A lot of things have happened to me on a bike.I've found love, I've been crushed by a shit brown Toyota, I've laughed and I've cried.
The last time I cried on my bike was at the top of a mountain in Spain in 1988. The last time I've seen another rider cry was at the top of Yushan in Taiwan in 2002.
In 1988 I was touring and then racing in Europe. I started a beautiful day riding fully loaded and climbed a series of mountains, the last of which had a road that eventually turned into a hand patted goat path with grades that bikes were never meant to ride. I spent hours convinced that the next bend or the next rubble strewn pitch was the last and that the top was just beyond.
When I finally did reach the top there was a small bench with small man sitting on it. I got off my bike, sat down and cried. I don't mean I sniffled while a tear rolled down my salt stained cheek, I mean I cried like a baby. It was all I could do.
The last time I saw another rider cry like this was at the top of YuShan Mountain in Taiwan. This is one of the top 10 highest paved roads in the world with the road reaching 3200m + . I suspect that the paved roads in the Andes or what ever other roads are higher than this have never been raced up by idiots on bicycles. And it's not just the elevation. I've ridden or raced the Pyrenees, The Alps and the Rockies but the mountains in Taiwan are different.
First off, there is never a section longer than 200m. It is constant switchbacks and winding roads with changing pitches including crazy 12% plus pitches even above 2500m. There's just no way to find a rhythm. It is not only physically demanding but mentally exhausting as well.
I was sitting in my team car, having just finished the stage that ended atop this behemoth, the motor was running and the heater blaring against the 4*C wind and rain when the door swung open and the last rider on our team to finish was thrust in beside me. He sat there for a moment and then it came; Heavy, billowing sobs of a man who has expended everything he had and doesn't even have the strength left to control his emotions.
This isn't to say that this happens to anyone who rides these kinds of mountains but racing them is a different story.
So here we were at zero dark:30 ready to start and I was hella glad that I was driving the team car instead of racing.
I was doing a standing feed at 2300m. I'd hurt my back a week earlier and was starting to feel better but a race like this would have done me in. Besides, years ago, when at my peak in terms of pure climbing I would have still been fodder for a race like this.So I set the guys up and drove off at 4:30am to get to the feed station we all agree was the most critical. Here I fed solid food and specific stuff like BCAA8000 to our riders while there was another neutral feed further up that had water and bananas run by the organizer.
I drove, sat and waited.
Then the first riders came by. Two pure climbers on their own. Beautiful.
A minute back was a small group of four. The another four. Then time.
Then Gavin. Struggling but tucked into another small group. I gave him 2 bottles and had a good look at his face. All I thought was how glad I was that it wasn't me.My other team mates came by over the next few minutes and then I hung around to pass out a few bottles to friends and other riders I knew from our area of the country I knew wouldn't have dedicated feeds and were relying on the organizer for water. I had BCAA8000 which was like being a Crack King on Junkie Mountain.
I passed out what I had and then drove towards the finish.
Gavin finished top 20 which is pretty good for a guy who isn't a pure climber. There was a 20% time delay in effect which DSQ'd all but the top 25 riders out of a few hundred.
I didn't see anyone cry but on the long drive back down the mountain I saw many, many riders struggling, more than an hour back, or sitting by the side of the road, their bike leaned up, with a stunned look on their face.
I could relate.
The End.
