My summer is over.....

alpin

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[#1965447]

So, i got back easrly yesterday from my last tour.

9 transalps, 6 weeks van driving/luggage shuttling, well over 5000km and i'm guessing over 15,000m of un-assisted ascent.

all in all, my summer hasn't been too bad.

the tour last week was perhaps one of the most stressful: 11 guests; large difference in stamia and ability; and the single lady that was there was half blind - literally!

she only sees out of one eye meaning that anything slightly uneven is life-threatening. she managed to ride off the trail on the first day, falling 2m onto rocks and her bike even further into the middle of a river. she rode straight into some bloke on an asphalt bikepath. luckily the bloke managed to stay standing as he had a 12 month old on the rear seat. she almost managed to kill herself twice within 2 minutes whilst riding on the road - she has no peripheral vision. i nearly had a haert attack.

HTF the office team let her book a tour, i don't know.....

some guests have been brilliant. a good laugh, skilled on the bike, generous.
some guests have been a pain in the arse. particuarily those that continually ask how far it is, or how high the pass is and groan or draw breath through their teeth when you tell them.

or those that say "i don't ride trails/anything more than 10%/anything narrower than 50cm". i mean, what the **** do you do with your bike at home? what is your idea of mountain biking? why are you riding a bike with 140mm travel back and front?
the worst are those that say "that was awesome!" just after having lost 500m of height on an asphalt descent. "go and buy a road bike" is my usual response.

i'm on my second pair of tyres now. the original rear faded away a long time ago and its replacement only has a few hundred km left. the old HR on the front finally had to be chucked when i ripped the sidewall open, but it was on its last legs.
i've gone through 5 sets of brake pads, but have found a shop in Riva that sells them cheap to guides, so not finacially crippling.
oh, and i destroyed my rear wheel. now replaced with a gold rim.

my stamia has improved five fold and i'm piss tired of fireroad ascents. over the last few tours i've begun to let the guests ride up the fireroad whilst i attempt to ride the trails that intercut the road.
i have also noticed that my upperbody has suffered. i've the arms of a roadie...

strangely, i quite enjoy the van driving side of things. i've usually dropped the bags off at the hotel by 11 a.m. which leaves me with 5-6 hours freetime to go and ride for myself (and not the customers).

when shuttling the lugguage, i kip in the van of an evening to save my allowance. this means that i can eat well during the day and that i get to spend the night in some awesome locations.
i've met some very hospitable people who have welcomed me in and fed me

i've managed to ride alone in some stunning locations from Vinschgau in South Tirol, to Zillertal, Scoul, Livigno, Lake Garda and Lake Como.
the highest i got was 2950m in Livigno (awesomest descent i've ridden, ever! unfortunately my camera has been on the blink for the past month - it got a bit wet).

i've ridden in 44°C heat in June and -7°C last week (40cm new snow at 2100m!). luckily i've only had one tour day badly affected by rain, where we had to ride along the valley rather than over the pass due to lightening.

i visited the oldest trees in the Alps, the Urlärchen in Ultental.

i only had one accident with serious consequences. one guy managed to come off his bike last week and fell to the left as opposed to the right as i had instructed them to do in the event of an off.... he dropped over 5m down and his bike another 3m further. it gave me the right shits when someone started calling for me. i had to run ~150m back uphill and couldn't work out what where the guy was or why everyone was shouting down over the edge of the cliff. luckily for this guy nothing happened to him and his saddle took most of the brunt when the bike hit the bottom.
the only serious accident happened in the same valley, but on the other side. the guy misjudged his skills and came off, ripping his shin open to the bone. two guys to carry him down and another with his bike and a call to the bergwacht and ten stiches later he was on his way home.

i got stopped 5 times by the police whilst driving. once for jumping a red light (honestly didn't see it), one time for clouting a height restriction with the roof of the van and probably the best, for reversing into the Caribinari (honestly didn't see him either!). i figured that as i was in a big van the car behind me would back up. he kept beeping at me, so i waved him back. this happened three times until i felt a slight bump and then heard the sirens. i think the officers couldn't be bothered with the paper work as they left me and simply told me to keep my eyes open.

oh, and i've only been paid for one weeks work. so i should have a nice sum of money coming my way in the next few weeks.... i need it, too!

so what am i going to do for winter?

i might look at bike jobs somewhere sunny or i might go and work on a mountain.

but in the meantime i'm going to relax for a few days and then ride back to blighty on the fixie so i can visit my mum....

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