Will sort out some pics as a separate thing.
Trans Alp 2010
After an accepted entry in Dec ’09 we are off to the Alps to take on the Trans Alp Mountain bike race, 598.14km and 19,685m of climbing. The we being Rob and I riding with Davey as Camper driver for almost all of the way down and between stages and general keeper of sanity and spanner tweaker.
Dec ’09 to July ‘10
Riding and lots of it, with June and July seeing many visits to various web retailers of cycle components.
Thur 15
Early wake up, final van pack, bikes in, Rob arrives and we are away to collect Davey. Easy drive to Dover in the rain and significant wind, from Caple Le Ferne looking to France it is going to be a bit bumpy. In to the port and we are invited to the Customs shed for an inspection then a Sea France delay of 1hr 40 mins, but the plus side is we get our own telly in the lounge to see Cav take the stage.
After a few hours driving in France the size of the journey starts to dawn, it looks so close on the map. Hours of the free flowing but a tad pricey Peage and the miles are ticking over, a stop in an Aire for a rather warm sunset dinner, then some more miles and close to the German border for the overnight stop.
Fri 16
Breakfast in the sun, jeez is it that hot already, 300+ miles to go, all is fine apart from all us melting, till 40k from the end and bang, thump, thump, thump, that will be a rear tyre exploding. Not quite a F1 timed pit stop, but pretty nippy considering the circumstance with approx 1m space between the side of the van and the edge of the hard shoulder to the autobahn and tarmac so soft in the heat the jack was sinking. Normal service resumed and to Fussen for the sign in. Hmm that is a lot of extremely fit looking mountain bikers about the place all in matching kit with shiny rides.
It been a few days without 2 wheeled movement so Rob and I take to the hills and find some excellent singletrack with some very nice Alpine views, awesome, sorry Wareham the Forest but this is a different league.
A trip to the Pasta Party with excellent food, especially as they are catering for 1,100 riders, their crews and all the staff. We are given the race brief in a variety of languages, some useful info and then treated to the local Alpine Horns band and interesting bar room dance from the boys who look like they may have enjoyed a stein or two.
An early night in the still considerable heat is in order and these skeeters sure do bit quick and hard.
Sat 17 - Stage 1
Fussen (Germany) to Imst ( Austria)
83,76km, Alt up: 2105m, Alt down: 2132m, Max Alt: 1810m
Race day starts with no alarm, like duh, forgot to set the phone to Euro time. All breakfasted and ready, off to the line we go, quick stop in the bike shop as my riding glasses are safely in the camelbak, but not the one I have with me. Never started so far back down the grid, then realised there is a big gap from the UCI ranked riders to us normal people and we are quite near the front of our group, the video taken by Davey shows people were still going past on their start 2 mins after we left. This event is big.
A standard course car lead out to keep the fast boys and girls in check through the main town streets, not just any streets but the pedestrianized ones, with 100’s of people out cheering, clapping and clanging the cow bells, imagine that going through Poole High Street?
Right then nice steady start it is, 8 days ya know Rob, Rob, what are you doing, why are we doing 45k on the flat, Rob, it’s an International cross countries race over the Alps, not a 2hr UK cross country!
Anyway after an hour and a bit it all settles down, 500m of climbing soon brings the pace to sensible. Only 1 mountain today, the organisers are breaking us in gently, 1805m recorded on the Garmin at the top, then some rather nippy descending follows, even managed to zip pass a Bulls team on the descent. If you like fast riding loose gravel downs where moving off the ‘line’ created by the other riders equals a very drifty moment, then this is for you, took a little while to get in the groove, then it kinda clicked in, could do with slightly bigger knobbles in the tyres though.
We cross the line just over 4hrs, not too bad for nigh on 50 miles. It turns out we are 63rd of 149 in class.
After an afternoon and early evening of heavy rain and storms tyres are changed to have a bigger knobbles, don’t really fancy a 1,000m descent on dry race tyres.
Sun 18 - Stage 2
Imst (Austria) to Ischgl (Austria)
76,67km, Alt up: 3184m, Alt down: 2609m, Max Alt: 1976m
The day starts feeling fresh and thankfully dry, the storm continued until the early hours, we head off to the line to find yesterday’s position places us in the B group for the start, shame we got there a bit late and were on the back row, if the grid time says 08:15, 08:15 it is. A group is for the stage winners and UCI points people and there are a lot of them, not that we get to see any of them once the race begins.
A 6km neutralised start section runs at a similar pace to the Morton road crits but in a group of 4-500 riders, we get the luxury of 75m descending, before crossing the railroad and up the first climb of the stage, 1,300m later and about 1hr 45mins we get to the top, the climb itself was avg 10% with parts up to 21% (thanks Mr Garmin for your fabulous stats), 21% at 1,600m alt on loose rough trails, nice! A muddy descent to begin with then the fast gravel path start, a few interesting overtakes as the trail is heavily cambered with 1 clean line everyone it taking apart from me, and it seems Rob too, except I managed to stay on the trail all the way down
.
2nd climb went up easy enough apart from Rob suffering some rather unpleasant cramp for most of it. Then went in to some very interesting singletrack, yay for singletrack, except parts of would probably not be allowed in a UK trail centre, 30%+ downs over noticeable rocks and roots covered in mud, made for some interesting riding, ok walking for some.
3rd climb was a road fest, a quite narrow and rather busy one at that, the descent started easy enough, then turned into the ‘Singletrack of Death’! can’t think of anywhere I have been before on an event when the organisers have put catch fencing around the edge of the trail, the edge where going over could possibly mean you were never seen again. And to cap it all it was damn technical, dozens of short and steep ups and downs, strewn with rocks and roots, then throw in the drop off’s and cover the whole lot in mud. More than once the bike decided to go a different way to me, it never left my hand (deliberate use of singular) but the catch fencing was used once. Thank you organisers.
4th climb, was not really a climb per say, but 20km of constant singletrack and path, giving approx. 600m climbing over it length and ending up 300m higher than it started. All quite straightforward and quite fun (apart from leggies being rather keen to stop) until negotiating the descent over a stream crossing, the line I took was not optimal and a rather nippy flight over the bars ensued, first blood award goes to Austria. It’s also the end of the Action Cam mounting bracket, apparently it does not like being thrown in to an Alp.
By the time we finished, just under 6hrs, this has been added to the list of ‘hardest days mountain biking ever’
Mon 19 - Stage 3
Ischgl (Austria) to Scuol (Switzerland)
75,36 km, Alt up: 2518m, Alt down: 2669m, Max Alt: 2737m
Sitting outside the motorhome in the evening watching the sun’s final rays illuminate the rocky mountain tops with golden light, the day draws to a close, and what a day.
Waking in Ischgl on the coldest morning so far after a kak night’s sleep. Went to sleep with visions of the singletrack of death, woke several times to the prospect of the highest climb I have ever tried and how much effect the lack of air will make. Even felt the need to apologise to Rob and Davey for being Mr Grumpy.
We find ourselves demoted to Block C today, Block B cut off has been shortened by 30 places, ah well, another Highway to Hell playout and we are off, ok about 1 ½ mins later we get to leave. A whole 4km of flat, well Austrian flat, and we get to stop and push for a few mins a 100’s of riders funnel into the start of the climb, which goes up, and up, and up, about 30 mins of up later a 25% section brings everyone to their feet as the soft grit and rocks do not a grippy surface make.
Continuing up (it is a biggie!) we get to a grassy clearing where the road can be seen up and down for 100’s of meters, the other side of the valley has a waterfally thingy that goes down for what must be 1,000m. This is real Alpine postcard territory, “Look at the view, Look at the view” is to be heard more and more during the ride.
We pass 2,000m to a brief moment of me singing (must be the alt) ‘Ain’t no mountain high enough’, to the amusement of some German riders wondering what the Englanders are doing. The ski station is around 2,200m and swiftly passed at 5 or maybe 6kph, as we are still heading up. We get a treat as the trees are long gone, the grass has not bothered to grow, there are some patches of snow and then the gradient kicks up for the final 300 vertical meters, almost all of the riders are walking, but we are made of sterner stuff, more power to the pedals, a significant amount of effort later (23% at 2,600m was interesting) and the summit is reached, 2737m of a long way up, WOO HOO, tick that box baby. Have to stop for the pic by the sign and a call to home while watching a rescue dog playing in the snow, then we start the down.
A big up gets a big down, I think somebody must have covered Rob’s saddle in Deep Heat as he is off like a downhill exocet. The obligatory hairpins start us off, and jolly loose they were too, 2 long straights came next (yes there was a few bends in between) with some serious speed and enthusiastic overtaking. Then oodles of down, with dozens of twists and turns, 10.1km, 1,000m in 16 mins 47 secs, that will be some warm brakes!
An interesting section of singletrack followed with roots and rocks a plenty, most of it ridable, occasionally with a dashing of point and hope, a lovely low rock arch met us on one corner, surprised, yes!
The second climb of the day, seemed quite easy at 1950m, easy at 1950, might be getting the hang of this? A loose descent then twisty roads drop us towards the Swiss border, Look at those views, it’s like riding through a HD postcard that keep changing. 20km of cycle tracks flow us alongside the river to Scuol.
By the time we finished, just over 5hrs, this has been added to the list of ‘best day’s mountain biking ever’
Tonight’s Pasta Party, there has been one every night at which they serve pasta and other stuff, is in the ski station above town, to get there a cable car ride has been arranged by the organisers, cool or what.
Tue 20 - Stage 4
Scuol (Switzerland) to Livigno (Italy)
73,91 km, Alt up: 2377m, Alt down: 1711m, Max Alt: 2290m
Switzerland wakes us to the sound of birds singing with the sun rising, illuminating the valley Scuol resides in, then as the riding day begins to take focus, the 22.5km climb begins to play on the ole grey matter.
Starting in Block C, puts us at least 200m from the start gate as the riders are packed into the tiny streets of yet another postcard worthy town, it takes about 2 mins before we see any movement, as we edge round the bends ‘Highway to Hell’ is still reverberating from the walls, sounds much better to me than the official TransAlp song, yes there really is one!
Rigtho, this ere climb then, let’s get going, we have less then 1km of Swiss flat through town to get to it, it goes up, not to steep but up, nice views, bit of road, plenty of gravel and track, ever upwards, tis a shame I seem to have legs devoid of any power with me, its ok as it only takes 1hr 46 mins to get to the top … But it does give plenty of time to admire Switzerland’s only National Park and mighty fine it is too.
The descent starts interesting and switchbacky fast, then a little surprise with an uber steep rocky section which bring most riders to their feet, the brave ones roll down in a mainly sideways manners.
The day’s second climb brings up back up to 2,200m and the chance to cross snow, odd being on snow while dripping with sweat as the day was clear skies and hot sun. Then km’s of meadow double and singletrack, interesting moment on a left hander when the ‘Milka cow’ occupied most of the corner. Leading on to a fantastic riverside section of singletrack, all hardpack and rocky, with landslip challenges where a tight line is advisable, any oversteer would result in potential poor health.
The last climb, by now we are breathing in our own sweat, revealed more fabulous views and an excellent very fast and loose descent, it’s not often a look to the front shows a red hot 203mm disc. We exit the trees to a steep valley following the path to Livigno. The edge of this path is best not looked over if you suffer from vertigo, as it was a long, long way down.
The final 5km’s or so of undulating track to town into the wind were welcome to be the last 5km, the breeze less so.
Another day of Alpine views, where most of the day we were over 1 mile high and we get to camp at 1,900m. The ‘thin’ air is really noticeable and tomorrow we get to go up again.
Wed 21 - Stage 5
Livigno (Italy) to Ponte Di Legno (Italy)
106,87 km, Alt up: 3461m, Alt down: 4082m, Max Alt: 2301m
This is the king stage of the race, longest, most climbing and most descending, that will be new brake pads for the front then. Several small climbs; 1800m to 2200m, 2000m to 2300m, then a flat bit till the main event, the 22km down followed by 18km up. Today is going to be a big day.
A poor night’s sleep was not the best way to start this day, neither was the news on the start that a competitor had passed away during the night.
The first climbs I had dismissed as just small bumps, not even 500m height gain how hard can that be? As it happens rather due to starting so high. But and this is a big but (does my butt look big in these shorts?), I had not realised the start of the day and these bumps were going to take us off road through the Stelvio National Park, Awesome views redefined again.
The flat bit came and went with km’s of gentle meadow trails, Milka cows by the heard, then some up to the Passo di Verva and the start of the big down.
Km’s of fast rocky trails where speed built up much faster than it was able to be reduced and alternate lines to overtake were very loose. Singletrack through the forest was a welcome rest for the forearms, though it does tend to go from a gentle meander to a steep rock staircase in the blink of an eye. A few km’s of road and farm track, slightly embarrassing moment while staying ahead of one of the Organisers motorcycles with some brambles that were growing ‘on my line’ took us down to Grosotto to an Opera playing feed stop and the start of the Morrirolo.
While watching the Giro this year the commentators were making a big fuss about how hard this climb is, interesting I though, we get to do that too. It turns out due to the length of the day we also get it as a road climb, except we start on a tiny private single lane hairpined to the max strip of tarmac/concrete, which keeps ramping up to 15-20% on each section, nice in near 30C. 1,000m of up later we join the main road and the ’roadies’ part, not too bad now as not as steep, dunno what they make a fuss about? Maybe as they are about 4 times as fast.
Clearing the Mortirolo we head up, now that makes a change… for another 300m, then gets loads of down with singletrack made for us and sections so steep there were off road emergencies service vehicles on hand, the first of these sections was hard but not that bad. The second was 33% down over smooth wet, muddy hardpack rock, then loose rock, mucho concentration required, but we both made it through.
Coming in at a smidge under 8hrs, this goes down as an awesome day’s riding, yet another to go in the best ever section.
Thur 22 - Stage 6
Ponte Di Legno (Italy) to Male (Italy)
72,61 km, Alt up: 2363m, Alt down: 2871m, Max Alt: 2393m
Hmm, woke up with feet still aching from yesterday, the prospect of the shortest day so far, only by a km or 2. Still in start block C and still aching, ‘cept now it seems is all of me, this is going to be a great day…
We leave and head up (novel…) for a few miles to cover the 500m upness and get to Pezzo a restored Italian valley end village, the cars have to park away from the village and the owners walk to the houses, Italian twee to the max. From leaving the village we get a 100% perfect hairpined ancient track taking us from 1,700m to 2,872m with fabulous views to the village and valley below. Would be really nice to monster the trail and show these Europeans what the Brits are made of, but with an ever increasing feeling of impending physical fatigue, I’ll settle for just making it to the top, thank you very much. Quick check on the stats; 20km, 1,600m in 2hr 51mins oww this hurts. A bit of down, a traverse which would suffer no fools, 8 inch trail and jeez that is a big drop to the side, oh look rocks to stop the faller from getting to the bottom of the valley! Some more up then down on singletrack which had been created for the TransAlp. The organiser have had 2 men working for weeks on the trails today and yesterday to ensure what we have is ‘Beautiful to ride’. Awesome views redefined yet again.
Miles and miles, sorry, km’s of singletrack descent with a few little kicks up brought many smiles to all the riders and for me a little trip over the bars, surprised, yep! Sky, grass, sky, grass, test my new Met UL helmet – passed, stop on my feet, cool or what, as image is everything in Italy, one has to try. Then a quick trudge back up the side of the mountain to retrieve my bike, which had a small collection of crashed riders near it, seem like they had more trust in following my descent than talent I showed…
We passed a collection of Malga villages, then started the main descent of the day, 30km of down with just a couple of little climbs part way. Through Cortina. Wow they named a town after a car?
Then a fair stretch of bicycle path, not the ironed flat wiz around Poole park but following the twists and turns of the river flowing through the valley. A couple of kicks towards then end then time to stop, around 5 ½ hours and man do I need to get off this thing.
The rest of the afternoon was spent stuffing my face and doing nothing in the 30C+ heat, at least we have some oxygen at around 800m, that’s nice after the last couple of days up high.
Evening brought a massive plate of pasta to work through and we get to see the pics and video of the day and previous over dinner. Watching other riders enjoy and suffer the climbs/descents and the artistry of the camera work after today’s ride, actually seeing the Alps in their summer glory was quite a moment.
A day which will remain in the ‘man that hurt from the off’ list.
Fri 23 - Stage 7
Male (Italy) to Madonna di Campiglio (Italy)
47,37 km, Alt up: 2321m, Alt down: 1537m, Max Alt: 2147m
Waking up feeling almost normal, well normal for a stage race, we had already done more climbing that the TransWales and most of the distance, it is time to prepare for what is going to be a great day. No messing it’s time to launch a serious effort to get back to the B block. Oddly Rob is now starting to look concerned. Fast tyres on today, 2mm of tread on the Jones XR’s will be just fine, after all it is nearly all hardpack today.
Right then, out of town and up around that mountain, 500m of up, drop back down almost all the way again, back up the cycle path, interesting wheel rub crash in front, luckily the stone wall stopped the rider from landing in the grass, bet that smarts.
The main climb 1,200m in 4 stages with drops in between, is taken at a sprightly rate. We had worked out my speed strength is up and the time I make between us is negated on the descent as Rob appears to have an aversion to using brakes. Maintaining pace up, but keeping an eye on the timing mats, we are only allowed 120 seconds gap at a timing mat, 1 second over and 1hr penalty is added to the overall, and these guys are timing to the 100’ths of a sec.
What’s happening, this is very wet stuff falling from the sky and it hurts, absolutely hissing down on the climb, and how cold does it make you? Only 15km from the summit to the finish and by now someone seems to have really upset the clouds, they are above us, below us, the side of us, everywhere. Time for Brit/TransWales skills to make themselves known. The Euro riders seems to be hesitant in the wet, feels normal to us. Down the gravel, miss the cows, they don’t seem bothered as they amble down the trails, into the forest, mud, rocks, mud, roots, mud, more mud, goo and slop, 2 DRR’s hit the hot knife through butter switch and rock to the max.
A flash past the motorhome site see’s Davey running up the hill to cheer us on, well me, Rob had hit the uber hot knife through butter switch and vanished, maybe the 2mm of tread is getting overworked beneath me? A very steep descent with a rather imposing outer rock wall then crossing the wooden bridges on corners is interesting. Rob comes into sight, we rejoin on the final road in to town and sprint for the line, the commentators announcing our arrival through the tannoy system.
What an awesome day, 3hr 53min to the line and it feels like we are in the groove. To cap it all, it is our best finish of 38th in a Masters field of over 130.
Sat 24 - Stage 8
Madonna di Campiglio (Italy) to Riva del Garda (Italy)
67,26 km, Alt up: 1462m, Alt down: 2919m, Max Alt: 1855m
Encouraged by the good result of the previous day and not having to save anything for tomorrow, we agree on ‘fast as’ as the days pace.
We line up in block B, after sitting in the sun for nearly an hour trying to dry out boots from yesterday’s monsoon, which carried on almost all night, block B, that feels better. Due to safety the organisers have neutralised the first 11 km out of town and are forcing 200m of clear space between blocks, well most of that is road today so no probs.
We leave the AC/DC pounding through the streets and quickly get to the gravel, hold on this is supposed to be road, much more fun so just get on with it. Dash of road then after 20 mins then we hit the up. Today’s pace is significant, nobody is hanging about, it’s fine we can do this. A grab and dash at the food stop, bit mean they send us straight up 20%+, makes my nut munching tricky! A section of push/carry has been indicated, it turns out to be 30%+ concrete trail (some of the really steep bits are concrete for longevity), pah, we got grip, that’s ridable. Singletrack and fast gravel descent keep us busy for 10km, fast, swoopy, loose, sideways, drifty, a few overtakes, lots of speed and singing brakes. We come out of this with seconds apart, catch a perfect tight road which follows the rock face gently down. Scrap the last feed stop is agreed we have enough and it is only 20km or so.
500m of up to do, trouble with these mountains and valley’s, there always seems to be another one. At 4km out we are 900m high and we finish at less than 100m, hmm there will be some steep somewhere soon ‘for schure’. Steep – understatement! This is a trail right out of my conform zone, and we have done some steep this week. Pah, walking this bit, what seems like ½ km later I deem it safe enough to ride a bit, a bit more walking, slightly envious of the people brave enough to ride then back to sensible steep, the heat is building from the olive groves we ride through and lake is starting to show itself in glimpses. We are close now, on the edge of town, with Police stopping traffic at all the junctions, the town starts to have the classic Italian feel, we hear the finish crowd reverberate through the gaps in the houses. Rounding the last corner, arms up together in salute it is a mixture of joy and relief we cross the line with the crowd cheering, clapping, banging on the cow bells, pictures taken, Davey comes out of the crowd, the 2 are 3 again, now where is that free beer they teased us with?
What an awesome day again, 3hr 53min to the line, yes you read that right, we were within 1 min of yesterday even thought it was 20km further. Turns out we managed 36th today, our best result of the week.
Final position: 157 Class starters, 131 finishers, we were 68th which is also as it happens from the 5 GBR Teams, 3 were classified as finishers and the others were behind us, so FIRST GBR team home in class!
A W E SO M E or what, this is an awesome event, awesome stats, awesome terrain and awesome enjoyment.
This week is going to be remembered for a very long time. Thanks guys.
