MaxLifeOut: Tour of California 2016

Completed 90 miles and 12270ft of elevation - 6 hours 20 mins

Today's stage was form Lodi to South Lake Tahoe. The alarm went off at 5am and I literally crawled out of bed bleary eyed but ready to go. When I got to the buffet for breakfast, I was not surprised to find I could not eat anything. We eventually got a to go box and I eat in the van during our transfer. A few mouthfuls of the onions and my body confirmed what I was tasting, butter. Fortunately I did not have much and the reaction was mild. I let the lead coach know just in case.

Today was a monster stage with climbing right out the gate for over 30 miles and then 2 KOM's followed by a nasty little climb to the finish. We started a little further in than the pros and we had three guest riders today. Phil Sutherland from team novo nordisk, a well renown chef, I did not catch his name but do have a photo below and the one and only "Shutup Legs" Jens Voigt.

After a pep talk about the length of the climb we rolled out with Phil and Jens on the front. It was awesome to be riding with them but there was a downside. Jens is still a monster on the bike and a quick look at my power meter confirmed what my legs were telling me, he was setting a hard pace and all the while chatting away with Phil as if he was on a casual ride, which for him he probably was. Phil was riding with us all day but Jens was only with us for a couple of hours.

With my power jumping from 220 to 350 watts I knew I could not sustain the pace but like everyone else I was not going to pass up the opportunity to ride with 2 pros. Whilst I gritted my teeth, Jens shouted out "is the pace good" and there is always the one that says yes. I voted for shooting him but was too busy staying on the power.

As predicted the pace soon took its tole on the pack as we splintered into two groups with Jens obliviously driving the pace. An hour into the climb we stopped for a call of nature and before we all headed off I got my chance to talk to Jens and get a picture. Jens then announced he would drop back to he second group on the road. I have never been so happy to see the back of a hero, however the lead group was still in charge mode and it was time for me to make a decision. Stay with them and blow up or drop back and manage my energy.

I chose to drop back and boy am I glad I did. The climb went on for what seemed like forever. I clipped my phone on the stem and put some music on and tapped out a tempo. I dropped back quickly and one of the coaches dropped back and suggested pacing me back to the group. I explained that I could not sustain the current pace and that I would be fine by myself. He slowly pulled away from me and I got down the the business of climbing and taking in the experience.

With support from the sage van when I needed water I kept a steady pace. I was surprised to catch riders I thought were behind me, I think they got ferried up the road but I am not sure. One of the coaches suggested I drop back with them but I was quite happy managing my own rhythm. The patience paid off, about 5 hours into the ride I saw CTS riders, as I drew closer I saw it was Phil and Kirk. Kirk was soft peddling as I joined him and he confirmed that there was only one athletes ahead of me. That was a shock as I had not expected to pull them back although I was pretty sure when I back that they could not maintain the output all day.

My lower back, legs and well my body ached but making the catch was an awesome feeling. Phil paid me a genuine complement on my effort and called me an animal. Truthfully I did not feel like an animal but I took it gratefully. We were now four and we hung for a while, but it was clear that the other athlete and Phil were tired and on the second KOM I pulled away and gapped them following Kirk downhill into strong cross winds that knocked us all over the road. I was really pleased I did not have deep rim wheels.

Kirk waited to make sure the other athlete got down safely and I carried on, riding the remainder of the course solo, which was great until I had to ride into the wind up the second to last climb which I can tell you was no fun. What was fun was seeing the woman's race winner pass by me in the last 1K of the ride.

I rolled in as the first athlete to finish with one of the coaches ahead of me. I had not set out to be the first home but Iwas inwardly very pleased with the achievement. I had time to stop by the Rapha trailer, buy a stage cap and then head to the VIP area to see the men's race come home.

Today we had a 10 min transfer which was great and allowed me to get in for a massage and clean my wounds before dinner.

I am so happy tomorrow is a short recovery ride around the time trial circuit as my body is feeling every bit of the 500+ miles and a crash. I am looking forward to checking out the rest of the event as I have not had a chance to do so properly yet.

Here are a few pictures from the day.