I’ve just got back from Switzerland where I spent a few days exploring on my mtb and where I also took part in the legendary Cristalp race, said to be one of the hardest  one day mtb events of its kind, 123 km long with 4700 m of vertical ascending.  I was unsure about going to Switzerland, so I had to organize everything in a rush:  transport there and back, accommodation and race entry.  Never having spent more than a few hours in that country, I had no idea what to expect except from cuckoo clocks and alpine scenery. 

 

Anyway, after a very smooth journey by train in true very punctual, efficient Swiss fashion, I got to the historic town of Sion set amongst vineyards in the Valois area.  I soon discovered that Sion was not that close to Verbier where the race starts from and was put off the idea of going there, as I had  a lot of luggage to carry.   Next time I travel, I’ll actually use my bike for transport, not just as an extraordinarily cumbersome piece of luggage.  Therefore, I stayed in Sion in a quaint B and B in the old town centre,  which had amazing views from its terraces of the roofs and the mountains around.  My week in Sion was characterized by relaxing rides along the bike route which runs along the Rhone river.  It’s not really my kind of riding, but at least it meant I wouldn’t over do it before the race as I soon got bored after 2 or 3 hours of spinning, despite the nice setting.  The whole area is noted for its wines, so many of my rides were near vine yards.  I spent the other days visiting some of the local health spas, which meant very relaxing bathing in the thermal waters.  While on two days I did climbs, one up to Grimentz on a narrow mountain pass and the other, which was the race start,  starting form Verbier.  The weather was glorious all week and I saw some great places., including lakes which I’d go to at the end of rides to chill out.

 

The days leading up to the race went very quickly, I met up with Gaetano and Serafino, who unlike me had been planning their race for months.  I was beginning to feel a little apprehensive, wondering whether I was really physically prepared for the event as I had heard horror stories about the difficulty of the course.  I hadn’t done a lot of training since my last race,  what if I didn’t finish it.  But you’ll never know unless you try, so I figured I’d go ahead with it, counting on previous experience in long distance mtb races to help me out.   Gaetano is a top class endurance rider and being around him meant I spent  a few days eating well and focused on the event and not eating crepes and drinking wine in the bars near the B&B.  Serafino has raced for less time, but has already done the Dolomiti superbike, so was pretty sure he’d done enough to finish the race.  The Cristalp has time limits set to complete the course, so we were a little worried about getting left behind and not finishing it. 

 

The day before the race was spent preparing the bikes , kit and food and drink for the day after.  We took the bikes along to have them inspected, and picked up race numbers.  I bought powdered energy drink , gels in unusual toothpaste packaging and bars.  I decided to take a camel back, because it was hot, carry some food  for the start and then stop along route for drink top ups and extra food.   No personal race support meant carrying extra inner tubes,  tubeless repair kits, food, clothes and bike tools.  None of these things bothered me, as part of the challenge of travelling alone was being prepared for the unexpected!  I was curious  to see how I would cope with the toothpaste gel, but actually it was pretty good!

 

I hardly slept a wink the night before, We got up at 3.00am, dressed and set off for Verbier in Serafino and Gaetano’s rented Fiat Panda, all very excited and a tad frightened of what were letting ourselves in for.   We got to Verbier in plenty of time at 5.00am, it was still dark, but it wasn’t cold.    We left our bags in a a van, which were then taken to Grimentz, the race finish. 

 

 At 6.30 am we set off at a leisurely pace, up the first 8 km hill.  The light was still dim and day light only came after we were half way up the climb.  I saw other Brit rider Melanie Alexander pass me, she would go on to arrive in 8^th place.  The first part of the race was fast, lots of fast hills and fast descents.  As usual, I had difficulty finding the right pace, though I knew that would pick up later, if everything went okay.  I made sure I ate regularly and topped up the camel back.  The first three hours of the race were hard going and  I still wasn’t gaining on the others.  Some technical sections which were fast ,I just couldn’t get into the right rhythm and meant I was getting left further behind.  I then got a puncture, Serafino caught up, helped me out and  I set off again. 

Now I was beginning to have fun, I was spinning happily up the hills and getting better on the descents.  Saw other Brits who I chatted with.  Some had already done the race on previous occasions and went white in the face when they spoke about the last part of the race.  I had seen photos of a climb to do on foot, but thought with all the running I had done this year in the Volcano trail I would cope alright. 

The scenery changed, even better downhill sections and me really enjoying myself.  I ate mostly fruit at the feed stations,  plus unusually for me, bread and cheese.   My relaxing pace obviously was helping my appetite.

There were a few tandems, which tore around at great speed even on the single tracks and fell dramatically, too.

Time went quite quickly, I thought the race might grow monotonous, however, the ever changing scenery and terrain made for a great ride.

I stopped for my last bread and cheese snack and looked up ahead to what the last 1000m of climbing had in store for me.  There it was, the wall.  You could see riders walking or rather crawling  up a steep sandy slope,  I couldn’t see where it ended!   But I was still feeling okay so set off, still on my bike hoping for good climbing on foot, legs.  Well, it started okay, I overtook a few people and figured I’d make it to the top with relatively minimum effort.  Besides I’d been practicing ‘hike a bike’ by climbing up to the castle in Sion.  I thought I had almost reached the top as  I must have been climbing for about an hour, only to see the climb continue.  It was so steep that I felt myself falling backwards.  But I could see a feed station up ahead which meant it was almost over .  Besides,  I figured that from there it would be all easy riding to Grimentz. 

The view was stunning, I could see a glacier and a lake below the single track I was descending on.  Last climb, here I got off, my legs didn’t want to go round anymore!  A kind Swiss guy talked to me and encouraged me on.  He warned me about the last descent, surely it wouldn’t be that hard. 

Last part, 14 km of descending, fast to start off with,  then steeper and more narrow.  Some parts were difficult, steep rocky sections followed by my pet hate ‘mud.’  However, I was still enjoying myself and just concentrated on picking clean lines to avoid more punctures.  There was no way I wasn’t going to finish this race.

The end in sight after  10 and half hours  of riding, not an exceptional result, but all the same satisfying for me. 

 

I think I’ll go back next year!