Robert Winder

You all heard Fill Leggit talk about how great climbers don’t make great descenders, right? Evidence Stage 1 of The Elk to validate his comments. A four mile neutralised roll out to the stage start and then a 40 mile descent to the town of Richland when we looped through the neighbourhood and returned back up the same hill we’d just gone down. The day was blisteringly hot and with the narrow canyon being a sun trap and heat trap there was no cooling down anywhere on this road stage. Richland is halfway between Baker City and Hells Canyon, to all the Catholics out there, isn’t that called purgatory?

Definition: place or state of suffering inhabited by the souls of sinners who are expiating their sins before going to heaven - Sounds about right.

Talk about abismal racing, the smell of carbon and brake pads was nausiating to say the very least. I think there were a couple of crashes, but not sure.

On the return leg of the stage, the feedzone hill separated the group a little and just as an attack went off the front I started to have that sinking feeling caused by a slow rear wheel flat. Luckily there was a following service car and I was able to get a change of wheels - only problem was going from I-Ti Luxury Campy to Jap Crap Shimano. The driver didn’t have any Campy and assured me Shimano 10 was compatible - absolutely false! If by compatible you mean the chain will move over the sprockets at random and jump with increasing frequency then he was right.  Still, I was glad of the wheel and not having to change my tube.

I had a bit of time to make up - maybe 45 seconds or so, and fortunately the group was not pushing the pace too much up the first part of the climb back and after chasing a few miles I got on the back of the group - passing a small group that had formed the Groupetto. Making it back to the front of the race in time for the cross-winds and attacking going on. I suffered on for 35 or so miles before getting dropped on the final part of the climb and suffering with a mouth as dry as Lawrence of Arabia I managed to get to the line 2min 10seconds down on the leaders.

Bugger.