Internet! (first post of a couple...)

We got onto a huge ferry to cross from Sweden to Germany. It was a pretty neat ship called the "Peter Pan." There was a guy singing in the lounge area, he was Swedish but he only sang American oldies. Very interesting. 

When we woke up in the morning we ate breakfast. Early. "If you are first in line you do not have to wait," said Dad. Well we were not quite the first in line but we were pretty close. The song "Boombox" by The Lonely Island would describe it best! The boat docked soon after and we were on our way through Germany. 

The drive went well. It was hillier and more rural than I was expecting. However, there was no lack of traffic. Apparently everyone is going on vacation. We stopped at a restaurant along the freeway to eat. Warning: Germans have taken Capitalism to a new level! At this particular restaurant they were charging to use the bathroom. One justification for this is that they do a very good job of cleaning it. After we passed through Munich it wasn't long before we could see the Alps in the distance.

It didn't take long for the Alps to become extremely large! As we wound through them they grew taller and more intimidating. Within kilometers of Mittenwald (the beginning of the TransAlp) the first thought in my mind was OOPS! We checked in and Oskar's parents found a place to stay for the night. We found the gym that we were sleeping in for the night. It was in a military camp which was nestled under the menacing mountains. Off to bed!

Waking up was not an issue with a couple hundred others waking up early as well. We found the chow hall and discovered a great breakfast waiting for us. They were not messing around in that camp! Oskar also pointed out our second clue that this would obviously be a difficult adventure, EVERYONE looked similar to Hemstad! Off to the start.

The huge number of riders was a little overwhelming. The start area was extremely crowded. At 10 am they let us head off to decide our own fate. Not going to lie, seeing those mountains around us made me a little nervous. However, once we were well on our way up the first climb (a measly 900m) we realized that it wouldn't be so bad. After cresting the first climb there was a pleasant surprise awaiting. The downhill was pretty incredible and also very technical considering it was a 2-track. It was all very loose rock and very steep. A challenge to go fast, not to mention if you screwed up it would not be pretty. The mountain sides are extremely steep. As we quickly dropped down into the valley we were reminded to be careful when we saw a rider on the side of the trail that had slid off a high speed corner and caught a tree (less steep here). He was being taken care of and we hope that he will be alright. We could see the next climb in the distance…

After the first aid station the second climb started. This was not as long, only 700 meters or so. I began to feel the legs here, Oskar was a great teammate and encouraged me along. Eventually we made it over the top and started down the other side. This was extremely steep. The grades were beyond 20% and quite sketchy. The turns were very sharp and the 29ers did not handle these nearly as well as the 26" bikes that a majority of the field were riding. It is safe to say that my triceps have never cramped because of steep downhills. The Ergon grips were life-savers for the hands! Eventually we wound down for a long descent toward the final climb to the finish. We were able to get into a paceline with a few others until the climb. It was a rough climb. At this point I was pedaling through leg cramps and Oskar was seemingly fresh. He says his legs were getting tired but he may have been trying to make me feel better…We made it to the top of the asphalt then they sent us down another 2-track. Good! We are almost done! Nope, they are cruel here, they say this is difficult for a reason. We still had another 1.5 km to climb up to the finish. Eventually I had to stop and shake out some cramps. We began to walk up the climb. I couldn't handle being passed anymore and we began pedaling again. Oskar was pushing me up the hill which was very welcome. The finish came soon after. We made it and we are sitting in 99th place in the men's race. We think we are somewhere in the top 200 overall and yes, we did get girl'd. They are fast here, as a shirt said, "Raised to Race." I think maybe the word born was lost in translation…

Hopefully tomorrow goes well. Today was only about 2100m of climbing over 95km and tomorrow is around 2900m in 68km. We saw the profile of the entire course and learned that we will be doing 21,000m of climbing before this is over.

I will add pictures when I have faster internet...