Maratona 2018

Described as one of the hardest sportives in Europe, the Maratona dles Dolomites is an awesome ride in simply stunning scenery. Don't pay too much attention to the stories of doom and gloom that you can read on the internet, if you are fit and a regular cyclist and train properly for it then it is doable. I'm a keen cyclist, cycle commuting and riding a bit at weekends, but I'm not an active club rider, don't go to the gym, don't use Strava, I'm just a steady MAMIL who likes beer and cake and with what turned out to be a suitable training plan I was able to comfortably complete and enjoy the Maratona...

Why?

The Sella Ronda is an area that we know well and love from skiing, so wouldn't it be great to come back in the summer and cycle here. It seemed like a great idea after a few too many Apres Ski beers and Schnapps in Kronestube in Selva, so great that my son and I agreed we'd really have to do the Maratona dles Dolomiti sportive.
Entry duly secured through charity places we then took a closer look at the route. A mere 4230m of climbing in 138km. Everesting that's about 35 Box Hills; could you imagine going up and down Box 35 times? That would be mad.

The Training Plan

So how do you prepare for climbing like that when you live in SE England where the climbs are short and sharp and over in a few minutes?

1. Go away for 3 months so that you don't cycle at all during the winter.
2. Buy lighter wheels for your bike.
3. Lose a stone in weight.
4. Buy a turbo trainer.

The target was to cycle commute as many days as possible combined with 100km plus rides at the weekend. The longer rides were mostly in the Surrey Hills - Leith, Ranmore, Box, Whitedown - so hilly but not exactly mountain passy. We did the Ditchling Devil Audax about a month before the Maratona. 200km seems like a bit of a crazy idea when we got up in the morning but it was a great ride and we felt pretty good afterwards. Ditching itself was fine apart from the flies. Hammered it home from Coombe Lane on the way back. The food on this Audax was awesome. Lunch was in someone's back garden in the middle of a housing estate. Quite a weird experience, bikes piled up outside, queue of lycra clad people down the side of the house waiting for their bowl of pasta. Great ride, would definitely recommend it. 205km with 2400m climbing gave us a bit more confidence for the Maratona.

I was away quite a few weekends in the run up to the Maratona, so not many long rides in the last month. Tried to do a 45 min session on the turbo with the resistance cranked up and Ash's 'Islands' blasting out most evenings that month.

The Logistics

Bike boxes from Bike Box Rental in Kingston.
Gatwick to Venice with Easyjet.
Citroen C4 Cactus - took 2 Bike Box Alans ok with the back seat down, with soft bags not hard suitcases.
Apartment in Colfosco.
Medical certificate from private doctor because my GP refused.

The Pre

Flew out from Gatwick on the Thursday morning. Didn't see any other cyclists having a Guinness and bacon sandwich breakfast in the Spoons, they were all having expressos and apples and health bars at the gate. A lot of Maratona people on the flight. I might have lost a lot of weight since Easter but I still seemed to be much wider than most of the other people going out to the Maratona; started to feel a bit nervous. Not that many young people, guess it's not that cheap an event to do.

We rode the Sellaronda anti-clockwise (opposite way to the Maratona) on the Friday. Stopped in Bar Peter in Arabba, an old ski haunt, for lunch. Plenty of other cyclists, drinking water. Not for us, beers and bombardinos, seemed rude not to; flew up the Campolongo afterwards. Felt pretty good. Felt even better when we borrowed a track pump afterwards to pump our tyres up and discovered that we'd only pumped them up to 50psi with our road pump.

Didn't ride on the Saturday. Went down to the Maratona Village in the shuttle bus to pick up our starter packs. There were a few larger types in the registration queue so didn't feel quite so out of place as I had done at the gate at Gatwick. Tried on the jerseys: I might have been described as medically slim by a cardiologist but I still wasn't Italian fit, had to change the medium for a large.

Spent the afternoon in the Posta Zirm spa, came out very chilled and relaxed. Struggled through an absolute mountain of pasta for dinner and went to bed all carbed up.

The Ride

Got up at 5am. Got dressed, had a very large bowl of granola and yoghurt and rolled down to the start at 5:30am. Tried to eat half a loaf of peanut butter sandwiches waiting for the start but too full.

We were in the 2nd start group and rolled over the line at 06:38. Slight drag up to Corvara and the start of the Campolongo. Mass of cyclists climbing steadily, no dramas, fastest on the left, slowest on the right.

Rolled over the top, jacket on for the descent and down into Arabba. No Bombardinos this time, jacket off and climbing straight away again from the centre of Arabba up the Pordoi, a long climb, 39 hairpins. There was a big crash on the descent, rider unconscious,  so much blood. I'm not exactly Julian Alaphilippe on the descents, but I was slower after seeing that (like everyone else), wheel rims quite hot with all the braking. The emergency services seemed to be on the scene very quickly. Saw a couple of bent bikes later on but on the whole people were riding safely and sensibly.

I thought that the Sella was the hardest of the climbs on the Sellaronda, clockwise or anti-clockwise. It was steep at the start - I felt strong, which gave me confidence for the Giau later. Stopped halfway up the Sella for expressos and Apfelstrudel to die for.

The Gardena was the easiest climb on the day. The long descent into Corvara is a fantastic ride, long sweeping curves; I almost relaxed into the descent.

Over the finish line in Corvara and off up the Campolongo again. It had thinned out compared to the 1st time so we were able to ride it quicker. I was so in the groove of climbing that I almost forgot to stop at the top. We stopped for lunch at the top and filled our water bottles.

Down into Arabba again and this time turned left for the long run down to the bottom of the Giau. This was just about the only bit of "normal" peddling on the whole ride and now there seemed to be a lot less cyclists. My son latched onto the back of a small train and beckoned me to follow: I called him back, riding hard into the Giau seemed suicidal. We got to the cutoff point between the Middle and Maratona courses just as they were closing off the Maratona route. Hadn't really thought about the cutoff time before, it did seem quite early. Think we were probably some of the last ones to get through; they took our numbers and timing chips off us, a bit irritating but we did have a Garmin.

So we reached the bottom of the Giau with 2500m climbing in our legs, all of which paled in comparison to the 1000m of the Giau. It's 11-12% from the start, you look up and see a long line of cyclists snaking uphill, hardly moving. There is some respite lower down at 5% going over bridges, but there are long stretches at >10%. 28 hairpins, 10km, average 9%.
Quick gel at the bottom and then we were off. We passed the end of course car at the bottom of the climb. We climbed "quickly", overtaking plenty of people. I did wonder whether I had gone off too quickly, but my breathing was ok and I was able to ride steadily all the way up. There was no banter, no chat, just people suffering in silence. People zig-zagging across the road, people walking, people drinking from streams, people being sick. Didn't see any inhalers, seemingly not so many asthmatics in the amateur cycling world as in the pro-peloton.
Reached the top 1.5hrs later to the sound of an accordion band playing Viva Colonia. Sick. Only 3 times Nibali's Strava time doesn't seem too bad. Felt pretty elated to reach the top, to realise that actually my training plan had been pretty good. Felt comfortable all the way up and almost enjoyed it from halfway up when I realised that I would be able to do it ok. Some months later and having had a few Gins I think I might even do it again some time.

The Valporola was a bit of an anti-climax after the Giau. It wasn't that hard a climb, just a long slog. Chatted to a few people along the way. Long run down into La Villa and the joyous Mür dl Giat.

Finally rolled over the finish line 10hrs after starting, parked our bikes and sat and had a few well earned beers in the sunshine. The before and after photos look like I lost about a stone on the ride but it was only 7500 calories.

Never saw David Brailsford so didn't get chance to ask him in Sky's new found openness just what was in that Jiffy bag.

The Apres

Went to the pub in the evening to watch the Croatia Denmark game. Had a Weißbier, Bombardino and Heiße Liebe all at the same time, to much consternation around us, but hey, we'd just burnt off thousands of calories so were entitled to indulge a little. The Heiße Liebe was ok, but no Kaiserschmarren. Fell asleep in the pub and missed the match.

Packed up the next day, time for one last coffee and (excellent) cake in Corvara before heading off to the airport and the flight home.

I'm proud to have ridden the Maratona 2018 for Action Medical Research, a long standing UK charity with a fantastic record of funding pioneering medical research to help children. Historically they funded research into polio and rubella vaccines and ultrasound scanning in pregnancy, things that we take for granted nowadays, and they continue to support a broad spectrum of research aiming to prevent and alleviate disease and disability for babies and children.