Two Chicks Racing In Some Very Big Mountains

Hi, Marilyn here. I am writing a little bit about my cycling racing I am going on. Tour Transalp. Before I start, I am looking for someone to ride with tomorrow that will make me work hard and go for a long time. Any takers? Back to Transalps. A seven day stage race through the Alps. A very lofty goal for two girls with little to no cycling racing experience. Riding in teams of two, the 882km race starts in Germany and winds through Austria finishing in northern Italy. There are 18,366 altitude meters to be climbed. As I write out those stats and think about the type of climbs we are going to be doing (like Passo Gavia) I start to think…gulp…yeah…bring it on!

About two months ago I did what every Calgary girl should do if they want to kick some ass in cycling, I joined Speed Theory. Great move! Thanks Cyrus for the direction. As one of the few women in the sport of cycling I have to commend the support I have received from ST. My experience has been full of cheers during races, racing tips, warm up rides, the most amazing training camp in Penticton and fashion advice. Everyone I have met has been amazing. Trev is the heart and soul of ST and has provided me with continuous support. Mostly he is contagious and makes everyone laugh and enjoy riding.

Tour Transalp is a team race and lucky for me I have a ringer of a partner. Tracy Cameron is a bronze medalist from the summer Olympics in Beijing in the Light Weight Womens Double (rowing) for Canada. We have only been training together since the end of May because she has been in New York at cooking school. Together, we have been on 4 rides, one of which was Race the Ring ITT last weekend. You would think that eating food for six months in New York and riding around Central Park would slow a girl down but nope, Tracy was the second fastest girl on the course that day. She has a fifth gear that I can’t help but admire. As for me, my base training was cross country skiing in the winter and riding as much as I could in between snow falls in April, May and June. You are probably gasping at how little we have trained for this type of a race. Trust me, I am shaking my head too. It was kind of a last minute decision in March to do it.

Team dynamics. Well… we have different personalities. I like to be organized well in advance, some might say anally retentive and Tracy is easy going and, things will get done when they get done, kinda gal. I like to communicate (is 10 e-mails in a day too much?) and she likes to hang back and pretty much disappear. I like to know, through talking, that my partner is training even if she is a freaking bronze medalist and she likes to show up to a time trial and kick my ass and show me that she has been. Interestingly enough we refer to ourselves as a finely tuned machine because we have come together with very little communication and hit the ground running. One thing we do have in common is drive so when we are out there riding we trust that we are both working as hard as we can. So there is a mutual respect.

Why are we doing this race? Well…I love a challenge, riding and I LOVE FOOD (if I cycle more then I can eat more). Tracy wants to get in shape for rowing again. This was a rare opportunity where we both had time, fitness and the means to do a race like this. For me, this is the perfect vacation. Exercise, beautiful country and awesome FOOD! Why wouldn’t we do it!

We leave June 24th for Germany and start racing on the 28th. Banff Fest will be our last chance to race (Tracy’s first road race). We are cramming for sure. I think we are both praying that our fitness from rowing and cross country skiing will kick in. You can follow us online if you want. Our team name is called NordicRowers. http://www.tourtransalp.de/englisch/ Cheers. Marilyn