Resting & Riding

We had a lovely nights sleep. I’m not sure what time the bells stopped but they did stop before 10pm and we fell asleep listening to the sound of the rushing water of the river torre behind us.
We were grateful for our lay in as the clocks went back last night and we woke up at 8:20am which was really 7:20am. Then at 7:30am the bells started again and they rang out for 5 minutes. Then again at 7:45am and again at 8:15am. I’m not sure how you tell the time in this town.
We had nothing atall planned for today except just chill out and wait for the day to pass so we could head into Slovenia tomorrow but by 11am we were both restless so I suggested getting the washing done and then moving closer to the border.
We found a laundrette just 5 minutes away that had good parking out the front so we loaded the washing bag up and headed straight there. It was actually quite busy when we arrived so we had to wait 10 minutes for a machine to become free and then we had a nightmare trying to pay for the load. In the end a lovely Italian lady helped us and we got the machine working then she showed us that we could actually change the language. To be fair she didn’t realise that until she pressed all the buttons, but now we and everyonelse in the laundrette knows how to change the language.
It took almost 90 minutes to wash and dry all the clothes and once it was done I searched for the coordinates of our next park up and we headed off for the six mile drive.
We were heading for the Grotte di Villanova. Here there was a free park up with water and a dump station and it’s our last free stop before heading over the border into Slovenia. To get there Wanda had to climb from ground level upto 1500 meters which I didn’t realise until we were on the slopes and once we were on them it was a climb of 5 miles at a maximum gradient of 15%. I mentioned how steep it was going up and at the summit it said Alto de Tanaraune. This was a proper climb and I said it must be a real killer on a bike because there were absolutely no flat sections.
Finally at the top it was just a 2 minute drive to the car park and the Motorhome section had just one Motorhome in it and we parked next to it. Then Ellie made lunch of Wanda toasties with salami in and we both had a cup of tea. It was now just 1:30pm so I started looking for a local bike ride. All of the rides were over 100 km with over 1000m of climbing and they all involved climbing up the hill we had just driven up which I didn’t fancy, so I plotted my own route of 30km in a circle making sure I didn’t put in that huge climb.
It was now raining quite heavily but I have wet gear with me and decided just to wear my fluorescent rain jacket and my normal shorts and legs warmers with my neoprene shoe covers. It certainly wasn’t cold enough for my winter kit.
At 2pm I set off. The beginning of the route was mainly downhill but there were so many leaves on the road and so many hairpins I only just touched 55kph. Once on the flat section at the bottom I managed to hold a steady 50kph. The road was empty, I was next to a rushing river, I had beautiful scenery and I was loving it even though it was still raining. As I left the path of the river I entered a little village cutting through the back lanes. I had done 20km in less than 30 minutes and knew I had just 8km left but most of that was uphill. As I came out of the village onto the main road I recognised it as the road we had just driven along. Then there was a tight right hairpin bend and I knew that I had somehow stupidly plotted the route we had just driven up. The pass of the Alto de Tanaraune. I stopped here and took my jacket off and stuffed it in my bike bag. I now had the choice of either completing this climb or turning back the way I came. Carrying on would be a shorter, sharper climb and turning around would mean a much longer but less steep climb.
I felt pretty good and thought if I could climb the Passo Gaiu I could do this and I pushed off, clipped in and started peddling. I made it my goal to not hit my lowest gear and just keep peddling and once I got to the slopes they didn’t ever get lower than 7%.
My legs felt good, and my mind was in the right place to complete this climb but by the end of the first kilometre my breathing was all over the place and as I hit a 10% gradient I held my breath and pushed on.
It sounds crazy but now understanding how breathing works I knew I was hyperventilating. I was taking in to much oxygen. Holding my breath meant I stopped taking air in allowing my body to use what it already had in it and allowing Carbon dioxide to build up slowing my heart rate.
After 10 seconds my I felt my heart stop pounding. I started to breath again using my diaphragm rather than my lungs. This pulls air into the bottom of my lungs and I could feel my heart rate falling still. I pushed on accelerating a little and now I was actually comfortable and I settled in to a good pace.
I watched the numbers falling on the gps as the kilometres ticked by and I plodded on feeling strong. With just 2 kilometres left I knew I could do this climb and I was hardly breaking a sweat and I hadn’t had to stop. In the last kilometre the gradient ramped upto 15% and I dropped down to my lowest gear keeping the same cadence and then the slope started to decrease and I moved up 2 gears and increased my power and my speed.
My app and GPS said I should have completed the ride in 90 minutes and I actually did it in 70. I was super pleased with myself and once back at Wanda I checked the stats. Out of 2800 people that have climbed the Alto de Tanaraune I was number 400. Not bad for someone that trains indoors and lives in one of the flattest parts of the UK.
Back at Wanda it was seriously heavy rain now and I was soaked to the skin and once changed I had a cup of tea and Ellie sat listening to her podcast until 5:30pm.
At 6pm we had burgers for dinner which were really good and then with no internet for the night we settled in to watch DVD’s until bedtime.Meer informatie