The Three Peaks Bike Race and Mr. Uwe - guest article
Kilometer 121: Semmering Pass summit. Five hours after the start: The drinking bottle, which I got as a gift when I bought a vitamin-mineral powder the day before, flies into the trash can in front of the supermarket. I have fortunately still two other bottles.
But first a good month back, when I spontaneously cycled past the KEEGO headquarters in Vienna. Loaded with my photo equipment coming from a shoot, I spontaneously got into conversation with Jana and David and immediately got a product demonstration.
Convinced of the added value of the bottles, I decided to strap two bottles to my bike during my ultracycling race from Vienna to Nice.
Short lunch stop with a jump into the refreshing Lake Walen
The Three Peaks Bike Race sees itself as a beginner's race in the ultracycling field and actually scares off any rationally thinking person due to the distance to be completed in the shortest possible time. About two thousand kilometers and thirty thousand meters of altitude are to be completed in a maximum of ten days. A good third of the starters do not even reach the finish line. Nevertheless, the ambition and the spirit of adventure in me urged me to take part.
Months of preparation, many training rides and desperate attempts to reduce my luggage more and more to the essentials finally led me to the starting point in front of Schönbrunn Palace.
With a queasy feeling in my stomach, stuffed with potatoes, bananas and still chewing the last bites of my croissant, I set off at a moderate pace towards the west to complete a well-known starting course through the beautiful Vienna Woods. Bright summer weather accompanied the good 165 starting participants into the night. My frame bag was well stocked with power gels, a few bars, gummy bears, a piece of cake and some boiled potatoes. Two Keego water bottles, one filled with mineral powder and one always filled with just water I clamped into my bottle cage at the back of the saddle and a spare water bottle was attached to a bracket on my fork. The spare bottle was a giveaway and as expected (even after thorough pre-cleaning) the water in it took on a nasty plastic taste within minutes. At my first stop at Semmering, where I picked up some supplies at the supermarket, I decided to dispose of the bottle. Not an easy decision, because even in a multi-day race, every minute spent unnecessarily searching for water, other provisions or a place to sleep pays off.
Checkpoint 2 at the high plateau Tannalp, Melchsee-Frutt
The first days went very well except for seat discomfort. For my very first race ever I was very happy with my performance. I increased my pace from Checkpoint 1 (a course from the Three Peaks to Passo Giao) and reduced the sleep breaks the following days. The ride continued over the Brenner Pass through the Inn Valley over the Arlberg Pass, past Swiss lakes to Checkpoint 2 in Tannalp, just south of Lucerne, where I spent the night sleeping on the shores of Lake Lucerne.
Overnight stay on the shore of Lake Lucerne near Lucerne
Since the Grimsel Pass and the ride through the entire Rhône Valley did not intimidate me, I decided to also cross the Grand Saint Bernard to Italy at night. Almost. Around four in the morning I had to take a power nap in a hammock in a randomly found party tent. Then it was on via Aosta and the Valsavarenche valley to get to the key point of my self-planned route. Four hundred meters of carrying passage over a steep path with steps and rock ribs, which then leads over an imposing plateau to Checkpoint 3, to the Colle del Nivolet.
Nivolet reservoirs - "Quickly back down, it's getting cold"
How were the bottles? Wonderful. A little dirty on the outside - I opted for white bottles. But even though I never really washed the bottles, just shook them with water and rinsed them out, I couldn't notice any musty smell or strange taste. The most ingenious thing: The KEEGO brand promise of no plastic taste holds. To date. Five months after I consider the bottles in my possession.
"Actually, I could still drive into the night now".
How was I? Like crap. I had my first real low after two days without sleep and was really very close to abandoning the race. After the descent from the summit I looked for a pension and postponed the decision until the next morning.
Days later, analyzing my route data, I also found the reason for my low. I cycled from Lucerne to Turin almost 400 km and 8000 meters of altitude with only one hour of sleep.
Actually totally proud, but just before giving up
After five hours of sleep at the foot of the Nivolet, the world looked different again and I cycled at a brisk pace past Turin over the Col de Montgenèvre to France, treated myself to an evening pizza at a nice campsite and decided to cycle through the night again to tackle Mont Ventoux the following morning.
Unfortunately, poor detailed planning was my undoing at the foot of the Ventoux, as the approach to the mountain led through a gorge where I had to endure a drop in temperature of 12 °C about two hours before daybreak in a sparsely populated area without gas stations or closed stores. Fortunately, I did not experience any severe hallucinations due to the exertion of the previous days and the lack of sleep, but I still had to deal with concentration problems as well as with the scarcity of water in the area. Here the decision to throw the spare bottle in the trash took revenge.
Finally, the successful participants, who have now also made it over Mont Ventoux, were rewarded with an intense finisher course. Although the course was also tough in absolute terms, the spectacular view and the beauty of the alpine-maritime region around the Grand Canyon de Verdon made up for the exertion.
Breathtaking panorama of the Verdon Gorge
A few hours before Nice I decided to spend another night in a hotel. A look at the GPS tracker revealed my position in 49th place and the positions of the chasers in the immediate vicinity no longer seemed to be moving. I was sure I could easily manage the following six to eight hours of riding to the finish, but I didn't want to be standing at the finish line in Nice at three in the morning, alone and without a hotel room. I started at four o'clock in the morning satisfied and with moderate speed in the direction of Nice, enjoyed the hustle and bustle at the weekly market with an espresso at one or the other main square and looked forward to the moment when the sea would finally reveal itself.
A few hours later, I finally found myself on the Nice promenade and saw the patterned flag approaching on my GPS unit.
The last kilometers to the finish. I am actually in Nice.
The reception at the finish line with the winner's beer and the final photo was relatively unspectacular - but probably the days before were so intense that the feeling of finally having made it was completely lost in the rush of experiences. And quite honestly, I never thought I would get this far and even make it one day before the end of the race.
The grin says it all. (Photo: Michael Wacker)
For the bottles I can make a definite recommendation after the race (and also for the time after until today). In white, however, I would no longer take them for this intensive use. A few scratches from the water bottle holder are probably unavoidable on each bottle, dirty fingers and road dirt, however, leave its mark on this color in extreme conditions. A few impacts on the ground along with the contents of the bottles have also survived so far without any problems.
Also highly recommended is the KEEGO Dust Capwhich keep the drinking spout clean from dirt - especially in rainy weather.
And by the way, the first time you try to squirt the water into your mouth, don't aim directly where you almost throw up.
So much from me.
KEEP GOING
Uwe
Our Ambassador and author of the guest post Uwe is, when he is not cycling over three mountain peaks, working as a freelance photographer.
If you want to get in touch with him, you can find more info here: Uwe Strasser
