Stages 1 & 2
There was no wasting time getting into the climbing this year. Stage 1 started with 10k of climbing total, a 26k climb to start, then essentially the equivalent of Mt Ascutney in the middle, and a final climb toward the end. 800 racers packed into the narrow paved and cobbled streets of Imst, with a stop and go rippling through the field as the streets narrowed or turned. Every once in a while there would be a chance to look around and drink in the turquoise lakes below, the jagged rocky peaks above, and lush forests in between. Beyond that, the focus was getting a good tempo climbing, remembering to eat and drink, and figuring out how to race together as it was our first event like this. We ended up getting separated as I climbed ahead and then Jeff passed me on descents. In the end we finished 10th mixed team out of 52, and a whopping 45 minutes behind the lead mixed team of Sally Bingham and Ben Thomas, who had amazingly finished 20th team overall. In contrast to Imst, the set up of the finish area, race expo, etc. in Nauders was close to our hotel, and on our way to walk to the pasta party I commented to Jeff how it was kinda nice that things were more central and easier to get to. The pasta party signs dumped us at a shuttle, however, which brought us to the Nauders ski center down the road. We entered the base lodge only to realize our journey was just beginning, as signs directed us to take the gondola up the mountain.
Dinner was served at the skihouse at the top of the gondola, in view of spectacularpeaks. (The extent of my German consists of combining English words together to make newwords, like "panoramarestaurant")
However, the ski lodge was blocking the view down toward the valley and I really wanted to get a nice panorama, so in a rush of probably very bad decision-making I insisted we climb up the ski slope to get a better vantage point.
Stage 2 was a relatively "easy" stage of only 56k with around 7k of climbing. We passed a mixed team near the top of the second climb, but they repassed us because the woman descended like a ninja and I like a ninny. Jeff motored us back up to them and another mixed pair in a group with two other teams about 10k from the finish. I was already in a testy mood due to having to ride over stupid wet bridges and down even stupider wooden stairs in the woods. Strike that, I drew the line at riding down said stairs, and cyclocrossed them. Jeff was testy because we had to stand in the woods while a congo line of 50 people in front of us tip toed, blundered, crashed, and wept their way down the enduro section, a symphony of Garmin beeps reinforcing the unacceptable lack of alacrity. The terse conversation went something like this:
“Let’s sit in this group for a bit since it’s flat"
“We’re going at 50k”
“That’s 7k from the finish”
“They’re barely pedaling!”
<Jeff rides toward the front>
“Hey! Stay behind them!”
“My tactic is just to ride on the front and ride them off my wheel”
“No, just no.”
“Fine you call the shots, I’ll just make watts.”
“Then when we attack, we go all in and go for it, but from behind.”
<Jeff rides to the front>
“Get back here!”
<Jeff is feeling caged>
“You tell me when you want to go, and I’ll follow you. BUT GET BACK HERE! NOT FROM THE FRONT”
So we found a hill about 1.5k from the finish and Jeff unleashed all of his wattage fury while I clung to his wheel gasping in pain, so much so that I missed this view entirely as we finished:
There was no need to take an extra hike after dinner this night as we hiked 900 feet in total up to the gondola and then back to our hotel before all was said and done! No wonder the Europeans stay so lean if dinner involves 2 hours of hiking and long rides up ski slopes to procure food! However, this did give the chance for some photo-taking:
The dinner feast was amazing, both for hungry stomachs and eyes as well:
Even the bathroom:
In true Swiss style, we were even serenaded by some alphorn players. That said, I'm pretty sure they played the same song over and over, and they were horribly off key.
It's worth mentioning that our hotel was in the most heavenly little village too:
I would have stayed up there in the little haven of Vulpera for the whole trip!