Day 8, Stage 7
Barcelona – Andorra, 224km
This is the day that we’ve all been dreading since the Tour route was announced last year. It is the longest stage of the tour (224km) and also finishes just shy of the highest point of the tour (2240m) with 2 massive climbs to cover.
We aimed to leave at 6am but somehow we can just never manage to get away on time. We finally departed at about 6.30am and made our way quite easily (in comparison to other days) out of Barcelona. 16 hours and 28 minutes later we were standing, in the dark, at the summit of our final climb after the longest stage of the 2009 Tour de France route. Whilst we were all exhausted, support crew included, it was a great stage for us psychologically and has given us confidence in ourselves and a belief that we can complete any stage we are faced with.
Pre Ride Video Diary
It was a beautiful ride out of Barcelona in the morning which included a number of hills. We took a few wrong turns in the hills which wasn’t much fun as we gave ourselves additional climbing and added extra kilometres to our day. We rode amongst traffic early but by the time we got to the first mountain climb it was like we had the road to ourselves for about 2 or 3 hours. It has finally sunk in that we are on the Tour de France route and are finally doing this. The mountain stages capture the imagination of people all over the world and we are finally here seeing if we can get up and over them. It was a great feeling and spirits were really high.
Lunch Video Diary
Final Climb Video Diary
The first of the climbs was hard enough but not as bad as I was expecting. It actually felt like we were rolling through the hills around Yackandandah (where I grew up) rather than riding up French mountains.
I hit a bit of a wall at about 180km as it was quite hot and we had covered a lot of ground but by the time we got to Andorra the adrenaline was pumping and we hit a second wind. It was really exciting to be there and to be so close to the summit so we charged on even though it was close to dark. We found ourselves a rhythm and slowly but surely made our way up to the summit. The climb was nowhere near as hard as I thought it would be and even though we had been going over 16 hours I actually felt like I had quite a few more kilometres of climbing left in me if I needed to so that was great for confidence. Thanks to our wrong turns earlier in the day I actually had over 240km registered on my Polar CS600 – my longest ever day in the saddle.
Stage 7: On The Road
Yesterday we were joined by our friend Robert who I met late last year. Robert first found out about the Crohn’s Crusaders project via Cycling Profiles who had been helping me with the project. Robert also has a mild case of Crohn’s, is a keen cyclist and grew up in country Victoria not far from where I grew up so we have a number of similarities. Robert will join us for all of the Pyrenees stages, quite ambitious after only just stepping off a plane a day ago. It will be great to have his company on the mountain stages and to have another team member who is extremely passionate about our cause (Robert has also been very active in raising funds for the project).
After today the undisputed hero of the Crohn’s Cruaders team is Marika Mulqueen. Support crew and fellow riders alike have been blown away by her ability to push herself through pain barriers. She can get herself in a zone that none of us other riders can and her Polar Heart Rate Monitor can be frequently seen up around the 175 beats per minute heart rate and higher. How she can hold it there we don’t know but we are amazed by it.
My heart sank at the 18km mark when we were going through a roundabout and I realised that Marika was crying her eyes out with tears streaming down her face and rolling to the ground. She had been a bit quiet but I thought that was because we had all only had about 4 and a half hours sleep and we were all just focused on getting out of Barcelona safely. But, she has been nursing an injured thigh the past few days and was in so much physical pain that she was in tears. It really didn’t look that good for her and I was really disappointed for her as she has put in so much hard work and training but she showed enormous determination and will power and decided to kick on. I rode by her side up to the 120km mark and although it was slow going and the grimace on her face was constant she managed to make it all the way to our lunch break at 120km. The only problem was that after 120km we still had 104 to go. After lunch the boys went on ahead with Jase and Tara in the support car and Marika continued on alone at her pace which was slower than the boys with John and Nancy (dubbed Jean-Claude and Nancoir) following in the second support car.
She managed to tick over more than 200km for the day which was huge as we covered a steep category 1 climb and various other steep inclines (and most of us thought that she would struggle to keep going after 18km). This is the third time in 5 days that she has achieved her biggest distance in one single day – unbelievable! It was a really gutsy effort and the whole team has been talking about it all night. We are all very impressed.
Post Ride Video Diary
Delirium
Some people ask me what I think about when I’m riding and if I listen to music etc. I usually don’t listen to music as I don’t like having headphones in blocking my hearing but I do often have songs in my head. Often, usually when I am dehydrated and delirious, I have songs that enter my head that I just can’t get rid of.
Today as we climbed our way up to Andorra I couldn’t shake the tune of “Informer” by Snow (a classic, I know) but with the lyrics exchanged with “Andorra”! Frustrating stuff, but worse for other team members when I decided to sing it aloud.
Crohn’s Fact
Due to public misconceptions, many people are too embarrassed to talk about their condition. Public awareness and knowledge of the condition will help those living with Crohn’s disease normalize their illness and speak up about their condition.
Crohn’s Profile
Name: Brylie
Age: 34
Lives: Sandringham, Victoria, Australia.
Age of Diagnosis: 25
My Story: As a 25 year old woman who had just had her appendix removed due to uncomfortable stomach pain and inflammation, you can just imagine my surprise when I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease and had undergone that major operation for no reason!! Over the past 9 years I have had “Flare Ups” that have resulted in weeks of pain and discomfort and hospital visits on a drip to replace fluids and excessive amounts of weight lost. Understandably this causes so much worry for friends and family.
I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones though as I have always had mild “flare ups” and have never required surgery. Over the years I have managed my Crohn’s with a trial of different drugs to find which is best for me. In the last few years, I have been lucky enough to have been diagnosed with Crohn’s related Arthritis as well which means finding the right medication to tackle both at the same time. I tried many tablet form medications but that wasn’t working for me. I was then put on Methotrexate (Chemo Drug) which is injected into the muscle of the arm which my wonderful husband learnt how to give to me weekly. This was painful and not fully effective. I was then put onto a trial drug called Humira which is injected into the tummy and not the muscle so was not as painful. This seemed to work really well.
My story has changed dramatically in the last 12 months. I had to go off the drugs completely before getting “Up the Duff”! So through perseverance and lot’s of nagging my gastroenterologist, I was given the go ahead through a maintenance programme of Prednisolone. I am currently on my journey to becoming a Mummy as we are expecting our little bundle of joy in August.
Since becoming pregnant, I have felt amazing and my Crohn’s and Arthritis has completely disappeared. I have joked to my husband that I am going to have to have 24 children as pregnancy agrees with my body! (It is only a joke honey). I hope one day, scientists can bottle the relaxens and endorphins the body releases in pregnancy and turn them into a Crohn’s medicine!!
Watch this space…..
My message: Unfortunately Crohn’s Disease isn’t a widely known or recognised Disease and doesn’t have the funds behind it to research a magic cure! What Damian is doing for the thousands of Crohn‘s sufferers is truly remarkable. I would encourage everyone to dig deep and give to his outstanding effort and help him bring this rarely spoken of disease into the minds and hearts of Australians.
Today’s images can be viewed here
Sponsor Profile:
Sponsor Name: Advanced Skin & Beauty Clinic
Sponsor Level: Official Waxing Partner
Sponsor Website: http://www.advancedskinbeauty.com.au
The Team at Mills Street, Advanced Skin and Beauty Clinic are proudly sponsoring Damian and his team with their fundraising project for Crohn’s Disease.
Our waxing specialists have been assisting Damian by visually creating him to look the part of a professional bike rider!!
We provide a wide range of services here at Advanced Skin and Beauty Clinic, from Waxing, Medi Peels, Microdermabrasion, Laser Treatments to Spray Tan and much more. For further information please see our website www.advancedskinbeauty.com.au or we can be contacted on 03 9699 4000.
Thank you and any questions please contact Alana or Melanie.
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