The Trans Schwarzwald 2010 edition is finished. 354 mountainbikers finished the Trans Schwarzwald of the 480 bikers which were at the start. Neighbour Bianca and I were there biking 550 km and 14.800 am in 7 days as team 'Gaul! Cycling for War Child' and finished at position 12 of the 19 mixed teams at the start. It was an amazing experience!! Thanks to everyone for your support! Check the GPS recording of the Trans Schwarzwald.

While waiting for the pictures both bike and biker are resting...

Congratulations to our (new) friends:
Angelique & Henk - Team S.O.
Johan & Danphny & Roy - Team ZZPR.nl
Michiel & Michiel - Hans Struijk Fietsen
Kjell & Roger - Team Strix (Sweden)

Today's stage is already the last one of the Trans Schwarzwald 2010 and... quite a heavy one with 89,5 km and 2340 am including a final climb of 15 km to the finish. I had a big smile on my face because of the beautiful weather and the feeling that we are going to make it to the finish today!

The first 75 km were amazing: sunny blue sky weather and beautiful views of the area. For Bianca going downhill with here injured arm wasn't that easy and therefore We really took our time the last stage to enjoy it. The last climb to the finish of 15 km was hard work again since we where biking on a small path full of mud and also to the top of a ski-piste.

After crossing the finish (in 5h36m) it was time for beer and bratwurst while congratulating our (new) friends with the achieved result: Finishing the Trans Schwarzwald 2010!

During the last stage two mixed teams got disqualified and therefore we finishd overall at position 12th of the 19 mixed teams at the start of the Trans Schwarzwald.

Check also the GPS recording of today and the daily results.

After the speed biking yesterday I expected that my legs would be more tired this morning. Still they are feeling pretty good knowing that they have been working hard last 5 days.

After 25 km we had a short downhill part which didn't look to difficult. Unfortunately both Bianca and I fell from our bikes. It appears that the surface was very slippery and bikers before and after us where falling from their bikes. It looked like domino! I had a few scratches on my knee but Bianca had a wound on here elbow. Luckily there was a first aid post at the end of the downhill part who where able to help Bianca. We could continue biking but finished the stage in a more relaxed speed. We are biking for 6 day's already and are getting tired. Back to our first mission: finishing! Our position in the overall ranking is less important. Finished this stage in 3h59m.

After finishing Bianca went for a medical check on her elbow again. A visit to the doctor was required to fix the wound. At the finish area there where a lot of bikers with injuries, a short chat with some of them learned that they all fell from their bikes at the same area. During dinner we heard that someone broke his arm at this location.

Check also the GPS recording of today and the daily results.

Stage 5 and finally the sun is shining!  The start of the 99km/1430am was directly climbing and, after walking on the slippery stairs yesterday, my left knee hurts a little. I tried to climb in a lower gear until... I noticed mixed team 309 in front of me while they are normally much better climbers. Everyone is getting tired and having some pain but the Trans Schwartzwald finishes after 7 days. Not sooner and not later. With 18 minutes behind them in the overall ranking we could do some good business today.

After 20km the track became more flat. A group of 8 bikers passed us and we managed to join them. Together with two Dutch guys from the Hans Struijk team we created a train in front of this group. At that moment my knee started to hurt more and more but still... team 309 was behind us including one other mixed team which we passed while they had a flat tire. After 4h41m we crossed the finish line together with the Hans Struijk guys after some beautiful but exhausting speed biking. We managed to reduce the gap with team 309 over 12 minutes, 5 more minutes to go! Not sure if this was wisely to do with two more days to come. We will see tomorrow...

Today I burned my arms and legs in the sun, just forgot the sun protection after 4 days of rain. The weather reports for the final two stages are challenging with 156 km and 3910 am to go: it will be hot!

Check also the GPS recording of today and the daily results.

What was supposed to be a tough day ended in... a super stage!

Motivation during breakfast  this morning was far far away but once on my bike I had that big smile on my face again! The first 7 km after the start were downhill and went very fast. After that we had the first of three long climbs. Had no pain in the legs at all and was able to find a good ritm pretty quick. The second climb went pretty good as well. The third one however started differently: 250 meters of climbing (walking) on uneven and slippery stairs. It took me some time to get back in my climbing ritm after that with a little bit painful back and left leg.

During the first two climbs mixed team 309 (position 13 with 20 minutes ahead of us in the overall ranking) passed us like they did the last three days as well. They are great climbers but not that fast going downhill so we were able to catch up with them most of the times . Today, 5 km before the finish we noticed them in front of us. Since we haven't won a stage from them yet we increased our speed and finished 1m39s in front of them! Still 18 minutes left to move one position in the overall ranking. Even between the non-pro and lower ranked bikers there is a good competition going on!

Tomorrow's stage is the longest one but also the one with the fewest climbing: 99 km / 1430am.

Check also the GPS recording of today and the daily results.

Each morning we receive information about the start of the stage via a text message. Included in this is also our start block for that day which is based on your position of the past days. It was therefore quite a surprise that we could start in block B today, directly behind the pro's in block A. The disadvantage of starting that much in front is that a lot of bikers pass you in the first couple of kilometres (I'm not a very fast starter knowing that there are more days to come). It makes you feel you are very slow and makes me bike above my normal heart beat. Luckily we were able to bike in our own ritm pretty quick.

As expected this stage would be shorter. We finished the 56 km and 1450 am in 3 hours. The weather was better: colder but only a few drops of rain. My upper left leg felt a little bit painful (as a result of yesterday's heavy ride) which made me climb in a bit lower gear. Just to avoid cramps or a more serious injury.

Knowing that tomorrow's stage will be a heavy one again (72km / 2620am) we biked as fast as possible trying to save as much energy.

Just another holiday-day has past!

Check also the GPS recording of today and the daily results.

The second day was a tough one! During breakfast it was raining very hard but luckily one hour before the start it was completely dry! I really don't mind biking in the rain but waiting for the start in the rain is not my favorite.

The first 40 km went pretty fast riding in a group against the wind and climbing in dry weather. After that we entered more technical tracks in the forest full of mud. Steep climbing in mud sometimes made me feel I was biking backwards! The downhill parts where so short I had the feeling I was climbing all day. The mud and technical parts made it harder for me to keep my ritm, both in biking as in eating. From km 50 until 65 I had a hard time because of the lack of eating and constant biking. Eating some gells (sportnutrition) gave me another shot for finishing the last 10+ km.

Instead of using the official bike cleaning (4 high pressure cleaners) the city of Freudenstadt has a great fountain in the city center. See the video on my twitter account on a lesson of creative bike cleaning.

From the 18 mixed (man-woman) teams at the start of the Trans Schwarzwald we where able to climb from position 15 yesterday to number 14 today! Overall (including men-men and woman-women) there are 98 teams and we climbed from position 68 to 66. Not much but still very proud of the result after such a tough day!

Since the Trans Schwarzwald is an official UCI competition (and therefore the level and amount of professional  bikers at the start is amazing) there is also a doping control. So far I haven't been asked by the doping authorities. Maybe this is also because of my low ranking ;-)

Check also the GPS recording of today and the daily results.

First day of the Trans Schwarzwald was a nice but wet ride. It started raining 10 minutes before the start and kept going on for about 50% of the time.

It wasn't a very technical stage but a lot of fun: in one of the villages we crossed was a wine-festival going on. The big tent in the village center had a wide opening for us bikers to cross. Each and every one of us got a big round of applause from the wine lovers. What a great way to combine these events!

We crossed the finish line in Bad Wildbad after 76 km in 4h24m. Absolutely not the fastest time of today but with such a strong competition (the whole international top is here) I'm very happy with the result this 'hobby-biker' achieved. I'm feeling strong and look forward to the second stage!

Check also the GPS recording of today and the daily results.

Due to a busy period at work the preparations (biking and resting) for the Trans Schwarzwald are not as I hoped for. But, with less than a week to go, the Trans Schwarzwald will start anyway on August 15th. Today the start numbers are known and available: I'm 'tagged' with number 307-1 where Bianca is 307-2.

Daily results will be published here. You can find us in the 'teams' section. There is also a text-message service which sends you one text-message per day with my results, sing up for free if you want to follow me! Also keep an eye on this website since my brother will update it during the race (thanks Marcel!).

In the meantime the Trans Andes 2011 sponsor page is live. Check and donate here or use the banner in the menu on the left.

In 3 weeks weeks from now we are biking the first 'strecke' (=stage) of the Trans Schwarzwald mountainbike tour in Germany, a 7-day mountainbike challenge covering 550 km and 14.800 am.