Team MotionBased

We made it to Schol and entered der Schweiz. Started the day with a MONSTER climb out of town. There’s really no way to prepare for the climbing we’ve seen on these courses - at least not anywhere I’ve been in the States. Nearly 16K from the start line with an average grade of around 20% we topped out and dropped into the next valley. The course book said it included 1.5K “Scheiben”, otherwise known as push/carry. Unfortunately none of the guys were were riding with towards the front believed in this method. We both recorded a new high on the Garmin gradient screen reaching sections of 33% on the climb. Wow. Down, down, down we flew into yet another picturesque valley of steep, wooden mountainsides, tiny villages built into seemingly impossible spots and networks of hiking / biking trails. It seems there a method to the madness here with each little village being connected via a series of trails, gravel roads and cow paths. Some even have their own “street” signs conveniently posted out in cow pastures. Luckily this was a shorter (76K) stage and ended with 20K of a fast mix of road, paved bike path and gravel road. We had a small 7 person grupetto that kept the hammer down and motored up the valley to the finish in Schol. Evan and I kept our position in the top 20 men with a 17th place on the day. Let’s hope the legs / body / mind hold up - this race is certainly putting the wear and tear on them! Until tomorrow.. Check out the Garmin / MotionBased file: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.mb?episodePk.pkValue=1069047