7 days of alpine cycling are finished! We made it. Every day we were nervous before the start, every day we were happy to arrive safely at the finish. It was tough, but not as tough as I expected it to be. However, looking at the photo presenting the finisher shirt I have to admit I looked very worn out.
Impressions are numerous! I saw beautiful areas I didn't know before: Lech valley, Silvretta High Street, Vinschgau High Street, the unique Mortirolo Pass, finally the wonderful countryside of the Italian Trentino.
I learnt that the Tour was regarded by the very most participants as a real race - even by the ones who made the middle and the end of the pack. Most of them reduced their time spent at the feed stations to the shortest needed. They stucked in the food whithout taking time to chew and jumped on the bike again.
The way the winners were celebrated was rather amazing. Senior males showed their pride like small boys. A salutary experience for a distant participant. Alas, I have to admit I looked quite similar showing my finisher shirt!
But there is some reason to be proud: We reached our target to be at least second last of the peloton. We ended up on place 71 of initially 111 senior teams (>100 years), adequately called "Grand Masters".
If you like to have a look there is a small Picasa Gallery.
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