Flatlanders Paradise, 180km Swiss Epic

[Marek]

Over the long weekend I had the pleasure of staying in Switzerland with ex ACC rider David Findlay. On Friday David kindly took me to one of the hardest climbs he knows in his local area so he could show off his climbing skills and basically put me in a bad mood.

A good 15km climb which had sections which were around 20%, had a tunnell which was pitch black for about 200metres and was basically pure hell. In the tunnell I felt so disorientated I nearly fell off, it was a weird feeling, almost like getting onto rollers.

As I was in Switzerland for a flat cyclosportive, the Lac de Leman Tour, which is a 180km circumference around the lake, my gearing for the climb was 39/25 on my cosmics. I had to walk on two 20% sections as my legs were shot to pieces, much to the amusement of Mr Findlay who was using a compact chainset. Anyone who knows David, he loves to throw out the punishment on others.

Thankfully after one 20% section a tractor towing a big metal thing caught me up. I hung onto the back of it and got a tow for about a km, was light relief and good fun, the tractor driver thought it was funny as well.

Sunday came and it was time for the cyclosportive. Now after the beating I was given on the Friday, I decided I would sit in and take it relatively easy. Mr Findlay now has a little group he goes cycling with every week, made up of an ex Mountain Bike pro from Germany (Thomas) and an ex pro road racer (Eric) from the US. The ex pro road racer had bought along another ex pro (Tim) who only gave up a couple of years ago. I was worried about the company and how fast we were going to go.

Well, I was right. For the first 40km I don't think we went under 40km per hour. In fact we were doing around 45km per hour on most sections. Now this is a flat area and it is fantastic fun, but every now and then I felt that I should do the odd pull, it was tough, the wind was up and it was raining all the time. I decided to hide at the back while David and his mates did most of the pulling in the group we were with.

After a couple of hours I started to feel a bit better and the speed had toned down a bit, basically the wind had gotten up. But in under two hours we had already completed 80km of the 180km ride. After going into France and hitting Evian the road surface got a bit rough and the pace went down a bit as we hit a few small rises, but nothing too noticeable.

Then the mechanicals struck within 200metres Erics spoke went and Davids crank fell off. We stopped and the group carried on without us. We managed to fix the spoke and also get Davids bike back up and running, but we lost about 10 minutes off our schedule.

Then we blasted into Geneva and there were just the 5 of us. It was quite tough as the wind was in our faces all the way up to Geneva. But turning out of Geneva and now the wind was behind us.

Here we picked up the pace again and were back over 40kmph. Just the other side of Geneva at about 120km we decided to stop and fill up water bottles and get some food. The people manning the station were surprised we had got there so quick.

As we were filling up a largish peleton came flying past. We put on our water bottles and went for it. After about a mile we caught them up. I fancied sitting in, but oh no, David heads to the front and starts picking up the pace. Most of this group looked like they had opted for the shorter version of the route which started at Evian, so they were looking reasonably fresh. With only about 30km to go attacks started to take place and people were going ballistic. It was like the end of a Surrey League race except it was after already doing 150km.

As we came to the finish people were trying to get up to the front, we were now going through Lausanne park on a road the width of Crystal Palace track, and unfortunately I did not quite know where the finish was, and they had put it just after a corner so no sprint really took place, shame as I felt great, but reckon I got about 4th in our group of 25 that came over together.

So, we did 180km in 4 hours 52 mins. All you guys out there who like cyclosportives but don't like mountains then this is the one for you. Although the weather was bad, the route is flat and great fun. I loved it and being able to walk and talk after a cyclosportive has its advantages. I will go back again and try and get under 4 hrs and 30 mins. The winner did 4 hrs 24 mins.

Pasta and a beer afterwards were just what the doctor ordered, and the sun came out when we finished.

Cheers

Marek...

[Ian A4size]

Sounds great Marek, Dave is an awesome power machine, i am so glad he is out of the country.
He has ripped everyones legs off in the ACC peloton, perhaps he needs to ride with George, Paul,John and the other beatles.

[Marek]

Ian, while I was doing this ride I was thinking about you and Paul Tunnell and how much you would have enjoyed it. Ripping the legs off all those skinny climbers, fantastic.

Cheers

Marek...

[Sylv]

Aaah, the ride from Geneva to Lausanne ... Versoix, Nyon, Coppet, lovely clean Swiss roads ... that used to be my playground, we used to do it on bmx bikes Good report and hard work it sounds. Rest assured the weather was crap here too.

[Andrew G]

Sounds good Marek, another flat one to add to the Ronde Picardie. Apparantly that one gets a nasty head wind as well.

[-Adam-]

Nice on Marek, sounds like you had a much better weekend than me!

[Sylv]

Switzerland (Valais) yesterday

[img]http://www.lematin.ch/var/plain/storage/images/contenus/editorial/articles/actu/suisse/un_sursaut_d_hiver_qui_seme_la_panique/4598649-1-eng-GB/un_sursaut_d_hiver_qui_seme_la_panique_lmo_article_485.jpg[/img]

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

[quote]had a tunnell which was pitch black for about 200metres and was basically pure hell. In the tunnell I felt so disorientated I nearly fell off, it was a weird feeling, almost like getting onto rollers.

[adrian]

Hmm, Valais - excellent wine region. Best-kept secret in Switzerland, etc.

Great report - stirring stuff.

[adrian]

I found the variety really quite amusing. Some diffident and demure, others coquettish to the point of sluttishness

[Sylv]

[quote="seanieh.ThePengeAvenger©"]
ps, Ahhh, zee memories they flood back