Leg warmers, a rain jacket, a wind waistcoat, a change of underwear - there are enough things to pack for the seven stages of the TOUR Transalp. Peter S. has also squeezed a camping mat, sleeping bag, clothes hanger, power strip and earplugs into his bag. As in the past 15 years, a start in the Everyman stage race is inextricably linked with an overnight stay in the camp. Sleeping in gyms, tennis halls, schools or other buildings - for him, this is the "full experience pack". The promised advantages: short distances to the start and the evening event as well as manageable costs. This year, eight overnight stays with a simple breakfast were available for 160 euros. 80 starters decided in favour of the camp - and thus against hotel comfort. Peter K., who has been a volunteer at the TOUR Transalp for 15 years and has been in charge of the camp for five years, aims to ensure that the camp guests still feel at home. He is something of a receptionist. While the participants are still shedding their sweat on the route, he and a colleague are already distributing their panniers in a sports hall at the stage finish. After arriving in the afternoon, each team of two can quickly recognise on a hand-drawn map where both bags and therefore their sleeping places are located. This avoids a fight for the best places in the hall and at the same time promotes communication - after all, you have new sleeping mat neighbours every day. Peter K. also does the camp job at the BIKE Transalp, where things apparently don't run quite so smoothly. On the other hand, Peter rarely experiences discussions or arguments about the allocation of sleeping places at the TOUR Transalp: "The racing cyclists are very disciplined.
"When they say 'from here on you have to take your shoes off', they stick to it." This relaxed coexistence is facilitated by the now manageable number of camp sleepers. "There were no gaps between the mattresses in 2003," remember Rolf and Jochen S. They are riding the TOUR Transalp for the third time and have always spent the night in the camp. In the gym in Crespano del Grappa, they have spread out sleeping mats and sleeping bags on the floor, behind which are neatly lined up the standardised panniers that each participant receives. Rolf and Jochen reside at the edge of the hall today. The whole room is littered with large and small mattresses: from thin foam mats and thick air mattresses to huge, inflatable double mattresses. Some even put their sleeping bags on the large raised mat to make themselves more comfortable. Cheering posters painted by children and left over from the last sports competition hang on the walls.
The sports hall has charm - but not comfort. A sports hall is designed for a school class or two or three sports teams. It is hardly surprising that the overnight stay of 80 cyclists leads to bottlenecks. In Fiera di Primiero, the athletes pile up in front of the few toilets, which are also not lockable. Showering becomes a Nordic experience: during the school holidays, the water heating is switched off and the shower water is freezing cold. Plastic plates are handed out for breakfast and sometimes there aren't even any knives. "You can't expect an all-inclusive holiday," says Austrian Karin W., who is taking on the Transalp with her son for the second time. Nevertheless, she says with conviction: "I can't imagine doing it without a camp. The community is simply missing."
All in the same bedroom
The hotel sleepers disappear in all directions after the day's stage - the camp sleepers, on the other hand, all meet in the same bedroom in the afternoon. The finish of the sixth stage and the start of the seventh stage are high above Kaltern, right next to the tennis courts and the ice rink. If you are unlucky, you have to cycle another ten kilometres to your accommodation after the stage or take the shuttle bus. Either way, the next morning there are 150 metres in altitude between the hotel bed in Kaltern and the starting block. Karin and Mathias W. only have to push their bikes 200 metres from the finish arch to the tennis hall - and back again the next morning. The tennis net is stretched, a shopping trolley full of balls is standing around. Mother and son unpack their air mattresses, which they inflate with a small electric blower. The camp utensils are well organised in a shopping bag: pillows, flip-flops, shower kit. Other cyclists pass by, greet each other, ask how it went and speculate about the next stage. You keep hearing snatches of English, as cyclists from Israel, Poland, Denmark, Belgium and other countries are also staying at the camp. "It's like one big family," says Rolf S. The collection of mobile phones and speedometers in a corner of the hall is proof of the team spirit. There are half a dozen interconnected socket strips on the floor, from which countless charging cables branch off to mobile phones and speedometers. "Nothing has ever been lost," says camp manager Peter K. proudly. The tangle of cables is also a symbol of the good networking in the camp: "If there's been a fall or you've missed the evening meeting - you hear everything in the camp," says Peter Sandmann. Friendships are also formed here. He met his team partner Klaus K. at the camp years ago, for example. When it turned out that their previous team partners couldn't be there this year, the two agreed to start together in 2018 and - of course - to stay overnight at the camp. One advantage of the camp that most team partners - regardless of whether they are close or less close friends - appreciate compared to a hotel room: You can get out of each other's way, keep to yourself, or chat to others. Some people lie on their mat and relax their muscles with electric shocks from a muscle stimulation device. Many more athletes walk their legs on fascia rollers in the late afternoon. Looking around the sports hall, the gender distribution is striking: the world of the camp is predominantly male. Many men are lying on their mattresses dressed only in their pants or walking around bare-chested. Andrea R. from Switzerland has no problem with this; she also sees the advantages of being a woman in a man's world: "There are plenty of free showers. And you have a woman's bonus if you need help." She has just shared a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot with a Polish athlete. She is not the only one who still sends messages to friends and family in the evening.
The first snorers can be heard
By 9 pm, most people are sitting or lying on their mattresses. The large hall light is extinguished, with only small islands of light shining here and there: faces emitting the soft glow of mobile phone displays, headlamps illuminating the pages of books or e-book readers. Every now and then someone sneaks between the mattresses to the toilets, but everyone endeavours to be quiet. By 10 p.m., most people have closed their eyes. Sleeping bags rustle, air mattresses creak. The first snores can be heard. Those who are really tired sleep anyway, and most people have earplugs with them to be on the safe side. These come in handy when the first early risers wander through the hall at around half past five. However, anyone who blows their nose loudly at ten to six can expect a few annoyed looks. Peter S. is familiar with this: "It's worst on the first stage. Some people are already on the mat at 6 a.m. in their cycling gear ready to set off. But the more stages there are, the more it calms down. And after a few days you're really tired and still sleep well." And longer. Because while the hotel sleepers have to have dropped off their panniers for transport to their destination by seven o'clock at the latest, the camp sleepers are in less of a hurry. Depending on the stage location, they have up to an hour more time. This also applies to the start of the last stage from Kaltern to Riva. While some hotel sleepers have to take the shuttle bus from Bolzano, 18 kilometres away, the "campers" are at the start in two minutes. Peter S. is looking forward to reaching the finish soon - even if the great Transalp week then comes to an end. For him, the camp experience is an inseparable part of the Transalp: "The people in the camp are all the same type - there's always a good atmosphere." Mathias W. doesn't yet know whether he will be travelling with his mother again next year, but "if Transalp, then only with the camp - I couldn't imagine it without it."
Info: www.tour-transalp.de
