Jun 10
27
Day 1 Mittenwlad-Solden
So after 2 days in Mittenwald with very limited access to the interweb we are now able to post the past couple of days. We got into Mittenwald on Friday morning and checked into the hotel, had lunch and then went exploring. 5 minutes later we were done. Just kidding. Mittenwald is not that far from Garmisch where there is a World Cup ski event every year and Mike has some amazing pictures from the tram he took to the top of the mountain in town. I believe he is posting them I type this out. Mittenwald is just a smaller version of this town. The hotel is at the top of a hill in town and the view is amazing! Too bad the food didn’t match it. We ate as much as we could in town.
Saturday was race check in and then all of the 3 bike mechanics on the trip went to work! Between Chris, Mike, and myself we went through most of the bikes to make sure everybody is set up for a great ride. Then some R and R, and the pasta party in town. This was an interesting event as the entertainment consisted of a gymnastics display and then a 1hr spin class on the stage. I think the entertainment concept in Germany is still a work in progress… Finally we got a decent night of sleep and then day 1.
Day 1.
We found the sun! It’s been in Austria waiting for us. That glorious ball of fire in the sky that gives life and at the same time sucks water and salt away from us.I thougt the sun had received the memo that we had not yet seen it in Vancouver and therefore we were hoping for some cloud cover. I will be sending my request yet again to the weatherman for some cloud cover for tomorrow so that we can be a bit more familiar with the weather.
We had a good start to the race from a ride perspective, no real severe accidents (one minor crash, more of a tip over), some good trains that dragged us along the flats at very quick speeds, and a couple of climbs that literally took the will to live away from us. I believe the highest grade percent we saw on our computers was 18%!!!! I want to meet the engineer who looked at that piece of mountain and thought it would be a good idea to build a road that nobody could drive a car up in the winter. That was one tough climb. The guys from TNA who were here last year are saying it’s the toughest climb they have ever done.
You can see my Garmin data here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/38350783 (you may have to cut and paste this into your browser, sorry)
Mike and I both had some issues with nutrition today. I carried 2000 calories with me and came through the finish with 1300 left. I found it very challenging sitting in a group of 50-100 riders and feeling comfortable enough to reach into my pocket and pull out a bar, open it, and eat. I will have to sort this out quickly as I felt tlike vomiting at the top of the Kuhtai climb and then when we got to the bottom both of my hamstrings cramped up so bad I had to get off the bike and stretch. Mike got the same cramping with about 4km to go. Definately room to improve upon. In total we were stopped about 40 minutes today and ended with a ride time of 5:05 on our watches but it was 5:45 gun time. Now it’s time to go replenish with some dinner!
Many thanks to Joerg and Tobias for the support today, Joerg by checking us in our hotel (same one as last year in Solden), and Tobias for the neutral support van at the top of the climb today, as well as the motor pacing he gave us to catch a large group on our way in.
Jun 10
24
We’re here…
I got into Munich at about 3:00pm local time here after 10 hrs of flying from YVR to Frankfurt, a 1.5 hr layover and plane switch, with full on customs and 2 security checks, and a dash to the flight to Munich. Fun times! The flight over wasn’t as bad as last year, I had a bulk head seat where I could rest my head and a lovely Russian woman sitting next to me who was a very polite snorer. I was also grateful that I had a little TV in the back of the seat in front of me so I didn’t have to kill the batteries on my phone or computer trying to entertain myself. All in all not bad, until I spoke to Mike about his experience. I gotta learn how to sweet talk a bit better in order to get a bump up like that. (see his recent post).
Bikes are now built and have been shipped off to Mittenwald for us to ride tomorrow when we get there. I can’t believe this is now upon us! Seems like only last week we were talking about if we wanted to do this or not. Here’s a bit of the story of how this trip came to be:
Last year I had the pleasure of being able to travel with the TNA/Shape Properties team, specifically with a group of good friends, John Ramsden, Trevor Stone, Mark Matishak, Jamie Armstrong, Darius Viskontas, Dave MacLennan, and Clive Russell (my other support partner), to the TransAlps Road Race. I had been asked to come along and drive one of the rented vehicles as well as provide some mechanical, emotional, and ride support for the group. Needless to say we had an absolute blast! Everybody that started the race finished and they all enjoyed themselves to boot. I was lucky enough to find somebody, with Joerg’s help, to drive the van the last day and was able to ride the last stage with the group. That’s all it took… I swore that I would do this race one day and was raving about it when I came home. Mike finally got sick of me talking about the race, as well as Jimmy (AKA Juicy J) hounding him to come this year. In January we decided to do the race and I called Joerg Becker, owner of Magic Places, to see if we could swing a spot on the trip. What do you know, he had a spot for us and we got in! If you get a chance check out Joerg’s website at www.magicplaces.ca to see the trips he offers as the whole package is both affordable and veyr well organized.
So here we are one year later sitting in Munich getting ready to roll out to the Alps and Dolomites on an epic adventure. Stay tuned…
T. Stone, M. Matishak, D. MacLennan, J. Armstrong, J. Ramsden, D. Viskontas
Jun 10
24
Finally Here
After 3 delayed flights I wasn’t sure I was going to make it here today, but I guess it’s a good thing that all 3 legs of my trip were delayed. Had a chance to meet up with Ian who I did RAAM with back in 2006. He works as a police officer at Heathrow and happened to be on shift as I was passing through. Not a whole lot of time to chat, but it was good to see him, it’s been too long.
Last nights flight to London was actually enjoyable. Full on pod style accommodations with all the toys and anyone who knows me knows I like my toys. Both dinner and breakfast were awesome, mushroom stuffed chicken and vegetables for dinner and banana pancakes and fresh fruit for breakfast. I did manage to restrain myself and passed on all the free booze. I am racing in 3 days 
Jeorg wasn’t able to pick me up at the airport as he was taking 6 other riders down to Mittenwald, so I had to find my own way to the hotel. We spend tonight in Munich before the 2 hour drive down to the race start town of Mittenwald tomorrow. I’ll get some pictures up then.
Jun 10
23
I forgot how much fun flying was
Well, not starting out well. It took half an hour to check in once I got to the agent as she had no idea how much to charge me for my bike. Since I am changing planes and airlines during my trip, she had no idea whether she was supposed to charge for the Lufthansa leg of my flight or not. The final decision was not to charge me anything above their regular rip-off fee for cyclist, but warned me that lufthansa would likely charge me an additional fee in London, yippee. To add insult to injury, my flight is delayed which means there is a chance I will miss my connecting flight in Calgary. I can’t wait to just get on my bike, assuming my bike actually makes it.
Jun 10
20
How does this thing work again
Jer just checking to make sure everything is working the way it’s supposed to. Should I be concerned that I just heard “What the hell does this thing do” 
Jun 10
20
And so it begins….
Well, the final ride out to Horseshoe Bay is all done and based on the gloomy weather in the background, i don’t think we’ll miss that ride for a while. Another couple of easy rides before we take off on Wednesday and then the training is pretty much done. Let the fun begin.
