A little bit about Stelvio

Going to bed real soon but have a few minutes

Climbing Stelvio was truly epic.  If  you have a chance to do it on a blue-bird day absolutely go for it. If its cloudy or raining forget it.  It is a slog.

The traffic was pretty terrible, even on a Monday. One of our tour members went down trying to avoid a headon collision with some moron trying to pass blindly.  Fortunately our colleague seems to be OK except for scrapes and bruises.

It is a beautiful climb.  Ill post more pics to my facebook when I can sync my camera (the ones there are just from my phone)  The numbered switchbacks begin at 47 but there are 49+ some climbing out of Prato allo Stelvio.  The climb faces incredible glaciated peaks and ascends through a forest before toping out on the exposed top 24 switchbacks.

The wild flowers were beautiful.  There were mountain streams everywhere.  One cascading several hundred feet into the canyon.

There were tons of motos and cyclists.  Few of us spoke the same languages so we just kind of smiled and waived.  I was encouraged by an italian couple.  A german woman said 'you have done well' as I was completing the last 10 switchbacks.

I turned on my gopro to film switchback 1 and cried.  I almost gave the finger to switchback 3 that kicked up to about 12% for a short pitch

I was surprised at how easy 9% began to feel after 15k.  My average speed was somewhere between 6-7km/hr .   Yes kmh.

I dont think I got any pics at the top really, I was completely disoriented and trying to buy souveniers and eat before i froze.  I ended up not descending because I was simply fried. The descent was beautiful from the van.

Happy Hour!

Its been a busy 2 days here in Innsbruck!

We have the most amazing breakfast at our hotel.  I have been warned not to get used to this level of luxury ;)  I dont know what several of these fruits are called, even in english!

After our awesome breakfast we headed into the garage to assemble bikes.  They had music piped into the garage. We listened to the Pointer Sisters as we wrenched

Checking out everyones bikes was fun.  For instance, here we have the wheels of Alejandro, "The Mexican" and Dan, world champion in masters cyclocross.  34 vs 23.  Can you guess whos is whos? ;)

I have a feeling I will be offering one of them a very large sum of money to ride their bike once we hit the climbs

We went out for a really nice mellow ride around the valley to spin the legs out.  There are a ton of bikeways around Innsbruck.  Some how cars, street cars (tracks!), bikes and pedestrians all comingle here.  The 2 lane roads here are narrower than our 1 lane roads in the states yet we didnt get harassed by any motorists.  There was some pondering about why people in the US have a problem sharing space on the road when we have so much.

Heres our ride: http://app.strava.com/rides/13280839

After our ride we headed to a local pub for beers and watching the Tour. The Tour is broadcast from 2-5.  Its exciting being in Europe to watch live, but it would be a bummer to be living here, since Id probably be at work while it is on.  So I guess we dont have such a bad deal in the PacNW watching it in the morning before work!

While we were trying to decode the menu and read the beer list our very cheery waiter dropped by.  Our tour leader Larry was the only one who could really communicate at all, but we did hear him say "happy hour" We told him we wanted some bier, "happy hour!" and promptly 7 glasses of the house bier arrived.  We couldnt quite figure out what to eat either, Larry got bratwurst and we all decided that sounded good too. Happy hour!  Oh, and then little stands with pretzles (bretzels) arrived! I dont know why I have yet to move permanently to the land of bier, sausage, cheese, chocolate and pretzels.

We all were cat napping during the tour and I was beat by the time I got to bed around 10:30.  I slept till 5 and tossed and turned before falling back asleep.  I woke up later and found out it was 12:15!

Crap! I had missed amazing breakfast!

And its 12:15... i wonder if I also missed the ride too? Double crap!

As Im collecting my groggy self there is a knock at my door.  Jim and Claire tell me they are riding in 15min do I want to come? I mumble a yes and try and get myself together.  Claire gives me a mojo bar so Im not riding on a totally empty stomach and I grabbed an apple in the lobby.  Feeling thoroughly disoriented and groggy I roll out for our first little hill climb ride. Forgot the garmin. Cant find one of my arm warmers or my camera. Yes I just woke up.

We again wove through little towns around Innsbruck, mid day today was a little greyer than yesterday but the roads and vistas are pretty incredible

A lot of these types of scenes rolling into little towns

Figuring out which way to go next

A canyon along the road

The ski jump from the olympics! It was all lit up in green the first night we rolled into town, pretty incredible.

I hobbled along in my groggy state with the help of more food from Claire and the kind assistance of Dan who stayed with me OTB.  The stats on todays ride was around 32miles and 2500ft I think.

The sun had come out while we were riding and we got to see the mountains when we left the pub!!!

These are the mountains we will hopefully be climbing over when we depart on Sunday. I say "hopefully" because if the weather is bad we will go around. And because I really havent thought about what it will be like to climb 1500m in 24km (thats about 4500ft in 14miles)  Ive been fighting off a cold for the last 2 weeks, hopefully my little sleep in this morning helped.

I havent been online nearly as much as usual and Im really enjoying my social media diet. Ill still continue to share but really the only thing Im keeping up with is my twitter feed (Tour gossip, mostly).

Mein blog, en Deutsche!

Blogger is too  smart for its own good. It knows Im in Austria so it changed my interface to German. 

I cant speak German but I can try if you like.

Im very tired and disoriented. My computer says its 2pm but my phone says its 11pm and my body is not sure what on earth is going on. I just ate a large pizza and some schwarze bier.  Im now noshing on some ritter sport and (oregon) hazlenuts. I do so love this part of the world.

We're staying at the posh Penz Hotel in Innsbruck for the next few days and I will take advantage of their FREE WIFI (score!) to make some updates and share pics.  Apparently we will be visiting some very remote places later in the tour so I have to take advantage of modern conveniences like interwebs and ATMs while I can.

The flight was long but turns out I didnt need to be entertained.  I sat next to an older gentleman, Manny, from the bay area who works in airplane manufacturing.  His background is chemistry which he has been using to produce some good wines in San Diego. He talked of leaving the corporate world to pursue wine making and food/wine pairing with his wife.  It made me think of my sister.  I told him that sounded like a great idea.  Also the flight had Hunger Games on the on-demand movies. Score again!

6 of the 10 riders are here.  Im rooming with Claire and I also met Greg, Dan and Alejandro tonight. Tomorrow will be bike building after breakfast, fingers crossed again that everything is functional after its flight across the world.

Weather is rainy and 15C  Afternoon showers have been common lately, hoping for some good rides between now and when our tour starts on Sunday to get the legs warmed up.  Alejandro is rocking a 34 in the back.  Makes me feel pretty nervous about my 28, but its what i got!

And so it begins!

After 8 months of physical preparation I sit in the San Francisco airport awaiting my departure to Munich Germany.  After an 11hr flight I will hopefully arrive to find my smiling tour guides, bag and bike all without hassle.  Fingers crossed!  My flight here was pretty uneventful except for the kid screaming like they were possessed. Yikes!

In chatting with some friends about racing a comment was made about how fun it is just to push yourself and see how you can do in a race. The competition aspect is "fun" and not a yardstick to stress yourself out over.  Competition has been hard for me as long as I can remember.  Usually Ive been totally focused on winning.  I would train so hard and put a ton of pressure on myself to hit that one small mark. I rarely if ever enjoyed the journey.  This started in the same way.  I took on a grueling training schedule that made me cranky and irritable.  The trip became a millstone around my neck.  Then I changed my thinking a few months ago, when I was telling a friend what I wanted to do next summer and he said 'why wait? what about this summer?'  Indeed, why wait?  So I let go.  I decided I didnt have to climb every mountain or ride with the big boys on my trip.  I wanted to have fun.  My body has come a long way and Im sure it will do amazing things, but instead of being stressed about performing to a certain expectation Im trying to just focus on enjoying the entire experience.  I knew my body was going to change in the last 8 months. What I didnt expect was how my mind changed as well. As crazy as things have been there has been a settling of sorts around what Im really wanting out of life right now.

Ive brought along several amusements for the flight.  A book my sister gave me, some geek magazines. I also brought my GoPro manual thinking I might actually read it and play with the camera a bit.  And Im making playlists.  I figured these climbs are going to be LONG so I may need some inspiration.  Heres a peak at my "climbing 1" playlist.  haha! a peak! :)

Incubus - Megalomaniac
NIN - Perfect Drug
Pearl Jam - Leash
TVoTR - Red Dress
Linkin Park - Bleed it out
STP - Naked Sunday
Lady Gaga - Scheisse
Ozzy - I dont wanna Stop (my theme song)
Rick Astley - Never gonna give you up
Wang Chung - Everybody Have Fun Tonight

So here I sit at the threshold of my big adventure.  Heading off alone to a foreign land where I have no comprehension of the language or customs, to ride what professional cyclists call the most difficult climbs in the world 3 years after I started cycling. I am at moments excited but right now mostly nervous. My thumbs are in danger of being picked raw.  I have completely overpacked like an obsessive mother with 5 kids. This is going to be awesome, terrifying, upsetting, thrilling, new and exciting... a real bonafide adventure.

Pressure and Much Rejoicing

So, sorry I didnt blog my whole BRP trip. Theres tons of unedited video, pics to be uploaded, etc that just havent happened.  Thats life. I guess I know to reign in the amount of video I take in the Dolomites. I think Ill be doing more point and shoot action there

So its a month from my trip to the land of the Giro.  I received my packet in the mail yesterday with all my trip prep goodies!

Maps! Foot! Cat!

Perhaps now would be the time to learn some Italiano.  Nah. Ive got a 13hr plane ride to do that.

This packet contains all the maps and descriptions of our daily riding. Its thick!!!

Thats a lot of maps! Ella is intrigued

The toll of training has become very apparent.  Ive been fortunate so far (knock on wood!) to have only minor issues physically but I have totally hit the wall mentally.  As I said to some friends today I have not just fallen off the training wagon. Ive fallen off and been run over by a semi.

I knew something was up on the BRP ride when I fell to pieces at the simple act of someone else (Brent) taking care of things for me.  How much had I been carrying on my own? I hadnt even realized how exhausted and strung out I was.  I dont want to ride on the road, I dont want to ride in the cold or overcast weather. I really just want a hug.  Fortunately I got some needed hammock time in this weekend

Ommmm

I have noticed myself becoming increasingly more irritated. Yes the weather sucks, but it seems to be an especially problematic thing for me this year (because Ive been riding in it since November most likely).  Ive been more short tempered and more volatile.

Today I experienced some seriously flagrant road rage unlike I have ever been subject to before.  It made me furiously mad.  I am a believer in the Law of Attraction, and while I dont claim I brought it on myself I think I'm attracting more of these events lately.

So Ive basically stopped training.  Yes, going to Italy in slightly less decent shape is a bummer, but a bigger bummer would be forcing myself to train these last few weeks and end up hating my bike.  Nothing would be worse than going on this trip Ive been preparing for this long and be miserable.  Im having a hard time motivating myself to ride and freaking out about losing my fitness level.

Clearly, I need more hammock time.

I have decided priority #1 for Italy is to enjoy myself.  If the weather is putrid do I really want to ride, or would I rather take the van that day and rest my legs?  Do I really care about grinding up every last famous climb? I know a big part of me will be saying 'but Jenn, when will you ever have this opportunity again !?'  It will be interesting balancing Ego and Id, well, as usual :)

So Im trying to be gentle and remind myself that its pretty damn silly to be fussing over my 'performance' on a luxury bike vacation. The fact is in 15days I will be off work for TWO MONTHS!!!

BRP Day 1: Is it all downhill from here??

I didnt particularly want to get out of bed, not having had the most restful night, but it was time to get some breakfast before our Grand Depart from the Holiday Inn Express in Waynesboro.  The sun was shining and it was a little brisk, perfect bike riding weather.  We gathered necessities, like water and nyan cat.

The HAMMER twins Scott and Brent

the power of NYAN compels you!

While we were loading up the van a few women also checking out were checking out our spandex.  Chatting with them I found out they were driving the parkway.  When I told them we were riding the parkway in 5 days they looked somewhat astonished.

"Is it all downhill from here?"

*grins*  "Nope, about 47,000ft of climbing"

About 7 miles later we found our way to the BRP.  L-R: Kevin, Scott, me and Brent.  Photo taken by Tom

This was before anyones butt started to hurt

And so we rode.  It was exciting and beautiful. The climbing started promptly at mile 1.  The weather was sunny and cool with some fairly wicked head winds.  After the first 10 miles we regrouped to chat about how we would like to ride the trip.  The consensus was generally everyone ride their own pace and work out SAG support as needed.  I know I dont enjoy riding when i feel like i have to keep up so this was fine with me.

We had a small snafu with our SAG that day and Kevin and I got locked out of the van.  Fortunately Tom, our awesome SAG driver, anticipated our predicament and cut his ride short to come back and check on us

Disco Tom to the rescue! This happens a lot

Tom (Disco Tom) is Scott's uncle and a generally all around awesome dude.  In his early 60s, he just did the entire 470 mile BRP RAAM style (no breaks, except a few cat naps) last October.  He was telling me about an upcoming adventure race he has in the next few weeks on the trip.  He also had fond memories of the Disco era. You can get your fill of water, food and the BeeGees in Tom's SAG van.  Tom's considerate attitude and BRP expertise made him a really awesome SAG driver for our trip. We were super lucky!

The last 20 miles of the day featured a 12 mile, 3700ft climb from the lowest point on the BRP to the highest point in VA.  The mountain in the distance is the destination, the bridge is the lowest point and a few miles before the start of the climb

 I decided to treat the climb as a mini Stelvio Pass, which I will be riding in July.  So I stubbornly stayed in my 21 gear all the way up, reserving my bottom 2 gears for the Italian climb, which will climb an additional 2300ft and top out at 8000ft. I was rewarded for my stupidity, I mean, badassedness, with two fairly sore quads at the end of the day, but I was able to shake it out mid day 2.  

Almost there

Get a load of those 1-litre water bottles!

View from the top!

It was pretty darn cold up there! I hadnt thought about that in my short sleeves.  Fortunately on the descent Brent and Scott (the hammer twins) who had finished an hour before Kevin and I came looking for us in the van.  I got a vest to descend the last few miles with to Peaks of Otter where we stayed right on the BRP at this awesome place!

The Peaks of Otter!

Brent really took care of me on this trip.  Its great to have a speedy, considerate friend up the road from you to prepare clothes, recovery beverages and drugs for you to come home to.

Hammer time! Not to be confused with EPO time.

We headed to the thriving metropolis of Bedford and had dinner at the Bedford Social Club.  I got a steak that ended up providing my lunch for the next few days.  We also stopped in the local grocery store for some snacks

date night dinner specials are.. inspiring ??

CHEEZY POOFS

We all pretty much passed out after our first big day on the road, after some ice cream of course.

BRP day 1 route

The Great Blue Ridge Adventure: Hello, world!

Wow the internet on my computer! Welcome back to the future.

Our grand BRP trip was aborted on Day 4 amidst truly awful weather conditions and the threat of thunderstorms the next day. One brave rider soldiered on but I was fine to quit (more on that later).  I had hoped to blog about each day as we rode but besides lack of internet access I was pretty tired each day and wanted to spend my spare moments taking the experience in rather than sitting in front of the computer.

In the end it was 3 days of great riding and 1 day of not so great riding. I learned a lot about my body.  I learned a lot about what motivates me to ride and what doesnt.  When we planned this trip out months ago I was gunning for 500mi/50,000ft to prepare for the Alps.  During this trip it became clear to me that numbers dont motivate me, enjoyment does.  It made me realize that there are probably going to be days in the Alps when I dont ride, or SAG out, in favor of riding at an enjoyable pace taking in the experience.

This was a really awesome experience.  Im excited to share my thoughts, photos and video over the next few days as I blog it out.  A lot, though, cant be captured in words or pictures. Like any grand adventure you really just need to experience it yourself.