Tour TransAlp 2009: Day 2

After the cramping issues of Day 1, and a night of worrying by my partner that we were in for a very long TransAlp, Day 2 came off almost perfectly. (profile here) We made today BC Bike Race Day. We also had a great surprise from our support crew in the middle of a long day.

A long neutral start of almost 20 km allowed us to get our legs warmed up before we started racing for the day. Today we headed from Imst up the valley to St. Anton, the site of several FIS Ski World Championships. Once through the ski town we headed up the first pass of the day, the Arlbergpass, a climb about equal in difficulty to Cypress Mountain.

When we reached the top we started a very intense downhill of about 55 km. The pack riding and pace lines set up! The speeds we were pushing over this distance rarely allowed me to get any food or drink into my mouth as I was afraid I would cause a big crash. Eventually the gradient turned the other direction and things calmed down a bit to allow us to eat. Thankfully, the long neutral start had allowed us to get our energy levels topped up before things got into crazy mode. It also helped that our amazing support crew set up our aid station at the most opportune location to allow us to power up for the rest of the day. They also provided a great deal of comic relief and really settled us in for the final push of the day.

I do find the pack riding very mentally draining. It seems I have to concentrate all the time to make sure that I understand what is happening around me. If there appears to be a sketchy rider in your vicinity, it makes it even worse. There was much discussion at dinner last night as to what is the ideal position to be in, front or back. The long neutral lead outs in the morning are great to warm up the legs, but with all the speeding up and slowing down as the pack maneuvers around cars etc., the risk of crashing can be high. Front or back? We will see as the week goes on what is better.

The last climb of the day, the Bielerhohe, was again a brute. I lost count of the number of switchbacks heading up the front of the pass, but the view back down the valley was spectacular. Once up the initial climb, we passed a large reservoir and most of us thought the climb was over. Not so! A second reservoir was farther up the pass, and the in between section had several nasty 12 to 15% section to test our metal. Once over the top it was a quick downhill to Ischgl, although many of us suffered through rain showers on the way in.

Once again the support crew came through!!! Chicken in the finish area. Yeah!!! Day 2 down!!! (Results here)