My GF and I had a summer ride planned out pretty well. We bought a tandem on ebay and had it shipped to my Mum's in London. We were going to ride it back home to Geneva, Switzerland, camping all the way.
I went over to my Mum's a couple of weeks ago, to change the tyres and add racks etc to get it ready
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We had been getting in as much riding as possible to "train" as we were hoping to average 100 kms or so a day.
We went round lake Leman with the children (I'll have to post those pics at some stage too)
and had been doing some of the local climbs as well.
I decided to an xc race (my first) that would count as training as well....
It didn't quite work out that way
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I went up with a friend who races regularly and we stayed in a another friends appt. up in Les Carrozs as the race started early on Sun. morning.
This is looking out from the balcony in the evening
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We went down to the town centre to register and there was a trial show going on
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The next morning was an early start.
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My friend Vincent was doing the "extreme" race (60 kms with 2500m of climbing and 3500 descent) that started at 8 am
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I found some singletrack to warm up and admire the view
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I signed up to do the "expert" race (50 kms with 1250m of climbing and 3500m of descending)
This was just before the start
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I started right at the back as I figured first racen'all.
First group I overtook were fellow Brits that called me a "tree surgeon" Not sure if that was because of my stylin bottle holder sticking out from behind my seat post, or maybe the huge backpack I was dragging along
I found the climbs ok for the most part but the descents were really pretty hairy. The gullies had been scooped out really deep from the heavy storms we've been having.
After the first loop up and over and skipping the first feeding and drinking stop (I probably had enough in my bag to do the whole race
), I took the first "cheat" of the day. You may have noticed my buddies race had the same descending as mine with double the climbing. Thats cause we were climbing in style.
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(Those are the people doing the "extreme" climbing the track below)
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(Thats my heavy bike making the chair hang over like that
)
Any way I met a guy on the chair who HAD stopped at the feeding place (I should of figured he must have been going faster than me) and tried to stick with him once we got off the chairlift.
That was when it all went pear-shaped. There were some really fast open sections and I had trouble following the guy's line and ended up in one of them storm gullies.
I heard my collar bone crack but didn't feel the pain till I was in the firemen's rangerover bouncing down the mountain.
I had only been in the amblance for two minutes before they started asking how I was going to pay for the ride
(they ended up keeping my bike as collateral)
At the hospital the said I had come first in the race, and the guy in second was right behind with a broken ankle
Anyway, now I'm in a clavicular brace till the 26th of august and the vacation's on hold till next summer (camping in the north of France can't be fun out of season)
But it hasn't stopped my signing up for another xc race in september
I went over to my Mum's a couple of weeks ago, to change the tyres and add racks etc to get it ready
View attachment 97418
We had been getting in as much riding as possible to "train" as we were hoping to average 100 kms or so a day.
We went round lake Leman with the children (I'll have to post those pics at some stage too)
and had been doing some of the local climbs as well.
I decided to an xc race (my first) that would count as training as well....
It didn't quite work out that way
View attachment 97396
I went up with a friend who races regularly and we stayed in a another friends appt. up in Les Carrozs as the race started early on Sun. morning.
This is looking out from the balcony in the evening
View attachment 97399
View attachment 97400
View attachment 97401
We went down to the town centre to register and there was a trial show going on
View attachment 97403
View attachment 97402
The next morning was an early start.
View attachment 97404
View attachment 97412
My friend Vincent was doing the "extreme" race (60 kms with 2500m of climbing and 3500 descent) that started at 8 am
View attachment 97405
View attachment 97407
I found some singletrack to warm up and admire the view
View attachment 97406
I signed up to do the "expert" race (50 kms with 1250m of climbing and 3500m of descending)
This was just before the start
View attachment 97413
I started right at the back as I figured first racen'all.
First group I overtook were fellow Brits that called me a "tree surgeon" Not sure if that was because of my stylin bottle holder sticking out from behind my seat post, or maybe the huge backpack I was dragging along
I found the climbs ok for the most part but the descents were really pretty hairy. The gullies had been scooped out really deep from the heavy storms we've been having.
After the first loop up and over and skipping the first feeding and drinking stop (I probably had enough in my bag to do the whole race
View attachment 97414
(Those are the people doing the "extreme" climbing the track below)
View attachment 97415
(Thats my heavy bike making the chair hang over like that
Any way I met a guy on the chair who HAD stopped at the feeding place (I should of figured he must have been going faster than me) and tried to stick with him once we got off the chairlift.
That was when it all went pear-shaped. There were some really fast open sections and I had trouble following the guy's line and ended up in one of them storm gullies.
I heard my collar bone crack but didn't feel the pain till I was in the firemen's rangerover bouncing down the mountain.
I had only been in the amblance for two minutes before they started asking how I was going to pay for the ride
At the hospital the said I had come first in the race, and the guy in second was right behind with a broken ankle
Anyway, now I'm in a clavicular brace till the 26th of august and the vacation's on hold till next summer (camping in the north of France can't be fun out of season)
But it hasn't stopped my signing up for another xc race in september