Epic camp Day 7- Scorcher up the Stelvio

 Woke up at 4 .20 am today, WTF?!!  Decided against a morning run  to ensure no piriformis/ glute flare ups and went for a walk round the block with a little stop in at the pasticceria/konditorei for ride snacks then back to the hotel to finally get a coffee ( ..why is nothing open in Europe before 8am....sigh....) and another invasion of the breakfast buffet.

A small group of us decided to get a lift in the van to Prato and avoid the navigating of the bike paths to get there as potential for getting lost and it taking forever especially in the inclement weather ( = heatwave). It was hot enough at the rear of the van to arrive in Prato slightly frazzled so felt absolved of any self deprecating inner voices that I was soft, lazy, too old for all this kind of carry on etc etc...yeah right!

Of course Epic camp being what it is, we were ascending the Stelvio the hardest way. 25 km up, 48 switchbacks avg grade 7% but wikipedia warned me there were a few 12% pitches thru the forest. Prato sits at 913m and the Passo di Stelvio sits at 2873 so you get the picture.

It was so f***** g hot , I can't describe the heat any other way. No shade at the base either, but all you can do is pedal and keep the intensity as low as is feasible knowing it will get cooler further up!  I only watched the elevation and profile on my Garmin screen and concentrated on watching the metres go by. Stopped for a stretch of the glutes and my back then on again until came across a water fountain spouting fresh cold water. ....that felt like Christmas! Tanya caught up to me here so we spent the rest of the way about 30m apart. The road is so busy with motorbike and cars and other cyclists and it's not particularly wide. So many very tight hairpin bends to swing the bike around without colliding with any oncoming traffic made for several adrenaline spikes , worst through the forest section which had several 12% pitches, as anticipated. However the shade of the trees was a bit of reprieve from the heat. Once out of the trees we were met with a startling view of dramatic mountains with a few small. patches of snow and that sense of how we humans are just tiny specks amongst the majesty of Mother Nature. It was getting a little cooler up here and I was getting strange shivery periods then feeling hot again when we hit a patch of sun but I figured was normal given the heat down below, the altitude and general exertion of doing silly stuff like this at age 52 :-)

It was so gratifying to watch the numbered switch backs tick off and tell myself "Only Mt Pleasant road to climb". "only to the sign of the kiwi" etc etc. Arrived at the top to a Piccadilly Circus of motorbikes, people, cars and general chaos but found the support crew, jacketed up and had a snack and a rest then we had a quick stop at the shop to purchase a fridge magnet then it was down the long descent to Bormio. The road was definitely better on this side in terms of surface and slightly wider in spots. I'm not a fan of the tunnels though as the amplified noise of motorbikes while you ride through is downright spooky ( and terrifying).

Stopped to disrobe as the hot fan appeared again and after an eternity and cramping triceps, we made it to Bormio and our hotel- which was good enough for the Swiss ski team at the Winter Olympics so good enough for us lot!!

As you can probably imagine there was a whole bunch of wasted but satisfied people in the dining room that night, enjoying a wine or two and an impeccable dinner. Man, could get used to this lifestyle !  

Two days left and then we are finite. John has scrapped the idea of the Mortirolo tomorrow, realising  we are all 50 and over ( apart from one) and smoked with the heat . Well that's a relief as I wasn't going to do it anyway with my 36-28 and an avg grade of 11% for 12 km.

Stelvio was def one for the Grinder :-) and filled my bucket in a weird type 2 fun kinda way

Epic Camp Day 6. Medium Rare.

 Day 6  ( Tuesday  23rd June).

Schedule was - morning elimination run before brekky, minimum 1hr or 10 km

                                  -bike from Canazei to a lake somewhere . Option of 91km or 50 or 40 

                                 - swim at lake

                                - bike 17km from lake to Bolzano.

The title sums up accurately my state of being on day 6, partly due to the efforts of the previous days and partly due to calorie deficit. I could barely get moving this morning and it was a monstrous effort to get the body moving, aside from legs like wooden planks; the whole body felt like I was a donkey dipped in cement. Thus was eliminated in the first round ( YAY) so filled in the rest of the time with a slow trot through Canazei.

Back for a big brekky, coffees and the usual lugging of luggage and various bags for various vans then we set off. John assured us it was an easier day, and after making it through the treacherous hazard ridden bike paths, then it was up , up and up a gradual climb and it was HOT. I felt bloody awful on the bike today. Sciatic pains starting  from the l glute and radiating in weird places down the leg then the right piriformis etc, not to mention my foggy brain finding it hard to concentrate. and it felt like a struggle ! Took us 3hrs as 1100m climbing in the first 50km so was more depleted by the time we got to the van. Some of the others had taken the van to the 50 km and were riding the 40 downhill to the lake but I packed a sad so got in the van and a lift down the hill then through miles and miles of apple orchards, vineyards in around 35 degrees then we arrived at the lake, had a quick bite of lunch thanks to support crew then swim time. 

It was so warm out John designated a non wetsuit swim #grateful. have you ever tried to get tight rubber over an already  sweaty body ?! My that water felt so good to jump in !  

We were informed it was a swim elimination race with handicap starts, 2 laps per round and 3 gone each round. My handicap was 13 secs , likely after the woeful performance at the 800m pool TT. Somehow I managed to stay in the game and finished in the final 6 amongst good company, which was even more astonishing after the pathetic whingeing mess of a cyclist I had been prior. Managed to get 1750m in then dressed and only 17km to Bolzano, our home for the night.

It was a light downhill and solely on a network of excellent bike paths. God, I love Europe and the culture where everyone rides a bike- to get places. We arrived in town and after a slight missed turn were back on track and found the hotel. This was a much less touristy place but very pretty. A little confusing as it's in the German speaking part of Italy. 

Luckily only one night here as was in the smallest hotel room ever, twin share and we had to put the chairs in the wardrobe to allow room for our bags. BUT they had aircon units in each room which was a massive plus given it was 35 degrees outside and only dropped to 25 overnight!

Next up for the Wednesday is the Stelvio as we are off to Bormio for the remainder of the camp. I have to say I am mildly alarmed at the prospect having just looked up the stats on Wikipedia and of course, we are doing it the hardest way ( from Prato side)

Ah well, it's not Easy camp as John says. 

                                   -

Epic Camp Day 5- Swimming Special Olympics, Sella Ronda and a slovenly shuffle

 After a subpar sleep due to the tropical conditions , having to open the balcony door fully at 2.30am only to be woken by the rubbish truck doing its thing at 4.30am , I was not feeling particularly chipper this morning. 

Add to that no coffee available anywhere at such an early hour so the trip to the pool was met with zero enthusiasm as I had an inkling of what was in store.

We warmed up then started with a 50m kick race ( no boards). Then a 50m sprint race. Then a slow/ fast towing swim comp, then a  handicap relay race ( our team Europe won thanks to ex pro support crew Christine...phew!) then an 800m time trial which I admit, I didn't time trail as needed a few rests.

Swimming altitude is the absolute worst. Imagine a fully blocked nose then trying to mouth breathe through a very narrow straw....only a few strokes and you feel hypoxic! I muddled through another 1900m after that and didn't make the minimum 3k but that was enough.

The breakfast spread here is a magnificent feast fit for a king; or perhaps Epic campers is more apt! So had a massive brekky then time to roll out as we  were riding the Sella Ronda clockwise. What a fabulous ride- it's down there with one of my faves of all time. 

I was feeling pretty good given my shortened ride the day before so hung with the bigger guns on the first climb and rejoined them at a set of traffic lights after the first descent as I'm a cautious descender ( = a bit terrified at tight switchbacks). We then spread out a little and I rolled along ensuring to take in the scenery and listened to some good music. I can't say much more than that, rolled in to the hotel with a ~ 4 hr ride time. 

We had a compulsory run to do either an hour or 10 km, whatever came first. I had a bit of food fatigue today, perhaps from my gorge at breakfast or possibly chewing felt like too much extra kJ to burn.... so only managed a slice of cold pizza post ride and 2 boiled eggs ... prob not enough calories  but managed to slog out an hour , feeling horrendous as if I had wooden fence posts for legs+ similar to how it feels 25km into an IM marathon when you are about to hit the wall. But got 'er done.

I was awarded the red jersey for the day as John presumed I was doing some kind of FTP test  behind him on the Sella, well, I wasn't as only had the mapping page on and didn't even glance at my power - but guess it made him feel better about his ride?!  Haha.

Dinner was the usual salad, soup then I had spare ribs as wasn't tempted by the veal with tuna sauce for main course but the sheer mental and physical effort to prise meat off the ribs became too much so I hadn't really eaten enough for dinner . 

The heavens had opened and a thunderstorm was on outside which cooled the night down . Thank God !!

This would bite me a little today ( Tuesday) but you will have to wait for the next instalment for the low down:-) 

Epic camp Day 4. Trail tootle, "no chain" and a dismembered pedal

 Sunday 21st June

Finally a decent nights sleep thanks to massage and possibly the fine vino Rosso I had at dinner. 

This blog will be in brief bullet points as its Monday evening now, have another day to write up and I'm a bit knackered!

- Up early, sourced a coffee from the signor at reception then we bundled into the van, back up the hill to a trail head to take us to Lago di Sarapiso. Judging by all the cars already there, it must be akin to Roy's Peak and one with views for the gram. 

It was stunning, we didn't make it down to the lake as it was pretty technical and rocky so was more of a hike in places and by the time we returned it was a highway of trekkers coming towards us.We  ran down a ski field track to the van and made it up to 10 km, a slow 10 km at 1h 45 but it loosened me off nicely

- Demolition of breakfast buffet and bags loaded as we are on to Canazei tonight

- Departed on the bikes and back up the Falzarego as per day 1 except no turn off for the Giau this time. I can safely say I felt a hell of a lot better climbing today, in fact I felt smooth and a "no chain" type of day. We descended and luckily saw the turn off on a VERY sharp corner which took us down a quieter road ( less motorbikes. Omg they are so courteous towards cyclists as are most drivers here but the noise just ruins the serenity of such a beautiful place and there are SOOO many of them ). and we ended up in a small village called Caprile so the 4 of us decided to stop for a quick espresso before we tackled the Fedaia.

-Left the coffee shop and I couldn't clip into right pedal; the rear plate which catches the back of the cleat was half hanging off. Eh?WTF?  I pushed it back in but as soon as clipped the cleat in, it came loose. 

So that was the end of my ride  as certainly wasn't attempting a 13km ascent one legged ! Waited an hour for the SAG then spent another couple of hours doing support duties and filling bottles etc for the others still on course. Who assured me it was hot and  the last 2-3 km were NASTY. Humph would still have rather had a ride but anyway, c'est la vie.

-Arrive Canazei, sort gear. It's very hot. The hotel is very salubrious although there doesn't seem to be any air con and it's so hot inside it feels as if central heating is on. Great for the ski season I guess

-Had time for a bimble around the town and found a cup of tea that I had been craving for about 4 hours then dinner in the sauna of a dining room, which also had poor acoustics so was glad to return upstairs for a cold shower and put my ear plugs in.

Monday's schedule starts with a visit to the pool which John has booked for 2 hours, yikes. That means swim races and other atrocities ahead .We are riding the Sella Ronda after that which I am looking forward to. Pedal has ben screwed back together so fingers Xd no  more mechanicals.

- Back tomorrow with Monday's musings :-)

Epic camp Italy day 3 ( Sat 20th June) .Shut Up Legs!!

   Today's plan was to ride from our base in Cortina back up yesterday's descent and then on to Tre Cime de Lavaredo  and do a small trail run at the top then bike back down with a stop for a swim in Lake Misurina on the way home.

Easy right !!  I had no reason to be complaining given the previous day when the others had endured a mammoth ride , also in the heat ( although seems we received the worst of the thunder storm and rain, guess that's penance for being slack)

It was a pleasant climb with a freshly surfaced road, smooth like velvet. A delectable treat for those is from NZ who understand how much the big chip seal sucks the lifeblood ( and velocity). That was until we hit the last 4 km where the road suddenly hit 15% for eternal stretches and my cadence hit an all time low of about 20, the Grinder was struggling to grind!  It wouldn't have been so bad but was moving so slowly I was weaving a bit and the sheer terror of large buses also attempting to get up there and swing round the bends was making me more jittery .....rounded a corner and saw a few of the others had dismounted as there was a small lay by and we all needed a reprieve. My quads were actually trembling at the effort. Sadly , it was nigh impossible to get on and attempt riding again as the pitch at that point was still 15% and I didn't like my chances of not ending up like a squished possum so I did something I have never done before and walked the bike around 1-1.5km up ( calves screaming , cycling shoes aren't built for pedestrians) until the road "flattened off" to 11% so was able to ride the last ~ 2km to the car park. Bloody Oath!

We got changed and I went to spend a euro then scrambled up a steep trail and realised I was supposed to way down below and didn't have a map so yogged back to the car park and then set off with a couple of the others so we just did an out and back as would have been out of time... we got to see the Tre Cime though, breathtaking ! The Dolomites are spectacular. Did you know the actual stone IS called Dolomite. My inner geography nerd had to google it last night.

Managed to get down the descent without incident and  stay on my bike, we stopped at Lake Misurina with John stating minimum swim was 20 mins. It was not highly appealing and the floor full of triffid like weeds - but actually, felt so good to swim and get a bit of recovery. Just as we were getting changed a few plops of rain appeared then it was properly raining - you gotta be kidding, right ?!! Deja vu from yesterday... but actually was nowhere near as heavy and it had ceased by halfway down and certainly wasn't cold. 

Kylie gave me good pummelling on the massage table in the evening, I'm such a cry baby on the massage table but I felt soooo much better for it today. The support crew certainly look after us well! if only life was one big Epic camp right ...:-).... well, as long as I could bring my dog of course.

Epic camp Day 2. Fustercluck

Remember the episodes of Friends where Chandler got a roommate called Eddie; well, I woke this morning feeling like one of Eddie's cantaloupes .At least I had managed to sleep until 5.45 am which was a bonus despite what my Garmin metrics were telling me.

Next surprise was that the tentative cable-bike computer connection had not, in fact, been connected at the correct angle and thus my Garmin Edge had been on all night, slowly draining the battery which left me with 15% charge to start the day which ain't much when you are using the map function in a strange country!  Panic ensued when I also realised I had left my DI2 charging cable and rear light charging cable in the basement of the hotel in Venice, searched everywhere and finally found it  after looking for the second time in my laptop bag. Still semi-sedated from the previous nights medication, apparently !

 -Arrived at breakfast at 7.12 am with a large queue for the coffee machine and John reminding me of a 7.31 am departure for our group, so it was a last minute fumble to be ready , tough when you got out of bed the wrong side, not to mention all the other maladies. 

I decided to start easy and ride with the grupetto of Di, Zarnia and Liz .. lots of navigational snafus on and off bike paths, bike paths which turned to deep gravel , busy roads with no shoulder where we couldn't locate or had missed the bike path....jeepers. The good part was it felt like a pretty easy recovery spin and that's probably what was needed today. .we decided to make it to the first aid station at 51km ; this was in a small village and despite no sign of our aid station, we found the fountain in the village square and duly filled bottles, dipped heads in as the mercury was rising!  There was no way , given that this had taken us THREE HOURS  that attempting the 175 km loop ( this was the loop excluding the Zoncolan)  was going to happen so we thought just turn back and head back up the valley to Cortina.

Oli + Kylie appeared not long after and sorted us out and advised they drive us across a short cut road which would leave us at the base of the last climb, 37 km from Cortina and would be a much prettier and more enjoyable ride so we concurred with that and dismantled bikes and ourselves into the van.

By the time we started the ride up to Tre  Croces it was toasty hot , there was no shade on our side of the road. This must be what it's like as you approach the furnaces of hell!! I spotted a caravan selling cold drinks by the roadside although was convinced it was a mirage until I heard the two Italian guys cry out and ask if I wanted a drink or a beer. "Fresco?" "Si, signora" so a bottle of  limone and a packet of salted crisps later which averted the ( literal) meltdown I was ready to ride again. They assured me it was only 10 mins to the top, in which time there was an ominous darkening of the sky and it had cooled quite a bit, then a quick flash and a huge rumble of thunder and thus the heavens opened in monsoon fashion.

Be careful what you wish for kids!!  I continued on after deliberation on whether to bail or just to htfu given I had only ridden half of the ride schedule for the day so duly pedalled off to the end of the climb but the rain was so bad I could barely see and the surface water across the road was about an inch deep so I let common sense prevail and was picked up ~ 2km down the descent by Oli and Kylie. Soaked and shivering with goosebumps. A stark contrast to half an hour ago!

The day ended on a high note however, with an Aperol Spritz and a fine repast , not to mention a successful charging of the Garmin having it balanced on one of my Hokas.

Tomorrow is a ride up hill for 24km then a trail run up at Tre Cime Lavaredo followed by a lake swim somewhere. Fingers crossed for a good zzz and a better attitude tomorrow :-)

Epic Camp Italy - Day 1.Aquathon then a wee ride from Cortina

 After another early wake up, this time around 2.30 am despite my Garmin telling me I am slowly acclimated to the new time zone ( only 1.5 hrs ahead as opposed to 3 , the day before) it was eventually time to load bags and bikes in the vans then coffee and attack the hearty breakfast buffet before departure for Cortina d"Ampezzo  via Lago di S. Croce.

We arrived at the lake around 75 mins later, after an uncomfortable trip squashed into the back of the small rental where the windows don't open and the aircon don't reach!! Emerged with cramp and a drouth before had even set foot in the lake !!

It was a stunning location though, water temp was perfectly fresh and pleasant given it was quite toasty and a quick wriggle into wetsuits, a warm up swim then John gave us the race briefing - 5 laps of 300m with an Aussie exit each lap. Then a 7km trail run after. It was a blind handicap with mass start, Blind and handicapped is literally how I feel at swim starts so it was an apt description of a race.

I have to say I enjoyed the swim , apart from the Aussie exits  - transition was very relaxed as am way out of practice with these type of activities , also remembered the zip on my trisuit isn't fully functional anymore so had to roll it down to my waist, fortunately Epic camp doesn't adhere to Ironman rules so I wasn't disqualified. Had a pretty good run but could feel myself running low on fuel and it was getting hot hot hot ...! No sign of the forecast 10.5mm rain ( yet)

After such an auspicious start to the camp, was looking forward to our afternoon ride. After a van ride to Cortina, sorting of bikes and lunch we set off at 1.45 through town and were soon climbing. First climb of the day was the Passo di Giau.. It felt a lot harder than it looked, possibly due to the heat and the lunch regurgitating in my tummy. I had a mild panic attack about the fact that I haven't changed any of the gearing on my bike for this trip ( smallest I have is a 36-28) as this felt really hard, harder than I thought it should. Then found myself questioning why am I not bumbling round museums with a Lonely Planet guide and admiring fine Italian architecture - or even enjoying the hiking trails which were visible as we climbed- like normal people do?!! FFS. Why? Why?

I threw back a gel at this point, which turned the frown upside down and got rid of the nihilistic thoughts plus it was getting a little cooler as we neared the top. 

Descent down was dry and not fraught with too much anxiety - the next part of the ride was very pleasant then we started the next ascent of the Falzarego which was enjoyable although I could feel aches and pains in places, as you do and mild annoyance at the noise of the motorbikes....plus the gang of middle aged men in Porsches ( about 10 cars came whizzing past us at breakneck speed ).

Ominous dark cloud were visible in the distance and I was a bit worried we would get caught in a thunder storm, the lower half of the road was quite wet but luckily we missed the rain as the faster guys got a soaking apparently. Benefits to being in the grupetto !!

We rolled in after 4h14 mins at 6.30 pm and ready for dinner, dehydrated and def low in calories.I was so tired after that big day even eating dinner was a struggle but the excitement of salmon and veggies for dinner overrode the desire to lie on the bed and stare at the ceiling for the evening!

Fingers crossed for a longer zzz tonight, better throw back some pharmaceuticals I think.

Big day on tap  for day 2 so we will see what it brings, one thing for sure - it won't be bringing me the Zoncolan. Done it on Rouvy anyway, pfffffftt.