![]() “These guys look skinny, and they’re tiny when you see them for real. Mammoth menus and a fast-flowing stream of carbs. The 21 stages of this year’s Tour de France could see riders like Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard pedal through up 80,000 calories-worth of work.Īdd to that the metabolic demands of breathing, digesting, and the rest of the body’s basic functions, and riders are constantly chasing for a break-even level of energy. Mountains of rice, fistfuls of energy gels, and plates pitifully short of vegetables, that’s what it takes. What does it take to fuel three weeks of racing the Tour de France? A couple times I spotted Darryl on switchbacks up above me, but it was only a tease because I never caught her.This article was originally published in Velo. A few people ended up getting off course about 1km into the run and it took some investigation to get us back on track. The trails were wide and easy enough to follow at the start, but that changed rather quickly. ![]() Darryl was ahead of me almost instantly as usual. It was a steady incline, but nothing that required walking. When we started running the climb began almost immediately. I was not excited for this run… Nevertheless, we reluctantly grabbed our race numbers and waited for the start. When we arrived in the parking area rain was misting down, the ground was muddy, and the brush was wet. The morning of the race it was unseasonably wet and cold. It was 8.5kms in distance, and 673m in elevation gain. The route started at the alpine lodge area, weaved back and forth up to the top of the mountain, and then plummeted back down to the lodge area for the finish. We instead got to skip straight to the master of all Gustbusters up on Mount Washington. The view was amazing, but I was not able to stop and enjoy it because I had a race to finish and I wife that was royally kicking my ass.ĭarryl and I were on our road trip and missed the 3rd Gutbuster in Ladysmith, but I am sure it was great. Eventually, we came upon a woman yelling the we were at the highest point and it was music to my ears. Of course the 13k racers had to head up a steep wall of a trail while the 7k continued on the nice meandering trail.Īfter this wall that seemed to last an eternity, the course seemed to alternate between steep technical single track and wider less steep trails. Eventually we hit the first water station and the split off for the long and short courses. The grade wasn't too steep yet, but still got the lungs going. Vey quickly we entered the bush and began to slowly climb on some wide less technical trails. Darryl lost me almost immediately, which is pretty typical these days with her being a speed demon and all. The race started off running along a gravel road through the farm for a short while. We arrived a bit early the morning of the race and took in some sun shine while doing a few stretches. The second race I took part in was the Gut Buster Tzouhalem in Duncan. It was a great course that started off at Providence Farm and headed up to the summit of Mount Tzouhalem. Again there were two options for races, a 7K and a 13k. Darryl and the dog cheered me on throughout the race, and because of the way it was set up I saw them about six times throughout the race. However, it was a great way to kick off the series. I found the race challenging with all the elevation gain and loss and also a bit boring knowing that I had to complete the same loops over and over again. ![]() The short course did the track twice and bush once. We were expected to complete three full loops of the track and bush. The route went up a solid incline, weaved through the forest, spat us back down at the bottom in a farmers field, and then back up the hill again before looping back to the track. Here the trail turned to technical single track. The second part left the track and headed very steeply into the bush as seen in the map on the left. The first was a lap around the dirt bike race track through the mud, over jumps, and around hairpin corners. There were two parts to the Western Speedway course. Of course I like a little extra punishment so I signed up for the 12K. There were two options for races here: a 6k and a 12k. The first race of this series starts off at Western Speedway in Victoria. ![]()
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