Giro de Pilipinas 2015 Wrap Up

The highlight of stage four, for me, was the amazing dip in cool river water under a waterfall in the jungle. After the successful completion of stage 4, I had noticed a sign for a waterfall just 300m from the hill-top finish. I had invited other riders to join me on my quest to find the waterfall with the objective to cool down my over-heated body. Everyone was just too tired and not game enough to venture into the Jungle. After rehydrating, I went to the trail-head and asked for directions. I was told it was not far into the jungle, so I proceeded with my road bike and cycling shoes with cleats, scrambling on the muddy yellow jungle trail. I was getting mud all over my shoes and on the wheels of my bike. It was just a 15min cyclocross section, alternating between walking and riding to reach the waterfall. It was worth it. I stripped down to just my bib shorts and plunged straight into the deliciously cool river water and swam over to the waterfall. The 10-minute soak in the pool left me feeling like Superman; I felt like I could ride the whole race route again! It was a piece of cake to ride back into Subic Bay to get cleaned up.

The sensations in the legs had returned for stage four at the inaugural Giro de Pilipinas held at Subic Bay; I knew that I was going to have a better day even judging from the 20km neutral roll-out to the same flag-off point as Stage three. I was a bit more spritely and the legs seemed to be “bouncing” more and recovering. It was already hot and humid by 8am, but the roll over roads fringed by heavy jungle afforded welcome shelter from the rays of the sun.

This time the respective age-group grades came to a complete stop after the fast descent. I was in the 36-45 age group category, which was by far the largest and most competitive of the grades with a number of ex-pros. Even a couple of pros dropped down from the open category after the completion of the 39.2km ITT to provide more stern competition and there was even a rumor going around that it was perhaps done to stop an outsider from winning the overall GC, nonetheless the racing was competitive and the final day saw more aggressive riding all round with only a max altitude of 230m, but had more than 1400m of climbing. This time the parcours saw riders tackle the steep first climb twice with one other major climb and a short but very steep climb to rejoin the loop.

Because legs seemed to have come back, I took a punt when the flag was waived and was the first one to attack. My gap did not last long and I was caught rather quickly. More attacks kept flying up the road as we raced towards the steepest section of the climb, and I was responding to the moves quite comfortably and staying near the front of the peloton. It had already broken up considerably before the climb proper started and once we hit the 15-18% slopes, I also fell back and climbed at my own pace; however, when it ‘flattened’ to about 10% I got into a steady rhythm and started to overtake riders that obviously went too fast in the beginning. Going over the top, I was with a couple of riders and picked up more on the nice roller-coaster ride to the village.  We caught the lead bunch right at the bottom, coming through the dusty village and starting the second, but longer, climb that suited me a bit better. I rolled with the lead group and was hanging on, just. At the very top, I was still in contact with the lead group, but a rider came up to me and handed a quarter bottle of coca-cola which I gladly grabbed and took a few seconds to gulp it down. In hindsight, this could have been some sort of tactic to disconnect me, who knows. If it was, it was successful. I was already in the red for a while and the action of taking the coca-cola served to drop me back about 20m, I did not have the energy to zip back on before the fast downhill started. 

I did take the time to savior the view of the ocean and the jungle as I descended rather circumspectly. Then, like stage three, I just went ‘ka-boom’; I struggled up the super steep grade and was rapidly dwindling on my fluid supplies but I did have one gel in my pocket, which proved to be the ace up my sleeve to help rejuvenate my ride. I was also lucky to get handed bottles of cold water at critical time points and also got a couple of small bananas to munch down while starting lap two. I was caught by the second group but failed to stay with them, however the next group from another category caught up with me. It was a bunch of 46 plus older dudes and they dropped me too. However, my resurgence was starting and the legs were coming back. I caught up with several of the riders cresting the climb and on the roller-coaster proceeded to reel in more riders. The pace-setting was feeling good, but then no-one was pulling through so I thought it would be best to cruise the roller-coaster. Craig Green (Matador) and Ernie (Mossimo) were the only ones on the front trying to get a pace-line going, flicking their elbows and asking riders to rotate through the pace-line. They were not getting any help.  Craig Green at that time was the leader of the category and no one was going to pull. I started to help by rotating through and once we passed through the dusty village for the second time, I went to the front again and did a long steady 300-watt pull, with two Filipino riders glued to my wheel. I did not realize that I had caused some damage and some riders had been gapped and thrown into the red. One of them was Craig Green and also Ernie, who had been following behind Green. I finished the long pull at the top of the climb and free-wheeled down the descent, following the wheels of Ernie and Green. 

What happened next was astounding. Five Filipinos jumped hard out of the saddles, including the eventual stage winner from Excellent Noodles, and really hammered the short steep climb back to the loop start point. This immediately threw Craig Green deep into the hurt-box; I could see that he was suffering although I was 300m behind him. It was a smart move by the Filipinos, like an all out coup. There was still one more major climb hurdle to overcome and I was really starting to feel good after I emerged from the last steep climb. I kept humming along, even though the five Filipinos had also dropped me. On the climb, I managed a personal best time and a good late race wattage readout of 320w.  It felt great to be going strong up the climb and passing a number of riders, including Matador’s Craig Green and also another blown Matador. 

It was a stiff head wind and riding alone made it quite challenging to keep the speed up. I did not catch any more riders but finished on a strong note to be 11th overall in my category for the Giro de Pilipinas. 

If you are looking for a unique cycling experience in Asia, consider a cycling holiday in the Philippines combining with the Giro de Pilipinas or other stage races that are held throughout the year. Plus, if you have an interest in American history, you’ll also find Subic Bay a fascinating place to be. Depending on where you are coming from, it is easiest to fly into Clark Airport as the transfer to Subic Bay is super smooth and quick. The organizers will be there to pick you up and take you to the race hotel.  Plus make sure you visit Xtremely Xpresso, they make extremely large pizzas. Not sure if they are the largest in the world, but at 22 inches they would be a world contender; the pizzas are also extremely tasty! Perfect recovery food for cyclists tackling the Giro de Pilipinas. 

At the prize giving, a new and exciting announcement was made. A partnership between the Baterna brothers and RONDAS Philippines has been made.  From 2016 onwards, a series of races for women, juniors and all amateur riders will be held on the same course and same day as the professional RONDAS course. It is the first time in history that the RONDAS is being opened to amateur riders, and this is exciting news for the development of Filipino cycling. Stay tuned for more details on this. 

Giro de Pilipinas 2015 Stage 3

The brilliant vivid colors of the Philippines continue as we rose for yet another day of racing, the morning sun was already feeling hot well before the roll out time of 8am from outside the Subic Bay Lighthouse. The accumulated tiredness from the constant racing, without any recovery or leisure rides in-between, was taking its toll on my body.  It was a 20km neutral rollout from the middle of Subic Bay on undulating roads out to the official start of the race. This brought back memories of my experience of racing here in 2010 at the Tour of Luzon.

 

I recalled my suicide attack that would only serve to put a nail in my coffin late into the 10-day stage race where we largely subsisted on the famous Jollibees for most of our meals. I was at the front of the peloton and ready to make my planned attack that would amount to nothing. The flags were waved at the top of the twisting descent, and I was off like a bullet carving those curves like a furious mad-man hell-bent on making an early escape in-order to make it up the vicious steep 2km ascent so I can at least be in a group going over the top. Initially, I was going well and extending a good gap on the peloton that contained the best pro riders in the Philippines as well as a number of top international cyclists. But it was not going to happen, the peloton had other ideas and I was soon reeled in right before the steepest section of the climb. I was a blown rider and struggled to make it to the top and blown out the back of the Tour of Luzon peloton. I did make a good comeback and managed to catch the peloton at the base of the next climb, but at this point my legs were well and truly toast and it was a long day combatting the numerous climbs that never-ended in the stifling humid heat coupled with the never-ending hornet like attacks from the Filipino pro riders, even when in small groups off the back. The memory of that past tiredness only added to my current exhaustion.

Fast-forward to today, I had arrived at the Giro de Pilipinas with tired legs from conquering the Himalayan Mountains and this time it was the amateur peloton which still consisted of many ex and current pros. The flag-off did not include the fast twisting descent like the Luzon Tour, but for safety reasons started the race on the short flat section after the descent. Immediately I could tell my legs were going to have a tough day when the first surge went on the lower sections. I could barely hang on and was floating off the back. I made a reconnection with the front group before the steepest part of the climb; I was grunting my way up in my 39-25 gearing which made life difficult. A lot of the riders had 39-28 or even compact cranks with 32-28 ratio, which makes it easier to generate power for longer when spinning higher cadences. 

I was with one other rider cresting the top with a splendid view of the ocean and distant islands, and a nice twisting smooth road to ride fast on picking up rider after rider, life was again momentarily good. I was surprised to catch Brian Johnsen (Matador), who clearly was on form, dropped from the lead group. Johnsen and I rolled turns pretty hard with some limited help from the Filipinos, although I rallied some to continue the momentum. I had probably got too excited and when cornering at the bottom of a short descent through a village, I was gapped off and that was when my legs just went kaboom. It was a flat section, the place where I was motor-paced at 70km/h at the Tour of Luzon to get back on, but my legs were not generating any power so I quickly shut down shop and peeled a banana to recover for my long ride ahead over the numerous hills. I could see the front group just 30 seconds up the road, and also saw that Brian Johnsen and the group I had briefly led had regained contact with the front group.  My head was already beating hard from the intense Filipino heat as I struggled to maintain even 200 watts, well below my tempo-training pace that I hold for hours on end.  I was caught by another group coming up behind me and briefly rode with them, but was soon dropped when the road pointed up. 

It is perhaps one of the toughest courses around with all the punchy climbs, the max altitude being only 431m but overall gain of 1,700m over 85km. For the Tour of Luzon, we endured 150km of the savage hills and heat, almost twice the distance of the Giro de Pilipinas. I don’t know how I survived it.  I was out of fluids but was able to get ice-cold water from time to time from other team supporters to drink and pour over my head, which felt like heaven.  Finally I reached the bottom of the final 6.3km ascent up Mount Samat where the 360ft Cross monument is located. I first came to a complete stop at the Pocari Sweat station and gulped down two full bottles of the fluid before pressing on.

The final climb pitched up to 18% in places, but I was feeling resurgence in the legs and was picking up riders one by one over the final 30 minutes.  The switch backs were up to 20% and in-order to combat them, I basically sprinted up them and then recovered slightly when the road flattened before pitching up steeply yet again. I saw one Matador rider on the side of the road, with both his hands on the top tube of his bike and his head hanging in defeat. Also saw another couple of riders stopped on the side of the road, clearly suffering from the onset of cramps. Finally, my photographer wife popped into view and this gave me some more energy to muster for the final 500m to the finish, which was also the steepest sustained part of the climb. If the finish did not come when it did, I might have collapsed with the exertion I mustered just to keep the wheels turning. 

I had averaged a respectable 253 watts for the final climb (or 273 watts for the last seven minutes), which was great considering I had struggled to get over 200watts earlier in the stage. After I had recovered enough with plenty of cold water and Vitamin water plus one donut (I could not eat the sandwich that was provided to all riders), I had enough energy to explore the massive Cross that was erected at the top of Samat Mountain. It was quite an impressive statue with carvings depicting the history of the Philippines. We rode up in the small lift to the viewing platform, which rewarded us with splendid 360-degree view of the mountains and sea below. The view was well worth the ride up from Subic Bay.

Stay tuned for Stage Four action.

Final stage report Yunnan Gran Fondo

Final Battle-stage at Jade Mountain

The best stage was saved for the last with a splendid course laid out for all of the Gran Fondo participants, it was not the longest stage of the week but it was one with parcours that was packed with action, beginning in the quaint ancient village of Lijiang in front of a large crowd. The weather was fantastic with the skies impossibly blue and the centre-piece: The majestic snow-capped Jade Mountain rising into the sky, with its jagged peaks reaching upwards. It was a splendid climax to what was a brilliant week of racing in five different areas of Yunnan Province. Dali and Lijiang were by far the favorites with the Gran Fondo peloton. It is hoped that the 2015 edition will see more stages centered around the Dali and Lijiang areas, perhaps even as high up as the Shangrila region with its distinct Tibetan influence. 

Back to the racing. The GC battle was down to just two riders: John Cattrall (England) and Wei Kui (Specialized). Cattrall had the lead by a slim 45 seconds and would need to perform at the top of his game to beat a superior climber and ex-professional rider from the Specialized team. Further, Wei Kui had three team-mates at his disposal while Cattrall had zero. The battle at Jade Mountain unfolded with Wei Kui emerging victorious, but this was not decisive till the last five kilometers where he was able to dance away with ease from Cattrall to finish 7th for the stage, but more importantly finishing up to the base of Jade Mountain with 2minutes 15 seconds over the Englishman. This gave him the overall win at the inaugural Colorful Yunnan Gran Fondo by a convincing 1min30 seconds. 

Another big eye-opener was the incredible performance by 16-year old kid Lv Xianjing who simply powered away up the final slopes in a big gear to blow away the opposition. No one had an answer for this young teenager's, hailing from the high mountain villages of Yunnan,  turn of speed and in short time Xianjing who has never heard of the Tour de France, opened up a massive gap that would continue to increase all the way to the finish-line.  This young rider, who also won the mountain ITT, is definitely an emerging talent worthy of world-class and could be the next Chinese super-star. Stay tuned to Saddle Drunk to learn more about this special prodigy. 

Carruthers Perspective - How it unfolded

This was the last stage in what has been a big month of racing for me! My super-crazy-hectic month of racing began on October 13 when I did three stages of Poyang Lake, then over to do the Tour of Matabungkay and back to do the last three stages of Poyang Lake. I then raced two more Chinese races before jetting down to New Zealand to do the week-long 1000km Tour of Southland. I arrived at the Colorful Yunnan Gran Fondo already fatigued from my cycling adventures and this brought my total race days to 24 in just over a month! As you will have read from my previous reports about the Yunnan Gran Fondo, I had been plagued by bad luck that ultimately lead to the destruction of my high GC placing (the unfortunate but beautiful stage of Dali), I was determined to be rid of the bad luck and sign off my 2014 season with a good stage.

The parcours of this stage did not really suit me, featuring two laps containing a 6% 2.7km Temple Climb before racing up the 12km Jade Mountain climb.  However, I was still very active in the race in support of two riders. While lining up on the front row of the race, I was next to John Cattrall who was shivering quite violently, perhaps from a combination of the cool temperatures and nervousness? Cattrall knew that Wei Kui from Specialized could climb better than him and he would need to pull something extra special out of the bag to stay with the lighter rider. Cattrall asked me for help during the stage so I agreed to help to the best of my ability; this would mean sacrificing my own aspirations for the stage and focus on keeping Cattrall close to Wei Kui and sheltered from the wind as much as possible, at least for the first half of the race.

When the gun went, the Mongolians went on the attack immediately, like they always do but it was back together after they made an error at the round-about. The usual counter-attacks flew up the road one after the other, but nothing was allowed to go. I was riding on the wheel of Wei Kui for the majority of the time with John right behind me. A few times he would lose my wheel as the attacks would string out the field and I would find him and pull him back to the front. Sometimes it was not always necessary to be behind Wei Kui.

About 5kms before the Temple climb, there was a dangerous breakaway of about 8 riders and I took it on myself to bridge the gap with John in tow, it took several minutes but I made the catch and coming into the climb I was on the wheel of Wei Kui. When the road pitched upwards, Wei Kui rose out of the saddle and accelerated hard. I followed immediately and John was still right with me as we motored up the climb - however, within the first 1km my legs had exploded, perhaps due to the altitude; I was no longer able to sustain power and it was up to John to look after himself from here on. In a blown state, I managed to get over the climb about 30 seconds in arrears and managed to get with some other riders to rotate hard to catch the front group 10 minutes later. But not without some drama from some of the Chinese riders who refused to contribute evenly to the collective effort of the chase group. I recovered somewhat in the front group and was able to survive longer with the front group up the climb before getting dropped yet again just after the half-way point. I caught up with Shannon Bufton who was 5th on GC and was clearly not having a good day. He was struggling on the climb that I gave him a quick push and then helped pull him back to the main group right as the 12km climb begun. I had worked extremely hard to make the catch yet again after the Temple climb that I was already well into the red-zone as we climbed towards the 3,000m mark. With about 7km to go, the front group surged forward, most likely the attack from the young wonder-boy Lv Xianjing, which broke up the front group into pieces. I was already out the back when this happened. I was climbing solo for quite some time, before a group of three Chinese riders caught me with 3km to go. It was weird, I was riding steady tempo and they would have been riding faster in order to catch me. When they made the catch, they slowed down. I don't know why but thats what they did and the pace was slower than the pace I was riding at on my own. When I pulled to the front, they all slotted behind me. Clearly they wanted a draft and easy ride to the top. I swung wide and forced them to do the pace-setting; they responded and the pace went up. But soon they slowed down again, obviously watching for the foreigner (me) who was barely clinging on at the back. I had enough of this cat and mouse games with 1km to go, so I attacked. As I went by, I yelled some Chinese words that obviously riled them up. One of them yelled at me as he charged ahead with vigor. I wonder how come he was not expending this energy earlier? My surge forward was short-lasting, at this altitude I notice that my attacks are shorter and it takes longer for me to recover. So I rode the last kilometer up Jade Mountain with heavy lead legs with absolutely no acceleration left at all.  At least I gave my all and made the Chinese riders fight hard. It was truly an epic end to an epic week of racing in Yunnan. 

With the finish up at over 3000m, the wind was icy cold and it was important to get down the mountain before we got too cold. It was a splendid downhill run all the way back to the city of Lijiang. I did not want to leave this region, it was so beautifully majestic with the jagged peaks of Jade Mountain as the center-piece and the numerous rolling hills unfurling out across the horizon. This region is what many cyclists would die for to have the opportunity to ride in; we had only barely scratched the surface with the 82km raced from Lijiang to Jade Mountain, there are plenty of other roads and other vistas waiting to be explored. It is the collective hope of the peloton that the Yunnan Gran Fondo 2015 edition will see more stages held in the Lijiang region.   It is also the bicycle tourist dream region, do consider adding Yunnan to your cycling destination bucket list whether its for the 2015 Colorful Gran Fondo or if you are embarking on your own organized adventure!

Visit the official website: www.granfondochina.com and also "like" the page www.facebook.com/asiacyclingnews .

Thank You very much for your help during the week Daniel,we wish you merry Xmas to you and your family.

SaddleDrunk Team