The crossing of Spain and Portugal will have to wait. A few weeks ago I was chatting on Skype with a German friend of mine when he invited me to join him on his trans alps cycle ride that they do every year. Honoured to be invited (last year I think Christian was of the impression that I wasn’t up to the job, but my Madrid to Valencia ride might have gone some way to convincing him otherwise) I set about finding out if it was a possibility.

I now have the time off work arranged, flights booked and I am excited. Very excited in fact, but also rather worried. This is a serious undertaking: Seven days of trail riding, crossing the Alps from Germany, through Austria, to Italy. Some 430 km and a rather daunting 13,500m cumulative elevation gain!

Having seen the training Christian put himself through last year, I’ve realised I need to get fit. So, here comes the regime of getting out on the bike as much as possible, swimming, circuit training, and spinning classes. I’ve got about six weeks to get ready. I’m hoping that’s enough time to reach the required level.

I’ve just been looking over the route they have planned on Google Earth, and I must say it looks incredible. In fact, it was flying over the route in 3D terrain mode that inspired me to write this blog entry…

Check it out for yourself: Google Earth Files.

Full report of the trip and photos will follow some time before 2010… I promise.