Puy Saint Vincent : The bucket list challenge

Earlier this year I had to choose between planning a 5 day MTB stage race in the Swiss Alps during the month July or visiting my best friend Jantiene in France. Jantiene had just moved to a tiny village called Puy Saint Vincent located in the Hautes Alps. I could not fit both trips in, neither did I have the money. Normally I am quite a selfish person when it comes to my racing and I will prioritise doing a race over any other social activity. Ideally I wanted Jantiene to race the stage race with me but timings did not work out on this occasion. Ironically the race went through her back yard which we discovered later. I decided to visit Jantiene knowing that it would include a lot of laughs, a lot of adventures and a lot of activity! On top of that her friendship meant the world to me and I wanted to see for myself what she was always talking about. It ended up being a great decision

Neither Michael or I had been to this part of the Alps which is famous for its rock climbing, mountain biking, great weather and what I discovered close up and personal:  the Tour the France. And for some miraculous reason Michael and I managed to both get the same week off work without too much hassle which was a first. So off we went. It was an easy 3 and bit hours drive from Geneva airport through some amazing landscapes which made the trip enjoyable.

Since we did not all fit in Jantiene's small but lovely one bed room apartment, Michael and I brought our camping gear. This consisted of not much more than a tiny tent which looked a little out of place in between all the amazing camp set ups at the camping site. Luckely Jantiene lend us a couple of chairs to make us a look a little bit more accomplished. The camping ground Camping Croque Loisirs http://www.campingpuysaintvincent.com/ was located at 1450m altitude just above Puy with spectacular views over the mountains. A little piece of heaven. The owners were lovely and helpful and the grounds had everything it needed. Although busy it felt really nice and quiet with a tranquil atmosphere. A great place to set up camp. (literally)

Right on the door step of the camping ground were some amazing trails

I checked out the local MTB trails as soon as we arrived and was later informed they were newly build. It was as easy as riding out of the camping grounds onto the man made trails which were located in what during the winter would be the ski resort. Graded blue, green and red there was something for every level of rider. I kept on riding back to the top over the quiet mountain roads to access the trails, but for the real downhillers there were chairlifts going up to make it possible to enjoy the downhill without getting too fatigued. I got a little lost, as you do, and ended up going down via the walking trails all the way into the valley. These were equally fun to ride!  I very quickly developed a love/hate relationship with the climb into Puy, although only 5kms long it was a serious tough one -mentally and physically!

Jantiene with her big smile welcomed us with a package including all the information we needed for our upcoming week. She did the promotion for a small Dutch company http://www.zerocinq.com/  which owned the camping ground Camping Croque Loisirs, a hotel; Mountain Hotel Saint Roch and a beautiful private located chalet; Luxe Chalet AlpeLune. She had kindly organised one of her friends, who happened to be the chef and also a keen climber, to take Michael out to the best climbing spots in the area. I had brought my own Mountain bike but one of the other locals very kindly lend me her road bike. Jantiene gave me a booklet which was called http://www.bucketlist-challenge.com/en/  A list of 12 of the best most scenic cols in the area selected by the locals who had been riding in the area for many years.
"keen to do some of these?" she laughed. I love challenges, and this one was awesome. It fitted perfectly with my slightly OCD personality and I immediately started assessing how many cols I could manage in one week. " We will start with two tomorrow" Jantiene smiled when she saw that I was hooked. Lets do it!!

on top of the first col Pre de Mme Carle

I started my bucketlist challenge with riding the Trois Valles Route with Jantiene where I got to stamp off the http://www.bucketlist-challenge.com/en/#15 Pre de Mme Carle . My training program said I had to do 2x20min tempo efforts so as the climb started I left Jantiene who was recovering from a trail run event the day before. All was going great until my 20min effort was over and I hit 15-18% inclines. Where is the recovery?? The 2x20min efforts rolled into a hard 40min effort and as I reached the top. The beautiful scenery however, more than the physical effort took my breath away. I decided that I was not going to follow my training program this week but enjoy every minute and every inch of this amazing Alpine setting. Reunited with Jantiene we continued our chattering where we had left off before my interval and rolled back down to  climb the next col. What an amazing place to be on the bike. The cols were properly hard core and a challenge for any cycling enthusiast.

My solo Col D'Izoard ride

I wanted to ride the cols which I could ride from Puy so I did not need a lift anywhere. I therefore decided that my next challende would be the (apparently) famous http://www.bucketlist-challenge.com/en/#10 Col D'Izoard. This would be a solo ride and starting from Puy a good 115kms with 2300m of climbing. I have a good habit of under estimating things and this one was no exception. At one point I found myself kneeling down on the side of the road because I could hear running water. I was so dehydrated, hot with an empty water bottle that the sound of a stream was torturing me! I found a tiny bit of water and I wanted to roll in it like a dog in a bad smell! "Ca va toi?" this was the third car which had stopped to ask if I was ok. I was told there was a drinking fountain in the next village and reluctantly moved on.

amazing scenery

Again I was in awe of the scenery and beautiful little French villages on the way. Tour the France fanatics started to set up all the way along the climb and I got cheered on the whole way. Not a bad feeling! Almost home I had a "moment" on the return climb back to Puy. Half way up I had to stop. I was crazy hot, crazy thirsty, crazy tired and I did not really want to go any further. "Shall I call Michael?" I thought for a second. "Don't be ridiculous" I told myself, got back on the bike and crawled on.With a few detours (navigating is not my strong point) I found myself back at Jantienes balcony after a good 6 hours of riding, with sunburned arms and empty legs. "Wooooow bikkel" she reacted "That is a big ride!"

After 3 days of riding mountains I needed a well deserved rest day but it was hard to stay off the bike in an environment like this. I followed Jantiene  on the mountain bike whilst she was running  to explore more of the beautiful trails and enjoyed the refreshing water of their local mountain lake for a swim.

Great spot to rest the legs

For my next challenge I chose to ride the Col du Galibier http://www.bucketlist-challenge.com/en/#17 which included the Col du Lauteret. I wanted a big day though so I decided to ride the Col du Galibier up and over to include the climbs from both sides. I got Michael to drop me off at La Monietere-les-bains where he found a Via Ferrata which would take about the same time as I would be on the bike for, 4-5 hours. We did notice a lot of Tour de France signs and hype but when I rode the Col D'Izoard they were there as well so I did not think much off it. As I was climbing up the Col du Galibier I realized a lot of people were going up. Like, an abnormal amount of people. There were police cars driving up and down with their sirens on and as I reached the top I was told to get off my bike. "No way" I thought. I am not a big fan of big crowds, I don't like it when a ride gets shortened due to for me inconvenient reasons, and I don't like noisy places. This was an absolute nightmare. As I found myself between hundreds of TDF fans I was probably the only one who thought it was an absolute nightmare. Irritated I pushed my way through very happy crowds of excited cycling fans to the other side of the Col and asked what was going on. "They are on their way" I was told. For a moment I was tempted to ask "who?" but managed to restrain myself.

When I asked how long they would be I was told 2 hours. Also being an impatient person I did not want to wait amongst masses of people for two hours so I decided to descent down into Valloire regardless of what was going on. Because I was not allowed to get on the bike, my bike shoe cleats died a horrible death in the process. A sad moment. As I got further away from the hype at the top, I managed to get on the bike and slowly descended into the village where there was more space to move. I found a bit of grass to sit down and decided to wait it out. Since I was there anyway I did what everybody else did and took some pictures of Contador and eventual winner Chris Froome as they were riding passed.

Glad I could get on my bike again, I started the brutal climb back. This was quite an experience, I got cheered on in several different languages and as I was passing several guys on bikes the cheers would get louder. "SUPER, FILLE" Oh yeah. I was in the zone! At the top and over the descent into La Monietere, this was less fun. I now had to dodge very happy drunk people on the way down, other (crazy) euro riders, and cars everywhere. By pure fluke I found Michael amongst the TDF traffic. There was no real place to stop, "I will keep riding" I told him, hoping I would find him again closer to La Monietere. This did not happen. Return to Puy it was, an extra 2 hours of riding. It was a long haul back in between the support cars from the tour with whom I was playing cat and mouse with along the traffic lights. This resulted in entertaining conversations with some of the support crew driving the cars. Who would have thought I would be engaged in banter with the likes of Sky racing at the traffic lights somewhere in France.
And then there it was again, the home climb into Puy. My nemesis.
I decided that if Michael would reach me at the beginning of the climb, I was allowed to get in the car, otherwise I had to keep going. I reached Jantienes at 9pm at night with no sign of Michael. I had been out for 9 hours including 7 hours of riding, 119kms and 2800m of elevation gain. When I took of my cycling kit it had developed its own legs through my filth!
Michael eventually arrived and we laughed that this could only happen to us. How could we have missed the Tour went over the Galibier on the day I decided to ride it! What a story!

ashmei QOM jersey and cycling bibs were perfect to spend endless hours on the bike

It was time for a recovery day. Jantiene had to ride 2-3 hours which sounded perfect. "A "lalalala" ride" I asked, "yes" she said "but I will do my efforts on the climbs" Climbs? Jantiene and her damn climbs! After the amount of riding in my body and the crazy hour long ascends which were foreign to me, I had nothing in the legs. Jantienes idea of a recovery ride was 36kms with 3 cols which were each about 6kms long and had 600m of climbing. Including the dreaded climb into Puy. Again the scenery was incredible so although every cell in my body was protesting and I hardly made it up the Cols, said in a simple way; it was rude not to.

Cols on the MTB

There were 3 more cols for Jantiene and I to ride, but these were off road on the MTB and included an overnight stay in a secluded mountain hut. What a paradise for cyclists Puy was, not just for roadies with all the famous cols, but also for off road enthusiasts like me. Unfortunately I was still not allowed to run otherwise I would have loved to also check out the endless amount of running/walking trails on offer. Michael had a blast climbing, for any outdoor junky, this was the place to be, and we only scratched the surface.

Michaels climbing rope attached to my backpack got the attention of a couple of serious climbers thinking we were properly pro! If only they knew...

Although I was not racing a stage race, the challenges given to me by the bucket list were more than enough to keep any competitive person happy and I will be back to complete the rest of the list! It is a great idea for a cycling holiday!

Big thanks for Jantiene for being a great guide, Yvonne for lending me her road bike, Wout for his hospitality, Annemarie for showing Michael the ropes and everybody else in Puy for being so welcoming and showing us what a little treasure this place is. Perfect spot for an active holiday! (or lifestyle...)

"Take a course in good water and air and in the eternal youth of Nature you may renew your own"

Two girls, two mountain bikes, three cols and a map

I found myself on top of a mountain, my legs felt like jelly and my mountain bike was splayed out in front of me. I was far away from any human life yet loneliness had escaped my body. I had never been here before yet I had not felt more at home in a place in a long time. The endless views and the dramatic appearance of my surroundings made me feel at peace. An empty head and joy in my heart. This was the life.  This was what the people who were stuck in the fast track of society missed out on. This was what those who stayed in the comfort of their own living room would never experience.

from the first moment we met, adventures flowed

I was in the beautiful mountain range of Les Hautes Alps visiting one of my closest friends, Jantiene Hannessen  
Jantiene very bravely chose for this life style late last year. Where big houses and expensive cars had no meaning. It was the happiest I had seen her since we found each other two and half years ago. Jantiene and I were not only on the same page, we were in the same sentence and as we had struggled through a couple of turbulent years we grew closer. Sometimes you didn't  need years of friendship with someone to understand each other, sometimes a few minutes was enough.

What started as a 9 day training camp for my Hero MTB Himalaya stage race, ended up one of the most magic moments I had ever experienced on a bike. Under the influence of Jantiene's contagious giggle and "lalalala" attitude I went from riding the intervals coach Rab had programmed for me, to not even looking on training peaks anymore. Instead I studied a local map for inspiration.  

And so my real adventure began. Where people planned a whole holiday to be able to witness a glimpse of the tour the France, I ended up "stuck" in the tour hype, accidently picking a ride that day which included an out and back over the Col the Galibier.

since it was the thing to do I took a picture of Froome

Where people spent a recovery day on the couch, I swam 2kms in an almost surreal alpine setting and followed Jantiene on my MTB whilst she run in preparation for her insane Ironman called the Embruman.

The real icing on the cake was our two day MTB expedition through the mountain range surrounding what Jantiene was blessed enough to call her home. Within half an hour of our departure we already managed to lose each other on a descent and kill a front tyre in the process. In a typical "us" manner this got laughed away with a short stop at a bike shop. Charming the mechanic into helping us before leaving civilization behind. What a treat this little expedition was. There were moments of utter silence and hours of giggling story telling. There were endless climbs over cols and furious descends into deserted valleys. There was a hut next to a river only known by locals and a night spent listening to the thunderstorms outside. There was a first by Jantiene making a fire and a dinner which included soup, marshmallows and chocolate. There were shared life experiences, told deep into the night.

Killing the front tyre

our 5 star hotel for the night with running rivers and candle lights

There were marmots playing in the early morning sun and an encounter with a red fox who looked as if it escaped out of a Disney movie. And as our bodies were slowly fading riding col after col after col, our smiles became bigger and our souls richer. I realised that this was something no race could ever mimic, no win could ever live up to. No achievement could ever beat. This was something where everything came together, heart, body and soul without having any purpose other than just the simple lightness of being.

And as we rolled into Jantiene's garden after a couple of days of pure magic she turns at me with a huge smile and asks me "What's next?"


                                        "Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale" Hans Christian Anderson

The un known mountain hut

 

Hours long furious descents

There are never too many cols to climb

A moment of silence

Crossing rivers over lonely bridges

The hearts content

The Engadine bike giro; It is what it is.

Patience is not my strong side. I want everything achieved preferably yesterday. Not that I am not willing to work hard for something, I certainly am, but the process with set backs and slow improvements I can find very frustrating.

My Australian MTB friend Sarah Riley has been a huge inspiration for me. The way she has come back from a massive injury almost loosing her left leg through an open spiral fracture in her femur has been one to follow. Step by step she has taken everything in her stride, thriving on the small improvements and rationalising small set backs with a healthy attitude. "It is what it is" she smiled after we all came back disappointed with our individual performances after the first stage of the Engadine Bike Giro.

The lovely Sarah Riley in action

When Sarah messaged me she would come and join me and my good friend and Sandy Wallace team mate Naomi to race a 3 day stage race in Switzerland my heart skipped a beat.

It had been 2 years since Sarah and I met in the Dolomites racing the MTB Marathon World Champs and we had become closer ever since. We kept an eye on each other through injury and disappointments and had been supporting each other where we could. It was one of those rare connections which withstood the distance between us and lack of direct physical contact with her living in Australia and me in Scotland.When she greeted me and Naomi at the chalet in Silvaplana it was as if I had seen her the day before.

Not having to travel alone made it so much more fun!

Leading into the race I had been starting to feel stronger and stronger with my back handling most things I threw at it. Except running. After I stubbornly disobeyed physio Dave and took my legs out for a little treat on the trails without the bike, I suffered. Enough to give me a bit of a scare and sticking to the plan of no running. Physical pain however, I found easier to deal with than my struggle with fatigue. I could ride through pain, it had almost become second nature with the injuries I have had. But having no energy got me down. It made me feel weak and I had to resist the desire to fight it. Coach Rab got me to start measuring my HRV again, a way to measure parasympathetic fatigue and prevent overtraining. "You will always do every thing I ask you to" "and a little more" he said "I have to hold you back"

Out of experience I knew that a 4 day trip with 3 days of racing whilst working till the last minute was going to be a big ask of my body. I never recovered well from travelling. And I had not incorporated the high altitude we were racing at in the mix. When I saw the race on the calendar I really wanted to do it, a problem I have been struggling with. I wanted to have the energy to be able to do it all regardless of my busy lifestyle. So off I went anyway hoping for the best.

A delayed flight, 2am arrival in Milan, a 2 hour wait for our rental car and the stress of loosing my passport in the process did not help the situation. In between bike racing there were phone calls to the Dutch Embassy, a trip to the police for a lost passport declaration and the never ending trouble explaining why a Dutch citizen born in Italy is living in the UK. On top of all this the weather was atrocious with snow forecasted on the higher mountains, single digit temperatures and thunderstorms. My enthusiasm to race dropped with the temperatures.  

race route

It was so lovely to hang out with Naomi, Sarah and to get to know Sarah's husband Murray that I tried to stay positive and not give my lack of energy or the bad weather forecast much time. It will be fine I thought, a good night sleep will fix it.But waking up dizzy on Friday morning with an HRV in the red zone (meaning rest) was what happened. That afternoon we had to race an 17km TT with close to a 1000m of climbing going above 2500m. My worst nightmare even when I felt fighting fit. All I could do was do my best and doing my best is what I did, with a completely empty tank and a terrible result.

                                                          My HRV telling me to rest

All three of us struggled with the hill TT but as with most mountain bike races, stories of cool downhills, impossible climbs, near death experiences and crazy competition were told at the end of it and our bad form made this no exception. My highlight of the day was cycling down the ramp at the start with my name being yelled (albeit it a made up version of pronunciation) I had never done  this before,  and I felt like a true pro! What a buzz!!

shooting of the ramp was super cool

I was really worried though, it had taken me such a long time to overcome my parasympathetic fatigue syndrome that I feared returning back on that slippery slope downhill. At the same time I felt I needed this experience in my lead up to the Himalaya  stage race in October. Sarah and Murray comforted me saying I was most likely suffering from the high altitude. My resting heart rate was about 20 beats per minute higher than normal and my energy levels were at an all time low. It has to be ok I thought.

All I was good for was taking pictures

Full with doubts I stood on the start line for stage 2, 78km with 2500m of ascend. 10 minutes  after starting I knew I had absolutely nothing. I could not breathe, and had no power. The following 10 minutes I had an internal debate with myself deciding what to do. This was going to be a tough day in the saddle, the easiest option was to pull out and find my bed and sleep. Oh sleeeeeeep. I thought. What a nice thought, I could fall asleep right here, right now on the bike. Zzzzzzz. No, I decided. I am going to do this. Riding as slow as I possibly could I thought and I did. Taking pictures along the way, petting baby horses on the trails and making new friends with fellow battlers. I struggled the whole 78km with my heart and lungs simply not playing the game.

The views were spectacular however and I tried to take in the whole experience. The top descent was absolute bliss and I tried to enjoy every minute of it. Naomi, bless her, waited patiently for me at the finish line. Back at the chalet we were all a bit disillusioned with how bad we were performing. "It is what it is" said the always positive Sarah.

At this point I really doubted if I should start day 3 and felt really down about it. Rab and I tried to decide what the best thing to do was. "If you think you can have a fair to good race, ride" he said but I knew I had neither in me. I ate as much as I could and went to bed early.

the downhill's were bliss

Day 3 came along and my HRV was at an all time low. I was not the only one who felt uninspired "not sure what the point is" mumbled Murray when we were awaiting the dreaded start. "Look at you guys" laughed Sarah.

"I really don't know if I should do this" I said to Naomi. "Let's ride together" she answered. "See it as a day out" "we can drop out at the first feed zone if we don't feel well" And a plan was made. The full stage was 62km with 2000m of ascend. We escaped out of the elite line up and joined the back of the pack, which in Switzerland means "just as fast as the elite" 

Before the start I was greeted by my good friend Alex who I had met through the whole Xterra family network of people. This really put a smile on my face, "what a lovely thing to do" I thought setting off on another 6 hour struggle. Reinforcing the feeling of gratitude I felt towards the friends I had made through sharing a passion for living a similar lifestyle. Alex and his girlfriend travelled to the 25km feed zone to see me there and on days you are struggling little gestures like this go a long way. "Lets ride the whole distance" I said to Naomi

I could not thank Naomi enough for staying with me during the final stage. Again I had nothing in the tank and as a true friend and team mate she selflesly stuck with me until the very end. She waited for me 500m from the finish line so we could ride over it together "you did not have to wait for me " I smiled at her knowing she would have bombed down the final crazy rocky gnarly single track descent. Whilst I managed to twist my handle bars around my frame missing a corner in an attempt to imitate Rachel Atherton. "who puts such a nasty technical trail in the final 3km of a 3 day stage race" I angrily mumbled to myself.

"This was the plan we made wasn't it? Start together, finish together" Naomi smiled back at me.

Although this was a performance to forget about straight away, the satisfaction of beating my body with my head was huge. Sarah and Murray both had very good races on the final day and we all managed to turn a negative race experience into a positive one. "So good we all managed to turn it around on the final day" Sarah smiled.

The fatigue I felt was still concerning me, not quite understanding why my body had let me down so much when it had been so promising the last few months. "It's the altitude" Sarah kept reinforcing.

After three days of racing over brutal courses at high altitude I woke up the freshest I had felt since I arrived in St Moritz. I measured my HRV which was back in the green zone and my resting heart rate was back to where it belonged. I was puzzled. "I am ready to race" I laughed, I feel great!! "Told you, it took me 4 days to get used to the altitude" said Sarah. Not sure what had happened but I was relieved I managed to bounce back again. I felt re-energised (said no one ever after a stage race in the Alps)

Having Naomi by my side from beginning to end of this trip was a great support. Something which will stick for a long time to come. On the way back to the airport in Milan, we made a little detour to the embassy to pick up an emergency passport and travelled to Varese where I was born. It was hard to explain what it meant for a gypsy like me to share that with a friend. I had not been back here for years. We drove through the little streets where I grew up, past all the familiar sights all the way to the street where we used to live. It was truly a special experience sharing this all with Naomi.

Sharing a trip down memory lane with Naomi in Varese

What a crazy three days in the Alps it had been with the most loveliest people I could have wished for to share these brutal days of racing. Whilst I was sitting on the plane writing this blog and turning my jacket inside out in search for my ear phones, I felt something in the sleeve pocket. And there it was my shiny red passport!

Bike racing, it is never all about the bike. A huge thanks to all involved who made this another experience to remember, Sandy Wallace Cycling for sorting out my bike and ashmei for providing me perfect warm kit to race in.

"I am not afraid to fail; to get lost, to dream, to be myself, to find. I am not afraid to live" Killian Jornet