The Shout Out

Training for TransAlps started in ernest in November. 10-months of sweaty, loud weeknight garage rides and long Saturday/Sunday rides that consume large chunks of the weekend are good for 7-days in the Alps - not so good for the non-riding spouse.

Fortunately SN is a supporter. She got her own Italian cruiser bike for Christmas. SN proudly claims that whenever we're been on bikes together she dusts me - partially true.

Day 5: Livigno to Pointe Di Legno

111 km, 2,748 meters of climbing.

Another great day on the bike. Pre-Canada Day photo with Joerg's crew. Everyone was wearing extra clothes as the forecast was wet and cold. We saw a little water but the roads were dry.

A bit of climbing early followed by a long trek through a valley before the awesome Mortirolo. 12 km, 1,300 meter climb. Perspective: twice the elevation gain of Cypress (highway to the x-country ski area) in the same distance = very steep. Stories today of people walking and/or falling over their bikes.

GM and I near the top. This climb has been included in the Giro (Italy's Tour De France) several times. Names of famous riders are scribed on the rode.

Another end of day ritual is the natural ice bath. Most finish towns have a mountain stream nearby. Shortly after getting off the bike we seek it out and refresh the legs.

2-days to go. 2nd hardest stage tomorrow. Big day but I can almost taste the prosecco in Riva.

Day 4: Naturns to Livigno

118km, 3,572 meters of climbing.

Amazing day. Riding the Stelvio is unquestionably the highlight of all my cycling to date. The pictures don't do it justice. 25 km long. 49 switchbacks. 1850 meters of up. Tons of history.

Startline shot. GM and I. Rumon right. 1,300 riders corralled every morning into 4 large packs. Each pack is lead out through a "neutral" (no passing) start by official race vehicles (very pro).

Stelvio shots care of Rumon. I experienced a little setback with the breathing about 1/2 way up so we rode quite conservatively, hence the big grin.

This shot is at about 8 km left. You pop out of the forest and get to see the remainder of the climb and the 20 or so switchbacks that remain.

The top. For reference, Whistler's summit is about 2,200 meters. We're nearly 2,800 in this photo.

You'd think that we have lots of time given only 4 to 6 hours a day are spent on bike. Not true. Between packing, eating, gearing up, riding, finishing, eating, checking in, getting settled, eating, bike maintenance, eating and other post ride stuff, very little down time. This is part of our post ride routine.

Tomorrow is supposed to be an easier day but the organizers have reissued the route 2 times due to road permit problems. This 3rd iteration now has us climbing over the notorious Mortirolo. 1300 meters in 12 km. Some describe it as the most difficult cycling climb in Europe.

Day 3: Ischgl to Naturns

16o km, 2662 meters of climbing.

Good day on the bike. A bit sore from a 150 km day followed by a 160 km day. Two longest mileage stages are now behind us but the big climbing is still to come.

Howie and Philip rolled their Fuck Cancer kits today. Part of Team Wedgewood's manifesto is to raise money to support the fight against cancer.

Love the towns with fountains in close proximity to the finish line. Over 40 degrees today so the cool down was needed.

Also Toby's (right) birthday today. Toby is on course domestique extraordinaire for Magic Places and makes us all feel like total pros. He's usually found on the toughest section of the day with fresh bottles, coke, water and fruit. We treated Toby to a great dinner and a little birthday gag. He refused the no hands and ate the whip cream with a spoon. We won't hold that against him tomorrow.

Big day tomorrow. Queen's stage - most meters climbed. Get to tackle the famous Stelvio. As GM noted today, this is the one we dreamt about all winter.

Day 2: Imst to Ischgl

148 km, 2,794 meters of climbing.

Better day. Rolled it steady (cycling lingo for taking it easy) and all held together. Photo is at the start line. GM in his favorite baby-blue Rapha jersey. I wore matching, somewhat under duress, but that's what good partners do. The mountains behind us are what we came over Day 1.

I promised this year that I'd take some photos on course. Photo was taken on the Beilerhohe, our last climb of the day. 1000 meter gem. Look closely and you can see the ribbon of road snaking up the mountain.

Howie and Philip - Team Wedgewood. Total stars. They celebrated their 91st placing in the Masters field with a banana split. Check out the links on the right to find their blog. A lot more pro that what I'm running here with much more detailed descriptions of each day's ride.

Some of the gang post dinner, waiting for the van pick up. Walking 2 km back to the hotel when 5 days of hard riding remain is not an option.

Hot, hot, hot here. 37 degrees up our final climb. Time to cool off.

Day 1: Sonthofen to Imst

121 km, 2444 meters of climbing.

Magic Places (our guide) sponsored a team of two very competitive riders who are expected to podium. Flor is a German semi-pro and pictured on the right. His girlfriend showed up at the start line in her Defender to "wish Flor luck". That's how the pros roll in Europe. Sara, please note.

TNA/Shape teams in the pre-race staging area.

GM and I doing our version of looking pro. Matching custom glasses, matching gloves (not wearing mine yet in this photo), matching socks, matching bikes and, of course, matching kits.

Beautiful day of riding. Unfortunately the damaged ribs did not share this opinion. After a full gas, 350 meter climb out of the start town up the Oberjoch, wheels (figuratively) came off. Restricted breathing and low power output. Hahtennjoch was last climb of the day and a total beast. Back/breathing muscles locked up twice and I had to get off bike both times - a first. Bit of an eventful descent. Made the Germans very excited when I went into a corner hot, locked up both wheels, fishtailed several times, pulled the right foot out of the pedal to counter balance and stared down a Volkswagen in the oncoming lane. Rode out of it, but not very pro.

Graeme was an awesome partner. Very patient. Haas and Wilf rode like rockstars. Yet to see today's results, but those guys were very fast.

Time to prepare for tomorrow.

The Eve

The day before day 1. Lots of bike nerd stuff throughout the day. See Joerg (middle) and Toby (right) below. They're our support for the week. Toby is mid-course for bottle and clothing changes. Joerg at the daily finish with recovery drink and directions to the night's hotel.

Max arrived late last night. He's been roughing it in Provence for the last 4 months, training out of a town at the base of Ventoux. We rolled up the initial 350 meter climb we see out of the gates on day 1. Expect a hammer fest. Good to know what to expect.

I'm in white and black coming down the climb. Crazy fast and technical descents over here.

Cafe is how we ended the ride. Howie and Philip of Team Wedgewood in the shot with Max "I haven't cut my hair since landing in Europe" and my race partner, Graeme.

Time for a good sleep hoping for an uneventful day 1 morning.