Holy Jarabacoa!

Starting the day was just as hectic as any other, with a new twist. Our start was about an hour drive from our night stay. This meant getting all the riders on buses and packing the bikes in trucks. We made sure to get our packing done early to insure we had a secure spot on one of the buses. You never know with these kind of races and I would rather be comfortable than sardined into a car for an hour drive.

Apparently our driver didn’t get the “we’re in a rush” memo and was told to drive faster by a few race officials, yet he sort of just went his own speed. It also meant that once we got to our start town, he had no idea where we were going. So once we got into the town, we drove around for 20 minutes trying to find the start location. At one point he just stopped, and got out of the bus. Everyone just took it in stride.

Finally we got to the start area, and it looked like we took over a Texaco to park half of the vehicles. Unfortunately our team car wasn’t there. After locating our driver Paco, we were able to bottle up, grab the necessary food and helmets and shoes for the stage.

The stage itself we knew was going to be the hardest of the Vuelta¸ as it was labeled the queen stage, finishing with two category 2 climbs and 154km in length. It was the second longest stage of the Vuelta and we all were hoping to make it through as we had seen the Ecuadorian National team chomping at the bit the last few days.

The stage blew off like a rocket, we rode over 50km in the first hour. I was hoping to find my legs, because the first 10km it felt like I was pedaling bricks. Finally we made it through Santiago, and entered the main freeway, which was very rolling. After about 25km we made a U-turn and headed up the opposite direction. This meant going back up everything we had come down. The first big roller the Ecuadorians assembled and put the hammer down. They seemed set on splitting the group or making it as hard as possible for any rivals. The next hour was flat out through the rolling hills of Santiago. I was finding some legs and started to hope I could make it over the climb in the front group.

As we hit the freeway again, the pace subsided and I knew it was my time to get some water for all my teammates. Doing this took about 5 minutes to drift back to the car, and then it was pretty easy to get back through the caravan. Getting rid of my last few bottles was a little harder, navigating from our 100+ rider peloton and trying to get to the front. Finally I dumped my last bottle and we started our long decent before the finish.

So far I had made it through a stage with no mishaps, until I drilled a hole at 70km per hour. I was lucky to just get a front flat, but with 40km to go it was not the best time. So I was able to get a neutral wheel and start my chase downhill through slowed freeway traffic. I am not sure anything could be more dangerous. It was pretty intense swerving through cars at that speed trying to jump car to car. Eventually I made it to the ambulance, which I knew was the start (or end depending on your outlook) of the caravan. Then it was pretty easy to leap frog through the team cars to make it back to the peloton.

We made another U-turn and headed back up the long decent, I wasn’t sure based on the profile if this was the climb they had mentioned, and as we got to the top we made a right turn on to a rural road that kicked up at 15% for about 2km. I was near the front and started to drift half way up and then at the top had a little chain drop. I had to stop and then descended in the caravan. This was pretty nuts since the roads where very narrow, so it meant dive bombing the cars into the apex of the corner, hoping they leave you some room. I only managed to lock up my rear wheel once, making the death defying factor a little less. I finally made it back to the grouppetto right before starting the mythical Jarabacoa climb.

Being in that group made it a little easier since we were not killing each other realized that the race was up the road and our job was just to make it to the finish. As the climb started it wasn’t too bad, but after the first bend it kicked up to 15% and it seemed to never end. It was almost a cruel joke, every time we saw a corner level off, the next bend it kicked back up. I did experience water in a bag and had a motorcycle hand me the bag, which immediately went all over my head and face and back.

Our grouppetto pretty much fell apart, and I found myself riding with a few of the Metro VW guys. Finally we made it to the top and started the descent into the Village. I was so happy to see 5 Km to go and as we made it into the last 2km the organizers gave us a few presents with 3 kicker hills to make our legs feel it that much more. I was happy to cross the line and find our car.

After the race we rode to our hotel, very slowly, which happens to be a Catholic boarding school for girls. I am really wondering who thought that one through. After a meal, a cold shower, and a nap; I was finally able to find an ATM that took American cards, so now I have some cash again for cokes, water and any other items I may want to indulge in.

Tomorrow we head into our second double day, with a 113km in the morning and a 10km tt in the afternoon. Then two more days until we end our ten stage voyage!