Day 5 – It Is Time For The Big Show!
Well the day was finally upon us. Went to bed early the night before to get a good sleep but woke up at 4:30 and rolled around till it was time to get up at 7:30. I guess my mind started to wander and think about the race and other things so from that point on I was gonna be hurting trying to sleep well again. But no worries once I was up and got a good breakfast and a good coffee I was ready to get into it.
It was as clearer day as we were ever gonna get in China I think and the temp didn’t seem so bad either. All the teams piled into a heap of buses and were all taxied over to the start in downtown Beijing which was a stones throw from Tienanmen Square. When we arrived at the start it was a pretty quite atmosphere. I don’t think it was an easy venue to cruise to and have a look? Even the sign in was just at a little table down the end of the starting straight. (The kind of sign on you’d see at an NRC event) The three of us had cooling vests on before the start; the idea of these is to keep your core temperature down. They work really well and kept the engine nice and cool for a little while. All the countries were called up one by one in front of the spectators lucky enough to get tickets to start. These were all basically locals or CRAC (Chinese Rent A Crowd) For a lot of events the ticket prices were so low (eg BMX- $11) the locals just scooped them all up before anyone else had a chance. Normally the Road Race is one of the only Olympic events that you can watch for free, well that was the case in the first 80km while we raced out to the circuit but once we were out there you couldn’t get onto the circuit as they had it completely closed off to everyone. There were two massive grandstands on either side of the finish straight which were loaded with CRAC.
So the first 80km were pretty cruisey but once we hit the circuits! Man oh man! The problem was that there was a significant break that formed about 20km to the circuit and of the bigger squads America and Russia missed the move so the chase was on. To give you a rough idea of the circuit I’ll basically say it was a 12km climb (tailwind) which isn’t good. Then followed by a 12km decent which was a head wind and you had to pedal down. Every lap was a fast one; the heat wasn’t so bad but the 90+ percent humidity played havoc on the field. It was a race of attrition to say the least and we were all just surviving while the big squads drove the pointy part of the field. With 3 laps to go the break finally came back after a long chase. I thought sweet they might take it easy for a bit? Bettini also punctured at this point also so I think they slowed for about 1km? As Paolo came back through the field I said “Hey Paolo that wheel change was too quick! I was hoping for a rest.” He replied “Sorry Chady”. The old heart rate hit 196 a few times and never saw it drop below 180 every lap out through the climb. I don’t normally race with this on and now I know why. Definitely plays tricks on your mind.
Now the peleton was complete again, Spain the super squad took over. I say super squad as the line up was, Valverde, Sastre, Sanchez, Contador! Say no more! Oscar was also in the race but he shut it down early. So the final laps saw Sastre, Contador and Menchov driving the field through the climb. These guys combined have won 5 Grand Tours and that’s not counting the podiums as well! Needless to say it was on and they blew the race apart, including yours truly. Towards the end of the 3rd lap I managed to get up to Jules and see if he needed anything else as I was certain the parachute was gonna pop out the 2nd last run through the climb. Sure enough it did but I wasn’t the only one and managed to get into a nice group to ride out the race. At this point now I was pretty happy to finish my first Olympics and probably the hardest race I’ll come across for some time, I hope.
6hrs and 40minutes in the saddle, at least 8000calories burned, Average Heart Rate – 161bpm and a total of 3450 vertical meters climbed. I was ready for a beer!
Once we headed back to the village, showered up and headed off to the Oakley Safe House for a few quite Caronas with the troops from Oakley. The night finished with a pit stop at a Budweiser Party and a Haka performed by Tim in front of about 50 Dutch! Nice one!
Chady
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Gearing Up For The Start With My Cool Vest
Near The Start Line
Tim Rolling To The Start
Some Local Cycling Fans
Gold Medal Winner Sammy Sanchez
The Kiwi Squad With Sheridan Jones
Quenching The Well Earned Thirst
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