Training Log Archive: Torino

Easy riding to the start and the quarantine. It's early!

Long Distance World Masters Bike-O Champs. Very long, but flat and raced as fast as I could. Won W65 by 8 min and more. Really happy and proud. Thought it would be fast enough for 3rd in W60 to get a medal, but was 3 min behind bronze, they were also flying. Such a shame.
It seems as if my bike "strength" training the last 2 weeks had paid off a little (biking from home just straight uphill for almost an hour) because I really felt stronger and could push most of the time. I raced most the time in the 3 highest gears (well, there weren't any hills to speak off) but still a few single trails and lots of ditches and uneven roads.
Note: I did another spectacular summersault over the bike again: on a forest road, a Danish 17-year old girl sped by me, and I was also going at a pretty good speed, when she breaked all of a sudden and skidded right in my path. I crashed full force into her, somehow tumbled over her and both bikes onto the gravelly road. I was so angry and screamed at her to better watch before stopping in such a way. She was so shocked and disappeared pretty quickly down the trail she had been looking for. Some riders who had witnessed stopped right away and offered to help because it must have been quite a sight. But I appraised my damages and also the bike's, but except for some blood (again!) and a bruise that hurt for a long time, I seemed to have survived this.
Already on Tuesday, some brambles (blackberries) caught my right arm really bad and I was bleeding profusely. I knew it wasn't bad, but when finishing they called the first aid-guys immediately and made such a fuss! Once they washed it off, it was only a few deeper scratches but they put on an impressive band-aid anyway. Oh, the French!
I had another wound when I scraped a metal plate that hurt a lot more and would have needed desinfecting, but it didn't look that impressive, so it was ignored. I asked for a simple band-aid and later put it on myself ;-).

C • Congrats 2

Little "last" tour along the Loire stopping for a "caffè gourmand" and continuing along the Loire upwards on the Euro6 trail. At one turning point, we split and Urs went back the same way to pick up the car and I went directly "home" for a well-deserved shower (which I hadn't had one after the Long-O World Champs). Busy day in this beautiful city. The Loire here is so calm and magnificent, one feels very "zen" walking, biking along it or simply just sitting and looking over the quiet landscape with birds, trees, bushes, islands and what-not.

WMMBTOC Middle (long middle, but flat)
Made a huge mistake, at least 8 min on #8 as I didn't know for a moment where I was. Remembering, I think that for a moment, I was thinking other thoughts, not being concentrated and there I was, really lost even though there were meadows and trails around. Decided rather quickly that I had to get to a set point which was at the edge of the map and could not believe I actually was out there.
Had done another mistake on #4 where I was there at the bend of the forest road and went into the single trails but could not make out the flag. Was not alone, something was fishy with the map there. Lost maybe 2 min.
So, I was happy how strong I felt and how fast I could actually ride; we had some longer sections for speeding then few controls on tricky single tracks which was fun. But somehow it wasn't my day. But I also realised that I am basically faster than the others in my class (as we were always seeing each other) and I can pull it off if I have a clear head.
Still had lots of fun.

Story before the race: yesterday afternoon by around 4pm the start list was still up with my start time at 09:26. Suddenly it was gone and replaced with start lists for the elite, juniors and youth. I also got a message from a friend that my start time was posted on the board as 09:26. So I went to bed and got up early, went to the start area and quarantine by 08:30 and there were only few people there. Hmm. So I inquired and learned that around 4 am they had finally posted new start lists and pulled back our class by 1 hour. Grr. I am not a morning person and could have used that hour of sleep and preparation in better ways. So I wandered around and talked to people among others also to the 4 Danish ladies in my class, as well as the president of these organizing championships and learned that they actually tried to get two classes W60 and W65 but IOF said no. It actually turned out that one person from Switzerland is responsible for having this stupid rule of needing 10 people in a class for it to count!! Not even at WMOC they're doing that. I see absolutely no good reason for "punishing" bike-orienteering in such a way. Unfortunately or fortunately, I know this person quite well and was inclined to call right then and there, but my start time came up. So I hurried to the start and was in my thoughts still someplace else.
I know why for 40 years or more, I am always almost late for my start: because I don't want to interact and chat with people, because thoughts are often circling in my brain and this is the worst in orienteering.
Oh well, still had a good ride, enjoyed the woods and the technical aspects and after the rain in the morning the sun came out and we visited an absolute stunning castle (Chambords) in the afternoon.
BTW, came in 3rd in W65 "only" 2 1/2 min befind first and I had seen her several times out there (she had started 6 min behind me), so I got away from her over and over again.
Another BTW, when I chatted with her afterwards about our race, she also told me that all 4 Danish women in W65 will not go to a WMMTOC again as long as they have this stupid "10"-people/class rule.

Rode from our Gîte in Olivet (south of Orléans) along the Loire again on Euro6 (which goes from the Atlantic to the Black Sea) until Meung-sur-Loire to look at the castle, then on to Beaugency for another castle which was prettier, but the town was very charming with lots of old houses and little shops and coffee places and bakeries and pastry shops.
The ride along the Loire was beautiful, lots of times along Nature Reserves or even on unpaved little roads.
We took the train back to Orléans.

Easy ride from the train station in Orléans touring the main attractions by bike, riding on the tram tracks (officially allowed!!) in the pedestrian zones to the statue of Jean of Arc, then over to the cathedral, circling it, then through little alleyways down to the Loire and all the way south to Olivet and our place.