When Fabian Cancellara starts the team time trial on Sunday in Sevilla, if he thinks back to what he was doing one week previously, he'll probably shake his head and smile.
The rider who has an affinity to the nickname, Red Hammer, completed the 1000 kilometer Tortour around Switzerland on Sunday with a team of CEO's to raise money for sport for underprivileged children as part of the Laureus Foundation's second team.
After three days of day and night riding, Cancellara's team finished just behind Laureus's first team, headed by ex-pro Albert Zweifel. While the Flanders/Roubaix double winner finished second on one of the rare occasions it seems in 2010, the two teams pulled in a huge sum of 20,000 francs for the cause (about 20,000 dollars).
For Cancellara, the pre-Vuelta preparation for a good cause was an absolute pleasure and allowed him a chance to enjoy a new element of riding bikes - the nighttime.
"The night ride was an incredible adventure. The roads are clear, it's quiet, and you know that you're pedaling for a good cause while everyone else sleeps."
While Cancellara spent a lot of time marshaling his troops as the leader of a team of leaders, he got his chance on his own to give it some serious gas. On the section of the mighty tour of Switzerland from Disentis to Airolo over the Lukmanier and Gotthard passes, Fabu managed to reel in over thirty minutes on the other teams. Unsurprisingly, Cancellara set the best time over the three sections that he rode solo.
"I gave it full gas, and I didn't break any traffic laws either!"
Normally, Cancellara is allowed full access to the road, but in the Tortour, the rules of the road are in effect, so for once, the demon descender was restricted to only half of the road, otherwise, there would be penalty minutes assigned.
"At the Tortour, you have to follow the traffic laws - so you can't cross the center line."
For the others in the team, it was an experience they'll never forget. Some of the time was spent riding solo, but other times, the team rode as a unit, and it was in those times, when the experience really went to a new level.
"To ride with [Cancellara] at night, on his rear wheel, is senational. You forget time and space, it's like you're in a trance," says teammate Jurg Kallay.
The solo race was unsurprisingly won by ultra-rider par excellence, Jure Robic, from Slovenia. Robic managed the 1000 kilometer route with over 15,000 meters of climbing in 34 hours and 32 minutes - that's good enough for an average speed of over 29 kph.