Day 8 - the finish line

More than a little bit late...

Everybody was in high spirits for the start of the final stage knowing that there was the prospect of chilling out at lake garda to soothe aching bodies, some more than others!



The day started with a 47km neutralised transfer which involved freewheeling at up to 60kph down into the valley behing a pace car.... easy you might think but there were many not used to riding in such a big group and it was to Cookie and Paul's horror that someone crashed right in front of them leaving them nowhere to go but into him! cookies wheels were trashed in the process and he ended up using the other guys bike to finish the stage. After that carnage a steep 800 meter climb pushed our tired legs and had us walking in several places. the steep singletrack that awaited us on hte descent left us frustrated as there was a large queue due to so many walking down it.... aargh! we were then into the lash climb of the translap which fortunataly was paved road till almost the top and wasnt too steep, however it was 14km long... We were in for a big shock at during the descent though, theres no such thing as an easy roll into the finish line on the transalp! This was definately the hardest descent of the race on the famous Tremalzo trail dropping 1800 metres 1200 in hte final 5km alone! It consisted of rocky switchbacks and large coblestone path of ridiculous steepness that had hands aching from the effort of braking and caused my rear brake to boil forcing me to stop for 2 minutes and frantically try to cool it down! On the way to the way we passed through Limone town hall gardens before ending up on the glorious beach and finish line to be greeted by a large crowd and recieve our medals.

What a day!

Day 7

Supposedly the easiest day of the raceat 47km long it still took us over 4.5 hours as it included 2700 metres of climbing at gradients of up to 22%! Our tired legs forced us to walk for several sections and my feet were already suffering after yesterdays hike... thank god for compeed. I had my first puncture today at the start of the descent and im glad it was on a slow corner as many have come a cropper as we are hitting very high speeds on the descents!

Tomorrow is the last day and we will both be glad to give our shattered bodies a rest and be able to lie in till midday and then soak up some sun and beer. The start of the last stage includes 47km of "neutralised transfer" basically following the pace car and having a yarn with the lads and soaking up the atmosphere... Then the final two climbs bring us onto the famous tremmlazo trail with its rocky technical descent, i will try and keep the red mist in check!

we are staying in Riva till Tuesday and then return to our normal lives in Norn Iron and bore everyone with photos and exagerated stories of the transalp!

Day 6

Today was billed as the hardest day of the race!! Following on from the 125 km yesterday we were face with a mere 85km today but the sting in the tail came in the 3400 metres of climbing. For those of you who are unsure of how high this actually is - it is almost 7 times the height of Slieve Martin in Rostrevor or 10 times the height of Cavehill in Belfast. Enough said.

We started out with a switchback 1500 metre climb which took us to 2000 metres above our starting point of Naturns before a dusty descent which lasted for almost 15kms. This was steep and technical in places and the already tired brakes and arms took a further battering. From here we started the final savage climb of the day. It started with a nice (??) road climb in the sweltering heat which, after 15km turned to gravel trail and then back to road before the final bit on which we had to push our bikes for almost 6km up 700 metres which took almost one hour and then the fun began.

First was a very dusty technical trail which had most people walking but we were able to ride the thing despite Simon's brakes cooking and my front fork loosing a fair bit of oil. Then was a road descent where we jostled for places with two other teams at speeds of almost 70km per hour. The final spin into Male was mostly forest trail and then over the cobbles and past the finish line to complete another day.

Day 7 tomorrow and the talk of beer is increasing.

Thanks to all those who have posted and to the lurkers who haven't - please post - we don't bite!!!

Team Ireland 1, 2 and 3

Howdy folks back home.....

Here is the second instalment in the Team Ireland progress report.

The lads continue to push their way over the Alps with Kookie now being the fastest man over an Alp with his arm tied to his Camelbak!! Paul continues to push up the hills and he was seen giving a farmer a hand to milk some cows whilst he waited on his partner....

Despite bike probems at the start of the week Andy and Tommy are going well as are Eddie and Brendan. Eddie is having to use any available means of getting his GPS charged and it was last reported that he had some sort of dynamo rigged up to the bike in the evening with Brendan spinning at 200 rpm to get the thing charged for the next day.

More tomorrow as I think the woman in the hotel is annoyed at us using her office for the last hour!!

Day 5

A stage that would have given a mountain goat vertigo!

Today was the longest stage of the race at 120km long and also the highest starting at 1800m in Livigno and reaching 2768m. It was not just the height but also the steepness of the trails that were scary... one foot wrong and it would have been your last! I was able to take some amazing photos today and will be able to post them up when i get home. It was a difficult stage today and took us 7h 55m and we are both very tired and sore tonight... but over 300 teams took over 10h to complete the course and must be feeling much worse than us. We pushed hard today and have moved up from 187th to 164th overall in the mens category.

No rest for the wicked though as tomorrow we have the toughest stage with 2 huge very steep climbs, hopefully we will sleep well tonight and feel better tomorrow.

Day 4

Scuol to Livignio in Italy today. We started off with a great climb along a river up to Pass de Costinas at 2200 meters which was then followed by some amazing descending by Sinon with me having to hang on his wheel the whole way down. After that most of the day morphs into one but it was followed with some steeper climbs and some amazing trails as we approached Livigno. The lakes around Liigno are amazing nd by the time we reached the town we had seen evry one of them!! Instead of allowing us to go straight into the town we had to do a loop of the place which took us about 200 metres above the place before some hairy descents to the finish line. Great day, both going well but tired. 5 hours 30 mins today, 13.3km per hour average, 167th place today, 184th overall. Correct me if i'm wrong as this is being written in a haze of tiredness!!

Anyone got sudocream for Simon????

Part of 38 nations competing....

We have been added to the transalp homepage...
http://www.transalpchallenge.com/news/index.php?lang=en&id=38

Day 3

A difficult start to the day with a 1400m climb up to bring us up to 2700m, but we were rewarded with an amazing panoramic view of the alps. The descent was equally fantastic with speeds hitting 70kph on the tarmac. A smaller climb lead us into a lovely section of technical singletrack with nobody in front of us to spoil the fun. The last 23km was a gentle climb the whole way but we were were drafting in a group and flew along.

No real problems today apart from a bent link in my chain and someone trying to run me off the road at the border into switzerland....

Temperatures were well into the 30s today with a maximum of 37c apparently we are going to get a heatwave in the next few days so things are going to be very uncomfortable by the time we hit northern Italy.

Progress Report on Team Ireland 1, 2 and 3

The other lads have asked me to post here to let all their better halves know they are all flying but are missing the home cooking something serious!! For someone that wasnt going well before he came out here Kookie is flying as is the Yankee, come Irish man, Paul. Eddie and Brendan are as steady as ever and Andy is giving Tommy a great introduction to the Alps. No problems on the first two days apart from a bit of nappy rash but i´m told that the partners who are coming out to Riva will be able to sort that out ........

A wee climb of 1400 metres in the morning and after that it´s all downhill!!

More to follow.

Rowan

Day two

annother sunny day today with temperatures hitting 35C at times, plenty of water has been drunk and sweated out so far! 3200 metres of climbing today and we finished after 6 1/2 hours a good bit higher and further into the Austrian alps.

We were 193rd today for an overall position of 189th out of 560 teams.... not too shaby.