July 23, 2009 (Brixen, Germany) – Here’s our Jeantex Bike TransAlp Blog for Stages 3 and 4. Monday (Stage 3 our second day of riding with the cancellation of Stage 1) was a day of tears and frustration, and consideration of just throwing the race and escaping to Riva la Garda as we were awarded a 1-hour PENALTY for supposedly throwing a gel pack. We were even more surprised because these types of infractions are not posted anywhere, and at no time did the organization ask us for a reply to the accusation against us. It was posted on the Jeantex web site and a friend of Lisa’s alerted us or we would not have even been aware.

To say it ruined our race was an understatement. This is a margin that no one can recover from. Our hopes of a top-5 were effectively ruined in one unprecedented  decision by Uli, the organizer of this otherwise magnificent tour.

This report was based on a fellow racer reporting our supposed infraction – somewhat unbelievable that her word would be taken as law. I met with Uli and our accuser after the race and insisted that this was incorrect, but to my face she accused both Lisa and I of throwing gel packs, which is patently untrue. But there appeared to be a one-sided extreme law in their court – that a German must be correct – and there was no chance of winning against this rather strident woman insisting that she was right and no one else could be. It soured my experience in what would otherwise be a glowing account of this event.

Suffice to say we were shocked beyond belief and adding insult to injury I personally spent two hours standing up on my legs talking to the organizers instead of relaxing, which didn’t work in our favour today..

We found out this morning that with the penalty we barely stayed in the top 10 which is a major relief as only the top 10 women’s  teams start in the front A block. The rest may end up back of the pack i.e start through the chute up to 5 minutes back from the leaders who are lined up at the front row.

This penalty is ridiculous and unprecedented in racing. All the racers were talking about it and were shocked to believe that we could be penalized like this simply based on the word of a fellow competitor. We wonder who’s next to be reported by a team who want to eliminate the competition?

We often see gel packs littering the roads – usually dropped by racers trying to stuff them back into pockets at speed and suffering from fatigue. The Northlands Medical Clinic team is extremely conscientious in this regard, ensuring we put empty packets in our pockets and felt this unwarranted death sentence to our race hopes was simply unfair.

On many occasions at home, I have personally collected garbage in our neighborhood with my son and designed my clinic to the highest environmental standards, winning a local environmental award for our practices – to litter is the farthest from my beliefs and something I would never do.

We didn’t cheat (which unfortunately we’ve witnessed at previous races), use drugs, or play unfair so what is this type of penalty supposed to prove? We found out this morning that it seems the real targets were the second-placed Zwillingscraft Team of Peggy Klose and Claudia Till who received the same penalty for the same infraction – so they have no chance of a top 3 now and we slid down to 10th. This may have been the intent who really knows but apparently we had to take the fall along with them or it would have appeared suspicious.

Lisa spoke (in German) to the Zwillingscraft team at the start of Stage 4 (Tuesday) and their coach said we were just scapegoats. The organizer announced it at the rider briefing perhaps to prove a point of some sort and it still burns us up – but we decided just to continue our race and show what we are made of. It’s a stunning area with lovely people, great food and picturesque towns… so we must leave this negative situation behind. It was hard mentally to get our mojo up for a long suffer-fest today following this emotional drama.

We entered into the most beautiful area of the Dolomites today. Riding a steady pace all I could think was the refrain of my cadence “smooth and silky” as my legs and back were dead and I was exhausted emotionally. We powered back into 7th with a strong showing at the end as my slave-driver Lisa pushed me farther and farther, and we have gelled into a great team.

We are having a lovely holiday – our warped idea of a holiday – as Lisa coaxed me to the top reminding me that a spa, massage, and great food awaited us at the bottom – our reward for having every muscle ache.

It was a long race today, 6.29 hours, with a huge margin behind the top winners – not like the much smaller margins of the prior two stages –  but we conserved our energy knowing that the finish was a very long way away. We’re proud so far of our efforts as all of the other teams have professional riders and large support and we’re just two riders carving out training and racing with our busy professional medical schedules.

Lisa works an average of 70 hours a week and I work long hours caring for my patients, managing my clinic and mothering my 7-year-old son. Yet it’s possible to ride hard and train – so keep it up everyone! Train and dream of marvelous grand tours, as it really is quite sensational – just a caution not to be overly concerned about results.

We are now in great spirits following a lovely massage, glass of vino, and gourmet meal at the Hotel Diamant and looking forward to tomorrow. Chiao from St Christina near Val Gardena.

ps I can see the world cup ski racing downhill from my window, already planning to return.