Saturday Race Day to the beast Climb...

Saddle Drunk November 10, 2013

We all been talking about it behind the stage,first comers and non, about this astonishing event that will take us from the lovely beach of Haulien to the top of Wu Ling via the Taroko Gorge Road. Wu Ling is also known in the past as ski resort where during the climb you can see in the distance remains of the lifts, and also previous to that as military training camp.

The Taroko Gorge road it is considered to be one of the most dangerous road in the world, in fact the safest time to cycle through there it is during the KOM Taiwan Challenge.

2012 Champion John Ebsen having breakfast on the bike,3 jam sandwiches.

Elite and Invited riders on the way from Hotel to the Start,0530am.

Sunrise by the Start Line.

Traditional Aboriginal Dance.

The start was given by the official and as the riders clipped on,the competition atmosphere was growing like a new born baby.The peloton rode together controlled by the race commissaire for the first 18km with average speed of nearly 40km/h.At the turning point from the main road to the infamous continuos 54.7 miles climb the elite riders decide to take the lead with a fast pace,and setting the pace for the rest of us to choose if we wanted to stay in the game.

Views while cycling.

Another one.

The race evolved in different ways at the front,with the predominant power from Iranian Team RTS-Santic which they achieved the first two positions in the podium,with remaining step of the podium taking by the raising Taiwanese Cilmber Yin Chih Wang,considered to be the strongest Asian Climber.

Few more challenges along the route.

Nearly to the top,3200 m.s.l.

The last 500 metres,variety of solutions were taken in consideration to the reach the finish line.

A well deserved support to a finisher by a friend to the amazing achievement.

Amazing views on the other side of the Mountain

It is Movember for Tiffany Cromwell enjoying dinner with a bunch of friends after the race.

The Elite riders and the Invited riders enjoyed the amazing challenge, all agreed to be one of the most toughest challenges in the world.Personally I will come back.

No words to comment about this event,but emotions,feelings and personal achievements can only be remember by those participants.

Day 2 KOM Taiwan Challenge

Saddle Drunk November 8, 2013

Today it has been a day which all of us manage to warm up the legs for tomorrow morning with an early start at 0630 from the grid. The KOM event staff arranged a press conference at the start line for the race,which it is about 5km from the hotel by the beach.

We all fully kitted up and rode to the beach in a big peloton.We all took pictures with each others,wearing lycra, and chatting away to make the time pass under the sun rays with an amazing temperature of nearly 30 degrees Celsius.

Again with Tiffany Cromwell

David Mc Cann 3 Times Irish Olympian.

Chatting in Italian with Simon Clarke, and discovering little secrets.

Elite RIders.

After the presentation we all decided to go for a ride,in groups we took different directions to discover this amazing country side.We rode through down town,hills,and open fields,motorways and much more astonishing scenery.

Cycling Tips Australia also with us.

In the middle of nowhere.

Ordering a Bubble Plum Ice Tea with Pearls with Adam Semple and Craig Symons.

Finally we were back at the hotel, after chasing and racing each others on the road like kids with new toys to be able to attend the riders meeting inclusive of a local dance from aborigine women from Taiwan.

To finish off the afternoon, it was nice to catch and talk with a great MTB rider and friend Cory Wallace,two times Mongolia Bike Challenge Champion,and various podium finishers at the most hardest MTB races in the world.Cory has been invited by the Taiwan Cycling Federation to take part at the event and to challenge the Elite riders.I can see Cory placing himself very well in tomorrow race.

Cory Wallace.

Good Night

Day 1 KOM Taiwan Challenge 2013

Saddle Drunk November 7, 2013

Today it has been a long day on the road. Our day started with a full on breakfast,which it was needed to recover from jet-lag.

We then all boarded Private Vans to head to Taipei main square for the official presentation with the media,and all the relevant authorities,such as Taiwan Cycling Federation,Taiwan Tourism Board all involved in organising this event with a total of 450 riders from 28 different countries in the world.

There was also the presentation of some Elite riders, which includes Simon Clarke winner of KOM at La Vuelta 2013 of Team Orica-Greenedge,Tiffany Cromwell of Australia,Team Orica-Ais.Not to forget my room mate for last night,which he kept it quite,the 3 times Irish Olympian David Mc Cann, and the two times champion of the Mongolia Bike Challenge Cory Wallace all the way from Canada,after he finished second last week at the hardest Mountain Bike Event in the world called the Crocodile Trophy.

The Taiwan Cycling Federation treated us with a lovely Italian Restaurant for a delicious meal,before the 4 hours journey to Hualien,on the East Coast through a magnificent country side of mountains and east coast line.

We finally reached our hotel,after a day of spending great time talking ancd chatting with the professional and learning great tips.

Simon Clarke of Team Orica-Greenedge

Tiffany Cromwell of Team Orica-Ais

On the way to King Of Mountain Challenge Taiwan 2013

Saddle Drunk November 6, 2013

Good Morning all,

I have just arrived in Hong Kong and I am now waiting for my flight to Taipei, Taiwan.

During the flight from London I managed to sleep for nearly 10 hours.. I think I needed to rest a bit...

Last night in London was hard to leave particularly when my son told me: ” Please daddy stay with us”... I had to fight hard with myself to regain the force to leave.

I have been given the chance to ride with the PRO from Tour de France, Giro d’Italia, la Vuelta and all other champions from different part of the world at this amazing event 16 hours away from home. I am sure that there will be other occasions in the future for them to join me in my adventures....

So, now lets talk about this event.

The main event, which is on Saturday is called KOM Taiwan Challenge, KOM stands for King Of The Mountain, obviously you might imagine why...

We will start the race at 0630 on the road next to the beach at sea level and we will be finishing the race (hopefully) at 3275 meters from sea level after a distance of 105km.

I have done races where the distances where much longer, but the peculiarity of this one is that the total climb is long 87km, which means that nearly 90% of the race will consist in cycling up hill.

The total ascent is 3500 meters, quite a lot for such a short distance if you think that most of the best cycling events in Europe in the Alps the do the same amount in at least 140km or maybe more.

Obviously having the top boys and girls in the race, means that all the entourage of cars will be following the big peloton of 444 riders from all over the countries.

There will be different 4 feeding stations with mechanical support from Shimano.

The top riders are expected to finish it within the 4 hours mark, about myself.... I am happy to finish within the limit time of 6.5 hours.

The other event will be held on Sunday Morning at 0630 next to Sun Moon Lake, in a remote area of Taiwan, this race will be much shorter and will give the chance to local rider to ride with the PRO (professional).

In this race, if my legs don’t hurt too much, I will push hard to see if I can keep up with the top dogs and play the game with them, hopefully without crashing.