A Trans-Alpine experience

by VeloNews.com

July 19, 2008
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Photos
Results

By Drew Geer

Transalp 2008: Neuschwanstein castle in Fussen. We start in town and ride right under the castle.

Photo: Drew Geer

Drew Geer and Mark Gouge are racing the Jeantex Bike Transalp 2008 powered by Nissan, an eight-stage epic mountain bike stage race, from Füssen, Germany, to Riva del Garda, Italy, passing through Austria and Switzerland. The two are racing for the Chipotle-Titus-VeloNews team and are providing daily journals and photos. The following report from Geer is about Friday’s stage 1, a 75-kilometer route.

“There will be some tarmac and you will go fast. You will walk your bike, but you will not mind because it will be so beautiful.”

These are the race announcements in Fussen, Germany, just before the Stage 1 start of the Transalp. The announcer was absolutely correct.

There was fast riding and there was walking. The ride was so beautiful it was hard to remember it was a race. This single stage was a ride of a lifetime. It was “The Sound of Music on MTB wheels”. This stage was 75km long with one giant climb and 2000 meters of total climbing. It is also the easiest stage of the race.

Chipotle-Titus-Velonews has two masters teams entered in the 2008 Transalp. Mike Hogan and Thomas Dooley comprise one team, while Mark Gouge and I make up the second.

Transalp 2008: Fussen as viewed from the castle.

Photo: Drew Geer

Twelve hundred racers rolled out the the small castle village of Fussen. It winds through the narrow streets. This is a mass start event and it started fast with lots of positioning — think of a NORBA/NMBS start with over 1000 riders. The pack is endless and it accelerates to 50kph and
then slows to a standstill. The riders are on the whole, very talented bike handlers, likely more than you would see in a similar size race in the US. Despite riding fast and close there is very little touching of wheels and few crashes.

The flat appearing profile starting stage 1 was very misleading. There are multiple steep climbs in the first few kilometers the the giant field starts to splinter into “smaller” groups of 30 – 40 riders.
There is a fantastic mix of fast open road and narrow gravel bike trail.

Transalp 2008: The Chipotle-Velonews team

Photo: Drew Geer

There is really no single track & nothing actually technical, though the short climbs are brutally steep & you have to stay very aware with many sharp turns coming at you fast. At 50k we came into the first feed zone which signaled the start of the days big climb. The field, now miles long, snaked its way up a ski area road, this being very similar to one of the typical US ski area climbs.

The climb kept pitching up steeper and steeper, now far exceeding the American ski road. The entire upper section averages 15 percent grade. The view is so fabulous it is all you can do to remember you are supposed to be racing. There are giant alpine peaks above & lush green valleys below, manicured for the grazing cows. Nearing the top of the ski lift we assumed we had reached the top, but the course took a sudden left and pitched up to 25 percent heading to a notch in the peaks above the ski runs.

The leaders most likely rode this section but 100 spots down every one was off their bikes and walking this, just like the announcer had predicted.

After cresting the top we enjoyed the same 25 percent grade though now gravity was on our side. We dropped 1000 meters in the next 10k on fast fire roads before the finish stretch of fast flat 10k dirt paths.

Transalp 2008: The victorious Bulls team, Karl Platt and Stefan Sahm

Photo: courtesy Transalp 2008

The open race was won by the duo of Karl Platt and Sahm Stefan in 3:05. The leading women are the pre-race favorites Alison Sydor & Pia Sundstedt in 3:36.

Both our teams finished with solid rides. Hogan/Dooley are sitting in 13th place in the masters about 15 minutes off the leaders, with Gouge/Geer in 24th. The strength of the field here is apparent as we fully expected. Hogan is no stranger to endurance racing, winning the 40+
2008 US Nationals two weeks ago in Breckenridge, Colorado. He has finished first or second in every national marathon held since the first in 2004.

Dooley is close in fitness — both finishing top 10 in the 2007 Leadville 100 with sub 8-hour rides. Neither team pushed it too hard today as this is the “easy” day. We expect some of the early leaders to come on back as the race progresses. Tomorrow has twice the climbing over the same distance, running from Imst Austria to Ischgl, Austria. It will undoubtable run over trails every bit as beautiful as today.

Off for some schnitzel & beer.

Day 1 Results (.pdf)