Events

Im’possible interrupted: Misfortune in France as South African endurance riding icon is undone by the Alps

Written by Lance Branquinho.

· By Press Office · 0 comments

For the month of July, the entire cycling world orbits around Le Tour. France becomes the epicentre of all that is dramatic and dark about cycling as the world’s greatest road riders attempt to conquer each other and those mountains which spine the centre of Europe.

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During the first week of Le Tour, we revelled in the irresistible showmanship and élan of Peter Sagan (before the ‘incident’), whilst hoping to witness some upstarts win. All whilst following the daily performance of ‘our’ Louis too. Inevitably, we know that the tour will be won – and paradoxically, ‘lost’ – when the mountains are encountered, where route profiles start resembling a graph of the Rand at its most volatile.

The Alps are where the legend of road cycling has sustained itself for decades. It is also where a South African story, set to serve as the perfect parallel achievement to this great cycling month of July, ended most abruptly. Grant Lottering’s splendidly ambitious Im’possible Tour 2017 lasted only one day, instead of four.

Just after sunrise on the first Monday of June, whilst most of us were asleep, Grant made the agonising decision to stop riding after struggling for more than two hours to summit the Col du Glandon on his third of a planned ten laps, routing through Alpe d’Huez, tracing the La Marmotte Gran Fondo route.

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The goal was 1800km, climbing 44 700m of cycling’s most revered route, within four days. Let the scale of those statistics settle in your subconscious, before considering just how impossible an achievement Grant has set for himself. This year only 406km with total elevation peaking at 11 400m, statistics well beyond the realm of riding for most, but only a fraction of what Grant wished to achieve.

Last year Grant had managed 962km and just shy of 20 000m vertical within 48 hours, from Cannes into the Alps. It was a staggering achievement and yet at the end of it all, he felt there was quite a bit still left in the legs. This is a man for whom Everesting is a warmup to the real thing: of proving the impossible, is possible – on a bike. Grant’s sense of purpose is one which sources from the greatest motivator of all: death.

A prodigal youth rider during the 1980s, Grant had raced professionally before life displaced his cycling completely. After refamiliarizing himself with the sport, the competitive drive reignited and whilst racing in a warm-up event for the 2013 World Champs in Italy, Grant slid on a high-speed descent, hitting a rock barrier at nearly 70kph. Technically, he was supposed to die. Hopefully, he would have a life of very limited capacity if he survived. A year after the crash, he rode his road bike to the top of the very mountain pass which nearly killed him. And so, the quest of conquering the impossible started, riding impossible distances and elevations for charity.

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The question is why a man with unquestionable ability, physiological stamina, who had trained with the monk-like discipline and is gifted with the calibre of climbing endurance which made him a professional rider in South Africa, stopped. When I interviewed Grant about his Im’possile 2017 tour earlier this year, there were only two issues concerning him: the possibility of rain and feet cramps.

His decades of riding experience revealed a Jedi-like honesty about any weaknesses. “My stomach is strong, I can eat on the bike and convert energy. My sleep deprivation training is dialled too. But if my feet start cramping, it would be a disaster, because even if you still have endurance left in the legs, you are done for. Shoes in cleats are power transfer, they are balance.”

The Alps inspire and draw Grant, despite nearly taking his life during that massive crash training for world champs, in Trento, Italy. This year, the mountains which mythically anchor cycling legend, proved to be the greater adversary. Not in their scale, something magnificent which Grant greatly respects, but in the unpredictability of that Alpine microclimate.

Whereas Froome, Quintana, and Meintjes will suffer through their Alpine purgatory in daytime, which during July usually guarantees sunshine, Grant’s solo endurance epic meant a great deal of riding without the benefit of any UV radiation. Temperatures plummeted to freezing during the first night of his attempt, a nightmare compounded by winds registering at near gale force speeds. Low temperatures, high altitudes, and driving winds are an environment which has claimed many great mountaineers. Soberly, Grant made the decision to abandon his Im’possible 2017 project.

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When I had spent the afternoon with Grant, in balmy Cape weather during March, the enduring impression was of an incredibly humble man of great ability. Comprehensive bike geek too. He scanned the restaurant, leaned over the table and whispered, “I miss downtube shifters, it’s just the era I’m from, where the love affair with cycling started for me…” He appeared genuinely perplexed concerning the welfare of a titanium racing frame that served no purpose in his garage. “You think I should restore it?” I answered very much in the affirmative, noting that beyond their part controversial presence in the fixed-gear commuter scene, there was immense value in having period South African racing frames running, instead of gathering dust.

It’s fathomable that we are all ardently following Louis Meintjes during this 2017 Tour, where great things are expected of him, but I think it’s worth dwelling on Grant’s courage too. His standing as an endurance road rider of exceptionally rare quality is indisputable. He is also a man who truly understands, and respects, the mountains which guard the legend of cycling. And next year he will most certainly be back, to achieve the greatest solo feat yet. Because nothing is impossible.

Im’possile Tour 2014

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