TransAlp - stage 4

Dooley dropping into the finish in Livigno Italy (photo Garrett Geer)

July 22.
Scuol Switzerland to Livigno Italy
Stage 4: 77 km Elevation gain 2621m (8600 feet)
Scuol is another small ski town. It sits in the Engadin valley, home of the famous XC ski marathon – “The Engadin”

“I will just never be able to pronounce “Chipotle” it is just too hard” – the finish announcer at Tranaslp. We have developed a small following here. Riders come up & say “hi burrito guys”. One of the Germans commented to me "You must be americans because you are smiling. The Germans are so serious it is only the americans & canadians that smile".

Overcast again with new snow in the alps, but not raining on us at the start. We are q-ed up for stage 4. There is absolutely no warm-up today with an immediate 22k climb. This has been hurting Mark Gouge as he requires this to get going. The climb is much more “Coloradoan” – less steep but longer. The valley as always is spectacular & also as the pattern goes it starts to snow near the top. Just where else can you race in the snow on July 22?

Nearing the top of the first climb out of Switzerland (photo transalp)

We have some perfect single track today. Many k of very fast downhill – some rocky, much is very smooth & twisty. There are some deadly dropoffs if you make a mistake. Mark lead me very fast through this in a small group. We pick up dozens of places due to his skills. There is one bridge will wooden walls that is just as wide as my handlebars - & I cut them off. I have no idea how someone with wide bars could make it though walking or other wise. One section runs along a 300 foot cliff on a 5 foot wide path. This is very easy but at 20 mph one mistake is fatal. As usual we tend to descent technical sections better but the euros climb like mountain goats. They also descend fire road (war road here) very fast.

Narrow bridges with some big drops - the bridge after this has 2 sides & is too narrow for wide bars (photo transalp)

Hogan/Dooley finished the day in 13th & moved to 12th in G.C. with a race time of 4:19. Gouge/Geer broke the top 20 in 19th also moving to 19 in the G.C.

Today's course profile from my Garmin - 4 major climbs & the last hurt the most

View of Livigno in the last 200 mters of the course (photo Garrett Geer)

The people & villages along the course:

We are riding this all blind of course which make it a bit tough. The best method I hae found is to look way ahead to a rider 50 - 100 meters up the course & see what their line is or if they have any difficulty. The courses are routed through tiny mountain villages – sometimes through yards & once through a café courtyard. There are people in every village with cowbells cheering every rider. It is exciting zipping through cobbled & grass alleys very fast with the crowd cheering. There is immense support here for the event.

The Transalp photographers are everywhere - they move about on dirt bikes (photo transalp)