The clothes were still wet from the Ronde tribute ride and already it was time to go scouting for the route of the Hell of the North tribute Ljubis Kranjaix [say Lyubí Kranjaé]. There’s no Paris Roubaix without the pavé and the finish on the velodrome… and it had to be the same for our ride.
Yesterday thirteen riders came to the ride. The route took us over some pavé, some field gravel roads, we even went over a level crossing and then into a forest on a really bad gravel road, just like the famous Arenberg.
Here’s a little edit from our finish on the Kranj velodrome made by Jure from Pici Bici:
The weather was crappy throughout the whole week and the forecast for Sunday wasn’t any different. I was really concerned nowbody would show up for the ride because of the weather and the Easter holidays weren’t helping either. On Friday I received some reassuring news from the PiciBici Pro team, that they would do their best to be there on Sunday. Respect to Klemen and Marko (PiciBici) for driviing all the way from Pivka to Ljubljana just for the ride. Jure and Aljaž also joined in, so there we were: five soaked riders on the finish line in Kamnik.
Wednesdays are climbing days for me, that’s the day I picked in the week to do my hill repetitions. I would like to make it every week, but till now I was not so consistent on that matter. So when I get the urge for climbing I just go for it, be it on wednesday or thursday or both ;]
Climbing a hill you know well certainly gives you the oportunity to think or even meditate. There’s two videos I recently watched that are giving some clues about climbing thoughts. Patrick Seabase and Bradley Wiggins on what goes through their minds when climbing.
The second ride in our classics campaign. There were some new faces at the start and we even got our Classics Experience race numbers pinned on our backs. Just like the Pros ;]
Halfway through the ride we had a non-planned stop because of a flat. First we tried to patch it, but the holes were to big, so we just changed the tube. From this point on we worked like a pro peloton, with riders changing on the front in half minute intervals. The weather was windy with occasional snow, so just like on the real Milano-Sanremo later that day, but we managed to arrive to the finish without any bus transfers ;]
Picture from the international finish courtesy of Mare
After the Classic ride we decided to have a go on Rašica, just to finish in style.
Life is one big challenge. ( I just love to start a post with a cheezy line :] )
If you have an account on Strava, then you are probably aware that they organise a lot of challenges trough the whole year with different partners and sponsors. The last one is Giro’s Train Like Taylor Challenge where you are supposed to put in 31 hours and 51 minutes of training in sixteen days.
Of course Taylor Phinney did that in a training camp that lasted only eleven days, but come on we’re no pros, so we need a couple of extra days.
I started the challenge with the JeBela Cesta ride and had a great week after that in which I managed to put in half of the hours needed to complete the challenge. But then the bad weather came and now I have just three days left to squeeze in the missing twelve hours. It’s going to be an additional challenge.
Some of my previous Strava ( x Rapha ) challenges
There’s another, more personal, challenge I completed this week. It’s been 52 weeks (one year) of me doing at least one ride every week. Of course I did more than that, but the pause between rides was never longer than six days.
km / week chart
The Classics Experience project is also a challenge. It’s an experiment on how to get people hyped on cycling trough cycling. How to spread and share the enthusiasm and passion we feel for cycling. This weekend our second ride – a tribute to Milano SanRemo – is scheduled and I fear it’s going to be a make it or brake it event. We will definitely get some answers if the project has the spark that will ignite the big fire.
When people, that come to our rides, think about The Classics Experience in a years time, I want them to feel the passion I feel when I watch videos like this one:
The weekend felt like one big day. Saturday morning marked the begining of The Classics Experience project with its premiere ride – JeBela Cesta.
As Bradley Wiggins once said: “I haven’t got the vocabulary to explain it like that.” So I’m giving you someone who does. Rok has written a beautiful post on his blog entitled The first of the Classics.
After the ride there was just enough time to grab a bite before the Strade Bianche coverage.
The Italians finally got their first winner of the race: Moreno Moser put on a fantastic show and crowned it with arriving first on the Piazza del Campo in Siena.
Saturday evening was reserved for a fashion show in K4 club, where Pici Bici were presenting some custom painted frames and a real looker of a bike: the Pici Bici Razzo. They promised they would let me take it for a spin around the Kranj velodrome. Can’t wait.
Here’s a sneak peek by Tadej Vaukman
Sunday was the day to go for a ride. The weather really couldn’t have been nicer. Sunny and not a cloud in sight. In the second half of the ride I tried out part of the curse that will feature in our next Classics tribute ride: Ljubljano SanŠterno in two weeks time.
The longest way home.
On my way home from work today I decided to check out the first gravel segment of the JeBela Cesta ride. I’ve never been there, so I didn’t know what to expect. As it turns out the segment is uncyclable, because of snow. So there will be a small deviation on Saturday’s route. The other four segments are true “strade bianche” style roads and are unaffected by snow. The weather forecast for the next couple of days is perfect and I’m confident we’ll have a great time experiencing our first Classic of the season.
JeBela Cesta is the first tribute ride of the project called The Classics Experience. It’s a project started by Rok, Bine and me that, as it says on its about page: “… gives the cycling enthusiasts a chance to taste the classic cycling races and experience them on similar terrain around our city.”
We chose five classic races that we think are the most monumental in the cycling calendar and we are organising five 50km tribute rides on the mornings of the real races. We have carefully selected the parcours for the rides to simulate the feeling of the “real deal”. In smaller scale, of course :]
JeBela Cesta is the Strade Bianche tribute ride and with 2nd March closing in I went on a half
route recon ride yesterday. It turns out we traced the route a bit too pro, so we have to make some changes in order to make it more an experience to remember and less an experience people
would want to forget immediatly after crossing the finish line in our Siena alternative – Kresnice.
Rašica. Rašica. Rašica. Rašica. Rašica.
Besides the castle it’s the closest climb one could train on. And I must say I like Rašica better.
It’s longer and maybe a bit less steep. Plus: the descend is really tech and the adrenaline flows in streams :]
A week ago, when I first tried the Vače climb, my phone died in the middle of the ride. I made it to the top and there I got the unpleasant surprise that my whole ride wasn’t recorded. I know, it doesn’t matter, and yes, I am cycling for myself and not for strava, but it still pisses me off when these things happen.
So this weekend I decided to climb it again, just to put myself on the leaderboard of the climb ;]
It’s a hard climb and to have done it on a fixed gear bike it feels quite an achievement.
Today I just wanted to go on a nice relaxing ride. 20 km out I saw a narrow road going slightly upward. There was a sign that said Jesenje pointing in the direction of the road. It sounded nice and if you translate it it’s something about autumn. My curiosity stroke. At first the gradient was pretty pleasant but before I had the time to enjoy it, it got steeper … and steeper … I switched my mind set from relaxing mode to “I have to get to the top of this” mode. It got so steep I had to zig-zag across the road and even walk for a bit because I ended up in an old quarry and the road was covered with gravel. And there went my relaxing ride ;]
sans dérailleur 