adidas Transalp Challenge
To The Finish
Pete Webb and Sauze Holliday - Sponsored by Fat Face and Rocky Mountain Bikes / 22.08.2004
And the finale to Riva Del Garda. Lake Garda really is a magnificent lake, I have spent a lot of time here over the years and it is stunning with its huge mountains surrounding the shore. Well, it is normally, today it rained!
The day was talked about as a formality, a short ride with a climb and drop into Riva. I think this was probably the most understated day, a very technical downhill took us away from Folgaria, which went on and on, with a lot of congestion. This was hard to ride and once in the valley it started to pour with rain. The climb was long, in places steep and very, very wet. Determined to wear our sponsor's jerseys over the finish line, we were soaked through, and the top of the climb would just not arrive. When it finally did, we crossed a small plateau and then started the decent through muddy single track and then on wider forest trails, but with huge puddles and a lot of mud.
Our finish line shots were more like a UK based mountain bike event, not one where we encountered blue skies and heat every day. The dramatic view of Garda was under the clouds and although elated to be at the end I could not wait to get into the shower in my hotel. We were greeted by friends with champagne and given a medal, but our friends were soaked through, so we retired to our hotels to watch Lance Armstrong thrash everyone in the final time trial, while we sipped hot coffee. Not quite the end I had imagined.
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