3:45am, Saturday 15th September.
It’s dark, a little crisp, but
above all there’s a buzz of bikes, lights and people all milling around the Le
Argenterie La Bessee town square. In 15 minutes a mass ride to the start will
commence. An empty café provides Nath with a base for a quick team chat. We are
all excited about the days ahead and given our preparation can be confident in
our chances of a win. It won’t come easy however, they never do!
4am, Saturday 15th September.
With a bit of muffled cheering
and the sound of clinking pedals we were off. My main aim for this ride…..stay
out of trouble. It’s a mass ride, linked to the race only in the fact that it
gets us to the start.
6am, Saturday 15th September.
The ride went without a hitch.
Our bags were now packed to the hilt with gear including mountain boots,
crampons, rope, ice axes and harnesses not to mention the mandatory race gear,
food and water. The sheer weight to carry would limit our speed over this
section more than anything else. Not that It mattered. Due to various factors
several factors would make this section unique:
-
Due to weather the length of the stage had been
reduced from a winning time of 13 hours to a winning time of 7 hours. Now a
subsequent stage would be added to the course to make up the time.
-
This section has a minimum time to restrict
racing the section too fast. Go under this 7.5hours and you would have to wait
before being allowed into transition.
3, 2, 1, Go! And we were off. A
few minutes passed for Chris to make sense of the map and up the trail we
headed. The rest of the section went without too much drama. It climbed direct
to a Glacier at 3000m for some amazing early morning Glacier travel, definitely
one of my high points from the race. Being a return trip this section allowed
plenty of interaction with other teams and the reduced time pressure allowed
for a few pics also. Before long (in face in about 5 hrs we were back on the edge
of transition waiting to be let in. It would be a 2.5 hour rest before
preceedings start again. No problem!
1:30pm, Saturday 15th September
With the minimum time now elapsed
most teams entered transition together. Ahead lay a short mountain bike followed
by and 8 hour trek. The mountain bike while short proved rather technical and
claiming several teams through injury, mechanical or punctures. Onto the trek
it was a jostle session galore. Before long we were locked in with Silva, Thule,
La Fuma and a couple of other teams. It was clear several teams were burning
extra gas to keep pace so it wasn’t surprising to see them drop off one by one
as the heat climbed. As transition loomed there were only 2; us and Thule.
Chris had by now take the reigns as navigator and Thule settled in
behind……until another classic Fa’avae moment. Rather than complete all the
zig’s and zag’s we were cutting down the middle. There was however a control on
the end of one zig. Nathan slipped over to the control, casually clipped it and
the rest of us including Thule cut the middle. Five minutes later they realised
their mistake and we had some breathing space….Great!
TA came right on dark. Back on
the bikes, lights on and down the valley to La Argentiere La Besse through a
network of forest roads and single track. We even passed an excited Isabelle,
our host from the previous week standing outside the Yurt. Into TA again, bikes
disassembled and onto another Trek. This one would get high and take a good 13
hours. A definite highlight from this section came early on where we used
ascenders to climb a small gorge culminating with a rope ladder climb up a
waterfall. Awesome! After this the going got tough. We spent most of the next
12 hours above 2000m climbing and descending small passes. Nathan had some
issues with the constant altitude and gave us several tense moments as he
battled his way through. Full credit to his tough bastardness we never lost
momentum. With a 1500m descent to finish, this trek definitely had a leg
crunching sting in its tail. By now it was mid-morning and amazing scenes
panned out below us.
At the base of this nasty descent
was the next of our adventure entertainment sections…..Via Ferrata. Having not
experienced Via Ferrata before this was an awesome chance to catch my breath
and enjoy the dramatic gorge below. Fixed cables, stemples and ladders wound us
high above the churning water below for a good 30minutes. Off the cables we now
had a couple of kilometres of river navigation to the start of the rafts. With
steep sided gorges and fast flowing deep water this wasn’t your average river
run and saw us clipping onto fixed lines, doing a Tyrolean traverse not to
mention a bit of swimming. About half way down we ran into the first navigation
issue of the race. Chris was certain he had the correct location yet there was
no control. 20 minutes went by searching with the eventual decision to cut our
losses. Into TA (start of raft) officials were certain the control had been
placed correctly and the pressure came back on us to return and clip the
control. Chris however stuck his ground, 100% certain he had the right mark.
Eventually Pascal the race director was called and we were given clearance to
continue. I did however worry that we had set a precedent for missing controls
on the course and potentially given following teams a good cause for protest
(As it turned out the control was over 1km from where it should have been
removing all doubt of any protest).
So onto the raft we went. This
was much anticipated and we were all primed for some great white water action.
With Nath’s vast outdoor background it was no surprise that he was well drilled
in raft guiding. This was to be a major asset as the river threw plenty of
tight fast flowing turns, holes and rocks at us for the 11km section. It was a
great respite from all the trekking we had been logging up and a good chance to
use the arms. Off the raft there was no time for mucking around. Ahead lay a
5km trek/ run to a lower river section that we needed to kayak before the dark
zone kicked in at 8pm. Estimated time to beat dark zone = 4 hrs, Available time
before dark zone = 4hrs 20mins. This could be tight!
As it turned out, the river was
flowing really fast making for some quicker than predicted kayaking. In the end
we hit the first compulsory rest stop 90minutes before the dark zone. Challenge
1 complete, and some hard earned rest awaits.
4 quick hours later we were back
in action. A short 4km trek started us off then onwards for the first of
several long rides. This one would take us through our second night and through
some entertaining riding. If climbing up to 2800m wasn’t enough of a test, Nath
and Soph had problems of their own staying awake on the descent. Thankfully we
all got down awake and were treated to some great single track riding lower
down to keep the adrenalin flowing. The single track later in the ride
traversed a steep sided valley and although not overly technical, the
consequences were worth taking seriously and came in the form of large exposed
drops. Late on this trail our next obstacle would rear its ugly head in the
form of a mechanical. Sophie’s right pedal had given way and wouldn’t hold
together. With about an hour to go there wasn’t much we could do other than
help keep her up to speed with towing. Time passed quickly and soon we entered
transition for another 10 hour trek. I was relieved to see no other teams
approaching as we jogged off after losing time with the mechanical. We had seen
lights slowly catching us up the valley but they were still safely behind…..for
now.
There as no shortage of trekking in this race
and this next one through the Mercantour park would be no easy task. In fact
several hours into this stage I hit some kind of wall and suffer more than and
high points taking us over 2600m. Whether I was dehydrated or knocked around by
the heat my work rate dropped rapidly at about midday and I became the needy
member of the team. The others helped carry weight, fed me water and plenty of
encouragement. Two hours later a swim would make me feel worlds better but
unfortunately the damage had been done. I held my own for the remainder of the
section but the prospect of another 7 hour ride was not appealing. The
description for the section: “A beautiful
section of mountain biking with long periods where teams may need to carry
their bikes and difficult navigation”. Not the ideal section if you aren’t
100% but the carrot…….another compulsory rest stop sits waiting at the end. I
started well, and paced myself well. There was plenty of pushing, carrying and
climbing but I was chipping it off slowly and steadily. Until…….the difficult
navigation came along. Chris battled to find the highest of the CP’s. An
ambiguous route guide for the CP mislead several teams so for an hour we pushed
our bikes around hunting for the CP. At every opportunity I would lay on the
ground to sleep only to hear those dreaded words “Trev, get up” and off we went
again. Full credit to his perseverance Chris found the CP. Luckily for us
following teams (who appeared to be closing on us fast) had the same if not
bigger issues and we maintained a gap. The following 4 hours of the ride went
in a blur for me. I remember a significant lack of enjoyment coupled with some
fairly risky riding (I knew riding was much easier than walking!). TA couldn’t
have been a more welcome sight and thanks to my amazing team crawled straight
into the nearest tent while they boxed my bike. Thanks guys!
Falling asleep was the easy bit.
I had a solid 3 hours sleep. Getting up was the hard bit. In fact Sophie must
have shouted into our (Chris and my) tent at least 3 times to hurry up. The
sleep had done me good, I just wasn’t feeling it yet. The next section would
ease us back into things with a 600m climb before dropping into a much
anticipated canyon section. This climb is also a bit of a blur for me. I
remember the real beginnings of diarrhoea, force feeding food in and
discussions with Nath as to my prospects for the remainder of the race. We
talked about regaining strength, eating, drinking, staying positive and the
possibility that the cool water and change of scene in the canyon would assist
my recovery. His words would yet again prove correct. Fully kitted out in
wetsuits, harnesses and helmets we made our way down the most beautiful canyon.
We jumped into small pools, abseiled waterfalls traversed rocky ledges and
above all had some good fun. I regained the desire to live and the world looked much brighter.
Completing the canyon was
awesome. A small 20m abseil followed shortly by a 100m abseil. I remember being
amused but at the same time concerned for Chris who dangling beside me had a
testicle pinched in his harness. Poor bugger. 100m must have seemed like a long
way! Soon after and all off the ropes we headed off down the river bed to the
next TA and another down river paddle. It was now early afternoon and we needed
to get moving if we were to exit the river before dark (8pm). It wasn’t a dark
zone but it made sense to use the daylight wisely. The river was bony and we
hit plenty of rocks but the water flowed well making for another entertaining
trip. I had an appetite so took the eating seriously only to vomit it all up
with an hour to go. Ah well, at least I was feeling stronger.
Next up; an 8km trek to the bikes.
Sounds pretty straight forward but in reality it took us 4 hours and there was
no shortage of challenges. At one point while climbing a small canyon we had to
swim across pools and scrabble up fixed ropes. Time for more warm gear! Sleepiness
crept in and a decision was made to catch an hour’s kip at the next TA after
assembling our bikes. Lying on a tarmac road isn’t your usual cup of tea but
for an hour it was bliss……until those damned alarms went off again. Onto the
bikes and up for another 1400m or so. I was weak. My main recollection here was
denying offers for towing and Nath telling me to suck it up and accept the fact
that I was not riding well. I took the
tow after that! The remainder of the section had it all. We had nastily speed
down climbing (trying to maintain control of the bikes and wishing we had
better shoes), a small town (where we bought coke, baguettes, bananas,
croissants and quiches….bliss on the stomach), and finished with a 1000m, 10km
climb on tarmac. Not only tough on the body but so smooth we battled to stay
awake. TA was a ski resort high on the hill at 2000m of elevation and we were
again into a trek section but this one was only expected to take 8 hours…….all
going well!
It’s safe to say the trek didn’t
go well for us. It was yet another test against adversity on several scales.
Staying above 2000m for much of the trek was not good for Nath. He suffered
like a dog through most of the trek diving into dark places (of the mind) most
people never get close to experiencing. I on the other hand felt better than I
had in 36hours but the diarrhoea had a grip and I had unscheduled stops every
30 minutes for 9 of the 11 hours we were up there. Not so much painful as
slowly debilitating with a lack of energy going in. Nath spewed, I pooed. It
was a seemingly never ending cycle. During this trek Sophie and Chris really
shone through. Both carried extra gear and Sophie was on our case to maintain a
steady speed. Had we been left to natural devices our lead would have leaked away
significantly faster.
At 11 hours (3 hours longer than
initially predicted) we reached a very welcome TA. Ahead lay 7 hours of biking,
30minutes of running and an hour of paddling. The bike was the last tough
section. All we needed to do was hold things together for the ride and we were
as good as home. Sleep became a priority and as discussed we would take another
hour of sleep before tackling the bike. Given the course so far it was no
surprise that the bike had plenty of technical single track riding in it. Big
drops off into the valley, narrrow trails and sections of pushing made for hard
work. Sleepiness made concentration difficult also but somehow we made it
within sight of the Mediterranean. Soph had a nasty crash at one point but as
usual was toughing it out without complaint. The sight of the sea was initially
a big rush but after 2 technical hours of up and down the novelty wore off. Not
a moment too soon Chris announced the TA was ahead and comparatively tiny
sections lay ahead.
On reaching the sea we all jumped
in. It was bliss. Weight off the feet, less than an hour to the finish life was
good! The paddle was great, we eased off the pace enjoying the amazing day, sea
breeze running through the hair…..all that jazz. 30m from the finish to Chris
and my surprise our 90kg captain boarded our kayak sending us all into the
drink. Commotion and laughter erupted on the finish as we swam the final
stretch and leapt across the line. We had done it. There had been so many
unforeseen challenges, so much we could have done without. Nonetheless we had
done it. World Champions and deservedly so. What a tough mother of a race!!
France was a tough week. It took
me several days after getting home to realistically process how the race had
gone for me and for us as a team. Besides the obvious excitement of winning a
World Championship I was initially fairly critical of how I had gone especially
with 48 hours of performing less than what I call normal. It wasn’t until I
further reflected with Rach that I became truly proud of what we achieved out
there. There were not one but several potential race destroying challenges
through the course and we rose to overcome each and every one of them. These challenges
are all part of adventure racing. The winning team is the one who pushes
through despite the adversity and the team who best overcomes those race
defining moments that break the others. We were that team. Chris had yet another
great race not only with navigation but was strong right through. Nath as usual
made all the necessary calls to put us in the right places at the right times
and toughed out some really nasty sections at altitude. Sophie as usual was
strong through the entire race and kept us moving when the chips were down. I
had ups and downs but was particularly happy to fight through the downs. I now
have a new level I know I can survive! It was a great team effort.
Many thank to our fantastic sponsors:
SEAGATE, Patagonia adventure gear, Inov-8 off road shoes, GoLite backpacks, Rocky
Mountain bikes, Louis Garneau helmets, o2b healthy supplements, Silva
headlamps, GU energy gels, Bridgedale socks, Endura eyewear, Awaken
organic energy bars, mont-bell tents, ready set Go antichafe, Nordenmark
adventure map boards, Tineli bikewear, and adventure nitelights
