How it began

A series of happy accidents led to this trip. Completing K4 in 2006 attracted a bit of attention and led to an invitation to ride some of the greatest Alpine roads in the Jeantex Transalp Tour, the appearance of a locum doc for Al's work, and the opportunity popped up to get a VIP start in the Etape du Tour de France.

We met Uta in Liverpool in 1997 and visited her family at Lake Konstanz in Germany near the Swiss border. She married Frank a few years later only to discover he was a keen cyclist. Frank was dead set to ride the Transalp Tour 7 day Tour which runs across Austria and the Italian Alps - the Tirol - but he needed a team partner and none of his friends were dumb enough to take this on. I said "yes" by email before I knew too much about it, but what an opportunity!

Andrea suggested we combine this with a SmartKiwi trip - a few of our friends have joined Greg and Jo for cycling adventures in the Alps and Pyrennees, so we emailed them and booked that in. A chance to see the Tour de France up close.

Next Chris Chambers was offered some VIP entries to l'Etape du Tour (de France) by a friend of his who had an unfilled allocation for blue-water yachties. As we happened to be booked to be in the same part of France at the time of l'Etape, this was too good to be true. I couldnt believe my luck. It all happened within a few weeks towards the end of 2006.

Day 1 - Oberammergau to Imst

109km, 2226m ascent. A gentle run from Oberammergau through Austrian valleys, then a 900m climb over the Hahntennjoch, the last 5km at 9-10%


Imst, Austria

Theres lots on over summer. Unfortunately we’ll be gone and miss the Tarrenzer Goose festival, and the "Sheep and Alp outout in Tarrenz", whatever that is

Day 2 - Immst to Ischgl

146km, 3195m ascent

Day 2 ends in the Austrian centre of Ischgl, after a steady 1000m climb over Bielerhohe, past a pretty lake.



The following is from a tourist brochure.


"Children love Kappl. Only when the kids are satisfied can the parents begin to have fun. Naturally the Tiroler village of Kappl is not thze only place that knows this. However it is aone of the few places that actually does something about it. The Sunny Mountain-Adventure park positioned almost 1900 Metres high is carefully integrated into the natural landscape. Nevertheless everything goes for Kids: Slide tower, climbing frames, swings, water zones, Indian tents and much more - there the eyes of the small adventurers shine. Parents should discover meanwhile the new water experience world with Kneppism whirlpool, barefoot paths and Fitness courses."

Day 3 - Iscghl to Naturns

The climbs are more gentle today although still 2842m in 158km.

But dig the Tourist info again, The Sound of Music:

"Alpine Wellness is the name for the positive effect that alpine altitude and well being climates, for alpine culinary and the rediscovery of the alpine cure. The elementary power of the mountains, spicy air, juicy Alps, unmistakable traditions and humans, where hospitality was put into the cradle - all of this makes Naturns the perfect meeting place for alpine lovers."

Day 4 - Naturns via Stelvio to Livigno

118km, 3622m.
This is about the top third or so of the climb, the bit above the trees ...

The big one, inspiration for all the training. I remember when I first saw a photo of the Stelvio Pass splattered across a mountainside in Ride magazine when the Giro went over it in 2005 and wondered if I'd ever be lucky enough to have a crack at riding up it, or even if I could. Frank was going on about the Transalp race going over "der Stilsferjoch" this year, and it took a while to dawn on me thats Stelvio in German. Unreal.

There are videos on YouTube showing the Stelvio, this one shows some bike event climbing the Pass in 2006, if you have some bandwidth its about 7 mins and the panning views gives you an idea of the scale of this hill.



Most of this is 8-9% gradient, 48 hairpins ...
and then another 600m climb after the 20-odd km descent to Bormio.

Day 5 - Livigno to Ponte di Legno

The hardest climb is on Day 5, 113km 2736m ascent. We're in Italy now. A gentle 300m rise then racing 40km down the valley before climbing the Mortirolo. Theres a Marco Pantani memorial near the top.

Lance had this to say in 2004 "It's a terrible climb...it's perfect for a mountain bike. On the hardest parts, I was riding a 39x27 and I was hurting, really hurting. (Mortirolo) is the hardest climb I've ever ridden. My time up the climb? It's not important; I rode the Mortirolo to have some fun and ride with the 'cicloamatori'..."

The tourist blurb again: “And for those of you, who do sport with their money? No fear! In this duty-free area are more than 250 business so that Shopping does not know borders: one knows it, this sport is loved by women the most, any time of the year.”

Day 6 - Ponte di Legno to Kaltern

108km, 2370m ascent.
Smaller hills now. Finish in Kaltern by the lake, wine-growing country and apparently they're labelling some bottles for our Tour.

Day 7 - Riva del Garda

99km, 1804m ascent.

The finale. Just 2 smaller climbs and downhill to Riva del Garda. Just like Queenstown, I'm told you can get seriously debauched here. And whats wrong with that. We're staying here for a couple of nights.