Stage 1 - The Lake District

After Many months of hard training June 21st and the first stage of Les Dix Alpes finally arrived. We all met for brekie at 7, followed by a group photo in Como town centre. The weather had picked up just in the nick of time and we all set out along Lake Como in all our yellow LDA jersey glory.

 Leaving from The Best Western in Como

Participants & Crew @ Lake Como

Stage 1 was a relatively flat stage to ease us into what was to come on day two's route through the Simplon Pass. Such was our eagerness that a group of us missed the right turn for Lago di Lugano (glacial lake in the SE of Switzerland on the Italian border) and went some 20kms out of the way ultimately adding an extra 40km for our days total. The Aussies "Maca", "The Big Unit" (due to his sheer size on the bike), Pete the Kiwi dentist, Chris the limey, Ruane the big Dane and myself were the brunt of a running joke that lasted 2 days. It was mainly I who was at fault but they were all stupid enough to follow! Our route took us along the shore of Lago di Lugano via the town of Lugano and on to Lago Maggiore, the 3rd of the prealpine lakes of Italy. We were moving a long at a nice pace, stopping occassionally to make sure we were headed in the right direction this time and to take a few snaps of the breathtaking scenery.

It was fairly clear early on that there were a few levels in terms of cycling ability. What was most evident was that there wasn't a bad cyclist in the group. Everyone was in great shape and excited about taking to the Alpes. Some of the crew had already cycled 3000kms from Palermo in Sicily to Como - hardcore!

With 150km on the clock we rolled up to our first of many campsites just outside the Swiss town of Locarno. The icy mountain stream water proved a very refreshing leg healer. Apparently the freezing water is a good way to stem the bleeding micro tears that appear on musle tissue after strenuous activity.

The campsite itself was nice and rustic but full of teenagers intent on wrecking our buzz! Very little sleep was had that night due those muppets and the fact that I was freezing my balls off inside the tent. What I don't know about camping is not worth knowing. I've since purchased a new sleeping bag and therma rest and am sleeping much better.

A little about our support crew. We have a mechanic called Richard, a couple of fine chefs called Japp and Astrid, Marcel the bag man and the boss himself Wilbert. All Dutch except for Astrid who hails from Denmark. They are all great characters and uber organised, unlike myself. Every morning I struggle to pack up all my shit, eat as much food as possible, fill my biddons, pump my tires and apply some sun cream before departure at 8am, SHARP. Not an Irish 8 O clock! I usually have to ride fast to catch the peloton for the first few kms.

Tuesday and Stage 2 was going to be the first big test, The Simplon Pass @ 2,008 m.