TRULY A MEMORABLE DAY FOR CANADIAN CYCLISTS !
Throughout the Giro I have had the opportunity to congratulate those wearing the Maglia Rosa but missed the important day , the finish ! Ryder has achieved a unique victory as a Canadian and will no doubt go on to inspire countless others to follow in his footsteps ! Steve Bauer and Eric Worlberg , both of whom I have met , will no doubt be remembered for their own achievements on the bike , but a GRAND TOUR Victory , stands out like nothing else !
Throughout the Giro I have had the opportunity to congratulate those wearing the Maglia Rosa but missed the important day , the finish ! Ryder has achieved a unique victory as a Canadian and will no doubt go on to inspire countless others to follow in his footsteps ! Steve Bauer and Eric Worlberg , both of whom I have met , will no doubt be remembered for their own achievements on the bike , but a GRAND TOUR Victory , stands out like nothing else !
For me the ride from east of the start at Male , yesterday morning , started with the expectation of cresting the Passo Tonale , and anything extra , was a bonus . Arrived at the Partenza about 8am and after checking out the Sponsors Village in the valley , I came across an Aussie family of four that I had bumped into in Treviso , the day before , in the Pinerello shop . They had followed my suggestion to drive to Trento , after the racers left Treviso , but did not make it to the Per Corso as it passed through the nearby region .
Local vendors started my day with Coffee , Cake and Crepes and then I headed over to the merchandising area where I learned that the seven year old , had won his age group , under 9’s State Champion Cycle Race , in Dubbo recently . No doubt we will hear more from the family later about what took place after I had introduced them to Liquigas personnel .
Along the day’s Per Corso was the Squadra Pullman parking area , which was filling up fast when I arrived . Had chats with Sky people , who were fairly positive that Mark would not retain the Red Maglia if Rodriguez achieved fourth or better on Saturday , and so it turned out , but put it down to good preparation for the TDF and Olympics !
Speaking with Garmin Guys I expressed my belief that Ryder would be wearing Pink that night as I felt sure that he was capable of cutting out at least 18 secs on the climbs that day . My boast that I always got what I wanted fell flat , since Ryder lost 14 secs leaving the door ajar for Rodriguez to , with a great TT performance , achieve the final Podium in Milano !
Today saw Ryder achieve a personal best and surpass “ Porita “ by a margin of 16 seconds ! Can you not believe why every second counts , when 23 days of racing , finishes on a knife edge ?
With little more than an hour in hand and having given the teams an arriverderchi , since I was not going to Milano , I set off along the route . Crested the Passo Tonale and was through Edolo before I had to dismount to allow the Peloton to pass by on their way to the Mortirolo through several other peaks . I headed back towards a crossing of the Passo Gavia which brought me into Bormio .
Once again I was at the foot of the Stelvio but this time I set out with a couple of Americans . Rich was with his wife on a visit to see Jim , currently domiciled in Padua . Carrying a few extra pounds he told Jim to go for the finish and then Jim upped the pace to the extent that I let him get the better of me . He told me later that he had seen me at the peak in the finish area . I on the other hand made a few coffee and cake stops along the way but missed all the BBQs I have found in the past . About 6km from the top the “ Alpinists “ had set up their stand and were kind enough to donate a couple of cups of coffee laced with Grappa , which gave an initial surge but caused me to first don a skillet and then an old rain jacket to preserve body heat as the wind had got up and was knocking me about as I rode against it on some of the climbs averaging the 9% but peaking at 14% . Only in the final couple of Kilometres was I glad of a push to maintain a bit of pace .
Friday night I had set the bike up for the day with the black wheels carrying the cassette with 25 but in the morning rush grabbed the red wheels with a cassette of 21 ! As previously mentioned I did not take the “ IL Giro “ to Denmark and in the rebuild after having it resprayed I had re equipped it with the 55 and 42 chainset . Perhaps it would have been better to have carried a 39 chainring to swop in . Another difficulty , which luckily did not arise , was that the red set was a 16 spoker and having had a casstte side spoke pop on Wednesday on the way up the Passo Gaiu , I was reluctant to use any great amount of force in the day’s ascents . The black wheel set was equipped with 32 spokes and Jim commented on my choice of gearing , as did a few others along the road .
Fortunately for me I arrived back at the area that Jim had parked his car and was able to get a lift through to where I left from in the morning . Photos are not all going where they are assigned , but you can see how high the snow was on the Passo Gavia !
When Bruno my host saw the condition I was in , he first gave me a beer and then reminded me that he was born on Australia Day 66 years ago and that I no longer bounced when I crashed . On getting up this morning , the aches and pains from hitting the tunnel wall on the descent from the Stelvio were only too apparent . Luckily apart from grazes and ripped clothing there is nothing that time won’t heal . Had I worn the new outfit that Rudy had provided on Friday , I would have been very much more annoyed about my misadventure ! On this occasion the head did not suffer , but like Insurance , better to have it , than risk the consequences ! In another Blog I will explain why I feel that Rudy has saved my life
