Matt Page and Melanie Alexander. Team Bike Magic.

The final two stages were hampered by incredibly poor weather (Spain was actually on ‘black alert’!). For that matter, stage 6 was shortened but it was still every bit as testing, especially with the poor conditions.

Read Matt’s report of the stage here and Mel’s report here.

Here’s Matt’s onboard footage from the final day of competition:

Melanie Alexander and her Team Bike Magic teammate Matt Page had a tough final stage but still finished on the podium. Well done guys, thanks for doing us proud!

Words: Melanie Alexander

Going into the final stage we knew it was going to be tough but possible to hold onto the overall 2nd position, which we held from Blue Motors Ponts by 34 seconds.

We had worked out from riding closely together over the week that we were slightly stronger on some climbs, on technical singletrack we more or less matched but that they were way faster than me on the fast fire-road descents. They also had the experience of being partners in previous stage races. Really, it depended on who had recovered the best and therefore had the strongest legs.

Due to the bad weather that Jaen was receiving the route and structure to the stage had to be revised and changed a couple of times the previous day. So we turned up not quite knowing what to expect of the route.

There was no neutralized start and we rode flat out from the get-go. I was really struggling to hold onto this instant speed and dropped back a little. Both Matt and the Blue Motor Pont team were soon out of sight. The First 16km was flattish, fast fire road and gradually I re-worked my way back up to Matt who was riding close to the Blue Motor Pont pair. We stuck behind for a fair bit until we spotted a good opportunity to attack, with myself going flat out for a minute until Matt could catch up and take the lead. We established a gap, not a huge gap but big enough to have some distance separating us for the upcoming climb, which was mainly singletrack. We were climbing the singletrack well and stretching out the gap. At the top of the climb between 26 and 28km there was a fair amount of hike-a-bike, which, with my long legs, I seem to be quite strong at.

At the top of the climb with around ninety percent descending left to the finish line at 52km, my rear wheel jammed. I couldn’t work out what was causing it. Matt, who had dropped back on the hike-a-bike, caught me up and it took a little while to establish that I had lost all my rear bolts on my rear disk. Unbelievable, once the problem was diagnosed the wheel was whipped out, disk fell to ground, the wheel was put back in and Matt said, “you have no rear brake go, go, go”, which I did.

“You have no rear brake” didn’t stop Mel did it?! Good effort.

We were back on the bikes and Blue Motor Pont had not caught us up. At first it was fine as we were gradually descending but it was raining and my hands quickly went cold and numb as we descended. The trail was also getting steeper. On a not-too-tricky section which had a lip then a right hand corner before steeply dropping down a muddy chute I went to feather my brake, but with the numbness and all the mud on my gloves my hand slipped off the brake lever and I picked up too much speed and went way too fast over the lip then fell off, scraping my knee on a rock. I got up quickly but my nerves had gone and I had to scramble to the bottom. I had to stop again, this time to tighten up my rear wheel and this is when Blue Motor Pont passed. It was tricky for a bit more and my head had completely gone now so I was running quite a bit. The race finished with 15km fire-road that gradually descended. I managed to get my head back together for a bit on the straight fire road but struggled when it became twisty. In hindsight we would have been best putting a few bolts on my rear rotor from my front rotor but we didn’t know how steep and slippery it was going to be and there was just not the time under race pressure.

After the stage we had the podium presentation but my knee was throbbing and I was too worried about all the mud that had got in it to really enjoy standing on the podium. The medics sent me to hospital where my knee was cleaned and stitched up. It was a bit of a mad way to finish, as there was no chance to congratulate others.

I learnt a few things during this final stage. Mainly how important it is to make sure you tighten your bolts up enough when putting your disc rotor back on your wheels after travelling! Secondly that flapping does not help and to spend a few minutes longer fixing a problem could save you more time in the long run and definitely would make it a more enjoyable finish to the stage.

It has been an interesting week having such a close competition for the 2^nd or 3^rd overall spot. Stage racing is not just about being the slightly stronger riders; there is a small element of luck, consistency, good communication and a bigger element of making sure the equipment keeps running smoothly.

It has been a very enjoyable and rewarding week.

www.andaluciabikerace.com

Unfortunately our Bike Magic team of Melanie Alexander and Matt Page suffered with mechanicals and injuries, but you’ll find out all about that in their report later today.

Thank you to Matt and Mel for all their effort in reporting back after the stages and well done to all the Brits who took part.

Here’s the final report from the race organisers (in Spanglish):

ALBAN LAKATA AND ROBERT MENNEN WIN ANDALUCIA BIKE RACE 2013

Spaniards Carlos Coloma and Sergio Mantecón win the last stage. Sally Bigham and Milena Landtwing enter history winning the third edition in a row.

The last stage of Andalucía Bike Race 2013 in Jaén was the closure of an epic mountain bike stage race which has gathered the best mountain bikers on the international scene.

With very low temperatures and snow along the route, the head of the race has been leaded since the first pedal-stroke, by the spaniards Carlos Coloma and Sergio Mantecón, who already had announced “to target this stage victory”, which they finally achieved.

Riding in the chasing pack were the top contenders as well as the germans Johcen Käss and Markus Kaufmann, second both today and in the overall classification, while the “young guns” from the Multivan-Merdia Thomas Litscher and Ondrej Cink, who started Andalucía Bike Race 2013 as leaders and finished third in today’s stage, the same place they accupied in the overall classification.

The race victory in the third edition of Andalucía Bike Race 2013 was for Austrian Alban Lakata and German Robert Mennen, fourth in today’s stage.

The Topeak-Ergon men had a very consistent performance during the week and were “very happy”  and had “a great feeling” about this competition. They also said that they would love to come back for the next edition. “It’s always special to win”, assures Lakata “but it feels even better when it’s the first race of the season”.

Among the national teams, the first classified were Juan Pedro Trujillo and Fran Pérez (Wild Wolf-Trek), placed in fourth position, while the first Andalusian team was Rubén Ruzafa and Antonio Ortiz, official team of the Interprofesional del Aceite de Oliva Español-Specialized.

In the female category, British Sally Bigham has entered history winning the third Andalucía Bike Race in a row, and the second victory with her Swiss team mate Milena Landtwing. Her dominance in the race has been absolute since the first stage of this edition, and has won all stages except for the fifth stage of last year.

In second position were the Norwegians Borghild Løvset and Heidi Rosåsen Sandstø (United Bakeries-Orkla), while the Spaniards Anna Villar and Nuria Picas (Tomás Bellés-Cannondale) finished in third place in the final result list.

One of the most thrilling duels of the race has been in the Master 30 category.  Although starting today’s stage with the leader jerseys, Javier Cherro and Vicente Pla lost the victory in the general classification to Tomás Misser y Pablo Egeda (Tomás Bellés-Cannondale) from whom they had flaunted the leader jersey on the fourth stage. Egeda won Mixed Category in 2012 together with his team mate Anna Villar.

In this year’s Mixed category the victory went to the twice Bikemarathon World Champion Annika Langvad who, together with her team mate Thomas Bonne, dominated the competition from the beginning to the end. Her aim was to get ready for this year’s Cross Country World Cup which starts in a few months, and has achieved this goal, also taking to Denmark the victory of the third edition of Andalucía Bike Race.

The winners of the Master 40 category were British Richard Rothwell and Anthony White (MT Zoom), followed by the Spaniards Manuel Gonzalo and Francesc Sabiote (Doctore Bike) in second place and Josep Cardevila and Javier Padrós (Blue Motors) in third place of the general classification.

A total of 542 riders out of 670, have managed to finish Andalucía Bike Race 2013, which has again beaten its own records and has excelled as the most important race in Spain and the most emerging in Europe.

www.andaluciabikerace.com

The organisation had this to say following today’s cancellation:

“The red alert announced by the Guardia Civil this morning turned into black alert (maximum level of precaution) at 09:00 o’clock this morning. These circumstances, together with the snowfall at the highest mountain passes of todays stage 5 which could hinder the access to certain points of the race course, were the reasons that todays stage got canceled, also recommended by the Guardia Civil due to the general conditions and the level of precaution alert in the area and in the whole country. 

In terms of competition, the overall classification stays the same as they were settled yeasterday after the fourth stage, with Lakata-Mennen as leaders in Elite Men; Sally Bigham and Milena Landtwing en categoría femenina; Vicente Pla y Javier Cherro en Master 30; Annika Langvad y Thomas Bonne en Mixto y Anthony White y Richard Rothwell en Master 40.

With this situation, tomorrow’s stage will be thrilling. On one hand, participants are willing to take the start after today’s pause. On the other hand, it will be the last opportunity for all of them to fight for the overall position of this edition.”

So that leaves our team of Matt Page and Melanie Alexander sitting in 2nd place going into the final stage, which hopefully won’t be hampered by the weather.

Here’s the latest video update (in Spanish):

It’s all in Spanish by the way…

Words: Matt Page

Today was supposed to be the “Queen Stage”, as in being the hardest of the event, but yesterday evening we heard it had been shortened and had less climbing (a mere 2600m!) due to snow on higher ground.

The stage start and finish locations would remain the same however, which made logistics a bit complicated. Because the start/finish towns were away from the official hotel and was a linear route it meant that last night I had to take our bikes to Jaen, which for us was a 20-minute drive. They were being transported overnight to the start, while we had an early 6am wake up call to get to Jaen for 7.30am to take a bus. I didn’t really see the logic in all this, but there was no point in complaining about it.

Initial poor weather caused the stage to be shortened, although it did clear up.

The stage

We arrived at the start town at 8.30am, a full 90 minutes before the race was due to kick off. It was 3 degrees, blowing a gale and I was in shorts [Editor’s note: classic Brit abroad]! Not nice. We took refuge in the first cafe we found along with many others and at 1€ for a “cafe con leche” it was a decent place to hang about. We stayed in there until 9:20 and then headed to the start line. Layering up was essential to stay warm, but we both knew that when racing we would be warm…but what about at 1400m where we were going? It was a tough call; we both played it safe, wearing more layers than usual.

The start was OK but not great for us. Down a steep road other riders were pushing through, which was a little intimidating. Then there was the option of either a river crossing, which would obviously be cold but push us up 30 places, or a queue for the bridge. We took the bridge! It was too early and too cold to get wet feet today. Soon after we hit a steep and loose climb on which there were effectively two lines where cars had been up, outside of that you were walking. I was doing fine until someone nudged me off line and I lost traction. Mel was able to hold her ground and keep riding and thankfully not too long after I caught back up to her.

At the early stage we were riding with the Ridleys team in fourth place but we could see the Blue Motors Points team, who were third and 50sec behind us in the provisional placing. Slowly but surely we caught them up over many, many kilometres of climbing with the occasional fast descent thrown in. Mel commented that they must have forgotten to include singletrack today, which seemed quite apt after the previous three days of riding.

From 35km mark we got to the Blue Motors Points team and were riding just ahead of them. I could see that their male rider was pushing the female quite a bit, which isn’t against the rules. Mel was strong enough to ride under her own steam though (as was I!), so we kept it like that.

After four stages worth of racing the going can be tough.

From 1100m altitude and up there was quite a bit of snow, which made line choice crucial. We had three descents/climbs from 1400m to 1100m and back up, on each one the team behind kept right on our wheels. I controlled the pace; Mel sat behind then the other mixed pair right behind us. I didn’t want to let them get away on the descents, so felt it best to stay in front. I was feeling pretty good and happy to take what wind there was and control things.

After 50km we re-joined a track that was in last year’s race, we were in a small group of about 8 and I called to Mel to get in front as there was a long descent coming up. She did just that, narrowly avoiding a pile up behind and we were leading into the first singletrack of the day, with the next team still right on our wheels. They were slightly quicker downhill, but as it was so narrow there was nowhere for them to get by. It was an amazing descent; this year I could enjoy it a little more. Last year trying to hold on to Milton Ramos’ wheel was a nerve-wracking experience! It was probably the best descent of the week so far, going on and on with just one horrible fire-road climb in between sections. From the bottom I knew it was one long climb and a short descent to the finish.

I kept the pace steady on the early part, as it steepened and zigzagged a bit on a gravelly road then pushed it towards the top, the team behind stuck with us the whole time but were working hard to do so. I was hoping the final descent was going to be technical singletrack, but it was a wide gravel road. Leading the way, trying to be careful but fast the pair behind snuck past and were able to get a slight gap. The gravel road took us right into the finish town of Mancha Real where we had just a short downhill road section to the finish.

Riding through the snow at one of the higher reaches of the 2013 Andalucia Bike Race.

At the finish

We ended up third mixed cat on the day, 20 seconds behind the Blue Motors Points team, which leaves us in second and just 30 seconds gap to them overall. With 2 stages left to go it’s going to be extremely close, we are going to have to pull out an advantage on the climbs and hope to hold them off on the descents. It might be to our advantage that there is rain forecast tomorrow. Being used to riding in mud it might help even things out.

No rest for the wicked…

The logistics of today’s stage didn’t end at the finish. We had 2 choices, either to take the bus transfer back to the start, which would have been fairly quick but our bikes would travel on a lorry that would not arrive until evening. That would mean lots of driving and late night cleaning of bikes. A massive hassle that I wanted to avoid after the previous 2 days.

The other option: ride the 18km from Mancha Real to Jaen. That is what we did and luckily it was downhill pretty much all the way, although the majority of it was a slightly iffy dual carriageway that I wasn’t sure if we could ride or not! It worked out though and we were back in our accommodation, bikes cleaned, showered and ready to chill out by 5pm. Today’s logistics headache was something we could have done without and one that really affects those not staying in the very expensive official hotels. Hopefully the organisers will revert back to last year’s stage plan in future.

Tomorrow is now probably the “queen stage”. 75km and 2800m climbing with a poor weather forecast. Last minute update! Whilst writing this I’ve heard the stage has been shortened again because of the weather forecast. It will now be 64km with 1500m climbing. Hopefully the singletrack planned will remain. At it’s easy for travelling and we can have an early night and an extra hour in bed as a result!

You can see Matt’s Garmin 510 stats from Stage 4 online here.

www.andaluciabikerace.com

More about Melanie Alexander.

More about Matt Page.

Today’s stage news from the organisation:

Thomas Litscher and Ondrej Cink got a new stage victory today, but Lakata-Mennen, third today, keep leadership. In females, Bigham and Landtwing are still dominating, while Spanish Marga Fullana and Sandra Santanyes had to retire. 

Hard fourth stage in Andalucía Bike Race 2013. The entrance into Jaen’s province welcomed all the participants with really cold weather, that made participants to fight strongly to finish the stage. Thomas Litscher and Ondrej Cink, young Multivan Merida members, couldn´t believe their victory, according to their own comments, because they “suffered a lot during the day”.

Even though, yesterday´s time loss made them stay third overall, a classification leaded by Alban Lakata and Robert Mennen, who were third today.

Second position in stage was for German Centurion Vaude, Jochen Kass and Markus Kaufman who, thanks to their regularity, are second also in overall.

Spanish representation was leaded once again by Juan Pedro Trujillo and Fran Pérez who, even if they started pushing hard, they finally went behind.

Sally Bigham and Milena Landtwing are still making history in female category of Andalucía Bike Race. They were first ones on finish line today again, and this confirms their absolute leadership and their record of victory stages in this event since its creation back in 2011. They have won all the stages every year, except from 5th stage of 2012′s edition (the equivalent to tomorrow’s one).

Spanish Sandra Santanyes and Marga Fullana, who were second overall until today, had to retire today because of Marga’s gear derailleur, which broke.

Then Norwegian Borghild Lovset and Heidi Rosasen, second today ahead Spanish Nuria Picas and Anna Villar

Despite Marga’s retirement and being out of the race, Santanyes crossed the stage’s finish line.

Annika-Langvad and Thomas Bonne confirmed again their power in Mixed, with a new stage win.  

In Master 30, today’s victory was for Vicente Pla and Javier Cherro, who got leadership over Tomas Misser and Pablo Egeda for some seconds. This tight result predicts an intese fight in this category during the two stages already remaining.  

In Master 40, winners today Francesc Sabiote and Manuel Gonzalo.

Tomorrow’s stage, fifth in Andalucía Bike Race 2013, will have 63 kilometers and will be held entirely in Jaen, with both start and finish line in Hotel HO Ciudad de Jaén. 

In the overall competition, Robert Mennen and Alban Lakata have taken the provisional lead as a team and were 1-2 as individuals today.. Full results from day three here.

Alban Lakata sits in second place overall in the competition and his team-mate Robert Mennen leads.

Read Matt’s report from day two here and let Mel guide you through a day of fun riding below:

ANDALUCIA BIKE RACE STAGE 3

Words: Melanie Alexander

I am really enjoying Andalucia Bike Race. What I have really liked about the race so far is the varied terrain. Day one and two around Cordoba had interesting climbs and fantastic descents with the descents becoming trickier and the climbing steeper on day two. Definitely a lot of rocks, and plenty of singletrack. Today the terrain changed again and so did the location of the day’s race.

This morning we left Cordoba and drove for an hour to stage three race start and finish in Priego de Cordoba. It was a stunning drive with lots of olive trees and mountainous.

Today we had a great day of racing. We raced in second position for the whole stage and held it till the finish. In the process we managed to get a big enough lead on our main competition, Blue Motors Ponts 3 (who started the day with a four minute lead over us), to move up to 2^nd in the overall general classification but with less than a minute separating us.

We started in pen 2 again and had a fantastic start. Today there was not a neutralised 5k around twisty streets instead we headed straight up a short hill and it was what we needed as we were able to hold a good position.

I am not very good at remembering what we rode first and what came next but it went a little like this:

The first 20km was not technical but it was fast, mainly on fire road, a few small sections of single track and a bit of road. We were going well and holding our ground and it felt good. I particularly felt strong and as the weaker rider in the pair this was a huge bonus.

The climbing then started with a 30min stint up a twisty dirt road. I enjoy climbs like that especially when you feel strong; it’s a chance to just find a rhythm. Next we traversed along the top – it was a bit undulating before a long fantastic singletrack descent. Again there were lots of rocks and a few stream crossings. Other than Matt somersaulting over the bars we got down there pretty smoothly. It was so much fun, plus we managed to overtake quite a few riders along the way, gaining more space between us and the chasing mixed teams. I think that could have been the best descent of the race so far. At the bottom of this descent we had ridden 42kms and had another 28 to go yet still felt good.

The third stage of the Andalucia Bike Race took a turn for the tech and our racers certainly enjoyed it.

We had a few more climbs, the next being the toughest at the bottom but it did ease off, and again we traversed along the top before another brilliant descent, which was over all too quickly. Then up and down again a few more times with a nasty climb right in the last 3km – definitely the toughest climb of the day.

On the line

The finish line is always a great sight. We knew we had done well and definitely enjoyed the riding today. I am so pleased with how we rode, we knew we had a chance of getting into second position but we needed everything to go well.

We still have three days of racing and we know the mixed pair Blue Motors Ponts 3 are strong on both the climbs and the descents. With less than a minute separating us it is going to continue to be a tough race to the end.

My bike worked brilliantly today so a huge thanks to Matt for spending 3 hours yesterday evening sorting it out, not the best recovery for him.  Today with 10km to go it was Matt’s turn having chain problems, as he struggled to find a gear that the bike was happy to ride in. Luckily it didn’t slow us down too much. The problem was soon solved after the race as a split chain link was discovered (who knows how it was still clinging on together).

After the race we drove from Priego de Cordoba to our next apartment near Jaen – it is brilliant, big enough to sleep six with all the facilities you need and stunning views. I have been eating continuously all evening. I’m definitely fuelled up, just hope the legs want to work tomorrow.

www.andaluciabikerace.com

More about Melanie Alexander.

More about Matt Page.

From the organisers (in perfect ‘Spanglish’):

“After two third places and intense fight in the previous stages, Austrian World Champion and teammate Mennen clinched victory today and took provisional leadership. Both Multivan-Merida lost more than 10 minutes.

Battle for victory in Andalucia Bike promises to be intense. After the three first stages, three teams have been turning themselves on top. Today, in Priego´s stage, winners were Austrian Alban Lakata and German Robert Mennen, who were the most regular ones until now and got every day into the podium.

Their hardest rivals, Multivan Merida Team members, suffered a lot of complications that made them to lose a lot of time.

Litscher and Cink, the young ones, suffered the consequences of their extra effort in stages 1 and 2, so they decided to “reserve” themselves a little bit, according to their own words, delaying 13 minutes in overall; while within Hermida and Van Houts couple, the problem was the injury Hermida got in yesterday´s stage, that made him suffer quite a lot during downhills. Their time loss, 19 minutes, might make them pay but “everything can change in Andalucia Bike Race”, according Hermida.

Therefore, today´s second place was for local Trujillo and teammate Fran Pérez who couldn´t get into the podium in their “home” stages (they are from Cordoba), but did so today in Priego de Córdoba. 

After them, next Spanish were Milton Ramos and Raúl Serrano, who arrived to the finish before Markus Kaufmann and Jochen Kass, third; and Hannes Genze and Rupert Palmberger, who ended fourth.

In females, Sally Bigham and Milena Landtwing are consolidating leadership with each victory. Today, they signed the third one, and they accumulate a big advantage already ahead their closest rivals, Spanish Sandra Santanyes and Marga Fullana. Danish Rikke Kornvig and Helle Qvortrup were third today.

Annika Langvad and Thomas Bonne also consolidate their control of the Mixed category. Three victories in the three stages already celebrated guarantee it. After them, almost 25 minutes behind, Bikemagic Melanie Alexander and Matt Page, who seem to be adaptating quite well to themselves in their first participation together.

In Master 30, Spaniards Vicente Pla and Javier Cherro won today ahead category leaders, Tomas Misser and Pablo Egeda, also national riders, who crossed finish line with a 5 minutes gap and followed by Bicikultura team members,  Carlos Molina y Gonzalo Orozco.

Spanish dominated today also in Master 40, category in which Manuel Gonzalo and Francesc Sabiote finished hardly a minute ahead Rothwell and White.

Tomorrow´s stage, fourth and totally new in Andalucía Bike Race, will take place between Bedmar and Mancha Real, to face 64,85 kilometers with 2.497 meters of total climbing.”

Read Matt’s stage 1 report here if you haven’t already.

ANDALUCIA BIKE RACE STAGE 2

Words: Matt Page

Today was very typical of the roller coaster ride that you go through during a stage race. A good, frustrating middle section, good end and a very frustrating evening!

Melanie Alexander on stage 2 of the 2013 Andalucia Bike Race.

We arrived at the start to find some great news, we had moved up from Gate 7 to Gate 2, which would make life so much easier at the start. It was still a hectic “neutralised” section, but Mel rode well, holding her ground being aggressive when needed. I stuck with her for the first 5km, then we became separated for a while as I pushed ahead a little too swiftly. Re-grouped we managed to pass the 2nd place team in the mixed category quite comfortably. Progress was slow however as riders were jumping off at the slightest glimpse of some mud or rocks, of which there were plenty. Eventually the climb widened and we could push on. Soon after Mel started struggling with her rear gears, jumping on several gears at a time. We tried everything to get it working smoothly but nothing was working.

After a long and technical climb the 2nd place team passed us while we lubed the chain, hoping that might help. Into a steep singletrack descent we managed to get back past and for about 15km we had them on our tails, just managing to keep them at bay despite Mel still struggling with the mis-shifts becoming more frequent. We seemed to be really well matched and couldn’t shake them off, neither uphill or down, which included some epic descents. Then disaster happened: just after a stream crossing the chain broke. No need to panic, I had a rather nifty Lezyne carbon multi-tool and a spare chain link that Mel had taped to the bars so it was fixed within 2 minutes, but we had lost quite a bit of ground and had lots of people to get by again.

From there we had a long and sometimes very steep climb which was very technical in places. It was great to be clearing sections that had me walking last year, the bike felt just as good going up as it did going down! With the gears still playing up we lost 3rd place on the stage and seemed to lose ground quickly. I was trying to encourage Mel to keep going, but it must have been so frustrating to not use a good chunk of the cassette. After cresting the final big climb things started to improve and we started to pass teams pretty quickly. With 20km to go we had the 3rd place mixed team in sight and this encouraged us to keep pushing on. I got a little carried away at times and bridged the gap too quickly, leaving Mel behind. One last push with 10km to go we got onto their wheel and stayed close on the upper part of the final descent. Up a short road section Mel powered away, closing right up which just left the very last section.

We changed tactics today, instead of blasting down all guns blazing I stayed closer to Mel and she could follow my lines which made a real difference and made us faster overall. The team ahead were slowly coming back to us, then we turned onto a steep pitch and they took a different line. Mel followed me and we got past and onto the shallower section. There was no way we were wasting the chance, pushing flat out up the final 500m tarmac grind and across the line.

Matt Page on stage 2 of the 2013 Andalucia Bike Race.

We ended up being just 30 sec ahead of 4th, but maintain a good gap overall. We didn’t know how far ahead 2nd place were but after our strong finish I didn’t think they would be that far. After checking the results, they had finished 1min 50sec ahead of us, giving them just under 4 minutes overall. Still very much within catching distance and considering all the issues we have had today I know its possible.

I thought the drama was all over after the race, but after trying to fix Mel’s gears I was completely stuck with what was causing it. We changed the inner and outer cable, which was a mission within itself but that didn’t work. Then the chain, which was on the edge of being worn out but again no joy. Almost giving up I had a good look at the cassette to find a few cogs were bent and causing the chain to skip. Bending them back didn’t work, so a new cassette was in order. Thankfully all shops, including bike shops stay open until 9pm and with 2 shops within 200m we were in luck! New cassette fitted, hopefully that is the issue solved and we can smash it again tomorrow.

The race tomorrow is in a different location, called Priego de Cordoba, over an hour’s drive away. Logistics are a bit complicated and it means an earlier wake-up call to get over in time. We also have to get everything packed into the car and hopefully not have to dismantle the bikes completely. That, however, is a job for tomorrow!

View Matt’s stage 2 Garmin 510 Stats online here.

www.andaluciabikerace.com

More about Melanie Alexander.

More about Matt Page.

Meanwhile in other category news (words from the organisation):

“After a thrilling final fight with Lakata-Mennen and their Multivan Merida teammates Thomas Litscher and Ondrej Cink, Andalucía Bike Race 2012´s winner couple clinched victory in today´s stage. Bigham-Landtwing in females, Egeda-Misser in Master 30, Rothwell-White in Master 40 and Langvad-Bonne in Mixed were the other winners”

Matt Page and Melanie Alexander are up to third in the mixed pairs, good stuff!

Words: Matt Page

After a slightly “exciting” time at Bristol Airport, somehow putting my passport back into the hold luggage without realising and having a tiny panic, I’m now in Andalucia for the 2013 Andalucia Bike Race along with my race partner Melanie Alexander and we’ve just finished the first day of racing.

Getting started

Thankfully EasyJet customer service were ace, letting me through the boarding gate and onto the runway where they had pulled my bag out of the hold for me to collect my passport. It could have been really bad, had they not let me and my bag gone I wouldn’t have been able to get another flight which would have been race over before the start! This would also be the first ride on a bike borrowed for the race, a Pivot 429 Carbon. It would be nice to be back on 29er wheels, my last ride on one would have been the Crocodile Trophy way back in October.

We arrived in Cordoba on Friday afternoon and managed a short ride, checking out the brilliant final descent then another ride on Saturday with Gareth Montgomerie and Dave Henderson from GT Racing we were feeling good, but a little nervous.

This is the first time racing as a mixed (male/female) pair and although I know Mel well, I’ve never raced with her so the entire process will all be a little unknown. The weather had not been kind in the days leading up to the event, dumping a fair amount of water and a Spanish rider I know commented that it would be his muddiest ride of the year! Compared to back home it was no worse than a typical summers day.

Muddy yes, but not in the slightest bit hard to ride. The bike proved to be suitably impressive on everything I rode in practice. It was most impressive on anything technical, either up or down and felt unstoppable. Downhills were taken at speeds that I wouldn’t have dreamed of on previous bikes and it left me grinning from ear to ear!

Race day dawned and we made the start line in good time. Most other people seemed to be dressed in hundreds of layers where as I was in shorts and jersey. The sun was shining, it was about 5 degrees and it felt great! We were both a little nervous about the ensuing chaos that is the race start in Cordoba and I had perhaps talked a bit too much about it to Mel, hopefully not scaring her too much. We were in pen 7, the very last pen. With over 600 riders ahead of us it was going to be an interesting start. The only good point was all mixed teams were in the same pen, including Annika Langvad and Thomas Bonne who were just behind us and most definitely the strongest team. Annika was the 2011 World Marathon Champion and is a full time pro racer.

The start of the 2013 Andalucia Bike Race.

As the race started they showed their class straight away, zipping through the field and disappearing within 100 meters. I was trying to be cautious through the start, which was a sight words simply cannot describe. Chaos, stampede, carnage and madness are some apt words. We were funnelled down narrow, people filled streets with bollards and street furniture all around. It was a guided tour of Cordoba by bike, except with riders within inches of each other screaming, shouting and to the sound of brakes screeching and tyres skidding. I managed to keep Mel in sight the whole time through the so called “neutralised start”, getting split up would have been costly so it wasn’t until the road eventually opened up and we started a tarmac climb that we could settle into a pace.

The first 3-4km were thankfully tarmac, giving riders a chance to spread out and we were making good progress, cutting through the field and riding around people with low numbers compared to our plate of 393. As the route turned off road we kept pushing through, passing wherever the opportunity arose until the inevitable bottleneck where we had to stop and walk. Back on the bikes for a bit and up a technical section where the crowds had gathered, it was amazing to pass through, people lining the track and cheering us on… well they were mostly cheering Mel on! After that we were stuck behind some rather slow descenders for a while with no chance to pass, then thrown into what can only be described as a ravine, complete with river. It might have been rideable in some way, but there were too many people ahead of us walking. At the bottom we made good progress again and got into a fast bunch for a flat section along a storm drain. We were both on the limits, but knew it would be beneficial to stick in the bunch. It was pretty wet in places with water splashing up from the riders in front and some seemed a little scared of getting wet, but considering we had just walked down through a river I had no idea why!

After 30km came the big climb of the day, knowing exactly where we were the first stages were taken at a steady pace, Mel was going really strong and we tried to stick to a elite female pair riding with us as well as lots of Male pairs, including several Elite teams. The longer the climb went on (and it was a pretty long climb!) the better we did. Eventually reaching the top we had passed the female pair and both felt good. The next 20km was all rolling terrain, some steep sections up and down with no real chance to recover fully. Some of the teams around us were struggling, so it was really encouraging that we were both feeling good. Because of the terrain there wasn’t really anywhere to gain a big advantage by drafting, there was only the occasional short tarmac section of fireroad. There were people in small crowds on the peak of anything relatively high and also on anything technical, up or down and Mel was getting big cheers the whole time. Through the 3rd feed station we made our only stop, a quick bottle refill and judging by the reaction I guessed we were doing OK.

After a tortuous section that seemed to go on for ages, going uphill steeply in stages we hit what I knew was the start of the long final descent. The first section on singletrack through the trees, a little muddy but still loads of grip and brilliant to ride. After crossing a road and then a brief few hundred meters of tarmac it was into the very last bit, which I remember well from last year. Several kilometres long and super rocky. I got a little bit carried away, letting go and letting the bike do the work. The Pivot showed its class on the descent, passing several people and taking all sorts of interesting lines. The course then went down a steep descent that was new for the race and I followed James Porter from Team Juice Lubes who showed his skills making it look very easy. At the bottom I knew we were close, so I tried to encourage Mel to push on, although she started to have a bit of cramp, so we eased up and spun up the final section and into the race finish to cross the line.

The aftermath

After crossing the line we didn’t know how we had done but I was really happy with how we rode and was sure we had done well. It was great to see Ant White and Rich Rothwell stepping onto the podium as the leading Male 40+ team, way to go! They only invite the leading team, which in our category was unsurprisingly Annika Langvad and Thomas Bonne.

With over 600 competitors at the start, the first day has been about thinning out the competition and getting into a strong position for the stages ahead.

We didn’t hang around the finish too long, just enough time to refuel with Torq recovery drinks and we then made our way back to our accommodation. Checking the results soon after we realised that we were in 3rd position within the category, just 2 minutes behind 2nd place!

The next stage

The leaders look untouchable, with Annika being the fastest woman outright. Sally Bigham and Melena Landtwing finishing as the leading Womens Elite team less than 10 minutes ahead of us. That makes Mel the 5th fastest woman so far, which is really encouraging. It sets us up well for the rest of the week, both feeling pretty good afterwards and both confident that we can push on to try and gain 2nd spot.

Tomorrow is again raced from Cordoba, but on different tracks (except the final descent which remains). If its similar to last year then we can expect more challenging and technical terrain and hopefully the disused railway which was rather fun!

Click here to see Matt’s Strava from today’s stage…

www.andaluciabikerace.com

More about Melanie Alexander.

More about Matt Page.

Melanie Alexander on the podium (right, green/black kit) at the National Champs.

If you haven’t already, read Matt’s introduction here and then read Melanie’s below.

ANDALUCIA BIKE RACE PRE-EVENT

Melanie Alexander
36 years old
8 years racing (at first endurance – stage races then 24 hour solo and now cross country)
2011: 3^rd overall in British national XC series, 1^st Mixed pair Sudety Mountain bike Challenge and 1^st Kielder 100, Women’s Yellow Jersey Winner of Tour of the Himalayas.
2012 : 3^rd British national XC Champs and 2^nd overall in British XC Series.

Sponsors: for 2013 I will be racing in the women’s mountain bike team: Team Scott Contessa Syncros. Team sponsors will also include Torq, Schwalbe and Fibrax. Personal sponsor: Exposure Lights.

This Sunday I will be teaming up with Matt Page for six days of stage racing at the Andalucia Bike Race. Right now I am excited about the possible prospect of a bit of sun and a week of riding fantastic trails. I am also a bit nervous; I know it is going to be tough as racing always is, the legs are going to ache and at times it is going to be a mental test to hold on to Matt’s wheel.

Matt asked me four weeks ago if I was interested in pairing up as team Bike Magic and of course I was. I had heard good things about the race from many of the participants from the previous two years with the main point being the amazing trails. My training, although focused on XC for the 2013 season, has been very consistent over the winter, with quite a few long rides included and I am at a point now where I feel ready to race.

We’re proud to have Melanie onboard and representing Bike Magic at the 2013 Andalucia Bike Race along with team-mate Matt Page.

The Andalucia Bike Race starts in the historic city of Cordoba which in it self looks like a fantastic city to visit. We race from Cordoba for the first part of the week before moving on to Jaen, which will host the concluding days. We have two apartments booked, one in Cordoba and then one in Jaen, both of which are very reasonable. This I am particularly happy about. I have over the years raced the Cape Epic, Trans Rockies, Trans Alps twice and Sudety Mountain Bike Challenge and this will be the first stage race in which I will be sleeping in a bed! It will be bliss and it will be interesting to see if this helps with the aching body.

Reading the profile of the race it sounds like we will be racing varying terrain with it becoming hillier as the week progresses. The toughest day looks like stage 4 with over 3000 meters of climbing in 68km. The first 5 stages are 66 to 76 km in length. The sixth stage is a long time trial 45 km. In total we will cover 400 kilometres and over 13,000 meters of vertical climbing. It is going to be tough.

This will be the third edition of Andalucia Bike Race and it has already built a good name for it self. I am really pleased to be representing Bike Magic at Andalucia.

Find out more about the Andalucia Bike Race here.

Good luck Matt and Melanie, enjoy the race and bring it home for Bike Magic!