Thousands of pedal strokes

A group of four started on 13 August 2009 to fulfil their destiny: Crossing the Alps from Italy back to Germany with nothing more than their bikes, backpacks and themselves: Stephan Rink aka Rinkes, Tobias Prüger aka Tobi, Christoph and Andreas Wagner aka Magic Ändie.



Day 1: Samedan - Dongo
After a perfect night in Lindau (Bodensee) just in sleeping bags we jumped on the train early this morning. Destination: Samedan – end of the train travelling and start of the Alp Crossing 2009. We climbed up Bernina (2330m) and had one of the greatest trails down to Poschiavo (riding down took us almost as long as going up from the other side) and further on to Tirano. Italy welcomed us kindly with some fireworks later on this evening.



Stats: 86,27 km; 629 metres in altitude; 5:19 h

Day 2: Dongo – Lodano
We just had to go from “Lago di Como” to “Lago Maggiore“. Sounds too easy!!! We figured out that the way up to the Passo San Jorio (2014m) must be much better. And it was – a perfect experience how hard life can be.



Stats: 94,89 km; 2046 metres in altitude; 7:01 h

Day 3: Lodano – All'Acqua



Passo del Naret (2438m) was called to be climbed on that day. And this tiny little thing is an Alp-challenge at its best. We started at a height of approx. 300m, passing the stunning Miggia valley. The street was getting smaller and smaller, winding up the mountain up to the very top. The overview was reward enough!!! It took us hours to go down again and to find a cosy place to stay for the night. Negative point: Day three had taken its toll - Cristoph had to give up. Sry man!!!



Stats: 64,63 km; 2414 metres in altitude; 6:55 h

Day 4: All'Acqua – Melchsee-Frutt



What a seriously insane part of the tour – passing three mountains on one day. I have nothing more to say, just read this: Passo della Novena (2478m), Grimselpass (2165m), Melchsee-Frutt (1920m). Ufff!!! Almost dead!



Stats: 98,45 km; 2953 metres in altitude; 7:37 h

Day 5: Day off
Not a single minute on the bikes that day. Relaxing, going fishing and sunbathing was exhausting enough!



Day 6: Melchsee-Frutt – Luzern



Nothing but sun on this day - again! We had taken Switzerlands longest single trail - very nice and always worth taking it. To the right: the mountain; to the left: the depth which you don't wanna explore how deep it really is.



Stats: 86,19 km; 973 metres in altitude; 5:57 h

Day 7: Luzern – Basel
One of the hottest days of the year and an unexpected mountain on our way to basel. But that couldn't stop us anymore. We reached Basel on time. An awesome tour!!! And everyone survived ;-)



Stats: 129,57 km; 820 metres in altitude; 6:49 h

Overall stats: 560 km; 9835 metres in altitude

Crook job completed!

Saturday, 19 September 2009. Perfect weather, racing machine and rider in excellent condition and fully motivated... Project 200+ was completed successfully. :D



Overall results:
Time: 8h 28min 57sec
Distance: 221,10km
Metres in height: 1424m
Average speed: 26,1km/h
Maximum speed: 72,3km/h

Crossing of the Alps 2009

There it is - the profile of the this year's crossing of the Alps. This is one of the hardest we've ever done, I reckon. 7 days sitting on a pushbike, struggling with the mountains and the weather, 9 summits, 591,3km and - believe it or not - 13451Hm. That's absolutely crook!!! Hey mates, honestly, you think we're gonna get this (on time)???

German & Bavarian Sportabzeichen

I had some extraordinary hard weeks, and it's not gonna be easier within the next. Daniel said we are just going there, taking everything easy and relaxed, drinking some beers and running a bit. Paaah, dream on!!! We were forced to do the German AND the Bavarian Sportabzeichen all together on one day. Holy shit!!! That happens if you do some sports on Sundays and the examiner has to much time.

The first discipline: Long jump. Not that difficult for a basketball star. 4,83m - just enough for silver!


Instead of shot put, we were allowed to hurl some balls with a weight of 1,5kg. 39,40m had been enough to reach the gold width.


Next discipline: 100m-sprint. My first test sprint was around 14,7s!!! That's absolutely non-acceptable. But I'm getting faster - the more I run the better I get. 13,3s last Wednesday! Anyway, just enough to be in the bronze region. Keep on tryin'...


1000m: I can't remeber how fast (or slow) I was once, at school. But I'm proud of my 3:18min ...


3000m: Oh my god, I was so dead after that, and couldn't walk for 2 days. :D 12:34min (what a funny time) is perfect, and I don't have to retry ;)

20km cycling was coming up next. My favourite discipline - and I coped with this brilliantly. I was said I will participate in the Tour de France, but nothing happended. 33:10min!!!

And last but not least: Swimming. 100m in 1:57min (I have to go faster, 12 seconds, to climb up to the gold region) and 200m in 4:26min (That was enough to pass).

Overall result: I proudly present a German Sportabzeichen, and a bronze Bavarian one (but that is gonna upgraded to silver, at least, within the next weeks) ;)

Street Race

I proudly present some short videos of our trip - a bit too late, but that doesn't bother anyone ... :D



And another one:

Thru 4 countries

Another highlight of the year was coming up. I had asked hundreds of people, but Rinkes was the only one who was willing to follow me up the hills. Good boy!!!



Day 1: Lindau – Bischofszell
We had to get up early this morning. But that doesn’t bother us – we had plenty of time in the train going down to Lindau. But to be honest, it wasn’t as good as I’ve expected. Too many people biking, walking, running, skating, … around the Bodensee. We had been too slow to reach the day’s final destination and got stuck in Bischofszell. But, however, we’ve been lucky again, finding a fancy hotel for just half the price – special offer for racing machine riders. Or in other words: We must have looked absolutely piteously. Stats: 82,04km; 257Hm



Day 2: Bischofszell – Feldkirch
That day was some kinda weird – in all respects. Let me summarize:
• Getting up at 6:30 a.m.
• Eating a well prepared brekky in a 4 star hotel in Swiss for 2 hours
• Riding the racing machine for almost 8 hours while crossing 3 mountains (145,80 km, 2183Hm)
• Approaching Feldkirch at 9:30 p.m.
• It was like pain in the ass :D



Day 3: Feldkirch – Lingenau
What a day!!! Perfect weather that couldn’t be any better. Our aim today: To cross the Furkajoch (1760 m) in Austria. We ended up lying on the summit, eating baguette and delicious Alp-cheese, drinking Almdudler. The rest of the day was easy, keep on rolling down the hill. Stats: 80,94km; 1511Hm; max ascent 17%



Day 4: Lingenau – Immenstadt
The final day in the Alps, and just one last mountain to climb - the Riedbergpass, 1420m above sea level. After thousands of hard pedal strokes we reached the summit, had a perfect and refreshing last "Almdudler" before speeding down the hill and finally chilling out at the Alpsee, near Immenstadt. Stats: 57,98km; 954Hm; max. ascent 16%



Overall stats after 4 days in 4 countries: 366,76km; 4905Hm

German CVJM Championship

I don't want u 2 miss anything. Listen, we've won the title ... No, not really :( We had an extremely unlucky and disappointing championship and finished as fifth. Of 6. I have nothing more 2 say ...