Conserve energy and big hills were the theme today, as well as a touch of sunburn. Todays stage had a fast road start, then a 600m high hill, and a nice little downhill to a long bike path section, which was more like road riding than mountain biking. 40+km/h for a good section, and I was "that" person who sits in and does not do any work. Guilty as charged, and it felt good, then at the end of the long flat on a intermediate hill, a small group of us rode off the front of the group.
The conserve energy was for the brute of a hill at the end. A 1,000m vertical climb up to the snow line over about 10km, and my plan worked, as I climbed pretty comfortably on the last long climb. The downhill was on the World Mountain Bike Marathon course and was the most technical riding so far. I ate it a couple of times. The old saying of "if you look at the tree, you will hit the tree" is very true, as was loosing my balance on a small bridge and laying down softly in the mud. Lucky nobody was around for that one, as they would have good a good laugh as well.
The destination for today was Kirchberg. Another beautiful mountain town, and more a ski resort than a summer resort. The hotel I am staying in did not appreciate me trying to take my clean bike up to my room. They should have seen the bath after I had showered and done some laundry. The bike was the cleanest thing about me! Now the bike is locked up outside the hotel, with a cluster of other bikes, and I need to put it in bike storage, but that is about 1km away. That can wait, and the hotel can get used to having the bikes outside. At least mine is out of the way, unlike some of the others.
I thought I would add a little on my daily routine as it is amusing - wake up, eat, ride bike, eat, clean bike, eat, massage, eat, and eat again later then sleep. Life is simple at the moment, and I am not sure if I spend more time eating or riding my bike.
Tomorrow, is another day with a 1,200m climb out of the gate, a good long downhill, then flat and another 700m climb at the end. The end climb is what I would call gratuitous climbing as we bike pretty much past the finish liner, then do the climb. Destination is Kaprun.
Opps, almost forgot. Came in 19th in masters today, 4hrs 15mins, and that moves me up to 21st in the masters category. The fast guys are still darn fast!
The view from the hotel. There are pro teams here, and I am jealous as they have people to hand out water on the course, then to clean and tune the bikes at the end of the day...
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