In praise of the Women's Tour de Suisse

Just wanted to pass on my thanks for the ProRides in general and especially for the Women’s Tour de Suisse…

Did I…

  • Yelp involuntarily when my teammate crashed in tour 2? Check!
  • Keep having to stop myself shifting gears when in ERG mode, just cos it’s so immersive? Aye!
  • Say, “there’s me!” every time Clara Koppenburg is on the motorbike camera shots? Every time!
  • Put my hand out to grab a water bottle in tour 3? Naturally!
  • Make an executive decision that the Canyon/SRAM team bikes have the coolest paint jobs in the peleton? Approved!
  • Get a surge of exhilaration when making the uphill break in tour 1? Yes!
  • Be very glad it was only 10 laps and not 11 in tour 1? (nods, out of breath)
  • Use the long shadows of the late afternoon sun in tour 1 to spot if there was a rider behind me? Affirmative!
  • Chuckle at the bananas handing out bananas? :banana: :banana: :banana:
  • Start recognising other riders and trying read their body language, and pretending not to be impressed that the world champ is just there? Definitely!
  • Get overwhelmed with the sinking feeling in tour 3 when I can see it’s not going to be my day, but have to push myself anyway just to get a good time? (sighs, grits teeth)
  • Wave back to the little kid in the anorak right at the end of tour 3? Of course!
  • Feel like I was riding in a pro peleton, despite only generating a third of the watts, and be awestruck by how hard these riders can push themselves? :heart: :heart: :heart:

Brilliant, high quality videos, great choice of route sections. If anyone from Wahoo ever gets the chance to say thanks to Clara Koppenburg for taking on the extra weight and drag of the camera… then a mighty big thanks from me.

Cheers!

PS: After having now stared at the rear ends of pro cyclists for almost 4.5 hours now, I have a top tip for the pro teams: print maths or logic puzzles on the back of the shorts to sap the mental energy of the following riders. You read it here first.

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Lol - maths puzzles cracked me up.

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Turns out Clara Koppenburg will be at the race I’m doing this weekend, so will have a chance to thank her for the Wahoo ProRides in person!

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Tell her that I thought she was trying to kill me when she attacked in lap 3 of a 10 lap race. :rofl:

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And… done! Clara was very nice and friendly to this random lunatic wittering on about the Tour de Suisse videos. Very nice that I got the chance to thank her personally.

(it was at the Gran Fondo Vaduz ride yesterday, an excellently organised event, nice route and friendly people - highly recommended!)

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I hope you managed to talk her into “A Week With Clara Koppenburg”?

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