This year I did the Jeantex Trans Alp again.  It was the twelfth edition and is considered the “mother” of all mountain bike stage races.  Mountain bikers from 40 nations participated this year, from all over Europe, Australia, Iceland, Israel, South Korea and Costa Rica to mention a few countries.  The race this year was scheduled to start in Mittenwald and end in Riva del Garda – over 8 stages with 635km and more than 22,000 vertical meters of climbing – in other words, a ton of climbing (see below.)  I started without a partner, and hence was not in any specific category. 

Stage 1

I arrived in Mittenwald in freezing temperatures and blankets of rain – the mountain tops were white with snow and could not help but wonder how the hell we are going to get over the mountains alive…  Despite the rain, the town was abuzz with activity and all the riders were ready to go (wet, but ready.)  Then came the news – the first stage was cancelled and with German precision buses were arranged to take all the riders to Reith im Alpbachtal for the start of Stage 2 the next day.  I was on the first bus to Reith and arrived in some more rain.  It seemed like it will never stop raining.  I spend the day in the hotel looking at the rain…  Not extremely exciting, but hoping that the rain will stop to give us a chance to ride the following day.

Stage 2

The days stage has been shortened from 87km to 53km – cutting out Geiseljoch – a 2300m peak that was completely covered in snow.  So, after much anticipation, we left Reith and was on our way to Mayrhofen.  Since the distance was shortened, it was a really fast start and the winning team came in at 2h11min.  I struggled and could not really get any rhythm going and finished in 3h05min.  

Stage 3

I felt better today and was riding with the third group most of the way.  The day started out with a long climb and a 3km hike-a-bike near the top of the first climb (through snow and rocks…)  We also crossed the border from Austria to Italy.  It is also this border that is the border from cold to hot – it is truly amazing that once you are on the southern side of the Alps, the weather gets significantly better.  We were also going to 500 m asl.  All in all a good day.  

Stage 4

We were staying in Süd Tirol, going from Brixen to St. Christina.  Brixen is a very nice town, but St. Christina is absolutely breathtaking.  It is in the heart of the Dolomite’s and a very up market ski resort in the winter.  Prices in town reflected the “up market” side of things – for a small Apfel Schorle I paid €8 – normally it will cost €2.50…  Needless to say, I did not buy much while there.  The riding was also spectacular, we passed a small ski town called Covara and always had the Dolomite’s in sight – very nice ride for anyone interested in seeing the Dolomite’s.  It was also the day with the most climbing – almost 3,700 vm and I was pretty tired at the end of the day. 

Stage 5

Another big day – 82km with 3300 vm.  The big climb of the day was an uninterrupted climb of 1,700 vm and for me it truly felt like it was never going to end.  My back was giving me problems and all in all it was a very hard day.  On the positive side, the views were incredible.  Truly a good route for anyone wanting to see the Dolomite’s. 

Stage 6

The end is in site – today we are heading to Kaltern, one of my favourite places in the world.  Lots of vineyards, orchards and stunning views.  Lots of single track and of course more climbing.  A long day with 77km and 3200 vm.  I finished the day not feeling very strong, but the end is in sight now… 

Stage 7

I stayed in a very nice hotel outside of Kaltern called Tramin.  To my surprise, this town gave birth to the wine Gewürztraminer, and in fact, the hotel where I stayed was one of the original farms where the wine was cultivated.  With this in my head, I started the first climb (1,400 vm) – the upside is that there are spectacular views from the top of Graunerjoch into the valley where I could make out the town of Tramin.  The day ended with a very steep climb of 600 vm to the town of Andalo.  I was very happy to finish since my back was truly killing me by now. 

Stage 8

The final day!  All that is laying between Andalo and Riva is a 1,500 vm mountain and then an insanely steep single track doen to the valley in which Riva lies.  It was good fun to try and ride most of the steep single track with many people going over their handle bars in the process (no serious injuries.)  The last 30 km was pretty quick and in no time I arrived in Riva – what a great feeling and privilege to have been able to do the Trans Alp again.  Hopefully I will be able to do it again in the future! 

This is post to show my best animal pictures from around the world.  Hope that you enjoy it.

For best viewing, click the “Full screen” button in the slideshow.

This was my fourth time that I did the Pfronten MtB Marathon and every year I like it more than the previous year.  The mountains and scenery in this part of the Alps are just unbelievable.  That is of course if you can see the mountains – which was difficult this time because the weather was certainly not playing along.  It has rained so much that Noah (with his Ark) would have been scared the days leading up to the race.  On Saturday morning the rain luckily stopped, but it was still pretty cold with rain clouds covering the mountains.  This did not deter the 1,200 entrants, and everybody was ready for a fun and potentially wet day on the bike.  There were 4 different courses offered:

• Extremstrecke 70km (2,600m of climbing),
• Marathonstrecke 53km (1,900m of climbing)
• Kurzstrecke  26km (940m of climbing)
• Klapprad Word Championship

I did the Extremstrecke, but far more interesting was the Klapprad WC.  For those who don’t know, a Klapprad is a 70’s era “folding bike” that seems to have been very popular in Germany at the time.  As you can see from the picture on the left, there were pretty hardcore Klapprad participants…  There are numerous web pages in German that nostalgically goes on about the good old days when oil was so expensive that riding a Klapprad was considered chíc.  Given the current oil price and where it might go, it is perhaps a good idea to bring out those folding bikes again.  Nevertheless, the idea of the Klapprad WC was to use a conventional Klapprad and ride it up the northern side of Breitenberg, which is a 650m climb to the first cable car station.  This is quite an effort considering that the average grade is 11% – and that on two small wheels (and wearing a funny outfit.)  The winning time was 40min which I think is pretty amazing (especially considering the funny outfit you have to wear…)  So, a new world champion was crowned on Saturday – the world’s first Klapprad champion.

I started out on the Extremstrecke with that “remind me again why I’m doing this” feeling for the first half of the first climb.  After that I was warmed up and felt pretty good for the remainder of the race.  The weather was actually perfect – overcast, but not too cold.  It is always spectacular to reach the top of a mountain, looking down on all the switchbacks that you just did and seeing the green valleys stretched out as far as you can see.  There were 4 climbs - Breitenberg (850m, 13% average grade), Edelsberg (650m, 11.5% average grade), Barenmoos (320m, 12% average grade) and Breitenberg again from the south (720m, 11% average grade.)   Rita and her dad supported me half way up Edelsberg with a drink and some energy bars.  I felt pretty good throughout, but the last bit of Breitenberg towards the end was hard and I lost a couple of minutes (and positions) there.  Nevertheless, it was a great race and my timing was perfect – it started raining as I crossed the finish line.  Some of the guys that did the Marathonstrecke was not so lucky – they started an hour or so after us and some of the tail enders got some nasty hail, high winds and plenty of rain.  All in all, nothing that a nice Bavarian beer cannot fix.  I finished in 4h14min and was 12th in the Masters catagory.

On June 7th we rode the Tegernsee Mountain Bike Race with start at the beautiful Lake Tegernsee in the Bavarian Alps. The race is one of 7 races of the Ritchey MTB Challenge series.

Pieter did the grueling 88km and 3,800m climbing, Rita was happy with her result for the B round of 57km/1,540m climb in 3:16min.
We were lucky – no rain from start to finish and a jolly good time as the atmosphere and organization of the event was superb. At the finish line we were greeted with beer, cappuccino, pasta and cake. Then the rain came…..

Our Sonoran Desert Tour in Arizona included 5 days of splendid mountain biking, mostly single track, on altitudes of 2,000–6,000 feet. We rode through hillsides dotted with shapely saguaro, prickly pear, and spiny ocotillo cactus, and camped in the middle of nowhere in the Santa Rita Mountains and at Catalina State Park.

As expected, the desert air was extremely dry and our skin cracked not only from scraping cactus on the trails. Nights in the tent were bitterly cold (32F, zero Celsius) but the temperatures during the day were pleasant and perfect for riding. We explored the Tucson Mountain Park, a natural Sonoran Desert preserve including the most magnificent Saguaro Cactus forests in the world. We climbed switchbacks in the shadow of Mount Wrightson, navigated between shrubs and cactus, pedaled through sand, and rolled thorough deep arroyos. This was challenging for me (Rita) the novice single-track rider who already went over the handle bar on day one of the trip. We also rode parts of the windy Arizona trail, climbed on the Flume trail and rode some more single-track through Catalina State Park. We experienced an exhilarating day of fun on the famous Fantasy Island mountain bike park, which includes over 35km of single-track. The tight twists and turns between the cactus in combination with sudden steep drops made for the ultimate thrill ride and while Pieter enjoyed the rollercoaster, I got cramps in my fingers from hanging onto my breaks. East of Tucson, we were winded through the loose rocky chutes of the so-called 50-year trail overlooking the Oro Valley on the last day of the tour.

Western Spirit, a great outfitter supported our trip and handled all the logistics, including the transportation of our tents, gear and luggage and the cooking of all meals on open fires. We enjoyed delicious food, and great company!