July 20, 2008 (Ishgl, Austria) – Canadian MTB legend and Pedal columnist, Alison Sydor (Rocky Mountain), is competing at the 8-day 2008 Trans Alps, June 19-26, with her partner Pia Sundstedt (Fin), Marathon World Cup winner. Sydor and Sundstedt won the Absa Cape Epic event earlier this year and have teamed up for the 11th annual Jeantex Trans Alp race featuring 550 teams and 1,100 riders. Ali will be sending us daily reports from the front lines as conditions allow for an inside look at this epic endurance race.

Greetings once again from the (Austrian) alps! Some of the epic stage races like Transrockies and Cape Epic have a camp where the riders stay in tents and campers as there are no hotels really on the course. Other races like Trans Alps have a small camp but not many riders stay there — during the race we are in hotels each night. But at each of these races there’s an evening dinner and awards ceremony for all. The food can be a mixed bag here at the Trans Alps. Each village we finish in is responsible for the meal, some do a better job than others. Last night was so good! Good thing as it seemed Pia and I and our Rocky Mountain men’s team were super hungry after the first stage.

I’ve always enjoyed superb weather at Trans Alps but the forcast for today was not so good. Rain and cool. I dressed in a jersey (a nice pink leaders jersey!), arm warmers and a nylon vest — with a rain jacket in my pocket. We got lucky though as the sun came out 5 minutes after the start. I was pleased although a bit overheated on the first climb. Heavy rain all through the night before had made for some wet and slick trails.

4km off the start line we had some good luck and bad luck. Pia flatted but right before a closed rail road crossing. We managed to get the tire fixed well before the train had passed.

After this the climb started — a pretty big one even by Trans Alps standards. We rode a good tempo to the top, riding a bit slower at the bottom and faster near the top.

We could look back most of the way up to keep an eye on the other women’s teams on the switchbacks below us. The Zwillingcraft team was close behind most of the way up but we had a solid gap on them by the start of the downhill.

Some dirt must have entered my fork lockout cable and it would not unlock for the descent. So I had to do it with a rigid fork for about 8km long and quite rough — ouch! At the bottom of the descent we passed by some team vans and Pia started to ask everyone for cable cutters. It can be quite convenient having a teammate who speaks five languages. I was offered some small cutters and a freindly hand that cut through the cable and housing (was not easy though) to free up my travel again. Knowing there was a lot of trail today it proved to be a smart move.

On the next climb we found our first feeders of the day. We grabbed a couple bottles each and a couple air cartridges too. We also found ourselves some friendly dudes to ride with for a while.

It was a surprise when the Zwillingcraft team caught us from behind. It’s a very frustrating situation for all of the other women in the field. This team basically rides with a team of male “escorts”. They give them a big draft on the flats and carry the water up the climbs and who knows what else. They’re the only team that does this and I find it hard to believe it’s in the spirit of the event.

When they came up I was pretty angry and told the escort to go ride with his teammate as he was solo, as that’s against the race rules. So he dropped back for a while and immediately the girls dropped off as well. Out of our sight they rejoined their “friends” — but we could see them working again together when we had some valley views. They won’t beat us whatever they try but it’s annoying and unfair to the other teams that are fighting fairly for podium spots here.

Thank goodness we had saved some energy for the last 20kms as they were tough – a bit of nice trail though which was very scenic and enjoyable. Also the final section of the valley today was lined with beautiful mountains – yes, we looked.

When you could see the river raging below you could tell how much climbing you were doing on this steep valley trail up to the finish. We caught and passed many teams on this stretch as it was not a good finish for those who had started the day a bit too hard.

Despite a bit of agitation from the second place team we had a nice day in the mountains. Successful too as we extended our overall lead. I have to add that a nice day here still means a very hard day in the saddle just to get to the finish line.

We were fortunate to get in to the finish under a sun beam. While we were recuperating in our hotel, watching the Tour de France stage on the TV, a massive rain storm started. The rain then turned to hail for a while and it’s been pretty steady now for some time.

There are riders still out in this nasty weather trying to get up to the finish. We know the pain as we suffered as well, riding plenty of time at our max heart rates, to finish on top of our classification each day. It’s a different sort of struggle though but no less difficult for the teams who sometimes take more than twice as long as the pros to get to the finish line each day. Especially when the weather turns as challenging as today.

Nobody expects an easy ride here and nobody gets it, which makes for some very hungry riders at the evening dinner. I hope its a good one tonight. Everyone surely earned it today!

Full results here.