Trans Alps Challenge

EVENT:The Trans Alp Challenge 2001
LOCATION: Mittenwald, Germany to Lake Garda, Italy

DATE: Sat 21st – Sat 28th July 2001
On the way back from a road biking week in Majorca Raymond buys a cycling magazine, an article in it covers a mountain bike stage race in Europe. On our next Sunday ride, Paul mentions an article he’s read about the ‘toughest mtb stage race in Europe’..... a holiday is hatched!

Day 0
After an uncomfortable night on the floor of Stanstead airport Raymond, Paul, Julie and I check in for a flight to Munich. Due to foot and mouth restrictions our bikes are unpacked for disinfection, otherwise our journey is hassle free. From Munich we catch the train to Mittenwald. As we wind our way through the forests of southern Germany it begins to rain. On our arrival it is chucking it down. This has its plus point, Mittenwald is a picture postcard perfect chocolate box village with pristine geranium decked chalets painted in pastels with cherubs and ornate wooden shutters. Locals are walking around in lederhosen and Tyrolean hats. If it had been sunny it would have been too kitsch for words!
We register at the town hall, collect our race transponders and numbers. Julie and I walk a couple of miles to pick up our race bags then we track down our quarters for the evening. We are staying in the local army barracks and entry is gained via gates in a steel perimeter fence. These are constantly guarded and we are saluted by boy soldiers each time we pass by, this makes Raymond quiver!
We unpack and assemble our bikes and then trek back into town for the pre-race pasta party. Raymond is tired and decides to get an early night, (those guards!) we eat copious amounts of pasta and tomato sauce whilst being entertained by a dance troupe (possibly the local aerobics class?) and introduced to the race organisers supported by a dancing phone….

Day 1 Mittenwald – Reith
Distance 53.2m (85.1km) Altitude gain 6509ft (1984m)
The pre-race briefing is at 10.30am, the weather is overcast and drizzling but the locals say it will soon clear and hot sunshine is forecast. By the start at noon, blue sky has broken through bringing with it unhampered views of the surrounding mountains. At least hidden behind cloud you could pretend they weren’t all that big, now we have no illusion about what we have to face.
The start is impressive, just like Le Tour with full paraphernalia; trade tents, media and throngs of people, the entire village and more have come to watch the spectacle. The race is started by the mayor and police outriders pace us through the village. The pavements are deep with people waving rattles and cheering, grinning inanely, we ding our bells back.
Once out of the neutral zone we join a slowly winding, wide gravel track, which follows the valley past stunning waterfalls and then persistently climbs, the gradient slowly but perceptively increasing. It’s not as technical as I was expecting and we overtake lots of teams. The reward for this climb is a scarily fast hair pinned downhill, the front runners have carved a narrow path through the fine gravel allowing us behind to follow the fastest line and probably at quicker speeds than we’re used to. I’m enjoying this swooping feeling immensely and just as I’m thinking how wonderful life is my front wheel wanders, just clips the gravel at 30mph, wipes out and catapults me over the bars. I body surf a good few metres and leave most of the skin from my left arm and thigh on the ground. My bike is fine. My wounds are patched up and we continue on tarmac to the feed stop/check point. Here the bar-coded photo card we’ve been issued with is swiped and our times electronically taken. Another steady climb follows on wide single track with spectacular views, alpine flowers and ‘lilac’ cows, then a grassy/rocky descent with a sneaky waterlogged bit at the bottom. Still numb from the fall I descend this remarkably well. A very steep road descent joins a riverside pathway to a steep side road -the sting in the tail for today- and we crest into the main street of Reith. Again everyone is out cheering even though the winners must have come through hours ago.
Our lodging tonight is the local school with cool marble floors. My weeping wounds stick to my sleeping bag. Raymond cracks himself on his cross bar bringing tears to his eyes and a falsetto to his voice.

Day 2 Reith – Sterzing
Distance 73.9m (118.3km) Altitude gain 11,890ft (3624m)

From today the start time is 8.00am. Breakfast; bread, jam and compulsory cheese and cold meats, is at a quaint hotel in the village. The start line is partitioned into 3 groups depending on yesterdays finish times – we’re near the back. However the start is a steep road climb and we climb better than most and make up many places until the track narrows and a walking bottleneck ensues. A rooty off-camber single track leads us to our first ‘carry’ section, up and over rocky outcrops that were challenging enough without the bike. The handbook estimated 20mins, we took 45. During the walk we met a herd of lilac cows one of which took a fancy to Raymond and licked his arm enthusiastically. A single track descent follows and Raymond takes a pee-stop, it's red. He quickly convinces himself it's an overdose of red energy drink rather than the fact he's passing blood from yesterday's impact, and carries on! We join a mani road that runs into the valley then back out and up, a tough long drag through scary dark tunnels, one controlled by traffic lights that we completely ignored, to reach quite the biggest dam I have ever seen. My climbing legs have deserted me and the view from the check point is horrific – the second ‘carry’ section, big stone slabs like a giants causeway stretching upwards with the leaders forming an antlike line to the horizon. Demoralised and with burning neck and shoulders we haul our bikes through this rocky torture for two hours! (How did the tandem pair cope with this!?!) Not only are we now perilously close to being last but also dangerously near the cut off finish time of 8pm. We have 2hours to cover 20miles. The descent begins as a gravel track followed by a superb road section which we bit’n’bitted, then back off road to the finish, which we make with 15mins to spare! I feel absolutely knackered and there is little veggie stuff to eat but we’re so hungry that dry bread and pasta is forced down. Tonight we’re sleeping in a huge sports hall, our earplugs are appreciated! A blindfold might also have been advisable, which ever way you look creams are being slapped with gay abandon on scrotes and labes alike!

Day 3 Sterzing – Brixen
Distance 42.6m(68.1km) Altitude gain 7,605ft(2318m)

The trouble with communal sleeping is that when one person gets up everyone else has to get up. The Germans decide the day starts at 5.30am!
Bread and jam for breakfast then we make our way back to yesterday’s finish – today’s start. We arrive with 5mins to spare to be greeted by an empty field! Every trace of our entourage has gone, we race back through town and as good people do in an emergency – ask a policeman. He points us in the right direction but as we ride up the street 700 cyclists are racing all out towards us, PANIC! We are gently jeered by the peleton and confuse the locals by heading back to the start line, we register, turn around and race back after the disappearing riders, cheered on by the bemused crowds and kind policemen who re-stop the traffic!
Once the road climbs we start to catch and pass the tailenders, onto a track like ‘rookery’ only 3miles long. The trail opens onto the mountainside, Raymond spots that a wire fence has fallen and lies across the track, he innocently picks it up and gently buzzes – it’s electrified, passing riders find this hilarious! Who says the Germans have no sense of humourJ
We climb boulders to cross the river and continue upwards reaching the snow level and stopping for an impromptu snowball fight. After traversing the glacier we reach the pass summit. The way down is via a rope attached to some rock, throw the bike over one shoulder, grasp the rope and lower yourself down some 20ft or so. Then a steep descent through soft deep snow, grooved by previous competitors which soon turns into an uncontrolled run to the meadow below and a tight hair pinned singletrack. Julie rag-dolled off the track and bounced down the mountainside to rejoin the track lower down, gaining several places in the process! A fast fire road then tarmac descent leads to the checkpoint, then a riverside pathway where Paul falls into an unsuspecting bush and we pass a guy with a broken frame- oops! A rooty single track winds through a pine forest where Raymond, in the guise of helping Julie up a hill, manages to push her off. The track undulates to a steep road descent into the beautiful cobbled, winding streets of Brixen, where we finish in the town square. Making our way to the sleeping quarters one of the outriders gesticulates at us, he thinks we’ve missed the finish line, having seen our faux pas this morning! Paul pulls up quickly causing Julie to plough into the back of him and record her third fall of the day!
Tonight we’re sleeping in a sports hall, but first it’s back to the square where a party is in full swing, with a live band and dancing. We eat out and then have the pasta, it’s still 28 degrees and has been best day so far.

Day 4 Brixen – St Vigil
Distance 38.6m(61.7km) Altitude gain 8,615ft(2626m)
Up bright and early and start to the strains of the TransAlp anthem – ‘Highway to Hell’. Motorbikes pace us out of town then it's straight into the first off-road climb, a wide rocky/gravel track up a gulley that criss-crosses a stream with dodgy wooden bridges. The track changes to double track and I begin to notice a dull pain in my right knee. On the descent it feels fine but the next uphill, a very long forestry road, it gets too painful to apply pressure through and I have to walk – very annoying as this is my sort of terrainL Raymond walks with me and we see the last of Julie and Paul who press on to give the other British couple – Jon and Nicky – a bit of competition. Surprisingly I can walk with no pain at all and I can walk fast, we still end up overtaking some of those riding!
At the checkpoint I get some Voltarol and an ice-pack from the race doctor and just managed to stay on the pace down the road descent and onto a gently undulating wide track through pine forest. The end is on road, gently climbing and we were perfectly placed to attack for the line but my knee was now acutely painful and felt like a drawing pin had been wedged in it. Almost crying with frustration I crawled across the line accompanied by heavy black clouds, a flash of forked lightning and a huge crack of thunder than made the earth shake. I make full use of the superb medical facilities and stock up with painkillers for the morning.

Day 5 St Vigil – Alleghe
Distance 49.1m(78.6km) Altitude gain 10,564ft(3220m)
After breakfast we roll down from the school to the start, a guy rides past with squealing brakes, as he periodically applies them, in perfect 2:4 time, it sounds just like the Blue Danube overture. 'Da, da, da, da-da, sqeak-squeak, squeak-squeak'. Raymond starts singing and is soon accompanied by a whole choir of deep German baritones as the peleton joins in. My knee isn’t too bad on the flat road section but soon hurts on starting a white gravel climb into Dolomite country. We try raising my saddle height which helps. The descent is barely rideable – a slippery wooden railed staircase with quite deep steps at times. Everyone I see carries their bike but I did hear rumours that some did ride it! By the next forestry track climb the overdose of painkillers was beginning to kick in and with an occasional walk to relieve the pressure I manage to ride most of it although unbearably slowly. Raymond is showing remarkable patience and continues to sing, earning him the title ‘das singing englandler’.
The next climb was a steep road some of which I again had to walk, then more forest tracks to the checkpoint and Voltarol. We pass the start of a chair lift and I wonder if it goes our way, an hour later we pass the finish of the lift and I wish I’d jumped on at the bottom! The heavy sky has finally given way to rain and we don our Goretex to descend. I find out first hand why Raymond is walking down an easy looking gentle grassy downhill, my wheels touch the greasy greenery and instantly I'm sliding on my backside to the bottom.
The rain soon stops and most of the final descent into the town consists of rough, rocky dirt singletrack that meandered through villagers back yards and under washing lines! I ride more than would even dare at home – a combination of being too tired to be scared and just pleased to be riding, my knee is fine downhill.
Our parc ferme is the cable car station and we are staying in another school a short bus trip away.
We have time to get food from the local shops and bump into the town planner, who is quite concerned as to whether we are getting adequate nutrition, and then have chips for tea! We’ve walked about 20miles today and my cycling shoes make very comfortable hiking boots. I stock up with pills although I reckon I’ve taken enough anti-inflammatories to rot the gut lining of a rhino and still have three more days to go.

Day 6 Alleghe – Imer
Distance 46.4m(74.3km) Altitude gain 8,136ft(2480m)
The coach to take us back to the start was late so we have a revised start time of 8.15am – hurrah! My knee is uncomfortable just walking today and aches as soon as I start riding. We initially descend then face a very steep road climb through tiny villages, I didn’t think they could lay tarmac on such a gradient! A technical, wet rooty single track and another road climb follow. We stop at one village to tape my knee and continue to walk/ride to the top to earn a lovely road decent leading onto a hair pinned forestry track with wide open views of the mountains and villages. Then it's back onto a super-fast tight road. We fly down overtaking two cars, a lorry and a tractor. By afternoon the pills are working and we travel a scenic undulating forest track to a steep, greasy road descent to the finish. The skies are thunderous but we seem to have come in behind the rain.
Tonight we’re sleeping in a gym complete with climbing wall. We get goodies from the local supermarket, have a drink in a café and are treated to a spectacular thunderstorm in the early hours. It can be heard ricocheting from one valley to the next and even brings those staying in tents indoors.

Day 7 Imer – Folgaria
Distance 70.88m(113.4km) Altitude gain 11,617ft(3541m)
This is the second longest day, I feel as long as I can finish this I’m there. The first half is surprisingly good and fast consisting of a long steady uphill climb, again it’s walk some/ride some but the reward is a fantastic road descent that seemed to go on forever. The air was getting progressively warmer and thicker as we lost altitude, winding through sleepy villages with pencil sharp red steepled churches. All sane Italians are siesta-ing and everything is quiet. At the checkpoint it is absolutely baking, the view a shimmering heat haze. We follow the valley along winding roads very reminiscent of those in Mallorca. At the 50mile mark we stop at a village fountain and splash ourselves cool, a couple of small boys say hello and after concentrating intensely ask us our names in schoolboy English and repeat them after us as we continue on our way. We have a long road climb ahead and my knee wasn’t capable of too much sustained pressure so it was a mixture of cycling and power-walking – I should have very firm buttocks at the end of all this! It takes about 2 hours to reach the top, we pass through many road tunnels and as we near the top it winds backwards and forwards in tighter loops. We are accompanied by black skies and the not so distant rumbling of thunder. We deviate off onto good forest singletrack but the final drag seems interminable. At last we regain the road for a scarily fast drop into Folgaria, we think we’re flying when we get overtaken by Chris & Kirsten on the tandem, they pass us like we’re standing still (their speedo clocks 88kph). A short kick uphill and we finish on another quaint cobbled street.
Tonight we’re staying in a leisure centre. The village is cute with a centrepiece of a straw filled manger inhabited by baby rabbits! We settle to sleep, there is a lot of coughing and one guy calls the paramedic, he’s checked over and told to report to the medical tent the following morning, if his temperature hasn’t subsided he won’t be allowed to start. Everyone who had thought about asking for cold remedies miraculously cure themselves! As the lights are turned out the fire alarm goes off. Over 400 people just lie there, ignoring it totally, too tired to even bother about being burned alive. Finally someone silences it by throwing a shoe which knocks it off the wall.

Day 8 Folgaria – Riva Del Garda
42.8m(68.5km) Altitude gain 7,402ft(2256m)
After breakfast we make our way to the start, filling our water bottles at the fountain on the way. We are asked by a local man where we have come from, how long it has taken us and where we’re heading for. He seems amazed when we tell him we started in Germany. It’s the last day and I occasionally thought I’d never get here, the last rendition of Highway to Hell and we’re off hurtling through the town and into the fields. We haven’t gone far when we see the front runners riding back towards us, a wrong turn has been taken. We all turn around and for a scary couple of moments we are leading the race!! We end up going back through the town, all the Folgarians who had gone back to their daily business began cheering and waving again as we made our unscheduled encore!
Everyone’s been lulled into a false sense of security by the map profile for today, we should know by now it isn’t going to be that easy! The road leads onto a fairly steep track, as we slog our way up we're overtaken at some speed by the motorbike paramedic. At the top we find his charge, a guy with a broken collar bone. The descent is very technical, large boulders and drop-offs. I push over most of this and crack my ankles on my pedals incessantly.The next road was a walk/cycle and wound upwards getting progressively steeper for an eternity. Julie was feeling quite ill, as were a lot of riders, and walked with us. Paul, in chivalrous mode, had gone on. Towards the top the road was unfeasibly steep and more unkempt, we were also getting caught by the broom wagon so a decisive burst of power walking was called for. The track plateaued through coarse farmland and potato fields, then a steep down hill and more of the horrible bouldery stuff. The next road stretch had been newly laid and sprayed every 2 metres with the name PANTANI in readiness for the Giro.
The next wide gravel track was a favourite with the local mtbers and we met lots of groups out enjoying themselves, the descent was made up of 'baby head' rocks which vibrated your hands to oblivion even with suspension. Just as we breathed a sigh of relief for finishing that bit the track turned into more boulders. A million cracked ankles later I was at breaking point, then the guy in front of me picked up his bike and hurled it with all his might into the trees and just sat down and cried! This made me feet so much better! I passed him with his partner trying to console/cajole him into continuing. Paul caught up with us shortly after and thought the guy had had a nasty accident until we explain. On the next down hill I realise the full benefit of disc brakes as I hurtle round a corner only to be met by a huge Merc straddling the lanes, I leave a trail of rubber in my wake! At the last check we are told it's all down and all road so we yell in despair as we're sent back up off road through an olive grove. As we enter Riva it’s dual carriageway with policemen controlling the traffic giving us priority at every junction. With the end in sight we sprint along, all pain ignored but with an ominous clunking noise emanating from Raymond’s bike. We hit a cycle path and pass under the finish barrier in a haze of deep chippings. I slew into the girl presenting the medal and we receive a bottle of champagne. Raymond discovers his Middleburn crank has snapped - a good job he didn't pull a stylish wheelie coming into the finish line. Paul and Julie are right on our tails, their only mechanical is a broken spoke.
We book into our hotel, luxuriate in showers and clean clothes and return for the final presentations, an exclusive finishers t-shirt and certificate. We have completed 668km (415m) and have climbed a staggering 22,000m (72,346ft), Raymond gained 10years and I lost 12lbs. Three days of well deserved rest and relaxation await.

Jane Geddes 2001