www.cyclingthealps.com

This App allows one to quickly make a "virtual" tour of the major (and not so major) passes in the Alps (and some other mountains as well -- Pyrenees at least).  I wish I had had this in 2009 before riding Transalp the first time.  I will use it before the P.E. Tour des Pyrenees this summer.  It works great, at least on the Google Chrome browser.

Come to think of it, maybe Andy Schleck could have used a "virtual tour" of the Grenoble TT course last summer?  Maybe if he had "ridden" the course, he might not have dropped quite so much time to Cadel?

Sights of Sonthofen - The Ordensburg

MOB and I arrived at the Sonthofen starting pen for Transalp very early, and decided we should stretch our legs a bit to warm up since we would start the day with a climb and needed to be ready -- a practice we abandoned on subsequent mornings, realizing it was more important to preserve energy.  Our quick trip around the Southern edge of Sonthofen took in some very nice territory, and one monumental stone building upon on the hill that appeared to be part of a large military facility, complete with fences and barbed wire.

The Ordensburg -- National Socialist Training Center in the 1930s, and
French, then American, then German military facility in the postwar era.

Sonthofen, nice country on the edge of the Alps!

Sonthofen is deep in Bavaria, a region of Germany that was, one might say, especially enthusiastic about that certain German government that took power in the early 1930s.  Juliane and MOB had mentioned to me that the conservative political party in Bavaria, the Christian Social Union (sister party of the Christian Democratic Union that operates in the rest of the country), would have (or at least had had) its annual party congresses in Sonthofen.

So I guess it was not a surprise that the most prominent building in the area is the Ordensburg, which, to quote an authoritative source (err, well, to quote Wikipedia) served as an "Adolf-Hitler-School for the education of party cadres."

More photos from Transalp 2011

Here are some more photos from David's collection about the Transalp 201 tour.

Andreas and Matthias from Bremen Team Wiegtritt and mob

Gerd, our hero of this year Transalp. Rarely without Klaus.



View from the Oberjoch. This was the first climb of many to follow. Taken two days before the race.

 

One way steet - except for bikes in Sonthofen. Nice picture composition.

The Hahntennjoch - the first climb I had to walk up partly since years. Matches well with the pedestrian sign.



Juliane and David J. in Imst

David L. in Imst

David and mob at the start in Sonthofen

The approach on the Silvretta road to the Biehlerhöhe Pass

Stephen and mob, the surprise visitor in Ischgl.

Not sure, but perhaps view from Arlberg pass. Gives the idea of the mountains ahead.

David J. and MOB at the start in Livigno.

David L. at curve #22 of 42 on the climb up the Stelvio

Mountains.  Somewhere in the alps -- taken from the Passo di Foscagna.

At the Stelvio Pass.

Climbing the road to the Stelvio

More mountains somewhere in the Alps, from Passo di Foscagna. You get the general idea.

David J. at the start in Livigno

Done. David and MOB, presenting the Transalp finisher medals and jersey.

The Difference

Elevation Profile Day 4, Transalp 2011

Elevation Profile Bremen, everyday

Schwalbe Ultremo Transalp Tire Special Edition

A Tribute to the Sambi Family in Ravenna

As the older and distinguished members of the Positivo Espresso club are virtually all connoisseurs of Italian road racing bike manufacturers (Olmo, Ciocc, Moser, Legnago, Daccordi, Somec, Gimondi...) and know the history of Italian racing idols very well I should probably not repeat it here, but among the many famous figures that left their imprint on the history of cycling, Luciano Sambi was one of the most remarkable.  

Not that he could count many great victories in his three years as a pro rider with the Italian Legnago team between 1965 and 1967, but he won the Giro di Lombardia and made a 78th place in Milano - San Remo; small victories and founded his fame as "Il geopardo di Ravenna" as he is still called today in his hometown close to the Adriatic Sea. 

He was further influential in making Ravenna one of the most cycling friendly cities in Italy, or "La Portlando d'Italia" as it is sometimes called.  Together with his son Christian Sambi, who worked as a bike mechanic with Nagai-san on the Fasso Bortolo team in the Nineties, he now runs a fabulous bike shop on the outskirts of Ravenna.  His prizes and trophies from his racing career are nicely integrated into the shop layout and displayed with pride. Reason enough for David and me to intentionally break the spokes on our rear wheels to find a pretense to visit his shop and ask for his services.

We arrived in Ravenna yesterday after a short rest in Arco and a ride along the Garda lake and a lunch of pizza at a cafe high over Lake Garda.  Ravenna is, according to world-travelling cyclist Rick Steves, not a town worth to stay a night but good enough perhaps for a day trip. Apart from this rather harsh statement one might add that the town possesses some UNESCO world heritage sites and is obsessed since the 6th century with producing mosaics. There is even a school where one can learn how to restore mosaics. 

Bicycle Town Ravenna

First thing in the morning we went to the Sambi family store on the Via San Mama 148. Many nice bikes of all kinds were neatly lined up inside and the whole store was in impeccable order. They had some spare parts on display, like handle bar tape from the Eighties that can be sold for substantial amounts of money as NOS on ebay in Germany. With the eye of a real pro mechanic Christian Sambi took a look at our both wheels and said "Cinque Ora" which is Italian and means that all of this will take some time to repair probably and anyway there is a lunch break between 12 and 4 so we should come back at 5 when the wheels would surely be ready.

Yes, she is the postman on her bike and she doesn't ring twice.

As we had nothing else to do and cycling without a rear wheel seemed somehow too dangerous and complicated, we decided that we should indulge in art and culture and took a look at the Basilica di Ravenna and some other assorted monuments. Art and culture can be very stressful and after a nice and big meal of pizza that ended with a "Cafe Normale" (which is Italian and means a Cafe Espresso that is extremely small and strong and something else than what Germans would consider as normal when it comes to coffee - and we have Tschibo, Jacobs, Darbhoven and other famous roasters within the borders of our country) we retired to our hotel room where we fell asleep while watching stage three of the Tour de France.

About 9 km before the finish all cyclists were reeled in and we could watch Thor Hushovd leading the Garmin-Cervelo train for a sprint victory of Tyler Farrer.  A great tour so far for Garmin-Cervelo!

After that we headed back to the Sambi shop, only to find our both wheels completely untouched. Our personal presence brought some action and pulled Christian away from other urgent projects and friends who were hanging out and chatting about Italian cycling in the 1960s, and within no time and for almost no money our two wheels were fixed.  We cleaned our bikes and made a wheel testing trip to the sea at Punta Marina where we had a good dinner of pizza. 

Then we rode back to our hotel in the darkness which was fun. Tomorrow we will continue our bike adventures in the old medieval town of Urbino. Both of us hope that they will have an excellent, stylish and somewhat disorderly bike shop and a good pizzeria, both of which seem highly likely based upon our trip so far.

Assorted Photos from Transalp

On the lower part of the Stelvio climb.  Cannot even see the famous switchbacks yet.

Transalp Camp Kaltern.  The most crowded and hot yet.  987A is one of the previously mentioned Schwalbe girls.  Her teammate ... must have found other accommodations.

From the top of the Biehlerhohe.  Is one of those cyclists on the road below MOB?

After dinner nap in Naturns.

At the finish in Arco.  What will we do with no race tomorrow_

MOB summits the Bielherhohe.

Done.

View from the approach to the Stelvio at elv. 2450m

Transalp Day Zero

Today was a full day.  MOB and I registered for Transalp, we met our teammates, ate and slept.

We entered the registration area well ahead of most riders -- at the front the peleton, as it were.

Rusedski registers!

Our high placement was confirmed when the results were posted at end of the day.
But as I had warned MOB, the registration site was full of pencil-thin, gaunt-faced 195-200 cm height 29 year-olds with shaved heads (and legs). 

I managed to sneak a photo of one of the more imposing of this rider type.  However, as he left the site, he hopped on a mountain bike 4 sizes too small and pedaled with his feet jammed inward onto the pedals, pigeon toe style.  MOB and I left the registration site 150-200 meters behind him and quickly caught up, just before our routes separated.  He was not so imposing once we got on the bike!  That will be the last time he will mess around with (or ride anywhere near) the Positivo Espresso B Team!

Positivo Espresso Europe

At the pasta party, we planned race strategy.  As the first day's stage route was telecast with a projector at the front of the gathering, using Google Earth, we did it the old fashioned way, modeling the climb over the H.-joch with my mountainous second helping of pasta, the parmesan cheese representing the remaining snowpack visible today when the clouds finally cleared.

Visualize your line
on the descent!

We decided to get out of the pasta party early after the mayor finished his lengthy remarks in order to get to bed early for an extra edge ... but ended up stopping at an outdoor cafe for some after dinner drinks.

Juliane complained that her transponder/number plate that is required to be affixed to the front of the handlebars, facing forward so as to be visible from the front, defeats the aerodynamic advantage that all top competitive cyclists seek.  We discussed countermeasures and, looking at the TOUR Magazine articles about the race, noticed that in all the photos of the top riders, the rectangular sheet appeared to have rounded edges and to be noticeably smaller than the ones we had been provided.  What chumps we must have been in 2009, riding without first getting out the scissors and cutting this parachute down to size.  As soon as we got back to the hotel, we had a little trimming party.

Transponder/front number, cut down to size

Tomorrow, we will focus on racing, not blogging.  And there is no electricity, let alone public WiFi, on the tennis courts of Transalp Camp in Imst, Austria, if memory serves.  We will report again when we can.

Transalp Base Camp - Sonthofen!

After a morning stroll in good weather through the center of Muenchen--delightful--MOB and I met at the main train station a few minutes after 1PM for the 2+ hour trip to Sonthofen.  As we disembarked at our destination, we saw 3-4 other passengers with their big Transalp duffel bags from a prior year.

We hopped a taxi to the Rafting and Adventure Center in neighboring Bihlerdorf, 2.5+ km to the Northwest from the train station.  This would be our base camp for the two nights in Sonthofen -- a lodge for outdoor adventure types, breakfast to be served at long tables in a big room.  Here we can acclimate to the high altitude -- 750 meters elevation which, if you don't count the 10 minutes he spent on top of the Harz mountains several weeks back, is higher than MOB has been at any time since his move to Bremen last year.

We met two members of an Israeli Transalp team on the way in, and numerous other bike boxes were out in the bike storage area, but the riders are not in evidence--everyone else must be shut in their rooms, resting up for the big day. (Two more Germans have shown up this evening, from Dusseldorf, they look the part -- hair cut to no more than 0.7 cm length, emaciated faces and pencil thin bodies.)

As it was already 4PM by the time we got into our room at base camp, we quickly assembled our bikes and headed into town, did one general circuit and then launched into our scouting ride up the valley to the Southeast, where the race will start on Sunday.  We made good time as far as Bad Hindelang, where the road turned up, and we started to climb the mighty Oberjoch, towering hundreds of meters above Sonthofen and Bad Hindelang.

The winding road of the lower reaches of the Oberjoch climb

Rain threatens as we ride along a high meadow near the Austria border

My legs felt fresh all the way up.  The clouds looked ominous, but we pressed on and were rewarded with dry pavement, and continued on all the way to the heavily fortified border with Austria!  Another stamp in the passport, and we had successfully scouted the entire German Alp portion of the Transalp on a late Friday afternoon.  One country out of three done, dead and over.  Michael is planning to contact the organizers and see if we can start at the border on Sunday morning, since we have already done that stretch.

Welcome to Austria!

On the descent, we were caught by a heavy rain shower, but made it back in time to change into dry clothes and walk back into town for dinners of, respectively, gnocchi and weiner schnitzel.

Rusedski crests the Oberjoch

Michael insisted on the gnocchi, despite my suggestion that he would be sick of pasta soon enough, and eating any tonight -- even of the highest quality -- would only hasten the effect.  The highlight for me was when 3 younger people (2 men and a woman) who had been eating nearby passed us to exit the restaurant.  One of them asked me, "excuse me, but are you [former world #4 ranked men's tennis star, retired in 2007 and still in his late 30s] Greg Rusedski?"  Sadly, I had to let them down -- no, I am only an unranked amateur cyclist, not yet a world class athlete, but I often get mistaken for Rusedski when in this kind of alpine sporting village in summer.  Maybe it is the hairline?

We enjoyed some excellent gelato nearby and walked the 3 km back to base camp in light rain showers and cool weather.  Tomorrow morning, we get our credentials, repack our bags, and try another shorter scouting ride before meeting David J. and Juliane P. in the afternoon.