July 19, 2010 (Scuol, Germany) – Today the sun was shining as we did a lap of the ski hill in Ischgl and then turned and pedalled up 1,400 meters to an elevation of 2,700 meters. It took two hours and lot of sweat. When we reached the top of the gondola it was another 400 meters to the top of the bowl.

We climbed well and when we made it to the top we felt good. Down the back side was a different story. Did I happen to mention that Cathy has a fear of heights? Totally my fault for planning a 50th birthday ride in the Alps… after 29 years of marriage I should know better, but us guys keep pushing the envelope.

During the first two days most of the descending was in the woods and we could deal with that. But this descent was wide open, heading into a big back bowl that allowed you to see most of the 1,000 metre downhill, and that was not great – we were cautious.

We left the back end of the ski area behind and hit a paved road that wound down some steep hills going back and forth with no guard rails of any sort – of course. Many other riders passed us on this stretch. Then came the double track that winds along the side of the hill – still 1,000 meters up and somewhat creepy if you looked down.

We wound our way along before climbing back up over the top. After we passed a hilltop restaurant we descended slowly on a fire road to the bottom. Then it was 30km home to the finish in Scuol along relatively flat roads and some double track.

It’s funny but we’re building friendships with all of the last place riders from Costa Rica, England and an American couple stationed in Germany who we always seem to see near the end. They descend much faster than us, but we kill them on the climbs.

We have a fantastic hotel sitting up on the hill looking at the mountains and the wine is superb so it has to be a great day. Oh did I forget, we were 8.5 hours en route today and we beat two teams.

Full results from Stage 3 here.
Read more on the Craft Bike Transalp here.