An early breakfast at 5:30am – a great buffet selection of cheese, meats, croissants, yogurt.
Beautiful sunny morning, but pretty cold - lots of layers, 2 sets of gloves and ready steady
Ready at 6:30 for the 7:00 start
Then away we go.
Even at top top pace I’d be on the bike for 8 hours, so I decided to start out very slowly. We had great starting positions right in the front – which is great bacause some of the back riders have to walk for some time before they are able to ride. I got pushed into the fence at the start – some eager Italian rider, he might have said sorry – else might have told me off hard to say. I’ll divide this post into each of the 5 peaks because thats how my mind took on the race. I say race – but this was a survival task for me.
Hill 1 passo pordoi – 30 meters into the race it starts, about 7km, about 700 meters, steep and winding – just like any big Alp on TV tour de france, big switchbacks upon switchback, layer upon layer. Feeling pretty good, taking it nice and easy, HR well under 150 and being passed by aprrox 400 Italians.
Bike was making a little noise in the most frequently used gear, which brought about lots of comments from other riders – none of which I could understand.
So made it to the top in pretty good condition 48mins and took a little break to catch my breathe and thoughts before the decent. Also put on winter gloves and vest – It was really cold on the way down.
Next was 30km of downhill – conciderable speed, even some drafting as well, completely warmed down. Beautiful small villages – storming through with pace.
Hill 2 San Pelligrino – about 10km, about 800 meters up. Felt prety good up this one – even pushed the HR up above 150 in patches – clicking sound from gears is a little annoying. Really felt like this is going to be a long day in the saddle, riders thinning out. Being passed by MTB bikers due to their gearing …. and perhaps fitness as well 
Hill 3 San Tomaso – really more of a pimple than a hill, quite enjoyable really. I remember passing a few riders – looked like a husband and wife in blue club gear. Then 5 mins later they pass me back – husband with his hand behind her back pushing her up the hill. Victors knee starts to hurt here. From here we dropped down for a lovely cruise down by a lake Alleghe – then up to the food stop and Mavic mechanico truck. I eat everything in sight then get my bike looked at by the Mavic guys – he looks at my bike and says ooooooo Fabian …. this is Fabian’s bike …. u fabian ? I say I wish – I think he was a little afraid of the bike actually – so he tinkered then said all ok – I had some more food then rode off with Victor – now the bike was slipping gears – so I went back to Mavic and the other guy tinkered – seemed ok this time worked alright. With Vic’s knee hurting and the decision turnoff for Medium or Grand comming up – he went the short and I went the long at 3:45 riding time and 85kms done and dusted. I was actually feeling ok but was now in unfamiliar territory. My mantra at this point was three moutains to go – “killer, hard & killer”
Hill 4 – Killer Passo Giau 1250 meters, over 16km- I started this one out by myself. I really was alone for about 5 kms before I caught another rider and then some other riders passed me. I remember getting about 5 kms into this one and thinking I still had over 1000meters to climb – what the heck am I doing here. This mountain was hard steep and unrelenting. This mountain almost broke me – but somehow I managed to stay on the bike grinding my lowest gear at about 40 RPM. As my will gets beaten, so then does my body. My left foot under the ball of my foot doesnt want to put pressure on the pedal, without enormous pain. So I limp along at 5kms an hour in constant pain- but I dont give in. I slowly weave my way to the top to the now familiar snow covered lunar lanscape above 2000 meters. At the top I again eat everything in sight and massage my foot to ease the pain. I’m really not sure if I can continue to climb but I figure I’ll roll down the next hill and see how I feel. This monstor took me 2 hours and put me in serious danger of not meeting the time cutt-off – 100kms done.
Hill 5 Passo Falzarego – 500 meters, 6 km. In comaparison this one was nice and gentle and easy. It had its steep bits but overall felt pretty good up this one. I even managed to chase some dude and pass him, which made me feel better about the other guys passing me Still took me over an hour for the climb. With fresh legs this would be about 30-40mins tops !
Hill 6 Passo Fedaia – 1000 meters, 13 km, riddiciously steep at some points, riddiciously beautiful as well. Known as Marmolada this climb was very pretty. Passed through several cobblestoned villages and eventually up a narrown gorge, complete with waterfall. At the top of the gorge my left foot decided it could not push anymore so I hopped off the bike and started to walk. Conciderably less effort walking at 4kms compared to riding at 5kms, but embarressing none-the-less. Lots of people setting up their tents ect and quite a few comments of encouragement. I even offered the fake excuse mechanico to one Italian guy. I simply couldnt turn the pedals due to my foot. Then with 3-4kms to go and the road getting steeper. Pete from CSC came up behind me and simply said – “get on the bike” so I did – and whilst I couldn’t put enough pressure on the padals to hold his wheel, and the 10 hour time limit came and went, and the sweeper vans came and went, I slowly rode on – like a slow motion turtle in a foreign land !
So I came to the finish at about 5:45pm, 9:39 riding time, a little over 5000 meters elevation, Garmin telling me I used 9566 cals. In true Italian efficiency race time was finished at 5:00 – therefore when I got to the top, no timing matt, no tent, no bags, no busses. So Pete and I rode down to where we thought the busses might be and there was nothing – so we sat down and concidered our options – in complete and utter fatigue. I remember Pete saying I’m know as a bit of a mountain climber at home and I can’t beleive I didnt even finish !!. Anyhow we had to get back somehow so I called Vic for a lift. Thank goodness he answered the phone and thanks for getting them out so fast to pick us up. We sat and waited for over an hour, slowly getting colder and colder – I was shivering and I reakon another 30 mins and I would have been in trouble. Blue van came with Jo, Svend & John … mmmm heater on full. Thanks very much for the pickup Gents – drive back to Arabba, completely exhausted – quick shower – just made it to dinner – shared a few war stories about the day
- cant remember going to sleep that night – wonder why
Video
Garmin riding data for the day
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/5800640
