Cycling
This year, triathlon coach Nick Busca lived a childhood dream at an iconic three-day bike race through the Alps. Calves no longer ablaze, he relives his experience at the renowned Haute Route event.
Known as the highest and most gruelling cyclosportives in the world, Haute Route events are basically the Holy Grail of the amateur cycling world.
Along with offering three-day and seven-day races across some of the world's most iconic roads and climbs, Haute Route events boast everything needed to play the part of the professional rider: the iconic yellow Mavic cars as technical support on the road, aid stations, timed stages with overall rankings, individual time trials, post-race massages, a lot of mountains, and pain, lots of pain.
For some insight into these epic cycling events, triathlon coach and cycling journalist Nick Busca set out to Northern Italy to ride the Haute Route Stelvio, an epic three-day, 226km race taking in one of the most iconic and respected climbs in the sport or cycling.
The whole event makes you feel like an A-list sports star
When I was a kid I would sit in front of the TV for hours watching the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France. As soon as a stage was finished, I took my bike outside to pretend I was a professional rider launching an attack on the mountains. Little did I know I would one day be doing it for real.
Haute Route is the closest thing you can do to feel how professional riders do during a tough week in the mountains. It will feel as if you have no time to breathe from minute one, and if you don't control yourself you'll feel as if the race has exploded in front of you. Helpfully, the mechanical support from the Mavic yellow cars and bikes on the road prove a real mental boost when times get tough. The fact you also get aid stations along the road to refill your water bottles with water, fresh fruits, bars and gels quickly becomes less of a novelty and more of a necessity.
Haute Route will break your mind and body
It doesn’t matter how fit and prepared you are, the HR Stelvio will put you on the ropes at least once. It may be due to the altitude of its cols (Stelvio Pass is 2,758m above sea level, and Gavia Pass, 2,621m), the steep ramps of the Mortirolo (up to 20 percent gradient), or simply because you stayed in the red for too long despite telling yourself to take it easy, but it is mentally draining. The mountains, at a certain point, will present you with the bill. So be ready to pay it and fight back.
The mountains, at a certain point, will present you with the bill. So be ready to pay it and fight back
You’ll never be as sore in the saddle
I suffered many times during the HR Stelvio. After only 24km of riding, I was already cracking. There were howling winds, constant rain, mist and 4°C cold. On the descent down from the Umbrail Pass (2,500m) I also found out that I had lost my gloves and my hands were freezing. I had to push my mind more than my body in order to survive a technical and wet descent.
Being in the mountains, the weather can change in the blink of an eye. A sunny day can turn into a winter storm -- and all you can do is try to survive and cross the finish line as quickly as possible.
The lack of oxygen is a battle itself
When racing at high altitude, sooner or later you'll feel the lack of oxygen – even if your muscles will try to do their best to get in as much as they can. Despite regularly telling myself to stay in the 'safe zone', when the race mode is on, there are moments when you push slightly above your limits. Day after day, I found myself less able to sustain the same level of endurance – the more I pushed, the harder it got the following session. It's a hopeless fight, but if I raced again, I would have an easier start and take more rest for the days ahead.
Haute Route is a true hymn of endurance
Even the shorter three-day events of the Haute Route will be spent most of the time in your endurance/aerobic zones. Unless you’re fighting for a prestigious position or a stage win, or when you’ve started battling with other riders (you'd be surprised just how fractious it can be), you will end up using your aerobic energy system as your main source of power. However, if you dare to go above that, it won’t be for long -- and it won’t be without consequences. It's all about timing.
You have to take it one pedal stroke at a time
And as with the epic stages of the Giro, you also can end up cycling under the cold, rain, snow and/or anything the mountains will throw at you. It’s such a mental battle with the elements and your own psyche, that the only thing you can do is move on one pedal stroke at the time. Much like a pro during a three-day event in the mountains, the lactate levels in your blood will spike after the first climb and your quads and calves will feel like bombs ready to explode.
When lactate levels in your blood spike after the first climb, your quads and calves will feel like bombs ready to explode
Ride, eat, drink, rest, repeat
In a stage race like the Haute Route it's vital to keep eating, drinking, and being smart to optimise all the recovery and rest you can get. You'll need to know how many carbs and kcals per hour you should consume and how many ml of liquids you should drink during the race to avoid the bonk [a cycling expression for hitting the wall].
Additionally, don’t skip the classic recovery snack at the end of the stage and make sure you have a good meal after the transfer back to the race-base (followed or preceded by a massage). You will not win a prize for being “king of the naps”, but those 20-30 minutes of sleep in the afternoon will save you from digging your way into a deep hole of accumulated fatigue -- as once you get there, it's impossible to claw back.
Haute Route Stelvio is the history of cycling
The Haute Route Stelvio is able to bring you back in time and make you feel like one of the cycling greats. Two rides from professionals here stand out, Italy's Fausto Coppi climbing the Stelvio in the '40s, or Andrew Hampsten on the Gavia covered in snow in the '80s. But much like those greats, you too will have to overcome your own personal Everest. In my case, climbing the Stelvio from Prato allo Stelvio (Switzerland) on stage one, with the last kilometres in the mist and in bone-chilling temperatures, was one of the hardest (and most epic) things I have ever done on a bike.
There are a lot of triathletes at a HR
I'll admit, as someone from a triathlon background, I was a bit scared of showing up to an event that – at least on paper – is dedicated to pure cyclists. It's a daunting enough prospect without the competition. Although, while struggling along the tough Italian climbs, I found myself surrounded by many fellow triathletes. Not by chance, the Haute Route was originally born as a super-long event (seven days) and then developed into a more approachable (but still hard) three-day event, which really does tend to appeal to tri-types such as myself.
Haute Route is definitely great training for any long race
For many, if not the vast majority, riding a Haute Route – even just the three-day event – may well be the main goal of an entire season. But if not, riding a Haute Route will definitely boost your endurance and long-distance fitness for any goal you've put into your calendar. That said, as the stress on the body will be quite intense, make sure you have enough time to rest, recover and taper before the main race if you want to perform at your very best. Altitude racing will also be a great help, but unfortunately the effect of altitude on the body [read: the ability to process less oxygen] will also vanish pretty quickly. So it’s a delicate balance, but one you can play around with.
Warning: it's highly addictive
It doesn’t matter how hard a Haute Route is, how many metres of climbing you've done in three days or how much you have suffered; as soon as you finish a Haute Route you’ll start feeling sad that it’s all over and that you’d like to do it again. So, the first thing I did over my breakfast the following morning was to check the seven-day event dates out for 2019. What's more, as soon as I arrived back home I signed up for a proper cycling club, so I'm even more prepared next time.
