I'am
the only rider, although several of our team members us bikes to move
along with me. Our team consists of 7 persons. I'am glad to have the
best in their fields along on my tour. Bob and Estela Alen for still
photography, our cameraman Bernd from Take One on the betacam, the
legendary Glen Jacobs as second unit camera, our tour director Uli
Stanciu who worked out the route, and last but not least the "Schwab"
(Thomas Rebholz)our driver of the ALPS support bus and person for
everything.
We
started last Monday at the fairytale castle of Neuschwanstein in Germany,
crossed the Austrian boarder on a gnarly hike&bike trail with a killer
downhill that probably has never felt bike tires before. That night
we met up with Axel Burkhard from Adias who equiped our whole team
with tons of cool outdoor-adventure clothing and shoes with special
"No Way Transalp" logos.
The
next morning we met up with Schorschi Schauf from the Adidas Adventure
Team who is one of the worlds leading extreme kayaking riders and
characters. We filmed a great sequence with him in the Ötztal, with
me following him on the side of the river on my bike. Despite the
rain we continued to Sölden to ride on the Rettenbach glacier before
calling it a day. Yesterday, was great, the sun was shining, we did
a 4 hour uphill to the Simulaun Pass (italian boarder), and went to
the place where they found Ötzi aka Frozen Fritze, the 5300 year old,
fully preserved iceman which was found several years ago in the receding
glacier. After that I rode the downhill of my life, not only was the
trail considered impossible on a bike, especially the upper section,
but it made Cape D'Ail, look like a walk in the park. I was proud
to clean the whole 4 mile descend top to bottom, first try, especially
since
I had done it on a regular GT I-drive full suspension bike Today started
with a 20 km singletrail downhill to Reinhold Messner's castle (!),
which has very impressive with quite a tibetan touch, unfortunately
he wasn't home. We worked our way up the Vinschgau Valley and ended
up at the Tarscher Alm, the most cozy alpine hut you can imagine,
where we're spending the night right now (or soon). Tomorrow morning
we'll be doing more first descends, gnarly climbs, visit more beautiful
places, collect tons of footage, sweat a few liters, have fun, and
hpefully end up at Lago di Garda (our final destination) in one piece,
early next week.
Keep
your eyes open for more "No Way Transalp" reports.
Hi everybody,
this is the second half (Day 5 - 8) and final report of the "No Way
Transalp" Adventure Team trip, on the most technical trails and trails
that never had been ridden on bikes before, across the Alps.
Day 5: We woke
up on the Tarscher Alm, it was raining, we decided instead of riding
over the Tarscher Pass (the ordinary transalp biking route) to try
a new trail that never had been attempted on bikes before to the Koffelraster
Lakes and into the Ultental Valley. It was a brutal uphill (lots of
hike&bike) and traverse to the highest point for 3 hours, only about
35% of it was ridable for me. The downhill was worthwhile the uphill,
fast and technical. From the Ultental Valley we transfered to Mezzocorona.
Day
6: Today was highlighted by one of the coolest downhills I've ever
seen. The trail from Mezzocorona Mountain winds down a vertical face
(approx. 2000 feet elevation), it was hard to imagine that there was
a trail. According to the locals it was another first descend for
bikes, and according to Glen Jacobs it was the coolest downhill course
on earth. Lunch at a local vinery and transfer ride to Madonna di
Campiglio.
Day 7: In the
middle of the Brenta, one of the most beautiful regions of the Alps,
we traversed from the Rif. Graffer to the Rif. Tuckett, the trail
can only be described as an endless boulder field, most hikers had
a tuff time. Yet it proved to be another ridable (trialsable) trail,
along the way I surfed some big scree field on my bike.
Day
8: Our last day brought us to the final destination, to Lago di Garda.
First we crossed a 2000 year old Roman bridge, before I did a little
side trip to the Drena Castle, the secret canyon behind the castle
proved to be the toughest trail (it wasn't really a trail, it was
more like Canyoning with a bike), I finally had to dismount my bike
a few times. From there we descended on the "Hans Rey Speziale - Piazzole"
trail, which is named after me, to Lake Garda.
It
took us 8 days from our starting point at the fairytale castle of
Neuschwanstein in Germany, to finish the "No Way Transalp" trip. Everyday
we rode at least one trail that had not been ridden on bikes before,
we experienced lots of singletrail and hardcore biking, some of the
most beautiful areas of the Alps as well as numerous historical landmarks
along the way. We got tons of great photos and footage of the most
technical traverse of Alps up to date.
Hans Rey
http://www.hansrey.com