Tour de Ferizaj (or: the life of a domestique)

While still recovering from the Tour des Stations two weeks ago, I couldn't shirk my duties as a member of the Team Prishtina cycling team, especially as one of the heads of the Kosovo cycling federation specifically said he wanted to see me in his hometown. It's always been a bit a shock here in Kosovo to be known to everyone, unlike the races in the US and Canada where I would be an anonymous rider lost in the pack. Ferizaj promised to be a flat race, which was highly unusual in a country where races are typically nothing but steep mountain climbs, and in fact most of the riders were nervous at the idea of such a profile.

German & US troops on exercises outside Ferizaj

I still find that to be intensely funny. Three years ago I remember watching the Tour of Rotterdam on TV, and thought it was one of the most boring races I'd ever seen. Tabletop flat, the racers all stuck together past ships and industrial areas, until a sprint at the very end. I've also tended to find the flat stages of the Tour de France fairly boring, save for the more recent years when cobbles were inflicted upon the teams. So this race was interesting in that I was about the only rider with experience riding and racing on a flat course, and to hear others say it was extremely difficult always strikes me as odd.

Racing in Kosovo is a lesson in uncertainty. The races are sponsored by local teams, who have to raise money for the event and can rarely get sponsorship - the races aren't televised (the last one to be so was a race out of Pristina- my first- three years ago), and there are inexplicable mounds of red tape even when a sponsor is available and willing. So often we only hear about a race days in advance, and then only know what city it will be in. Ferizaj gave us a week's notice and some idea of the course profile ("flat") which was an unaccustomed luxury.

Ferizaj is a sleepy city of about 40,000 people, not far south of Pristina and nestled up against the eastern edge of the Sharr Mountains. In many ways Ferizaj is a military town, both the location of Camp Bondsteel and most US forces in the country, as well as the location of the Kosovo Security Forces (KSF) academy. Most people in Pristina probably know the city as a location along the road to Skopje, Macedonia.

Rexha and old-school cycling

The Sunday race schedule is often the same. We all bike downtown to the shop of Rexhep Baliu, coach of the team and an icon of Yugoslav racing in the 1970s. Despite slowing down, Rexha is still a tough bird, and rode with us on the unforgiving Kamenica Loop when I first starting cycling in Kosovo three years ago. As with the race in April, Rexha didn't come with us, leaving support to our team soigneur Kushtrim. A strong sprinter, Kushtrim had given up racing to support the team, and even on training rides took on the role, making sure everyone had food and water. The others racing that way were Dorant, a young and new racer, Gjengis, a climbing specialist, and Migjen, a more all-around racer.

So for those not too familiar with bike racing, the roles on a team may need some explanation. A soigneur ("swanny") is a French term for "caretaker"- the person who looks after the riders and tries to anticipate needs. Professional teams have dedicated people for this role, and some of the behind-the-scenes videos by teams like Orica give a sense of how it works (in one spring race in Italy, the Orica swannies brewed hot tea in the water bottles instead of water).

Among the cyclists, riding styles are also described by French terms. A grimpeur is a climbing specialist, usually a tall and slightly built cyclist like Gjengis, who is not held down by gravity when on steep climbs. But like other climbers, grimpeurs often have trouble on flat stages where power is more important than weight ratios. In contrast comes a rouleur, who specializes more in flat and windy terrain- and probably describes our friend Simon Bishop.  A puncheur is a rider who does well on hilly terrain with short, sharp climbs, often seen in one-day classics in Europe. This probably describes me best, as I had to ride in this style during my Madison years. That makes me a fish-out-of-water in Kosovo, and an unlikely cyclist for the Tour des Stations, but riders like myself have to expand a bit. On any given race, teams usually give priority to certain riders according to their abilities, and designate certain cyclists as the leaders, or favorites for the race. Those is a supporting roll are known as domestiques.

For Ferizaj, we were a bit confused. Migjen has often been the leader on the road, but having trained little this summer, either he or Gjengis could do well if protected. Regardless, it was my role to act as domestique, or the rider who protects and works for them until just before the end. On the Tour de France, domestiques are sometimes hidden in plain sight on flat roads, where they tire themselves out on the front of the peloton (the large group), or in mountain stages where they help pace the leader until falling behind from exhaustion. In cycling, drafting behind someone else can reduce wind resistance and power output by 30%, which is a huge benefit over long distances. Well, except for the person doing the work in front. This GCN video explains fairly well.

At the start

We drove to Ferizaj in Rexha's ancient Opel Kaddet, a car that could barely make 80kph and where
the speedometer was broken, requiring using Gjengis's Garmin GPS from his bike to indicate speed. The race started from outside the sadly dilapidated Bill Clinton sportshall, with the race numbers being handed out in the nearby gas station cafe (for all its other problems, Kosovo has the world's poshest gas stations). Some thirty of us lined up in the street, and at 10am we were set off.

Normally bike races over long distances start slowly, allowing cyclists to warm up. But this was a sprint from the first whistle, cyclists surging ahead at full speed. That surprised me, because it really wasn't smart. Cyclists tend to stick together in the peloton to save energy, and repeated sprints over the first few miles only tired everyone out, including and especially those starting and following the sprints. They also tend not to work well. Even a small group of cyclists can maintain a fast pace that easily catches ("reels back") anyone sprinting off the front of the group, unless they are exceptionally strong. I've learned from experience in Kosovo to ignore most breakaway attempts. The riders seems to do them in what I risk stereotyping as a Kosovo style of racing-- meaning that as much as I love Kosovo, it is not a country of strategists, instead being populated by people who act on emotion.

Tête de la Course

Bike racing is a strange sport in that it requires strategy, and these strategies don't necessarily make sense to an outsider. Although there are teams, only individuals win in the end, yet finishing first requires cooperating with other teams and other competitors. The racers in Ferizaj kept attacking perhaps out of instinct, perhaps because without mountain climbs it wasn't clear where they should attack, and the pace of the main group kept fluctuating between 30mph back to 18mph (50-30kph). Only 7km from the start I saw Gjengis at the front, and knew he shouldn't be there- out of frustration I took over, and then upped to a constant pace of 27mph (43kph). That kept anyone from trying to sprint off the front, and was also intended to kick stragglers off the back (though I may have accidentally dropped our teammate Dorant). Being on the front at that pace takes a lot of work (technically, around 300 watts), but I stayed there as long as I could before slowing somewhat.

Predictably, as soon as I slowed, the Ferizaj team kept attacking again, with three riders from the Trepca team helping to catch them when they did. This kept repeating itself time and again-- a black jersey or two would sprint from my left, and within a minute or two we would have caught them again. I kept wondering what the strategy was-- the team coach kept yelling from the chase car-- but I couldn't quite figure it out. In one way, though, it did start to have an effect. In riding the Tour des Stations two weeks earlier, my knee pain had forced my legs to find strength to compensate, and in the past weeks I've had soreness in small leg muscles I had never felt before. By mile 30 (50km) of the Freizaj race, my right groin and thigh began hurting again, forcing me to slow.

Ferizaj roads, with Sharr Mountains in the distance

Eventually we were reduced to a group of 8- three riders from Trepca, the three of us from Prishtina, an acerbic Serbian cyclist, and for a time one other. We had seen two riders from Ferizaj attack and get ahead of us, and then at one point they disappeared. It was never clear what happened to them- Gjengis's guess was they went off course- but for a time I thought we were chasing two riders, and thus competing for third place. As a chase group it was important that we worked together, but Kosovo riders get very little experience riding in group or especially pace lines. It was a mess. The Serb kept yelling in a mix of English, Albanian and Serbian, "It's a pace line! We take turns! How f*cking difficult is that to understand?!" I realized that all the evening group rides in the US and Canada are important training, the sort that gets lost in small, mountainous countries.

Gjengis, Migjen & I

As with all Kosovo races, the road is not really controlled. Police stand at intersections to prevent cross traffic, when possible, but on the road itself the story is a bit more complicated. The lead riders get a police escort, and once there was a breakaway we had a referee's car ahead of us. When going through towns, the car would lay on its horn desperately, forcing other cars off the road in time for us to sweep behind. On the main roads, the police would drive in the left-hand lane, forcing cars off the road in a form of chicken. And most of the roads on this race were quite busy-- in the mountains roads can have sparse traffic, but the flat valley between Ferizaj and Pristina contains two-lane highways, another reason cyclists rarely practice on them. Some people would cheer us on as we raced past, but as I've mentioned before, mostly children. Kids in Kosovo are the biggest cycling fans.

With ten miles to go, my right leg went from painful to restrictive. I simply couldn't maintain the same pace, and signaled for Migjen and Gjengis to finish without me. This is also typical for a domestique to drop off near the end, and as one Trepca rider tried to break away, his two teammates dropped back and stayed with me. The front never got that far away, though- by the end they were perhaps only 400 meters ahead on the road, where in the final sprint Migjen took 2nd place and Gjengis 3rd.

Gjengis receiving his certificate- no podium girls in Kosovo

Each race ends with a formal lunch, and awards are given as certificates, even to the police and paramedics. Kosovo cycling is divided into age groups: Cadet for 15-16 years old, Junior for 17-18, U23 for 19-23, Elite for 24-40, and Masters for old guys like me. I sometimes receive an award for participating, and we joke that it's either for my age (I'm usually the only master's rider), or the fact that I'm the American. It is a bit strange that everyone I race against is 15-30 years younger than me. I thought of the line from Martin Sheen's character in Apocalypse Now, "Airborne?  He was thirty-eight years old.  Why the f*ck would he do that? . . .The next youngest guy in his class was half his age. They must've thought he was some far-out man humping it over the course. I did it when I was nineteen, it damn near wasted me." Funny thing about cycling, though, is that endurance and pain management come with age. If it hadn't been for the muscle pull, I wasn't tired at all by the end. It was gratifying to get thanks for the officials and coaches, who said I was a "train" and never even looked tired. Of course, everyone knows who I am, and likely thinks I'm a bit crazy.

Gjengis (right) and me on a spring training ride

Personally, I had needed to push myself. The Tour in Switzerland wasn't only an accomplishment, it completely threw off my body chemistry, and the satisfied fatigue of a hard bike ride was gone for me-- the bar had been placed too high. I've been frustrated these past two weeks that cycling did nothing for me. The hills seemed too small, the effort too little, and I could rarely push harder on climbs because the muscle soreness still hadn't gone away. So for me, a flat race was perfect. I felt comfortable, could help my teammates, and felt a bit better by the time was returned to Pristina.

I hope that bike racing grows in Kosovo. It's tough, what with few bikes and no spare parts, and little money to support teams. But the riders are enthusiastic, and the terrain is really perfect for cycling, even in such a small country. I keep hoping that all the kids we see on the side of the road, the ones waving and cheering us on, will think bikes are worth trying.

Hell was on Saturday this year

Valais, Switzerland, recon of the road to Chamoson

When I first started cycling as a teenager, I remember seeing the iconic 1977 documentary Sunday in Hell, exploring the mud-cobbles-blood of the infamous Paris-Roubaix race. That storied race, over cobbled roads in the north of France and Belgium, has always been hypnotic for its savagery, violence, and the lingering question, “Why do people do this?”

For Erich, my best friend and cycling partner, there were events that transcended even the crazy goal

Erich & I in Dillon, Colorado, summer 1987

we’d set for ourselves in the summer of 1987, of riding an English century. A full century, 100 miles or 160km, is the cycling equivalent of a marathon, and that first year we finished the Wolf River Century in Wisconsin through thunderstorms and constant headwinds. I was 14 at the time, really too young for an endurance event, let alone on a hefty steel 10-speed, and I could barely think of anything tougher on a bike. But they existed. There were metric doubles (200km, or 125 miles), the first of which I attempted in ‘88 and only failed because of a broken collar bone. And then there were double centuries, 200 miles or 320km, organized by small bands of endurance cyclists in the French/Italian Audax tradition, which was the cycling culture Erich’s dad had inculcated into us. I rejected the USCF road racing tradition, the idea of cycling tight circles in a pack around an industrial park– for us, the honor was in testing limits. The idea of a double was mythical, the cyclists who completed them unknown heroes, and we joked about riding one together one day.

After Erich died in 1989, he never left my thoughts when I was cycling. I lacked any real partner or cycling goals for years after his death, but his memory inspired me to ride a real double, my only worry being that there was nothing AFTER that short of Race Across America (RAAM)– and due to a traumatic brain injury from a bike crash when I was 19, I could not risk any ride that involved severe sleep deprivation. But I eventually found real cycling partners in Jason Perez and Jennifer Whytock, met ultraendurance riders like Betty Jean Jordan and Julie Gazmarian, have a new cycling family in Kosovo, and found new one-day distance limits on the Dublin 420K two years ago. Where does one go from there?

To Switzerland, apparently. After my injuries and illnesses in June, I wanted to force myself to train hard for an event that would test my limits, force me to try a different form of ultraendurance ride. I’d seen descriptions of the Look-Marmotte gran fondo series in Europe, and was enchanted by the idea of riding more in the Alps, especially since it was a short flight from Kosovo. I had done two short rides out of Geneva last October during a business trip, and it was a shame not to try for more. I chose the inaugural Tour des Stations in Switzerland, which boasted an ultra course of 220km and 7400 meters of climbing, almost the height of Mt Everest from sea level. The distance was no problem, but the total elevation was crazy- more than twice what tough races like the Cheaha Ultra, Colorado Triple Bypass, or 6 Gap Century had, or twice my most climbing recorded in one day in the Balkans. Before leaving Kosovo I rode a 204km route that had 3000m of climbing, and even that was an effort.

Tour des Stations elevation profile- 10 cols, not for the faint of heart

Switzerland, like the rest of Europe, had been in the grips of an incredible heatwave this summer, and I was lucky it broke the day I landed in Geneva, with rainy and cool skies. Instead of the 34C days they had been experiencing for months, August 11 was forecast for 28C and no rain. I took the train to the starting town of Martigny, arriving two days early. Martigny was only 40km down the road from Montreaux, a place I'd known well enough for my time spent at the Caux Palace discussing environmental security, and on the train I could see the palace high on a hill above the lake. Martigny itself lay in the next valley, a long, gently rising flat with mountains towering above on either side, and ultimately ending after 140km at Furka Pass.

I put the bike back together in the hotel room, and realized to my horror that my GPS computer was

gone. I had mislaid it before, as in April I'd forgotten it before the Athens 320K, but in that case I was with a group and my Trek5200 I keep in the US has a backup Cateye slim computer. The Scott bike I was using had nothing else, and I dreaded the idea of trying to complete an endurance ride without knowing distance. Most likely my Wahoo GPS had been stolen from my luggage in Pristina, where in trying not to forget to pack it, had not been careful to bury it deep in my bag. On Friday morning I ran to the Bike 'N Joy bikeshop in Martigny, where I bought a simple electronic computer, programming it in metric for once (not my usual style) to match the race distance markers. And while the race organizers had provided a top-tube cheat sheet listing all the aid stops along the way, it was printed in a small font that was difficult to read and had no climb profile information, so I created a somewhat cruder version of my own.

The start was at 6:30am from the edge of Martigny. I had scouted the first 20km on my bike the day before, which were fast, flat roads to the start of the first climb in Chamoson. The start was only one kilometer from my hotel, and the roads still dark and cold at 6am as I left. I admit I was apprehensive at the start, and sat inside the cafe watching other cyclists arrive. Almost all the ultra riders I could see were Swiss or French (from their race numbers), everyone had high-end bikes but of a classical type, with no disc brakes or fancy GPS computers with colored screens (either of which would just be extra weight).

15 minutes before the start- I rarely look this jittery before a ride (Sportograph photo)

At 6:15 I took a place comfortably three-quarters back in the field, and watched with some amusement as a photo drone was attacked by a murmuration of starlings.

Race start and sunrise over the Valais canton.

We started off at 6:35 to the sound of an air horn and roar of escort motorcycles. The pack of some 200 riders flew down the first road at 40+kph, into a sunrise over the Valais valley. I really did not know what to expect, seeing and hearing everything in French and surrounded by a bunch of extremely fit people- most of whom knew the roads better than I did. The ride into the sunrise was exquisite, doubtless the most beautiful race start I’d ever seen, even more than the Door County Century in 1994. The valley was flooded with light as we started the climb to Ovronnaz, which I knew from the race profile was the steepest climb of the day. Averaging 11-12%, the climb was relentless for over 2800ft (850m) vertically, and many of the riders were spending much time out of the saddle. It wasn't a difficult climb by itself- I had done similar gradients and elevation in Albania in preparation for the ride, but I knew many more were coming.

First climb to Ovronnaz, steepest of the day

I put my vest back on for the descent, a fairly quick one back into Chamoson. Like the other descents
of the day I was taking it more slowly than the others, and I envied their confidence in flying around corners, sure in the knowledge that the roads would be banked properly, with no potholes, gravel, or Albanian drivers passing into the inside lane while going around a tractor trapped behind a herd of cows. But then the more I thought of it, mountain descents in Switzerland and France must get boring after a while without the Albanian/Slavic drama and wildlife.

Climbing to Ovronazz

The field was thinning out as we raced to the second climb up to Anzére. The first part of the climb snaked up through vineyards in a switchback pattern, and I could see cyclists already cresting those first roads as I approached -and even as I reached the top, could see cyclists behind us just starting the climb. The climb to Anzére came as a series, still winding through farms and terraced vineyards, with nothing too steep. Locals cheered us on as they did all day, from the side of the road or from their cars, shouting, “Bravo, allez, allez!” The locals’ support was heartening, especially later in the day. Families of riders would also be there in support, and one in particular later in the day didn't hesitate to offer me water, or their daughter to share her Haribo. The race organization was impressive, with each intersection controlled by volunteers or what looked like young Swiss army reservists, and the entire canton seemed to be supportive of us.

Starting the second climb, through the vineyards to Anzere (Sportograph photo)

The village of Anzére had a water station, then a short, sharp descent for the climb up to Crans-Montana, a larger resort town where the GranFondo (with most of the day’s riders) started their 130km course a few hours after us. The climb to Montana was shorter than the last two, and the aid station was stocked with Enervit gels and other foods, which I grabbed, sensing the hard part was yet to come. Crans-Montana was at 86km along the route, with a long descent back to the valley floor, and I thought of the town as the halfway point in the day. I was feeling good, but was aware that my left leg was twinging, a warning sign of possible muscle cramps if I pushed too hard on the pedals. The road after Montana had a climb out before the descent, and as I worried about cramping, my bike (Tracy’s bike, really) did the oddest thing.

I’d had trouble with the gear cassette on the Scott, and swapped in an 11-32 9-speed cassette I’d bought in Ukraine for Tracy. A 32 gear is quite low, especially for a bike with a compact crankset, meaning that the lowest gear ratio could be 34-32. But I didn’t think it would work because of the derailleur length, and testing the day before had confirmed that, leaving 28 as my lowest gear (normal for me). But leaving Crans-Montana, the gear kept jumping out of 28, and in frustration I downshifted hard, planning to shift back up quickly to clear the gears. Except then it stayed comfortably in the lower 32 gear, a soft mechanical purr the only indication that it was pushing against the jockey wheel. OK, if that’s too technical for you, think of it this way. The bike, sensing I was possibly in trouble, somehow adjusted and gave me a much easier (if slower) way to get up the steep hills, like a loyal horse knowing its rider was in pain. That would become important very soon.

Descending from Crans-Montana (Sportograph photo)

We descended back to the valley floor, the last time we would do that, crossing to the other side of the valley and pasing through Chippis and Chalais to the start of the Vercorin climb. The second half of the day, with the Vercorin climb starting at 110km (70 miles), contained many more climbs than the first half, and some of them remained a mystery to me, Strava not helping much to decipher how long and how steep all of them were. Vercorin I knew would be tough, over 6 miles (10km) at 10%, with frequent steeper sections as the road cut into the cliffside. The real worry was maintaining energy.

For those not familiar with ultra-endurance events, I should briefly explain a thing or two about energy. Despite popular myth, it's not enough to eat a large plate of spaghetti the night before and be set for the day. Carbs can be stored in the body as glycogen, both in skeletal muscles and the liver, but even endurance athletes can't store much more than 2000 calories that way. On a day when I would burn through 9-10,000 calories over 240km, that only lasts about two hours. The body can metabolize food at the rate of only 300 calories per hour, sometimes even less as distance wears on and heat increases, and the body can't spare enough blood for digestion. Do the math, and that leaves a huge deficit. Ultraendurance athletes therefore also rely on fat stores-- 1 kilogram of fat can store some 10,000 calories, but the body can only convert that into energy slowly. So in events where too much energy is burned early, one can "bonk" or "hit the wall," where there simply isn't enough energy left to keep a 200 watt power output -which requires about 1000 calories per hour.

The climbs get harder (Sportograph photo)

That's what happened to me in the Vercorin climb. Ok at first, partway up the climb I hit a wall, my energy levels falling to almost nothing. I downshifted to the 32 gear (note: I had never done that before on any road bike) and started feeling demoralized as everyone passed me on the climb. All I could do was push down on each pedal stroke, hoping that at the next aid station I could recover my energy somewhat and press on. It was difficult, and I kept thinking how easy it would be to turn around, descend to the valley floor, and coast along the flat roads back to the hotel in Martigny. Had I not told everyone about this ride, I could have done that, still had a respectable distance and enormous amount of climbing (by the top of Vercorin, I had climbed almost 13,000ft or 4000m), but I sincerely wanted to finish. I would have to slow down considerably, relying on fat reserves, the meager 300 calories/hour from gels, and then hope that the body wouldn't react too badly once it started eating away at muscle tissue for energy (note: this is not as bad as it sounds, as long as it's not done frequently- the body's enzymes are "smart" at going after broken proteins and damaged muscle tissue first).

Looking down into the valley

The aid station as Vercorin had more gels and electrolyte drinks, and I stood there as another rider did abandon, turning in his number to the ride officials. I pulled out my phone and checked the ride profile (note: there is an Android app called GPX viewer that works well in offline mode, showing a route and the elevation profile in detail). From Vercorin there were six more climbs, four more if I was being optimistic. The next one I figured I could handle, the third one looked no worse than a typical Kosovo climb, but the second... the climb to Thyon would be tough. I told myself that if I could make Thyon I could finish, because I could handle the third climb to Nendaz and then all that would remain would be the final climb to the Col de la Croix-de-Coeur (which itself was a massive climb, but later, later...). I was over an hour ahead of the time cutoff for that station, so I could afford to pace myself a bit. I just needed to recover.

After Vercorin was a climb to Nax, and a shorter one to St. Martin, all labeled on my top-tube cheat sheet. The field kept thinning out, but I could still see riders ahead of me, which meant I did not have to worry about getting off course. The ride organizers were well prepared, posting people at all intersections, making sure that hard left turns into an uphill weren’t missed or slowed down by cross traffic. I knew I had slowed down considerably, and I had retreated into myself, not paying attention to the scenery, not trying to pace other cyclists, just focused on the pedal cadence and all the new pains that were emerging. My energy levels stabilized a bit, but my right knee began hurting, an old injury that suggested energy wasn’t the only thing I had to worry about. Each pedal stroke felt slower, more painful, and I had over 100,000 to make that day. I wasn't feeling faint, not like when I got back into serious road cycling, and I remember feeling like I would pass out while climbing Mt Champlain during the Grand Prix Cycliste Gatineau in 2013. This was the body simply saying it couldn't run at more than 60%. On flat roads that would have been fine, but wasn't enough for steep mountain climbs to maintain pace. I simply put my head down and concentrated on reaching the next checkpoint.

At 158km was the village of Hermence, another aid station and transponder check, and the start of the 10km climb up to Thyon. The first section of that climb was crazy, like Guri i Kuq crazy steep, and even in low gear my knees were both screaming in pain. It’s hard to describe what it’s like, even shorter sections of 4 miles (6km) can take 45 minutes to climb at a high gradient and slow pace, and there is nothing to do, nothing to focus on, other than the pain and the kilometers ticking away on the computer. Yet oddly, as often as I worried about having to abandon, of not making it to the end before the time cutoff, it wasn’t until after Thyon that I wondered, “Why am I doing this?” Most times it’s not really a question, the answer comes in a Sir Edmund Hillary-style “because it’s there” and because I can. So I thought more of Erich at that time, that I would finish for him, that this ride was EPIC and I may not have chances again to try for this level of craziness.

The climbs begin to feel lonelier (Sportograph photo)

So I pushed on, up the second to last climb to Nendaz, which was tougher than it had looked back in Vercorin (it’s just easier in comparison to Thyon and la Croix-de-Couer), and by this aid station there were perhaps eight of us in sight of one another. I took what food I could (by this time, any energy had to come from liquids or gels), took the last of my pain medication, lactate pills and chamoix cream, was startled a bit by an ambulance leaving the station with sirens wailing-- I had not seen anyone in distress, or perhaps we all looked that way-- and climbed up a small section to the final descent. This descent was hardly relaxing, a very narrow and rutted road that wound through hillside villages. Perhaps in another setting it would look idyllic, but I was acutely aware that time was running out, and I needed to finish the race not long after 7:30. My Kosovo training prepared me for such roads, but I greatly feared a tire puncture, not having the time or energy to change a tube. I made it to the last aid station at La Tzoumaz, which I knew was 9 kilometers from the final summit. I was shocked to find that it was 6:45pm and the time cutoff in Tzoumaz was 7, so grabbed some water and made my way up the final climb.

During the final push to the final summit (Sportograph photo)

The organizers had described the final road to the Col de la Croix-de-Couer as unpaved, though perhaps that was just by Swiss standards. The road surface did change, but to something that was highly familiar to me, like Alabama chip-rock surface that I had ridden on tough centuries like Cheaha and Tour de Blue. It did require more effort to pedal, but one or two other cyclists were in sight and I just kept grinding at the pedals, counting off each kilometer to the top. There was a photographer sitting in the grass some distance from the summit, and I wondered how my face was set at that moment. See the photo above. I heard him saying, "...à seulement quatre kilomètres du col, bravo!" Both my knees were full of molten lead, I was at the end of my second wind as far as energy was concerned, and I just needed to reach the summit. From there, I knew there was a 5km descent into the village of Verbier and the finish line. The winds grew ever colder toward the peak at 2200m (7200ft), and my Castelli climber’s jersey did nothing to keep me warm, but until the top I had no energy to take out my vest, hardly could drink, I just kept fixated on the road 10 feet in front of me, until finally there was a golden light spilling out from the crest of the hill. A final road marker indicated the peak at 1km (shorter than I had estimated!), and I knew I had done it.

Crossing the finish line in Verbier, but still 30km to go (Sportograph photo)

The view from the peak was amazing, looking down into the ski village of Verbier (we had just climbed the entire mountain, around the ski lifts), with the sun setting over the mountains to the west. I put my vest back on for the cold descent, slowing at times like the Clingman’s Dome descent to stay warm, and winding through the town to the direction of police, until finally I rounded a corner and THERE was the final chute and finish line. I staggered across, accepted my medal, but then... well, I wasn’t done yet. I had planned to bike the 30km from Verbier back down to Martigny, and as it was closing in on 8pm I need to move right away. The road from Verbier to Martigny was almost all a fast downhill, and for the first switchbacks I was COLD. Having no warmth left after the final climb I bit hard into my lower lip to keep my teeth from chattering, and pedaled as fast as I could to get down to lower elevation and warmer air. Part of me worried that Swiss police would complain I didn’t have any lights with me (I didn’t want to carry them all day), though my vest was almost dangerously reflective. Yet it was the most relaxing part of the day. I had finished the climbs, and this road was both smooth and dropped precipitously from 7200ft down to 1000, an almost two thousand meter drop- like going from the Eisenhower Tunnel in Colorado to Denver, but in a third of the distance.

Starting the final descent to Verbier and then Martigny-- none of it looked real (Sportograph photo)

I made it to Martigny and finally breathed a sigh of relief. I was done. It was over. I had ridden 150 miles (240km) over almost 7400m (24,000ft) of climbing, a feat that kept me staring at the GPS data, not believing it had been possible or that it had been me doing it. It was warm in Martigny, with people sitting outside in cafes, and I rolled through the last few kilometers almost effortlessly. It was a strange way to end such a ride, though perhaps more in keeping with Audax rides than big events, standing outside the hotel, no shoes on, pressing stop on my phone app. All I wanted at that moment was a hot shower and the chocolate milk in my room fridge, as even food would be hard to get down for another day or so.

On Sunday I managed a short recovery ride over the flat roads nearby, and then created a ride video to track my movements from the day before. I stared at it in disbelief-- it just kept going and going.

I had been smart enough to book my hotel in Martigny for two nights after the ride, not forcing myself to take the train back to Geneva until Monday. So early Monday morning I got in one last bike ride before breakfast, into another sunrise. For those not familiar with long-distance cycling, the recovery rides are deadly important, as they help to flush toxins out of the legs after a hard effort. It's just too bad the Martigny Hotel du Poste didn't have a masseuse.

Sunrise over Valais

Again, the organization of the ride was remarkably good, especially for a first time event. The length and complexity of the course required over 400 medics, motorcyclists/marshals, volunteers, traffic controllers, police, etc. There was only once when the course was confusing (about 2km before Hermence, when there was a sign for a climb toward Thyon), but otherwise we didn't have to worry about navigation all day. I was also impressed at how the organizers had arranged for our race numbers to be used on regional transport (bus, train, cable-car), so in case of a medical or mechanical abandonment, one could at least get back to the hotel. For the ultra riders it was especially easy-- too easy-- to quit. All we had to do was turn right onto a road descending to the valley floor, then follow the flat roads back to Martigny. And I know riders who did just that. Out of those who started the Ultra route, only half finished.

A thanks to the support crews, police, medics, everyone.

It's been a few days now since the ride, and I am back in Kosovo. I admitted to Tracy that the ride was so epic, so relentlessly difficult, that I would be hard-pressed ever to repeat it. But perhaps that was the point. It may cause a bit of wistfulness, it may make other climbs and rides seem small in comparison, but it's not something really anyone can top. Having done it, even slowly the second half, was enough. Perhaps next year I'll look for another Look-Marmotte gran fondo to ride, but at a normal distance and a region in France I don't know yet.

Chapeau to the race organizers, volunteers, and other riders who survived. I'll not forget this one. Erich would be proud.

Final Strava record

(note: the RidewithGPS app I was using for tracking recorded 7400m of climbing, matching the race profile-- Strava changed it when I uploaded the GPX file, and 8000 sounds like a round number...if I had to suffer through a stolen GPS computer, I'll take the exaggeration.)

The Albanian portfolio

On the road to Valbona, Albania

To say that Albania is a strange place might seem unfair, especially since Kosovo is not exactly itself the most normal place to live. But it is strange. Because of a combination of politics, history, and geography, Albania during the Cold War was neither East nor West. If anything, it was Far East, a country that followed a very austere and Maoist version of communism, a country that couldn't be friends with Washington but didn't want to be friends with Moscow. For decades, until after the fall of communism in late 1990, private ownership of cars was outlawed. The country was constantly preparing for invasion, with cement pillboxes growing like mushrooms out of the landscape, and a brutalist style of architecture that... well, at least that part reminds me of Pristina. Today the country is still neither here nor there, but in terms of time rather than direction.

Sharing the road above Tamara

For cyclists, this makes Albania a very strange place indeed. The roads are either unpaved or
constructed of ancient asphalt with refrigerator-sized potholes (I fell into one of these last year and fractured my hand), or they are brand-new feats of Italian engineering, with asphalt so smooth and unworn they fall under what Sean Kelly referred to as "grand tour perfect." So, too, are the other vehicles occupying the road. The country still hosts a suspiciously large number of Mercedes, but increasingly (especially during the summer months) there are new and highly expensive Audis or Land Rovers, sharing the road with large numbers of bicycles and all manner of agricultural livestock. The other day I saw a 5-series BMW trying to pass around a herd of cows, but having to give way to oncoming traffic which consisted of a horse-drawn cart-- and this on the main highway between Tirana and Podgorica in Montenegro. In practical terms, Albanian drivers are generally faster than their cousins in Kosovo, but also far more aware of side traffic such as bicycles. But some of these roads, they seem to be made only for cyclists.

From Kosovo, there are only two crossings (both near Gjakova) which we use into Albania directly- these lead to the region around the town of Bajram Curri in the northeast of the country. If driving to Albania and then starting, we typically focus either on the city of Shkodra to the north, or the coastal cities between Vllora and Saranda in the south. A few weekends ago, we followed up on the Kulle Pass ride into Montenegro with a ride to Albania out of Gjakova. The original idea was to go to Valbona, a gorgeous canyon and national park in the far north of the country, a long but gradual climb out of Bajram Curri into the Accursed Mountains. We did this ride in September with Jen Whytock and the Tolga-led group of local cyclists, a remote area but one which did contain hotels and its own collection of adventure tourists.

But we didn't go to Valbona that day. The first goal, one insisted upon by Gjengiz, was to complete the long Ragam climb to the south of Bajram Curri. We had climbed from the other direction several times before and so knew the descent, but few people had climbed from the other direction. Accompanied by Agim and Bashkim, we set out from the outskirts of Gjakova, along a rutted road that led to the border climb. Nothing like the border with Montenegro, the climb to the Albanian border as a gradual rise of some 600 feet, cresting where very friendly guards scan our IDs and wave us through. After the border is a long, 15 km descent, with a left turn that climbs into the village of Ragam, and from there the 10km climb to the summit. The view of the valley from that road, cut into the hillside as it snakes up 1500ft (450m) in elevation, is always stunning, the sort of place they could have filmed Lord of the Rings-- at least had they needed a real set for Mordor.

With Tolga (in gold) on the hottest day of 2016, northern Albania

I say that because it was hot there. It was always hot there. On one ride in the province two years ago,
my Garmin recorded 52C (126F) on the road, so hot that I worried about tubes blowing out just from the heat. The area is also very remote, with few villages, few sources of water, and little on the road besides some hardscrabble goats and some crazy cyclists. On this climb from Ragam the temperature held to the mid 80sF (low 30sC), and we pushed hard along the relatively easy 4% grade to the top. Psychologically the climb is not easy, though. Coming around the first corner of the climb, one can see the road snaking along the mountainside, seemingly forever ahead. Especially when going full gas, it can be a sobering sight. A family in a van were at the top taking photos of the view, and were nice enough to offer water to Gjengiz and me. We descended down to the one spring along the road, passing Agim and Bashkim climbing still, and when the other two caught up to us Agim said he had an idea to avoid Valbona and try some thing different.

There is no road between Bajram Curri and Shkodra, despite the map distance between them being fairly short. One follows a road into the head of the Kukes Lake, takes an old ferry along the water some distance, and then drives along 20km of rough, rocky road. Buses from Bajram Curri to Tirana, then, typically pass through Kosovo. Agim's idea was to follow the road as far as we could, until the pavement ran out.

Roads cut into the hillside

This route, not being overly long before we reached the end (not even 20 miles or 30km), sticks in my memory as almost other-worldly. I kept thinking of Conrad's Heart of Darkness, that had he been not been adventurous enough to experience Africa, all he really needed to do was write about trying to find Kurtz in northern Albania. The landscape looked like Norway but the air like Iraq, winding down a deep canyon to the deafening buzz of cicadas and the elemental heat that quickly rose above 40C (well into the 100sF). The road, carefully perched above the water some hundred meters, didn't seem to belong there. We passed rusted out ferries, the still-working car ferry along buildings that housed sleepy cafes, and then beyond that even deeper into the canyon.   I then went from Conrad to thinking of song lyrics from the long-forgotten group David & David:

Fifteen long years
On a losing streak
And a lot of bodies unburied
And there comes a time
When you cannot turn the other cheek
You have got to ride the ferry
Past the battered old bodies
Of dead dead dreamers
Past the tethered and fettered desk-bound schemers
Past the punks and the drunks
And the bad guitar players
And the dewy-eyed teenage dragon slayers
You come to this place

We did make it back, although the climb back to the Kosovo border is traditionally hard, hot and exhausting. Back in Kosovo the weather turned oddly cool and rainy, a strange experience as the rest of Europe was in the grip of a never-ending heatwave and deadly fires to the south in Greece. But I was frustrated, needing to find more climbing time before the August race in Switzerland (where it is also baking right now-- I sincerely hope that changes), and many times in Pristina being rained out from frequent thunderstorms. So I made quick plans to spend a day or two in Albania riding out of Shkodra, and I make public apologies for not inviting Tolga along on this ride (though he might thank me for saving him from heat-stroke. It was a brutal day and a half).

Stormy climb to Razam

Gjengiz and I stayed in the Havana Hotel north of Shkodra, along the newly paved and flat road north to the Montenegro border. Gjengiz's idea was to ride east toward the historic village of Theth, although I had learned from Uta that the pavement ended at the top of the climb, and we could not ride all the way to the village. Still, it would make for a decent afternoon climb, despite the oppressive heat when we got out of the car near the hotel. It would cool off as we climbed, we thought. The problem was that the road to Theth falls into the first category of road, ancient asphalt that might have been put down by the Romans. Even a 3-4% grade is tough when the surface requires more of a mountain bike or hybrid than a road bike, and after a few miles my hands had already gone numb. It was cooling down slightly, with large, black storm clouds rolling down from the mountains.

We abandoned the rough road to Theth and instead took a newly paved side road up the hillside toward Razam, through a series of switchbacks to the village of Vrith. It was here that the skies opened up on us, and we quickly backtracked down the mountain, around squealing pigs, until the heat suddenly came back as if someone had turned on a microwave. The rain stopped instantly and the temperature rose 30F in a matter of minutes. I suppose at least we were dry when getting back to the hotel, but a little worn for a relatively shorter ride.

The next day would be easier. We would climb familiar roads to the village of Tamara along the Montenegro border, then the fairly gradual 5.9% slope from Tamara up toward Gusinje. Well, we thought it would be easier. It wasn't. At all.

The first climb we had done several times before, from the village of Hot up to Ragsh, but we'd only

Roads climbing through the Tamara Gorge

done the climb in the spring or fall. That morning, despite leaving early enough that we reached the foot of the climb at 10am, the temperature quickly spiked to around 40C on the 10km climb. We struggled to find any hint of shade along the road, but at around an 8-9% grade, it was impossible to cool down while still climbing. We reached the iconic overview of the Tamara Gorge, but unlike previous times we didn't ooo and aah over the view. We were already soaking wet and tired, and still had longer climbs to come. We quickly rode down the gorgeous switchbacks of the cliffside to the idyllic village of Tamara, but again didn't stop as we usually would. We just kept riding, waiting for my Wahoo GPS to give a warning of the start of the HC climb to come.

This was where we had been fooled. Looking at the Strava profile, the 17km, 1000m climb looks like a steady grade of just under 6%, similar to the Prevalla climb we often do out of Prizren. Instead, we found the road had frequent flat sections and descents, meaning that in order for the 6% average to work out, all the climbs we did do were more on the order of 10-15%. At this point I should mention that I'd had trouble with my rear cassette, and had swapped out to a spare 11-26. When climbing long sections of road above 10% gradient, the difference between 26 and 28 teeth on the lowest gear is massive. (For the record, I'm taking an 11-32 to Switzerland. I don't need surprises there.) The heat was again unrelenting, though luckily the climb features a number of spring-water fountains. As we climbed, I began to understand the Strava leaderboard for the segment, where two guys (at the top Theo) were an hour ahead of everyone else. Upon closer examination, Theo and Miti had ridden the climb in the off season, not in the intense heat. Climbing in the August heat was foolish, exhausting, and aggravating every time we saw another section of road rise up steeply in front of us.

The descent therefore had climb-outs (not as bad as Cheaha in Alabama, but nearly as frustrating), and we still had to climb back out of the valley and along 30km of intense heat to the hotel. Funny thing about Gjengiz is that he can tackle any climb anywhere, but put him on flat roads (especially when windy) and he just collapses. Having grown up on the Great Plains in the Midwest US, that just seems weird to me, but knowing Kosovo roads are all straight up or straight down...

The descent from the border back to Tamara

This blog describes the ride as a real slog, but the benefit, the thing that tempers the heat and sweat and pain, is the beauty of the place. Albania has an almost indescribable wildness to it, yet it's fleeting, like the American West of the 1950s that opened up with new roads flying past farmsteads and cowboys, then disappeared into nostalgia. Albania still has those rough edges, yet these sleek ribbons of asphalt suggest a future where what we see now won't last-- now is the best time to see it, while bikes can still take one into the past. And the place just feels different. It's not like riding the mountains in Switzerland or Austria, where everything is orderly and rule-bound. In Albania, one can ride only 30km and yet feel like they are in another world, one removed from modernity save for the strip of road underneath. The sights, the sounds, the feeling of the place can only be experienced by hiking or cycling.