TransAndes debrief

I really enjoyed the terrain, vistas, weather, people and overall experience. I'd really like to come back again. Cindy has expressed interest in doing the challenge version for the last three days, which is much more fun riding and just less pounding your head against the wall till it cracks. They do a good job of finding fun stuff to ride, with some that's harder too. Reminds me a bit of TransRockies 5 years ago.

Chileans are organized and calm. Even when foreigners would congregate on small hotel restaurants, join into one massive tab, rearrange the tables, and tell stories all aft with the South African's killing their cerveza supply, they weren't even remotely fazed... just nice and calm.

Food is fantastic in restaurants. Just tastes so good, and like there's very few preparatory steps and additives. Very natural tasting. Little light on the grainy mustard, hot sauce and pepper availability, but I'll try to fix that next time. Race food was typical camp food. Afternoons were good, dinners I had were good. Breakfast did the job I'd say, but not much more. Chilean wine offered at every meal tasted good. I need to design a mini spice kit for the road. Their idea of mess kits is good, but getting them cleaned just led to another line. A FIFO system at washing might be better than keeping "your own" plates each time.

I learned a lot more about Trish. She was super fun to ride with and I have more admiration/pride for her abilities and who she is through this experience by a long shot. She's so mild conversation, but has a huge killer instinct when it comes to competing. Deadgoat MVP! So calm all week, organized, super driven, never weak on the bike, and practising that Spanish! Great partner.

Superthanks to Cristobal Garcia for being the first to stop for Trish. He was riding mixed and was quite strong, and he expressed dismay (ok, let's say he was downright livid) that as he stopped a massive group of the Carmichael people went by, seemingly without care or just oblivious to someone who could benefit from some help, (and help like pronto). He then went to a farmhouse to call the police to get them to call the medics, which is why they were at that nearby corner. Very thoughtful. The medics were efficient and very nice, kudos to them. Superthanks also to John Ramsden for doing up the bandage roadside then later doing the staples for Trish.

Everybody knows Steve and Gerry are great riders, great beer drinkers, and great storytellers. Nothing changes!

My camping mat is 10 years old and it appears most new ones are half the size. I think it's time to upgrade. That makes a difference in a race duffel; especially if I can then fit an A1/mustard/tobasco kit. I've spent, and will continue to spend, enough time living out of race duffel bags to make that worth it.

I've brought a cold weather sleeping bag over bag for last few years, all it's designed to do is move the frost layer out on a winter bag. It's awesome cause it packs to the size of a watermelon without compression. Then I wear my clothes to stay warm if it's cold and save space. I was cold a few nights after losing my icebreaker sweater. I think it's time to get a compact, light, 15% warmer bag. Or maybe just a silk liner would suffice. We'll see.

Icebreaker merino stuff is awesome. Warm wet or dry, never stinks. Can bike, sleep or lounge in it. Excellent way to shrink the packing by needing less different stuff.

It's fun to watch bike trends and technology change. All these Cannondale 29er hardtails are lighter than my first road bike. I bet they'd be nice for this type of race. But not once during 6 days do I not love the Scalpel. It just works for me; I love the geometry and feel. It's been through a lot. Being realistic though, it might need a refresh if BCBR/TR/Breck all happen on that bike this year.

The big Carmichael group here is interesting. High price training and event package. Insular in culture from rest of race. Sets up aid stops 3m ahead of race provided one, instead of perhaps 3m after in same spot, which would make sense to me. This facilitates their people being able to yell at nearly every rider who rolls up just seeing a stop: "Carmichael group only, you go to next one". The girls working for them irked me early by being aggressive line cutters for dishes, silverware, etc. At the end, what matters is the event, scenery, I guess result to some, all for the combined experience. It wasn't immediately visible to me that *that* experience was going to create a better memory. To each their own. Amongst the race participants from various parts of the world whom we chatted to during the week, it did seem to do a good job of reinforcing American abroad stereotypes.

Speaking of training, it's amazing what a winter of 90 min intensity trainer rides can do for fitness in the off season. Felt good this race. Day 2 the climbs were so steep I couldn't even granny gear without blowing through my threshold, but was fine after that.

TransAndes Day 6 - Termas de Menetue to Pucon

Final day was a 52km sprint to Pucon. Lots of road and gravel, little bit of climbing. We chased onto our front row starting competition after the first few climbs. We did cat and mouse on the rollers, and Trish apparently had nothing but jet fuel for breakfast cause the fire in her belly was stoked.

On the 10k of road we did essentially a neutral section with them on our wheel. I soft pedalled as to not burn out for the hills. Once we got to the gravel climbs, Trish started to fire off bullets. We talked about just sitting in, as there's no need to put in time, and 8 minutes is essentially insurmountable on a stage like this.

We hit a downhill with a bend at the bottom and Trish went a bit wide and had a minor wipe out. Picked up the bike and hopped on for the hill. I slowed down to see, cross chained, then broke my f'ing chain. Ended up having to do two quicklinks. Or I'd call them moderately prompt links. Probably wasted 8 minutes while Trish was solo with the team. I had confidence she could hold in. So by the time I got my act together, I was settling in for the mental task of the best time trial I could muster, and I was stoked as the light rain, cool, and terrain with fast gravel corners were perfect. Also plenty of people ahead now to catch for mini breaks, and the rollers I could do.

So head down for 10 mins as hard as I could go, then come to a straight and see a group of people in a gaggle at the side of the road. Then as I near I see John Ramsden's jacket (doctor who intubated the Shimano mechanic who got shocked by touching a tent pole to a power line after day 4) and he's talking to... oh no it's Trish!

So Trish had a high speed spill on the gravel. Said it didn't even hurt, and when she got up she was surprised it was even bleeding. But it was, a lot. Big elbow/forearm cut, and flap open on the knee. She had a bandage on that was soaked. We regrouped, and soft pedalled onward. Stopped at aid 1 but decided to keep rolling. Her arm was sore on the bumps. The Codigo33 emergency crew was at the T intersection a few kilometers later and we bailed for cleaning and prep for stitches. I held sterile water, tucked her into a blanket, and tried to draw attention away every time the guy wanted to show her the flaps of skin. Trish was pretty unfazed by it all. After cooling down for a half hour standing in the shade and cool breeze with intermittent sprinkles, I wasn't hot on riding, plus I had to go find bag three for Trish and get stuff ready for her at the end. We're a pretty fast DNF at least!

Jumped in an F150 Shimano truck and cruised in. Saw both the other mixed teams finish, they just looked at me funny like what was I doing there with a jacket on. Specialized was super nice and marvelled at Trish's strength, and the above picture kind of explained the rest. Giant team wants to do BCBR.

Steve had a fast day. Gerry all smiles at the line.

Termas de Menetue

Nice lodge. They're expanding the restaurant patio toward the pool. Two more equivalent sized buildings to the left with hot pools inside. I like the natural wood construction.

TransAndes Day 5 - Termas de Menetue to Termas de Menetue

Nice camping in the same spot again. Afternoon food at the lodge has been good (breakfast pretty thin/slow); pool is great.

Many said today was the hardest day. Fortunately Trish and I didn't agree!

We started today ~3 minutes up on a hard charging Specialized team who was attacking at every opportunity. Course was say 15-20km flat, 15-20 up, 15-20 down, then 15-20 return flat, for I think 78 in total.

The first 4k of neutral weren't really, as the pace was high and the pushing started right away. There was only two hills before a long flat stretch, we crested in good place and got to work eating dust for the next 40 mins. Spit and snot came out all black thereafter. Ugh. Mary McConnelug was smart having a dust mask. We got in some decent pacelines, then it was just me pulling Trish and a pack of others for a while. After reading excerpts of Scar Tissue that Cindy is working on, and the part about how the Chili Peppers wrote Give it Away, I felt less motivated to keep a tight lid on extra energy. So I just gave it away... then dug in to stay with Trish on the climb.

We saw our rivals a minute ahead on the road climb, and we just soft pedalled and ate before the massive spike up in the middle of the course. After aid 1 the climbing started in earnest - granny gear or walking trail that was super steep and say moderate technical. Trish of course has no need to dismount on this. We see the team ahead, girl is riding and guy is walking + pushing. Other people are walking. Trish takes the outside crap line and spins by on a steep part. I'm 10 feet behind and get glorious view of this deadgoat hall of fame moment. The girl lets out something in a whiny tone, hops of bike, and guy pushes both. Perfect. I ride by cause now's not a hot time to show the beads of sweat rolling off my brow, and once I pass they start bickering back and forth in debate. It couldn't have been better. Next time you see Trish, a cheers to this deatgoat moment is in order.

We keep climbing and putting in time, then it gets to forested trail that has big logs, ruts and steeps that are hike a bike. The team are true competitors as they pull it back together, and guy can push so strong for both on the hike that they reel us in and pass just before the crest (I think they also knew exactly where to turn on the jets before the crest).

Trish drops in to chase on the descent. I stop, eat, put on my gloves (off on climbs as it's so hot). I'm having a blast, and come up first to the girl. Trish had passed both somehow, and guy was chasing her and girl was holding on. I deke by the girl, the guy sees this at a wide spot and pulls over, and off we go on some really sweet singletrack around a beautiful high elevation mountain lake. Just a great trail. We spin away doing our thing.

Eventually we get to a super steep loose dust descent then gravel road with rollers where they catch up. Headwinds complete the picture. No way to achieve any separation practically speaking, so we sit in, and she gets pushed up every hill. Trish sits on the guys wheel and accelerates over each top, and if there's any help from me it's out of their sight. This plays headgames with them and forces 10 hard pedal strokes for them over each top.

They go intense on a downhill, and turns out they know a big suspension bridge is coming. We pull off the road and try to pass, but they were smart getting in first as the trail is pure dust. We have to hang back to see the surface, and even then Trish has a little wipeout.

They walk the hanging bridge first and attack on the downhill road. Smart move gets them 30 seconds. Trish goes across the bridge first, and I ask the guy if it's necessary to walk. He says everyone does cause it sways. But I ask if it's totally necessary. He said I could ride. Talk about vertigo - big gaps in the boards, but not as much as a mountain bike tire. Plus sitting on a saddle, the entire railing is below my handlebars. Sweet. We roll off and hit the jets on the downhill to aid 2, which is 2km away. They knew this too and loaded her up with drinks he carried so she blew by. We were dry but I took Trish's bottle to fill; Trish chased her.

It took me quite a while of uncomfortable tempo with an extra bottle in my back and my cheeks full of potatoes to catch on - just saw all three of them on the other side of a creek crossing. They had friends there handing them a bottle while rolling. Trish was ahead on a loose climb of baseball sized rocks, and she drilled it. They were ahead of me, on the two lines, pushing. They simultaneously dismounted and put bikes across the trail. I splashed through the river at full speed to take momentum up. I decided to go left, and it was all basketball sized rocks. I'd either look like a dolt and have some really dipshit wipeout or perhaps make it... and fortunately I Stappler'd out of the climb and made it. We hit the jets on the downhill and had a good gap. I pulled on the gravel road, then we saw 3 guys up ahead. Trish dug in and we caught on.

The three Chilean guys were aware of the competition, and didn't appear keen to have a freeloading pair on the last 20k of headwind... but we needed them to save me severe burnout. Making friends is easy with a headwind though. I got in a few big pulls, two other guys did say 25% each, and Trish and one tired guy held on.

Last 3k had a couple climbs then rolled in, the group just thanked us and let us roll in ahead, except for one dude who seemed to want to put in his 30 seconds more. Not a problem for us.

Bam! Checked my watch, got two big cokes and bananas, and counted minutes. Started they day 3 min up roughly (unless I missed another revision), and put in 5!

Cindy got the day off from logistics for running and pool time. Yesterday was more adventurous as Juan's girlfriend tried riding the challenge event for the last three days, so Cindy got to drive his Diesel 4Runner to the finish, sin directiones, sin Espanol, and sin petroleo (until a stop). How's that for a surprise Chilean pop quiz?

We've been sitting poolside to relax. Got in my first two 10 minute exchange the right ideas through crummy Spanish conversations yesterday and today with people asking about the race. Haven't seen Steve yet other than first climb, I think the relative lack of hiking will be good for his blister situation. Hear Gerry didn't start today but I don't know.

TransAndes Day 4 - Termas de Conaripe to Termas de Menetue

First, the idea of riding from hotspring to hotspring through the Andes is a really good one, if you're into mountain biking.

Really enjoyable day. Gravel road climb off the start, some flats to cross a valley, then a 20km climb to the high point, followed by downhill to the finish with a few km of flat in the other valley. Roadie day in some ways, beautiful views of volcanos along the way. Great scenery overall in this part of the world.

We climbed hard off the start, and dabbled with some pushing due to some of Trish's gears skipping till we worked out some barrel adjuster strategy. Everyone else pushes to the max.

On the valley floor there was a bunch of singletrack that led Trish to get frustrated with the riding "skills" of the field, and did sweet blazing passes of handfuls at a time. I did a bunch of work on the flat keeping us in a group to draft, burnt a few matches.

We eased into the big climb, and right off the bat the Specialized Chilean team saw us and started pushing. Trish just stormed by and we didn't look back. I'd boost her over the steep to flat transitions to get her up to middle ring, and off we went on our own. I was feeling tired by aid 1, and chowed on potatoes as Trish motored off. Had to chase back on uphill with potatoes in my cheeks which took 10 minutes. Climb was long long, top was shaded in a beauty forest though. So hot at the top. I forgot to mention earlier, but the last few days when I'm completely strung out on the climbs, sweating as much as possible, I've really enjoyed the cool refreshing burst of energy from hot peanut butter Gu's. They should do egg nog too.

So I kept telling myself the top was near, just empty out and keep going, as I had caught Trish and was setting pace. That willpower worked until a last steep climb she spun up and I just gulped peanut butter for a second in the sun.

Didn't matter, downhill was a blast and easy to make up 10 seconds on. Long downhill on nice trail, then road. We screamed into aid 2, and as we were almost ready to leave, the other mixed team spotted us as they rolled in. They descend fast. The girl rolled on and dude grabbed stuff then took off. We caught on, then just sat in, as results showed us 12 min up (more on this math later). He did a large number of hero pulls, but eventually realized on a net downhill, separation wasn't going to happen. On the flats I pulled with another Canadian guy, and they sat on. I think if he pulled he would have just rode 15km/h in protest.

Turned left with 3k to go up a steep climb and she launches. He moves in for the push, and Trish follows. Unwilling to yield time at the end, I push Trish hard. Road flattens, then it happens again. Top of that one he looks over and I just smile. After he looks away I gasp for breath as I'm not made out of that many high Watt intervals!

We descend the hill, and at the bottom two cars try to pass each other (toward each other) on a narrow road. They squeak through better and make a gap. They look back, see it, and hammer. We think this is cheesy, and hammer to get back up to prove a point they don't get a second today, especially not like that.

Steve came in a couple mins after and liked the day. No dismounting, no blister pain. He's rocking his category.

We didn't see Gerry come in later but he sounds sore.

Tomorrow is supposed to be very tough. Despite the 12 min gap yesterday and no seconds yielded today, we're now 3 min ahead only. No idea really how that works. We jockeyed back and forth today and burnt some matches, so who knows.

The food at the lodge is great, we skipped the tent food. The pools are nice.

Termas de Conaripe

Good place to relax post ride.

TransAndes Day 3 - Huilo Huilo to Termas de Conaripe

Nice dinner last night and a good sleep in the cabin helped - plus a shaded, lower percent grade climb to ease us into the biggest climbing day yet at 2,496m.

After the first climb section, we dropped down a steep eroded cut that had a lot of traffic to a beach of a pristine lake with a volcano in the background. Beauty. From there it was a pretty serious hike, motivated by our competition teams in sight. We passed both and kept moving as fast as we could. Finally got to a long fast gravel descent, with the first aid station about 12k of mountains past where it was suggested to be - so felt a bit dry and hungry by then. We got going quick, but both other mixed teams caught us.

Climbed hard on a La Ruta last day special type climb. Some guy's Garmin registered over 100F apparently, I just sweat like a madman. Trish was a couple meters behind the whole way, until one time I shoulder checked and she was taking a walking break. We regrouped with a little bike double push, a gel, and we were off again with one team behind and one in front, both pushing like mad. I drank a whole bottle on that climb, then went to switch my other bottle from my pocket and... realized I left it at the feed zone after oiling chains. Oops. Not a good spot to go dry. Trish had a second bottle, and from here to aid 2 was net down, had an awesome "dirt jump" track, then gravel road.

The descent was awesome. I came really close to hitting two cows, but other than that it was just jumps and soft dust. At the bottom we hooked left on a path, and I heard crazy sounds in the bush and the bush rustling, then a pig burst out from the left and sprinted in front of me. Relieved, I just chased along, but it would do the smart thing and turn off the trail. Finally it stopped, did a 180, and came right back at/past me, and went back to Trish. Funny little guy was probably having more excitement than usual.

Road to CP2 was nice, fast and fun. We then looped back on some single track along the river that was all smiles... which evaporated thereafter as the last 10k were headwind, rutted farm road climb, muck crossings, barbed wire, overgrown bushes, logs, rocks, and everything that made momentum for more than 25m at a time impossible. Got a quick descent to the Termas de Conaripe. Nice spot. Good food. Lots of muffin tops being tanned and spa'd at this place.

Steve didn't find the hiking compatible with his blister. Gerry survived just ahead of cutoff at aid 2, and stopped taking pictures and hurried more after.

Looks like they rejigged times again last night from what I saw yesterday, whatever, next few days will sort it out. Aside from mechanicals messing it up perhaps, it's been the same order every day.

I felt good today and could climb with Trish; then the flats and headwinds felt just fine too.