Transalp - stage 6

photo: transalp.de

Transalp Stage 6: Naturn Italy to Kaltern Italy

It is said "40 is the new 30". My Transalp race partner notes that "The little chainring is the new middle chainring". We have never seen so many little chainring climbs - extremely steep & long. We can race most everything in Colorado with no little ring. Don't try that here. Even the overall race leaders are using 3 rings.

These two towns in the Bolzano valley of Italy are know for orchard, vineyards, naturan hot springs & spas. There are hundreds of miles of hiking & biking paths through out the area. We are now in very different terrain being several thousand feet lower. I tis now hot, humid & we are riding in dense forests not about timberline.

Today would have been a comedy of errors for our team except noting was very funny about any of it. I was pretty tired from yesterday's effort, though Mark is getting stronger & stronger each day. We started on the typical monster climb - over 4600 feet and 17k. I knew about 5 k in I really did not have good legs today. My bike was shifting funny & I looked at my back cogset. It was covered in gel. that seemed odd until I checked my pocket & all my gel had drained from my flask. I now had no food & as I noted in an earlier post the feed stations, while well stocked with finger food, don't have typical gels or bars.

Over the top of the climb we were in better position than usual & started screaming down the single track. I let Mark lead as he is fantastic on this terrain. Then I flatted. We stopped to try a CO2 but I found I had not replaced my head. I had 3 cartridges but no head. I asked Mark for his but he has treadless & I use threaded & they would not work. We used one of his CO2 & were back on the trail but lost a lot of time & places. At the bottom of the descent I lost all air. As we only had one CO2 remaining we put a tube in. The first tube we tried was flat in my seat bag so we used Mark's only tube. The CO2 malfunctioned & we had none. I have been carrying a pump but today only, did not bring it. After a long time an italian rider gave us his pump. We got back on the trail & soon after I pinch flatted. Now we had a pump but no tube. Again, after a ling time another Italian (they are so nice) gave us a tube. I was able to baby that one in but could not descend fast for fear of a pinch flat & a 15 mile walk to the finish.

The situation was really discouraging. We have been meticulous with our preparation & this small flat would never have been a big deal with just a CO2 head. The day after day race prep combined with being tired led to this mental error & it cost us dearly. In addition to the time lost (my GPS tracks moving & standing time so I know exactly the down time of 45 minutes). Not only was this lost race time but it added that much time in the hot sun with limited food & water to our ride time - this can add up day after day.

7:45 finish time - jut about 2 hours after the winners "Team Bulls". Ride time was 7 hours & flat time was 45 min. We come in in 58 place, way down from our usual spot. This dropped us to 22nd in G.C. The G.C. time gaps are so large now that even huge time losses move you only a bit down in the overall. Conversely, it is very hard to move up.

Hogan/Dooley,our other "Chi - poot - lay" team, as the announcers say, had a strong race & finished in 15th. Both of them clicked today. They were 1:10 back from the pro leaders over a 6 1/2 hour race.

More massage & food hoping I can get my legs ready for tomorrow. We will have tubes, CO2 & pump tomorrow It is fantastic riding a race as a team - at least for me. After a disaster day like today you can really appreciate the help of a teammate on the trail.

Mark Gouge

Ways to do the Transalp:

There are several logistical ways to tackle this race. We are trying two of them. Mark & I are in hotels with our families driving from start town to finish town. Mike & Thomas are in RVs with their families driving. They stay in reserved spots at the race site. Some friend form Colorado, Joe & Kevin, some of the only other Americans in the race are dong a 3rd option. They reserved hotels but put all their gear into a race bag. The race organization picks it up at the hotel in the morning & drops it at the hotel at night. You also have the option of camping at the race venue with no RV & having your gear transported.

Each method has advantages. We are doing this as a family vacation so the hotel & RVs work well. The hotel/gear bag option is certainly less logistic hassle but you have to have a hotel in town & hopefully not on a hilltop as Joe & Kevin did in Switzerland. The constant packing & moving is tough on the family & not actually so much a vacation.

The RVs have some additional twists involved with them. First they are had to drive. Second, there is a race very day from start town to finish to get a close in RV site. If you loose that race you could be 5k out of town. The RVs often leave before the start to get to the finish.

The hotels were fairly difficult to book as this is high season in tourist areas. They are also of course expensive with the US dollar's position now. I started in January & did not find hotels in some towns until one week before the race. We had to book in other towns for 2 stages as there just was no hotel availability. It sure is nice to have a great bed & a shower every night. I figure I can use every advantage I can get just to finish.

Drew Geer
Chipotle Titus Velonews

The "Queen Stage". Over 12,000 feet of climbing in only 60 miles. The initial climb actually had some slight breaks of less than 7% that allowed a bit of recovery. The next series of climbs were particularly difficult coming one after another.