Bicycle Dreams: Si es Chileno, es Bueno (TransAndes Challenge 2014)

What an adventure (or adventure race), I headed to the deep south for the much anticipated TransAndes Challenge 2014 (420km across the beautiful Patagonia Area of Southern Chile). After coming off really rough year in general (despite some good results), it was a very special moment to have physical and mental energy to be here to just ride and have fun....let alone race. Adjusting to new life transitions, support from friends and family, hard work, focus and putting the bolts and pieces back together with my coach H.A make for endless possibilities moving forward. We did good work in 3 months....

Great start to the new season!

I returned home motivated and inspired to return to this wonderful event in Chile.....Si es Chileno, es Bueno! (If it's Chilean, it's good!). I had some stiff competition in open solo female category. I'm not a pro and not old enough to be in 35+ y/o category, so just had to roll some hard long miles with my rice crispy lungs all the huge climbs and my best. That being said Rebecca Rusch is 45 y/o, so I guess I still have some time to rock it! So inspiring.

Thank you so very much for the wonderful scenery, food, wine and friends.

...si si si...uheh? concentrating on ignoring the camera guy....need to get over that!
(copyright TransAndes Challenge/M. Tucuna)

Day 1: The race started among beautiful scenery, with 72km of racing and 2000meters of ascents. It included a great section of fun single track at end of day. Easily puts a smile back on your face after many hard miles of road, jeep trail and hard hike a bike pain. Several people grumbling along saying....."this is harder than La Ruta!" Weather is a game changer! I think it was more like adventure racing vs. bike racing. I like to whittle away at it with great passion, being my own bike mechanic (always the greatest test), bike washer, feeding, having fun and keeping wheels rolling can be challenging with little outside help.

Two Tiny Bolts, so small yet so important. Taped securely to my basement floor at home in Canada.

Some spare bolts did the trick...but it wasn't perfect shifting....

Day 2: The longest and slowest 57km, taking some 6.5 hours! Several DNF on this day and caused many logistical complications for race organizers. The TransAndes Team did great job keeping spirits up and tires rolling with creative alternatives. Honestly, it was harder on the mind than the legs. Probably my hardest day on a bike, the rain was relentless and mud was shin/knee deep. I believe whatever is already here is good enough even if it's not pleasant. Was epic and comical slog to the end, sliding down slipper descents and rolling around in cow shit all day long is unique experience!

The Queen of Pain/TransAndes Challenge Copyright M. Tucuna

Day 3: It's 3am.....I can't sleep (which is rare occasion). Water is dripping on my head and a river of cow shit running through my tent (nothing like a wet down filled sleeping bag). I have been soaking wet for three days. The wind blew down the outdoor showers and the solar toilet are not working. I am having tree planting memories and dreaming of surfing on chilean beach!

Me 3am, looking horrible and eating peaches/raisins...Jajajajaja

Stage 3: was cancelled due to obscene about of heavy relentless non stop rain for many days. Had my Canadian game on, ready to ride the snowy volcano but stage was cancelled due to safety and limited ability to... or the need to in general rescue hypothermic warm blooded creatures off the mountain....

Turn music up and drink all the beer, problem solved?! I love it!

Stage 4: Was modified due to ongoing rain. Sun's out/guns out with 20km TT and was able to hitch a ride to hotel so I could sleep and fend off some creeping illness. Great day to get the animals moving.....

Stage 5: Sun came out and weather was fantastic ! The summer I was looking for in the dead of Canadian winter! Rolled some slow easy miles with my rice crispy sounding lung for some 78-82km around patagonia mountains and barking coughed my way up backside a volcano was good distraction. Preparing myself for the entire field to wash over me that day (it didn't happen). Which made me question if I was actually sick (I was),strangest thing to have good legs and bad lungs! Racing bikes, no sleep, having wet/cold hair for three days is an easy equation of + + + + = sick. Maybe I'm getting old but I think like a bed next time.

Day 6: It was my choice to pull the plug on day 6, with no doubt in my mind I had the fitness needed to complete slow easy watts/spinning the 80+km race...even while sick. Strong in the mind to let that go... Endurance racing bring out large spectrum of humans each with different goals and values. Shockingly someone even suggested I take some pills (not the sensible option). We don't need to try and escape it/fix it or even make it happen. I was thinking more like tylenol, nap and ice-cream!! The goal was to have fun and roll some smile miles in the off season.

It didn't seem worth digging a hole of sickness for myself and prolonging the recovery. Huge efforts require for the TransAndes can be good and bad for our 2014 race season. Tricky. Quality of life was going down due to illness and not able to recover...so makes for easy decision. Even better news, the solar toilets broke down on the bumpy roads and only 2 wash-boxes survived the journey to be used by 350. Went for a ez bike ride along the road with my friend Aude (who was also sick--team virus), took some pictures, had ice cream and celebrated life worth living!