Tucknott Training Diary – The First Four Weeks
Wednesday 20th June – I arrive in to Zurich after what was a relatively short amount of travel compared to my trip to Canada and America earlier in the year. Upon clearing customs and collecting my two bikes I am greeted by Andrin, my training partner for the next three months and the son of my Swiss host family.
In 2018 I am lucky enough to be living in a little village called Sagogn, only ten minutes’ drive from the famous Flims skiing area and conveniently nestled in the Southern Swiss Alps. The area is amazing, the house very homely and the family make it feel just like my home in Australia, for which I will be forever grateful!
My initial plans had me racing in Austria on the first weekend after my arrival however after breaking my left collarbone (third time is the charm…) only four weeks prior to my departure I decided to skip Austria and let my shoulder recover properly. I instead attended the Swiss National Championships to cheer on Andrin and his team mates, along with ride my mountain bike quite gently during the training on Saturday to test out my shoulder. It was a nice way to settle in to Swiss life and find my legs after the travel.
Skipping the race in Austria meant that my first race would be the Val di Sole World Cup in Italy, two weeks after the Swiss Champs. It was all systems go in the weeks leading in to Val di Sole and the legs were feeling good and the skills/speed had returned to somewhat of a respectable level.
After a few solid training sessions on the challenging Val di Sole course, Sunday arrived and with it Race Day! Having not raced in seven weeks and throwing myself in the deep end at a World Cup, I was a little more nervous than usual but still hoped for a good result in a very deep field of good competition. The gun went and we were off racing, fighting for every position on the narrow and steep trails of Northern Italy but while the mind was ready for a good result the legs didn’t want to play ball. In the end I rolled across the line in 61st, far from the result I was hoping for but it was good to kick everything back into race mode and I was looking forward to the World Cup in Andorra the following week.
Spending Monday to Wednesday back home in Switzerland, I did my washing, recharged, packed the bike and prepared myself for the travel to Andorra. Nestled between France and Spain in the mountains, the Andorra World Cup is held at 1900m altitude and is regarded as one of the most difficult races on the calendar… and I love it there! Having a week of rain meant that the first day of practice on Friday was on a wet and greasy track, a tonne of fun, however it dried out considerably for race day. Feeling much better about racing this week I started up the diesel engine when the gun went off and rode myself through the field and up to 31st position by the end of seven laps. I was stoked and confidence-inspired that things are all going in the right direction in the build for World Champs in seven weeks’ time!
Back in Switzerland I am a third of the way through a huge three week block of training leading in to my next World Cup in Canada at the beginning of August. Held at Mont Saint Anne, just outside of Quebec, this World Cup is one of the most technically demanding courses on the circuit and I am looking forward to every single bit of it! Following Mont Saint Anne, I also have the La Bresse (France) World Cup two weeks later, World Championships two weeks after that at the start of September and then to round out my trip, the Swiss Epic. The Swiss Epic is a five day pairs stage race that covers ~400kms and ~13,000m of vertical gain where I will be competing with Andrin; a great way to end my three months in Europe!
If you would like to follow my adventures you can find me at the following two social media destinations:
Facebook: @ReeceTucknottMTB
Instagram: @reece_tucknott