Gabon. The country of “La Tropicale Amissa Bongo” and my first professional UCI experience. One thing I knew for certain was, it would be unlike anything I’ve ever seen or done before. For me it would become a perfect environment to spend the week learning and watching with googly eyes. Absorbing and watching in awe of their inspiration and charismatic characters.
This is part two of a three part series on La Tropicale Amissa Bongo, a UCI race in Gabon. Part One consisted of ‘The Arrival’; Part Two consists of the ‘Racing in Gabon’; Part Three will consist of my ‘Closing Thoughts’.
Part 2 | Racing in Gabon
The Training Ride
On Sunday 22nd January, we arrived at the first hotel, had some food and promptly went out for a pre-race ride under the mid afternoon sun. The heat of the sun rays were piercing. I was glad I had bought some factor 50 for my british tempered skin. Despite the searing heat, I felt the most comfortable I ever have in more than thirty degree temperatures. I think that was aided by the fact I had a helmet that was far more ventilated than anything I had worn before. Exactly what I expected from a brand like Spiuk who sponsor several Spanish teams. They must design their helmets to encounter similar temperatures in the height of the european summer. A summer that is getting ever hotter.
Immediately the landscape was unique. Roads were going “up and down side to side, like a roller coaster” – Stop it by FISHER. Despite accumulating some eight hundred metres within sixty kilometres we averaged over thirty-three kilometres per hour. It was clear then that the undulations in the road would not hold back the potential speed of the race. The only obstacle on the initial ride in Gabon was to dodge, and jump over, many potholes after about 30 minutes of riding. These weren’t any normal potholes. As my teammate Alex Salby pointed out, they seemed to be cut out of the road for use in construction, or even – my best guess – as part of the headstones used for their family members’ cemeteries.
As mentioned, in part one, the landscape was something akin to a David Attenborough Documentary. I was riding for a mere 20 minutes and couldn’t help notice the duration of my breath cycle. There was a freedom to just breathe into every nook and cranny of my lungs. There have been many references to the branches of trees being the lungs of the earth. It felt as if they fit into my lungs like a jigsaw puzzle. Seating perfectly into the shapes of the sacs and providing me with perfectly untouched and well nourished, fresh air. Riding along with these emotions I could only smile and admire the incredible nature that surrounded us as we soaked in the environment. That evening I called my parents with a profound thought, “Is this what the planet is meant to smell like?”
We rode for just one hour away from the hotel before returning home. Totalling two hours in the humid conditions to aid in acclimatisation before competing in the intensity of the midday sun. Normally in England, an hour would take you outside of your hometown, or city, and likely into the adjacent one. In Gabon this is far from the case. We rode thirty kilometres away from our place of stay, and that was a fraction of the distance to the next major city. On just one trip it would take over seventy kilometres to get to the next big city in Gabon. Later in the race this would be over one hundred kilometres on a single road.
To bring our training ride to a close. We would ride through a thick cloud of smoke. Spewed out from the fire that scorched the vegetation that ran parallel to the roadside. A more cost efficient way to tidying up the encroaching vegetation from devouring the all important road system. Unlike anywhere in Europe, with these high temperatures, the predictable rainfall would fall over night to extinguish the fires set ablaze. Another ingenious way to find solutions to problems that save time and energy.
The Stages
Starting out into a headwind on the roads we had ridden for our training ride the day before. The team would put me to work on the front of the peloton after forty kilometres of racing, and the breakaway gaining four minutes of an advantage. I had an idea of what to do having watched my fair share of races on GCN and Eurosport over the years. Making notes along the way. Though I did commence my effort with too much intent, and required an explanation from Karl on what things to look for when riding on the front. I.e. the watts, speed and time gaps to ride to in order to keep the breakaway under control.
Karl could’ve used his radio to do this, but on this occasion he spoke to me in person, having ridden up the train to inform me of the techniques. La Tropicale Amissa Bongo being my first race in the professional team meant it was also my first experience using race radios. A part of racing I had been looking forward to, and believed I could revel in the opportunities that additional communication provided. I would test the waters later in the week, after picking up the basics of what should be spoken and when. It wasn’t all I expected, with the quality being questionable and the connection occasionally dipping in and out of range. On the positive side, you could know when the breakaway was too far ahead. Assuming you had a teammate in the move.
After the race, and our first podium place of the race, with Louis Blouwe, party central ensued. Every team bus was swarmed with people after each stage, but the first was probably the most hectic. Everywhere you turned someone was asking for a picture or an autograph. On one of these occasions the DS joked “oh il est beau, non?” – “He is handsome, no?” A girl next to me said “non pas beau” – “No. Not handsome.“ I heard it. Importantly, I understood it. Looked at her. She covered her mouth with a smirk. I say jokingly “no more photos.” Took it on the chin with a smile on my face. Pure Bants, I thought.
For the rest of the week we would experience many early mornings for transfers lasting a couple of hours at the longest, and thirty minutes at the shortest. Some transfers were as if you were in a sauna, and some you were able to breathe a little more and enjoy some netflix with the wind blowing in the face as I attempted to keep cool. The mechanics had a mega shift to do, looking after the bikes, as they travelled a larger distance than us riders. Ensuring they were in full working order by the time the following race came about. The fight to stay covered and hidden from mosquitoes enhanced in the following two nights as we stayed directly next to a mosquito nesting ground… a lake.
During the week, shadowing my experienced teammates, I learnt a lot about the final kilometre leadout. Bottle trips. Piss stops and chatting away in the peloton. I also gained a lot of confidence in my early season riding and skills to control a bike from the final of stage three and five of the race. I did not plan for this three parter to be a complete race run down. I have already done that in spoken word on the Quicklink Podcast here.