Tour Transalp 2016

Tour Transalp 2016 is a 7 day amateur cycling stage race from Imst, Austria to Riva del Garda, Italy. The route crosses the Austrian & Italian Alps, and covers about 900 kilometres and 20,000 metres of elevation. I will be making the journey with my teammate, Joerg, who also rides with the cycling club Just Giver 4PD out of Vancouver, BC.

I started road cycling in 2013, and being new to the sport enrolled in a clinic put on by the organizers of the Whistler Gran Fondo. It was in this clinic that I first learned about Tour Transalp as our coach, Rob, would be making the journey to Europe later that year. I thought at the time that this would be an amazing trip that I surely would never be able to take.

On July 11, 2014 a group of us were having lunch at The Bench in Penticton when Joerg mentioned he was thinking about signing up for Tour Transalp the next year. Without hesitation I quickly said that I would join him if he needed a partner. One month later we were confirmed as one of the 600 teams of 2 for the 2015 Tour.

We finished Tour Transalp 2015 with energy to spare, and I immediately knew I wanted to come back for a second time. The organizers of our trip, Magic Places, warned against making a decision right away, and sure enough after a few weeks passed I realized another trip to Tour Transalp was not in the cards for 2016…Until I received a text from Joerg in late December asking if I was thinking about TTA for 2016. My interest was immediately sparked, and I said I’d sign up if he wanted to go as a team. Just before new years we were confirmed as a team for 2016!

2016 Route Statistics