The Transalp adventure: Ex-pro Claudia Lichtenberg on cycling over mountain passes
Angelika Rauw
· 06.04.2021
TOUR How has cycling changed for you since the end of your career?
LICHTENBERG (laughs) I've slowed down! I ride a lot with my husband, who was an A amateur. When I was still a professional, it was a good fit. That's why I was really worried at first that I wouldn't be able to keep up. But luckily it's not that bad. I'm still better on the long mountains, even with little training.
Are you born to climb, or can you learn it?
It's hard for me to say, because I already enjoyed it as a child. But with my years of experience with the kids in our club, I would say that you can learn to do it - and in a way that makes it fun, not just so that you can manage it.
What is your most important tip for newcomers to the mountain?
Don't stress yourself. If you simply keep pedalling upwards with the power you can ride for a long time, you will eventually reach the top.
For many people, climbing is torture. What do you enjoy about it?
There are different levels: As a racer, I simply enjoy being better than others. But I also like climbing without competition - when I ride alone, for example, or together with others. When you have such a long route ahead of you, it's a really big mountain of work. And if you manage to get to the top, you've achieved something. (thinks about it). I just really like getting to a destination that's at the top. I also like going to the top on foot. I think it's a basic human instinct: you feel great when you get to the top.
Apart from the happiness at the summit, which only comes at the end: how do you manage to stay motivated on uphill climbs?
The most terrible thought you can have in your head: It's not that far now. It will ruin everything. Then you just think how nice it would be if it were over now. Instead, you have to realise that: It will be ages before I get to the top. While you're riding a pass, you shouldn't think about stopping, but about what you're feeling right now. Feel inside yourself whether you can keep going for so long with the strength you are pedalling with. It has to feel good. That's how I would approach it.
Did you have your best moments on the bike in your professional career or on private tours?
They are completely different experiences and yet very similar in how close they are to me. It's the big victories that have touched me the most - they still touch my memory. But the same goes for the totally disturbed rides with my husband on an Alpine cross, where you push yourself to the limit for ten days in a row and then ride over the last pass at dusk - that can be so moving, even though you're so knocked out!
What do you mean by totally disrupted journeys?
I experience these strong, deep feelings when I reach my physical limits. And that happens during actions that are disturbed from the outside.
For example?
When you spend hours pedalling through the heat, lugging your bike uphill and struggling over a gravelled trail. I don't know what happens chemically in the brain, but it leads to you gaining a special kind of consciousness and suddenly finding the simplest things beautiful.
What is the difference for you between riding uphill in a race and riding uphill privately?
In a race, you are fixated on being faster than others. When you're up against opponents, that's what racing is all about for me, this competitive spirit. And I don't feel that at all when I'm riding over the Alps with my husband. On the contrary. We're a team, we look out for each other and want to complete something together. In a bike race, the only challenge is to be better than the others. On our Alpine cross, the challenge was that we chose routes where it was special to complete them at all.
So you chose your routes based on altitude rather than landscape?
No, we always chose according to the landscape - but then there were stages like: 120 kilometres on a cross bike over the roughest terrain, which we thought should be doable: That should be doable. And then there we were, with ten-hour days ahead of us and I don't know how many thousands of metres in altitude - that kind of disturbed stuff.
Which is your favourite mountain region and which is your favourite pass?
I love the Dolomites! And the Passo Pordoi is one of my very favourite passes. It's so wonderfully open, beautifully developed, with long hairpin bends where you can really enjoy the descent.
Is it possible to guess in advance with which fellow travellers a Transalp might work out?
I've always done the Transalps with my husband and am therefore in a luxury situation because we know each other in terms of our cycling strength. That's why there were never any problems. Physical performance doesn't have to be a perfect match, but you have to be able to harmonise. But there is another component to it: We have realised that we think very similarly when it comes to risk assessment. For example, when a storm is coming or someone has fallen - these emotional, human things, crisis management. These things are extremely important, especially on such long tours where you are pushed to your limits.
Your most important tip for a successful Transalp premiere?
You need an easy gear, otherwise it's no fun. I myself ride everything with a compact crank (editor's note: 50/34 chainrings). It also helps to plan the route beforehand. After all, the route is usually challenging enough, so it doesn't get any easier if you start to have doubts along the way. And you should have a plan B if something doesn't go as planned. For example, think about where you could spend the night if you don't manage to complete a stage.
More Transalp tips from the TOUR editorial team:
