On the picture a selection of mostly German homemade Christmas Cookies (Zimtsterne/Cinnamon Stars, Gingerbread, Spitzbuben, Vanillekipferl and Mandelrauten (Buttercookies with lots of almonds, haselnuts and jam)
Jennifer and Steffen
It's all about balance.
Monday, December 24, 2012
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
We wish all followers, friends and family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, keep following us next year as new recipes and other interesting posts are on their way.
On the picture a selection of mostly German homemade Christmas Cookies (Zimtsterne/Cinnamon Stars, Gingerbread, Spitzbuben, Vanillekipferl and Mandelrauten (Buttercookies with lots of almonds, haselnuts and jam)
Jennifer and Steffen
On the picture a selection of mostly German homemade Christmas Cookies (Zimtsterne/Cinnamon Stars, Gingerbread, Spitzbuben, Vanillekipferl and Mandelrauten (Buttercookies with lots of almonds, haselnuts and jam)
Jennifer and Steffen
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Make your own energy bars!
I loved the energy bars in the US. They were so convient and some were even good for you! Here in Germany they are not so popular and very expensive. Clifbars are nowhere to be found and a Powerbar will cost you almost $3.00! So I decided to make my own energy bars.
Ingredients:
2 cups oatmeal
1/2 ground almonds (you can substitue almond flour or a nut butter)
1/2 cup honey (you can sub maple syrup or agave nectar)
12 dates finely chopped
1 apple finely chopped
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Mix all of this together in a large bowl. If your mixture looks to runny you can always add more oats if it seems to dry then you can add some more liquid, like another egg white. You can also add in more dried fruit, a mashed banana or two, and nuts if you want.
Once everything is mixed, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and press the mixture together to form a rectangular or square shape that is about 1/2 thick. Place this in a oven preheated to 325 F and bake for 15-20 mins. It should be golden brown on the top and bottom. You can than use a pizza cutter or large knife to cut them to a size that works best for you. These keep for at least 2 weeks in the fridge, maybe longer but I ate all of them within 2 weeks, and they freeze well.
 |
| One giant energy bar! Later I cut it into about 8 smaller bars. |
Ingredients:
2 cups oatmeal
1/2 ground almonds (you can substitue almond flour or a nut butter)
1/2 cup honey (you can sub maple syrup or agave nectar)
12 dates finely chopped
1 apple finely chopped
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Mix all of this together in a large bowl. If your mixture looks to runny you can always add more oats if it seems to dry then you can add some more liquid, like another egg white. You can also add in more dried fruit, a mashed banana or two, and nuts if you want.
Once everything is mixed, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and press the mixture together to form a rectangular or square shape that is about 1/2 thick. Place this in a oven preheated to 325 F and bake for 15-20 mins. It should be golden brown on the top and bottom. You can than use a pizza cutter or large knife to cut them to a size that works best for you. These keep for at least 2 weeks in the fridge, maybe longer but I ate all of them within 2 weeks, and they freeze well.
 |
| On their way into the oven. |
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Endurance Athlete: Eating to refuel post workout!
Did you notice the title of this blog?
It says eating to REFUEL post workout. It does not say eating to celebrate because you finished a hard workout.
Why do we work out hard? To reach goals, become faster, more fit, and be able to do more than we could yesterday.
In order to reach these goals to the best of our ability, we need to really be conscious of what we are putting in our bodies after a workout.
Let's say you just rode your bike for 2 hours then ran for 1 hour, including some serious intervals.
What should you eat after?
A peanut butter and banana sandwich, an apple, and low fat chocolate milk or a cheeseburger with fries and soda?
Remember, you want to eat to provide some immediate energy and then some slow release energy. The immediate energy is ideally in a ratio of 2:1, 2 parts simple carbs and 1 part protein. It should be consumed as soon as possible after the workout.
Your body is already taxed from the workout and is trying to recover from what you did. Should you really eat a giant fatty meal that diverts blood away from my muscles and focuses it instead on your gut trying to digest food, thereby extending how long it takes you to recover from the workout?
Refueling your body with good nutrition is said to be particularly important for the same time as the actual workout. Meaning a 3h workout leads to 3h of refueling. Simple carbs in the beginning moving onto solid food including complex carbs, antioxidant rich vegetables, some protein, while maintaining a diet on the alkaline side of things.
It is nice to celebrate after a hard workout, but to celebrate with bad nutrition is like taking one step forward and two steps back. In the post workout celebration, alcohol will also have its negative impacts. If it has to be part, at least make it an antioxidant beverage, such as a hoppy beer or a glass of red wine.
But wait, my Garmin/HRM watch said I burned X number of calories!! So two things about this statement:
1. According one study done, HRM have been shown to be only 75% accurate in calculating calorie expenditure. They typically overestimate calories burned by 12% or more depending on how you calculated your max HR and VO2max.
2. So let's say my Garmin told me I burned 2000 calories for my little workout above. Does that mean I now have a calorie deficit of 2000 calories that I need to replace? No! I need to take into account what I ate and drank pre-workout and during the workout. My calorie deficit and what I need to eat is actually much less.
Eat to train!
It says eating to REFUEL post workout. It does not say eating to celebrate because you finished a hard workout.
Why do we work out hard? To reach goals, become faster, more fit, and be able to do more than we could yesterday.
In order to reach these goals to the best of our ability, we need to really be conscious of what we are putting in our bodies after a workout.
Let's say you just rode your bike for 2 hours then ran for 1 hour, including some serious intervals.
What should you eat after?
A peanut butter and banana sandwich, an apple, and low fat chocolate milk or a cheeseburger with fries and soda?
 |
| Source: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TTmHg_55RHU/S9I4e4_-b TI/AAAAAAAACJw/fGMT31WsDsA/s1600/baconator.jpg |
Remember, you want to eat to provide some immediate energy and then some slow release energy. The immediate energy is ideally in a ratio of 2:1, 2 parts simple carbs and 1 part protein. It should be consumed as soon as possible after the workout.
Your body is already taxed from the workout and is trying to recover from what you did. Should you really eat a giant fatty meal that diverts blood away from my muscles and focuses it instead on your gut trying to digest food, thereby extending how long it takes you to recover from the workout?
Refueling your body with good nutrition is said to be particularly important for the same time as the actual workout. Meaning a 3h workout leads to 3h of refueling. Simple carbs in the beginning moving onto solid food including complex carbs, antioxidant rich vegetables, some protein, while maintaining a diet on the alkaline side of things.
It is nice to celebrate after a hard workout, but to celebrate with bad nutrition is like taking one step forward and two steps back. In the post workout celebration, alcohol will also have its negative impacts. If it has to be part, at least make it an antioxidant beverage, such as a hoppy beer or a glass of red wine.
But wait, my Garmin/HRM watch said I burned X number of calories!! So two things about this statement:
1. According one study done, HRM have been shown to be only 75% accurate in calculating calorie expenditure. They typically overestimate calories burned by 12% or more depending on how you calculated your max HR and VO2max.
2. So let's say my Garmin told me I burned 2000 calories for my little workout above. Does that mean I now have a calorie deficit of 2000 calories that I need to replace? No! I need to take into account what I ate and drank pre-workout and during the workout. My calorie deficit and what I need to eat is actually much less.
Eat to train!
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
What's the skinny on alkaline diet?
It makes you feel better!
Why?
Increased acidity levels in your body can lead to low energy levels, a tendency to get sick easily, and pain and inflammation. Hence a more balanced (alkaline/acidic) diet will give you more energy, and will enable your body to fight off attacks against your immune system, since it isn't busy fighting acid. Your body is constantly working on keeping your blood ph between 7.35 and 7.45.
How?
By reducing the intake of foods and beverages that lead to increased acidity levels. The importance is the effect on your body, not how they taste. Foods and beverages can be acidic themselves, but lead to an alkaline reaction in your system, such as citrus fruits or vinegar. The main contributors to an acidic diet are:
- sugar
- too much protein in form of meat, poultry, fish and dairy
- soda, especially diet soda
- processed/fried food
- white flour: bread, pasta
What to eat?
Not only is it important to leave out or reduce some of the acidic nutrients, it is also important to add minerals to your diet. The most effective way of doing that is by adding foods and beverages that contain the minerals. The benefit of this way are that the minerals are continuously added to your digestive system, which allows it to absorb more. Supplements are the less effective alternative. These foods are:
- fruits and vegetables (except legumes, they are too high in protein and hence acidic)
- whole wheat products, they are less acidic, but still have cause an acidic reaction
- mineral waters with high mineral contents
(Germany classifies waters with particularly high mineral contents as healing water)
- herbal teas
The mineral content of fruits and vegetables varies. It is generally recommended to buy local. The benefit of buying local is that the goods were already ripe when they were harvested. Naturally ripened fruits/vegetables positively affects the alkalinity content (mineral and fructose content). There are of course fruits and vegetables that have alkaline effects that are not growing in every region, such as bananas, citrus fruits etc. A general rule is also that the closer things grow to the ground the better they are.
Most alkaline diets recommend a 80/20 rule for alkaline and acidic nutrients. We have softened our approach slightly and try not to eat more than one acidic food at the time. When eating meat, fish or poultry, we strive for two other alkaline sides such as salad or vegetables and potatoes. It is also recommended to leave out meat, cold cuts, sausage or other high protein foods a few days a week.
How to eat?
Eat slowly and chew properly. It adds enzymes and simplifies the digestive process by providing more surface area for the gastric acid to do its job. It is also recommended to not drink with your meal, instead wait 30 mins. Fluids reduce the acidity of gastric acids and slow down the digestive process.
Enough for the skinny on alkaline diet! A follow up blog for athletes and alkaline diet will come soon.
Feel free to post questions :)
Steffen
PS: If you are going to try it out, you may choose a cleansing week and please be patient. There is a lot of acid built up that will take a while to be removed until the true effects will come through. You should feel some improvements though.
Why?
 |
| Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Da_Vinci_Vitruve_Luc_Viatour.jpg |
How?
By reducing the intake of foods and beverages that lead to increased acidity levels. The importance is the effect on your body, not how they taste. Foods and beverages can be acidic themselves, but lead to an alkaline reaction in your system, such as citrus fruits or vinegar. The main contributors to an acidic diet are:
- sugar
- too much protein in form of meat, poultry, fish and dairy
- soda, especially diet soda
- processed/fried food
- white flour: bread, pasta
What to eat?
Not only is it important to leave out or reduce some of the acidic nutrients, it is also important to add minerals to your diet. The most effective way of doing that is by adding foods and beverages that contain the minerals. The benefit of this way are that the minerals are continuously added to your digestive system, which allows it to absorb more. Supplements are the less effective alternative. These foods are:
- fruits and vegetables (except legumes, they are too high in protein and hence acidic)
- whole wheat products, they are less acidic, but still have cause an acidic reaction
- mineral waters with high mineral contents
(Germany classifies waters with particularly high mineral contents as healing water)
- herbal teas
The mineral content of fruits and vegetables varies. It is generally recommended to buy local. The benefit of buying local is that the goods were already ripe when they were harvested. Naturally ripened fruits/vegetables positively affects the alkalinity content (mineral and fructose content). There are of course fruits and vegetables that have alkaline effects that are not growing in every region, such as bananas, citrus fruits etc. A general rule is also that the closer things grow to the ground the better they are.
Most alkaline diets recommend a 80/20 rule for alkaline and acidic nutrients. We have softened our approach slightly and try not to eat more than one acidic food at the time. When eating meat, fish or poultry, we strive for two other alkaline sides such as salad or vegetables and potatoes. It is also recommended to leave out meat, cold cuts, sausage or other high protein foods a few days a week.
How to eat?
Eat slowly and chew properly. It adds enzymes and simplifies the digestive process by providing more surface area for the gastric acid to do its job. It is also recommended to not drink with your meal, instead wait 30 mins. Fluids reduce the acidity of gastric acids and slow down the digestive process.
Enough for the skinny on alkaline diet! A follow up blog for athletes and alkaline diet will come soon.
Feel free to post questions :)
Steffen
PS: If you are going to try it out, you may choose a cleansing week and please be patient. There is a lot of acid built up that will take a while to be removed until the true effects will come through. You should feel some improvements though.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Healthy Apple Pie- German style (Apfelkuchen)
This recipe is adapted from one of Steffen's German cookbooks. The book is called "Kochen und Backen nach Grundrezepten" by Luise Haarer and Regina Menne. What I love about the recipe is that it is a basic crust with minimal fat and sugar and you can use almost any fruit for the filling. We used to double the recipe and make it on a large baking sheet, but I found out after preparing it once here, in Germany, that the baking sheet doesn't fit in our little oven :( So now I bake it in a 26 cm tart pan.
Here is the recipe for the crust-
-Preheat the oven to 375
You will need:
65 grams of melted butter (about half a stick of butter)*( I usually use about 30 grams of butter and 35 grams of applesauce)
250 grams of flour *( I typically use spelt flour, but i'm sure any other flour would be fine)
65 grams of sugar *(because I use apple sauce I usually add a little less sugar)
1 egg
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon baking powder
I mix everything in the mixer until it has mostly come together. Then you will have to knead it a little on a lightly floured surface until all ingredients are well combined. I haven't had great success with rolling the dough out and then transferring it to the pan, so I just flatten the dough by hand into the pan. Make sure you grease your pan with cooking spray or butter. Once the dough is evenly pressed into the pan you can continue with the filling.
Here is what you need for the filling:
5-6 apples depending on what size they are. Try to use a firm apple, Granny Smiths or Golden Delicious apples work well
2 tablespoons sugar (optional)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (optional)
1/4 cup raisins (optional)
Wash and peel the apples. Cut the apples in half and remove the seeds. I like to use a melon baller for the part. Then slice each half into small even slices. Once you are done you can arrange the apples how ever you like onto the crust. Once you are done arranging the apples you can sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar on top. If you decide to add the raisins I would wait until the last few minutes of baking to add them and cover the pie with foil after since they tend to burn easily.
Once you are finished preparing the pie, place it in your preheated 375 ℉ oven for 40-45 mins. Once the crust starts getting brown around the edges is it done.
I have also made this same recipe using fresh apricots and plums and they came out great!
Here is the recipe for the crust-
-Preheat the oven to 375
You will need:
65 grams of melted butter (about half a stick of butter)*( I usually use about 30 grams of butter and 35 grams of applesauce)
250 grams of flour *( I typically use spelt flour, but i'm sure any other flour would be fine)
65 grams of sugar *(because I use apple sauce I usually add a little less sugar)
1 egg
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon baking powder
I mix everything in the mixer until it has mostly come together. Then you will have to knead it a little on a lightly floured surface until all ingredients are well combined. I haven't had great success with rolling the dough out and then transferring it to the pan, so I just flatten the dough by hand into the pan. Make sure you grease your pan with cooking spray or butter. Once the dough is evenly pressed into the pan you can continue with the filling.
Here is what you need for the filling:
5-6 apples depending on what size they are. Try to use a firm apple, Granny Smiths or Golden Delicious apples work well
2 tablespoons sugar (optional)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (optional)
1/4 cup raisins (optional)
Wash and peel the apples. Cut the apples in half and remove the seeds. I like to use a melon baller for the part. Then slice each half into small even slices. Once you are done you can arrange the apples how ever you like onto the crust. Once you are done arranging the apples you can sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar on top. If you decide to add the raisins I would wait until the last few minutes of baking to add them and cover the pie with foil after since they tend to burn easily.
Once you are finished preparing the pie, place it in your preheated 375 ℉ oven for 40-45 mins. Once the crust starts getting brown around the edges is it done.
I have also made this same recipe using fresh apricots and plums and they came out great!
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Transalp Stage 8
Madonna di Campiglio, Italy to Riva del Garda, Italy
Distance: 75.10 km and 1778 m of climbing.
Route information
This was the last stage. It was amazing how quickly the past 7 days had gone by. This stage started with another 1000m of climbing in front of us. At the beginning there was a traffic jam at the bottom of the hill and cool temps. Rain joined us on the mountain at 1850m above sea level. The down hill was very cold and I had made the mistake to not bring along long gloves. The result was that I lost ten minutes on Andi on a 1100m downhill.
The rest stops saved me that day by serving hot broth. Things got better from the 50 kilometer point on. There was one more little climb that turned out to be rather strenuous, due to the wet conditions. When we crossed the peak we could already see Lago di Garda. The last downhill trail seemed like it would have been a fun trail in dry conditions. Since it was so wet we went with the safe option and pushed our bikes on some of the slippery rock sections.
We are official finishers!!
Distance: 75.10 km and 1778 m of climbing.
 |
| Amazing experience, we will see you again Transalp!! |
Route information
This was the last stage. It was amazing how quickly the past 7 days had gone by. This stage started with another 1000m of climbing in front of us. At the beginning there was a traffic jam at the bottom of the hill and cool temps. Rain joined us on the mountain at 1850m above sea level. The down hill was very cold and I had made the mistake to not bring along long gloves. The result was that I lost ten minutes on Andi on a 1100m downhill.
The rest stops saved me that day by serving hot broth. Things got better from the 50 kilometer point on. There was one more little climb that turned out to be rather strenuous, due to the wet conditions. When we crossed the peak we could already see Lago di Garda. The last downhill trail seemed like it would have been a fun trail in dry conditions. Since it was so wet we went with the safe option and pushed our bikes on some of the slippery rock sections.
We are official finishers!!
 |
| Last finish line |
 |
| Finisher Medals |
 |
| Finisher Jerseys |
 |
| Post race hydration |
 |
| Post post race hydration! |
 |
| view of Lago di Garda |
 |
| The amazing motorcycle rescue crew, they rode all the trails with us. Thank you! |
Transalp Stage 7
Ponte di Legno, Italy to Madonna di Campiglio, Italy
Distance: 73.16 km and 3248 m of climbing.
Route information
I was quite surprised how quickly I had recovered from the previous day's stage where I had struggled some. This day was another hard stage. The rout was shorter than yesterday, but almost the same climbing. Since there were two long downhills, we were hopeful to make up more time on the teams immediately in front of us and we did :). We rode up and down and up and down!! The views today were again an amazing experience. The clouds added some interesting views to the high mountain peaks. As in many stages the race director added a nasty bit at the end of the stage. This time it was an adventure section through a marsh. Supposedly riding through more than ankle deep mud was supposed to be a fun adventure! We were able to push up the last climb and made up some time :). Again it was a close finish within the time limit, but we made it. Madonna di Campiglio could have left a better impression on the riders. The camp showers were in a container with cold water and the dinner was in a parking deck.
Distance: 73.16 km and 3248 m of climbing.
Route information
I was quite surprised how quickly I had recovered from the previous day's stage where I had struggled some. This day was another hard stage. The rout was shorter than yesterday, but almost the same climbing. Since there were two long downhills, we were hopeful to make up more time on the teams immediately in front of us and we did :). We rode up and down and up and down!! The views today were again an amazing experience. The clouds added some interesting views to the high mountain peaks. As in many stages the race director added a nasty bit at the end of the stage. This time it was an adventure section through a marsh. Supposedly riding through more than ankle deep mud was supposed to be a fun adventure! We were able to push up the last climb and made up some time :). Again it was a close finish within the time limit, but we made it. Madonna di Campiglio could have left a better impression on the riders. The camp showers were in a container with cold water and the dinner was in a parking deck.
 |
| Start, riders as far as you can see |
 |
| Welcome to Italy, talking with hands required |
Transalp Stage 6
Livigno, Italy to Ponte di Legno, Italy
Distance: 106.29 km and 3451 m of climbing.
Route information
Today I felt like the race had really started.That the first 5 stages were training and just having fun. The day's goal was for us to stay within the time limit. Since it was the longest stage we started an hour early (8.00AM) and the finish line stayed open an hour later (7:00 pm). The biggest difference in today's stage to previous stages was that the biggest climb was at the end.
At the beginning of the stage there were traffic jams leaving Livignio and we were therefor forced to walk up parts of the first climb. We were riding pretty hard as soon as we could trying to reach our first goal timepoint that we had set four ourselves. We tried to stay on track in order to make the two official time cut-offs that the race officials had set. Andi did a great job planning our pace for the day. In retrospect, I had probably gone out a little too hard and burned a match or two early on. It was again obvious that a lot of the riders did not possess any technical riding skills. It was not uncommon to see people pushing bikes on sections that were easily rideable. We were on such a tight schedule we didn't have any time for picture taking.There wasn't much time for pictures today!
The first two climbs were followed by a long flat section (20km). One more 400m climb and then we were off onto the longest downhill (1700m), 38 min of riding down. After the downhill there was one more rest stop and the well known Mortirolo pass was ahead of us. It was 1500m up in the grueling afternoon heat. I was running out of energy and was trying to stuff as many calories into me as I could, but I could never get back out of the hole. Needless to say, that the end of the stage seemed to last forever! The last 10 km was the longest 10 km I can ever remember. There was gentle climbs into the town of Ponte di Legno. I have to say, I don't think my tank was ever as empty as it was that day. It took 15 min of sitting down, before i could eat something and move on. After eating some good Italian food for dinner, I felt like I had some life back in me and ready for the next day. And yes, we did make the All the time cut-offs :)!!
Distance: 106.29 km and 3451 m of climbing.
Route information
 |
| swtichbacks |
Today I felt like the race had really started.That the first 5 stages were training and just having fun. The day's goal was for us to stay within the time limit. Since it was the longest stage we started an hour early (8.00AM) and the finish line stayed open an hour later (7:00 pm). The biggest difference in today's stage to previous stages was that the biggest climb was at the end.
At the beginning of the stage there were traffic jams leaving Livignio and we were therefor forced to walk up parts of the first climb. We were riding pretty hard as soon as we could trying to reach our first goal timepoint that we had set four ourselves. We tried to stay on track in order to make the two official time cut-offs that the race officials had set. Andi did a great job planning our pace for the day. In retrospect, I had probably gone out a little too hard and burned a match or two early on. It was again obvious that a lot of the riders did not possess any technical riding skills. It was not uncommon to see people pushing bikes on sections that were easily rideable. We were on such a tight schedule we didn't have any time for picture taking.There wasn't much time for pictures today!
The first two climbs were followed by a long flat section (20km). One more 400m climb and then we were off onto the longest downhill (1700m), 38 min of riding down. After the downhill there was one more rest stop and the well known Mortirolo pass was ahead of us. It was 1500m up in the grueling afternoon heat. I was running out of energy and was trying to stuff as many calories into me as I could, but I could never get back out of the hole. Needless to say, that the end of the stage seemed to last forever! The last 10 km was the longest 10 km I can ever remember. There was gentle climbs into the town of Ponte di Legno. I have to say, I don't think my tank was ever as empty as it was that day. It took 15 min of sitting down, before i could eat something and move on. After eating some good Italian food for dinner, I felt like I had some life back in me and ready for the next day. And yes, we did make the All the time cut-offs :)!!
 |
| Done and done, longest stage of this year's Transalp |
 |
| Beautiful trails |
 |
| The smiles are back! |
Transalp Stage 5
Scuol, Switzerland to Livigno, Italy
Distance: 66.32 km and 2323 m of climbing.
Route information
With Andi's brakes now fixed we were ready to roll. The start line up in Scoul's city center was amazing. There were over a thousand riders mixed in between the historic houses and buildings.
The stage was supposed to be a gift to the riders, which it sort of was. Except my legs didn't want to go :(. Even the easy climb at the beginning seemed to be hard. We rode by a monument for the last bear being shot in this region. The route continued up and down. I was distracted by the great views on lakes and mountain ranges. When we entered the city limits of Livigno, we had to ride back up through the ski resorts to come back in town without being on the main street, fun fun :). I was glad to be in Italy and the food at the finish line was super. I think I ate a whole carrot cake by myself and indulged in my first cappuccino, of which many more followed.
Distance: 66.32 km and 2323 m of climbing.
Route information
With Andi's brakes now fixed we were ready to roll. The start line up in Scoul's city center was amazing. There were over a thousand riders mixed in between the historic houses and buildings.
The stage was supposed to be a gift to the riders, which it sort of was. Except my legs didn't want to go :(. Even the easy climb at the beginning seemed to be hard. We rode by a monument for the last bear being shot in this region. The route continued up and down. I was distracted by the great views on lakes and mountain ranges. When we entered the city limits of Livigno, we had to ride back up through the ski resorts to come back in town without being on the main street, fun fun :). I was glad to be in Italy and the food at the finish line was super. I think I ate a whole carrot cake by myself and indulged in my first cappuccino, of which many more followed.
 |
| Start line up in Scoul |
 |
| The easy climb |
 |
| Bear monument |
Transalp Stage 4
Nauders, Austria to Scuol, Switzerland
Distance: 49.94 km and 1800 m of climbing
Route information
The morning started with a the Shimano folks still working on Andi's rear brake until shortly before the start of the stage. After he got his bike back everything seemed to be working fine.
We got a little history lesson riding across the Austrian/Italian border and WWI battles. The views from the first peak down to Lake Reschen and the Ortler in the background were quite nice. The stage itself was the shortest of the race, but sure has some nice views. The climb out of Reschen was quite steep and was followed by some nice trails around "Schwarzsee" and its marshes. This is where it began to become apparent that all was not well with Andi's brakes that had just been fixed. His rear break failed again and he was going down the descents using his front break only. The front break finally failed as well and he had to jump in the bushes on the last downhill. We had been riding down a crazy steep concrete section!! Luckily no injuries had to be reported. The flat section at the end riding into Scoul was pretty flat thanks to a mixed team pulling us into town :). Real Swiss cheese and other goodies greeted us at the finish line. We had a great time at the finish line. We met Jason Sumner, a journalist, from Colorado. It is always quite nice to catch up with a friendly American :)
Distance: 49.94 km and 1800 m of climbing
Route information
 |
| WWI site |
We got a little history lesson riding across the Austrian/Italian border and WWI battles. The views from the first peak down to Lake Reschen and the Ortler in the background were quite nice. The stage itself was the shortest of the race, but sure has some nice views. The climb out of Reschen was quite steep and was followed by some nice trails around "Schwarzsee" and its marshes. This is where it began to become apparent that all was not well with Andi's brakes that had just been fixed. His rear break failed again and he was going down the descents using his front break only. The front break finally failed as well and he had to jump in the bushes on the last downhill. We had been riding down a crazy steep concrete section!! Luckily no injuries had to be reported. The flat section at the end riding into Scoul was pretty flat thanks to a mixed team pulling us into town :). Real Swiss cheese and other goodies greeted us at the finish line. We had a great time at the finish line. We met Jason Sumner, a journalist, from Colorado. It is always quite nice to catch up with a friendly American :)
 |
| From the bridge in Scoul |
 |
| Power Nap |
 |
| Post dinner, mid mountain |
 |
| Lake Reschen |
 |
| Lake Reschen |
 |
| Team riding |
Transalp Stage 3
Ischgl, Austria to Nauders, Austria
Distance: 68.22 km and 2691 m of climbing
Route information
According to the route description for this stage, it appeared to included what would be the hardest climb. In retrospect that wasn't quite true, it was challenging though. The stage had a whooping 1km flat section and then went up 1400m to the crossing of the Alps at Idjoch (2732m). It had snowed the night before and we saw some of the last remains of the powder coating. The views from the top were spectacular, Andi had a blast :). The downhill was a lot of fun again and got us ready for the next climb. We were crossing the borders between Austria and Italy a few times. Towards the end of the stage we had another short climb on gravel roads and more fun downhill to Nauders on single tracks. Right along with our team theme, we had pizza at the finish line! The town of Nauders was certainly one of the best host towns, all 5* hotels were open for all athletes to take showers and use the wellness facilities. We stayed at the bottom of the mountain and took the gondola up for the pasta party. Pasta parties/dinners were hosted by the stage towns every evening, along with the award ceremonies, pictures and video of the day. Andi had some issues with his rear break on this stage and had to convince the Shimano folks who had already started drinking for the night to work on his bike.
Distance: 68.22 km and 2691 m of climbing
Route information
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| on the way up to the Idjoch |
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| Andi at the top, 2732m above sea level. View south |
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| Andi on the last climb, the view of the mountains was fantastic! |
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| fun fun |
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| Finish Line |
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| View of the Ortler, tallest mountain in Austria |
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| Finish line Pizza |
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| Jennifer after the pasta dinner, mid mountain with future milk production animals! |
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| sportograf did a great job taking pictures all along the route |
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