezing. That meant shorting our sleep by whatever was necessary on night 5. We were pleasantly surprised that we got in to Spormaggiore early enough that we had 3 hours sleep. Getting to the sea level Control that final day by noon, we were about an hour behind where I'd planned, as I'd budgeted 6 hours for the steep part of the Stelvio climb. We still had 13kms of a bike path before the grade cranked up. Yes, I'm very conservative. Early in the ride we seemed to be climbing about 300 meters per hour, ignoring the distance. 1800 meters of the steep part equated to 6 hours, very simple math. The remaining distance was 20km, according to the sign.
There were a few opportunities for fuel and water on that part of the climb but I just put my head down and kept going. Adrenaline was my fuel at that point. As the altitude increased, I had to stop several times, let my heart rate subside, then keep going. I was going fast enough that walking would be slower, so I rode. Many others were using the same strategy for the last couple of kms.
Riders were going past me all the way up. Unencumbered, sometimes without even a seat wedgie, they weren't pushing 35 pounds of bike and gear up the hill. Still, I wasn't as badly off as the touring people with panniers !
Reaching the top just before 5pm, much faster than I'd expected & budgeted, Shab was there. I'd hoped as much but didn't count on it. Having a cheering section was a delight. I had leg warmers, heavy jacket, even rain pants, a fully stuffed seat pack and all my usual tools and spares. I was ready to ride down if necessary. I waited with Shab for Hamid, who came in about an hour later. By that time, I'd donned my jacket and leg warmers, getting chilled in the wind and dropping temperatures.
We had no need to do that descent and we didn't. We broke the bikes up and put them in the car. S&S couplers are wonderful things, even if you're not packing for flying !
I want to come back. I want to drive parts of that route, seeing the scenery with my camera in hand, stopping and enjoying vs pressing on I want to come back and climb the Stelvio again, unencumbered.
I called Sandy from the top. I confess that I broke down. The physical effort and the relief all came together. It was an emotional moment.
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