September 2011
2011 Tour De Timor
by Chris Hanson
Twelve months worth of planing and training culminated for myself and my girlfriend (Kiah) as the wheels of our Skytrans plane touched down in Dili in mid-September 2011. Kiah had been asking for us to have a holiday together in an exotic location. I’m not a person who’s into sitting around on beach and prefer a more active style of vacation - and nothing says “holiday fun” more than a 6 day 608km bike ride around Timor (right?). It took some persuasion and a bribe (a new bike) but with Kiah on board the training commenced! As mid-September started to loom large, conversations with riders who had done the race last year ndicated that this adventure may not make for a happy holiday…
Through the provision of transport and logistics support, SkyTrans and Toll sponsored twenty-one riders from Darwin to participate in the 2011 Tour de Timor. This was a huge boost for off-road cycling in Darwin as this sport receives little recognition and funding when compared to its more recognised cousin road cycling.
Team Skytrans.
The Tour De Timor 2011 was a six day, 608km, point to point race with some 7.5km of vertical climbing. Each day had two “King of the Mountain” climbs (KOM), from a lazy 4% gradient to a, barely able to walk up let alone ride, 29% gradient. The ride took competitors from the Presidents compound in Dili, across the island to the south side, moving to the very eastern town, then back west to Dili, with the finishing outside the Presidential compound. In more detail:
• Day 1 - Dili to Laclubar (111km). It was a fast ride until the hill climb that ran for the last 40kms of the ride.
• Day 2 - Laclubar to Beacu (122km). It was rough going and had more hill climbing than was advertised in the glossy brochure.
• Day 3 - Beacu to Illiamar (69km). It was a rough riding day with another killer climb in the last 10km.
• Day 4 - Illiamar to Com (79km). With more descending than climbing it was a fast ride. In the afternoon the top 30 males articipated in a six lap showcase ride. This ride was overseen by the president (Dr Jose Ramos-Horta) who drives the coolest presidential car, a blue Mini Moke.
• Day 5 - Com to Manatuto (142km). This stage was the first to be raced completely on sealed roads and as such was a fast stage for the distance covered.
• Day 6 - Manatuto to Dili (85km). Again on sealed road. There were cheering people lining most streets which was totally amazing and you got a hint of what it might be like to ride in the Tour de France.
2011 Tour de Timor Course Profile.
The race was held on the main roads of East Timor. Not much of a mountain bike race? Well the term ‘main road’ in East Timor is a little different to what most Australian’s might expect of a main road. Roads ranged from completely sealed, to rocky outcrops of bitumen scatted in patches with washaways and potholes that would swallow a small car. The really sketchy rough stuff was in the mountains where during the wet season lots of flowing water washing off the mountains erodes the road. In terms of the race, the bigger pot holes were marked with a palm frond placed in the middle of the hole sticking up… if you could see the top of the frond it wasn’t too bad but any hole where the frond did not make the top of the hole was marked with a red skull and crossbones – these holes were best given a wide berth.
Unexpectedly, the hardest part of the race was perhaps the descents. The washaways and potholes were fine when climbing, but when flying down a steep descent, things became more complicated. The holes, lack of bitumen, off-camber bends, diverse heights of the drop offs at the edge of the road and constant hammering of the road on fingers and hands made the ‘easy’ parts of the race (the downhill parts where no pedalling was required) sometimes harder than the climbs. While negotiating some of the steepest descents the morning brief warning was echoing in the mind – “take it easy on the descents as you are a long way from nywhere for help”.
Please let this be the top.
Certainly race directors were right in making this warning. Competitors rode through incredibly remote, breathtaking rainforest on the south side of the island and equally dense eucalyptus forest on the north side of the island. Both were a long way from any serious help if needed to patch big holes or broken bones. For example, on Day 2 the 122km stage took the fastest men 4 hour 20 min but the roads were so rough it took the support vehicles over 7 hours. There was nowhere to easily land a helicopter either. In short, if you were unlucky enough to sustain a serious injury it was going to be a long and uncomfortable ride in the back of an ambulance to help.
As well as the road conditions, there was the added thrill of dodging the local wildlife! Calls of “GOAT” or “PIG” were not uncommon and the occasional call of “WATER BUFFALO” was also heard. Previous experience of Darwin scrub bulls has made me a little gun-shy, as I do have a very healthy respect for bovines. However to my great relief East Timorese water buffalo are very placid and have more important things to worry about than fools on bikes riding past!
Dan you never said anything about these.
For those who have never competed in a multi day endurance event, I will try and give you an insight into the theory of trying to compete, or even just complete, a ride of this duration without putting yourself into the “SAG wagon” (this is the vehicle that hovers behind the last rider or riders and picks up anyone who is unable or unwilling to complete the day within a pre-determined time). The analogy of a box of matches might be useful. The training you have done in preparation for the race is the matches you have (energy available). When racing you burn matches and the rest you get between stages will only allow you to recover a few matches back (depending on the quality of the rest). To continue to analogy you do not want to burn all of your matches on the first stage then suffer through the remaining five days of the race. The skill is to end up with exactly all of your matches burnt as you cross the line on the last day. Knowing the exact timing of when to light matches throughout the race is difference between competing well or having to take a lift to the finish line in the SAG wagon.
In the 6 days of racing there were wide and varied riding conditions, mostly favouring the hair legged mountain bikers, but there were at least two and a half days which suited the shaven legs of the roadies. Certainly there were many examples of people burning all of their matches too early in the race and there were more than a few crashes, cases of gastro and a lot of dehydration.
Chris and Karen chat with the President.
In its first year of completing the Skytrans Toll team did well. The top placed Skytrans woman was Karen Wilson who won 2nd place in the female Masters competition. Mat King grabbed a second place podium in stage 5, and was part of a breakaway positioned for a stage win on Stage 6 only to suffer a double flat within 5km of the finish line stage. Matt finished 19th overall. Your narrator rode consistently, but perhaps a little too conservatively as I had matches to burn at the end of the last stage. I finished in 11th place overall.
Talk of the week amongst the cyclists was what became dubbed as the “Skytrans Train”, a six man effort of Bill Murphy, Phil Brownscombe, Jason Finlay, Chris Loynes and the two Andrews - Barcroft and Packer. The “Skytrans Train” sat not far off the first bunch of riders. Thus if a rider was dropped from the lead bunch you had only a short time to ride alone before been picked up by the “Skytrans train” and away you went - express to the finishline. The train had a great deal of success with five of the six above riders finishing in the top 50.
I need a beer, or two.
The all female team had the worst luck of the week, with only one rider for the team finishing all 6 stages and the other members suffering illness and muscle injuries. The mixed team finished in the top 10 mixed teams.
There were also a couple of bad luck mechanicals that deserve a mention: “Andrew can I borrow your front wheel Packer”, crashed 6km into Stage 1 and buckled his wheel. Efforts to convince fellow riders to give up their front wheel to allow him to continue racing were unsuccessful and Andrew spent 11 hours in the SAG wagon. Andrew Hardman Barcroft suffered a catastrophic seat failure Stage 3 and rode the last 30km of the day standing up (picture)
30k's out of the saddle.
As for Kiah, well she was among the unlucky riders struck by illness. She is still my girlfriend but is lobbying hard for a nice trip to Hawaii next year – I have about 6 months until entries open for the 2012 Tour de Timor to convince her she wants to try it again!
I have been told East Timor reminds people what Bali was like twenty years ago, so summing up the riding was hard but rewarding, views nothing short of spectacular, local people welcoming, and camping just added to the whole experience. If you are inclined towards adventure holidays and you can ride a bike I would highly recommend trying the Tour de Timor ride. A huge thankyou to Skytrans and Toll for there support of Darwin off-road cycling community.
Timor-Leste.
