Page 14 - DLNjul2016-1008

The Tuscany Trail… what to tell you…. Tuscany from top to bottom was
absolutely stunning and was everything i expected and more. As for the event,
well that was quite a bit tougher than I had anticipated. The amount of
technical single track or steep rocky slippy descents was far more than i was
prepared for with my zero skill level at mountain biking, which meant i walked
a lot!!! The good thing with it being tougher, was that it was a good training
event for transcon later in the summer. The bad thing with it being so tough
is I am now bed bound with fever and flu like symptoms feeling like death as
my body throws all it’s toys out the pram!

The stats… Total of 570km with 11,768m of climbing in 3 days and 11.5 hours

Day 1 - 115km 3453m
Day 2 - 136km 2768m
Day 3 - 143km 2786m
Day 4 - 176km 2761m

Day 1…
The rain was relentless, the roads, tracks and paths could be mistaken for
rivers. Despite wearing waterproof clothing from head to toe including bin
bags on top of that, I was soaked through within 30mins of the event
starting. The camaraderie of this event was fantastic, and as it is a set
route it meant particularly for day 1 you where constantly riding with others
which definitely spurs you on up the 30% climbs. I climbed pretty well i think,
passing through the pack, only for everyone to pass me again when it came
to a down section. But in all that rain there were serious crashes to be had
descending, so i ran pushing the bike where i could and walked the rest. Sadly
i didn’t really see any scenery, as far as i was aware i could have been in the

14