From 16. – 23. July 2011 “teams of two” take on a complete traverse of the magnificent Alps
MTB routes through the most beautiful mountain ranges of Germany, Austria and Italy
race - catering to pro riders as well as ambitious amateurs wanting to gauge their performance.
Are we ready? Um, pass. We have the all clear from wonder-working physio John Gibbons (despite Peter Bragg's best attempts to destroy Sam on a 17mph rollercoaster back from Oakley - on mountain bikes into a headwind)... we have successfully prized one bike into a box and lovingly sealed all the cracks with gaffer tape... we have converted our spare room into "operation kit zone" ... and dutifully printed off a small tree's worth of confirmation emails, boarding passes and instructions.
Suddenly our most impressive achivement to date - riding from Lands End to John O'Groats - seems quite pedestrian in comparison to this. Indeed, the conversion from "roadie" to "baggy shorts" wearer has not been an easy one, not just because of Sam's deep-rooted affection for his Dynamo lycra ;) Fortunately long-suffering, equally wonder-working coach Pollyanna Fitzgerald has put me right on my cornering technique. Apparently ramming hard on the front brake and turning your handlebars through 90 degrees as you corner on a loose gravel descent is not a winning combination - and there I was wondering why I spent so much time spread-eagled across the trail in my first forays on knobbly tyres. Sam of course had all the skills in bucket loads before we started but acquiesced, to quote wise brother Tom that "natural talent is all well and good but sadly the only way to get good on a bike is to spend a whole lot of hours riding around in big circles".
But ready or not, on Saturday 16th July we will line ourselves up on the start line, flying our Shutt Velo colours and hopefully not doing them too much of a disservice. Wish us luck!
Photo courtesy of Craig Fletcher and Shutt Velo Rapide
1 comment:
Our fundraising page is here:
Naomi
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