RACE RECon - Part II

And we are back for more!

This month, I'm going to go back to the Tortour course to do a pre-race final reconnaissance. This is going to be the same course as last month, but this month I will aim to do it in one day. So 355km from Sion to Jens, with commute to the starting line by train.

This will have to take place before the race itself (dah!) which starts on August 19th, but close enough to ensure we capture potential race day issues. So expect me on the course on Monday August 16th. Maybe see you out there....

Departure from Sion in the night, ride to Les Diablerets/Col du Pillon via Aigle, down into Gstaad and Saanen, to Bulle but almost reaching Fribourg on the way, then to Yverdon vs. Moudon, and from there along the lakes to Jens (which is close to Bienne).

RACE RECon - Part II

Subtitle: Interrupted by cars...

All started well with an easy, super fast 50km through Valais leading to the foothill of the Alpes Vaudoises. Then, all hell broke loose. As it turns out, everyone with a car or a motorcycle is aiming for that area on a Saturday morning, to the point where I turned around two thirds up to Pillon and took the train home.

In stretch of 10km covered in 15 minutes, I counted 373 cars. At one particular point where the road was affected by traffic, there were more than 150 cars in line waiting to get through the makeshift light. I saw many cars heading up with one or two mountain bikes on them, despite the fact that there is a really beautiful train winding up that area, dropping people at the base of the resorts.

I decided to scratch for safety reasons. I rarely feel in danger on a bicycle, but that day I did. On the way up, the road works its way through a tunnel opened to the valley on one side. The tunnel is a quarter-mile straight piece of tarmac. Mid way into it, I saw a car coming in the other direction pulling out into my lane to overtake another car. It was pretty close to me by the time it pulled back. I guess they were in a real hurry...

So not a lot of impact this month, but I live to fight another day :). I'm already designing the next challenge so stay tuned!