Blog from Austria--May 24, 2008

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9AauGbRi3aNP0&notag=1 is where to get all the pics from Austria! For now, a quick update of Austria! Enjoy!

Cheers from Austria!

I’m on a train now and will be arriving shortly in northwest Slovenia. My adventure in Austria came and went pretty quickly, too quickly really, but I’ll never forget it! I’m not staring out the window at glimmering lakes, crisp mountain peaks and every color of green watching the last bits of Austria roll by in the bright sunshine.

The sun is such a nice change of scenery and it just came out yesterday after almost a week of grey, cold, wet and windy conditions in Liechtenstein and Austria. Literally, the second I left Switzerland the sun disappeared. But fortunately host Helene was bright, energetic and between her cooking and her parents I managed to stay warm, cozy, entertained and well nurtured Feldkirch, Austria.

My body was sore from my adventures in Italy and Switzerland and the extra day of rest at Helene’s pad was more than welcome. I also had several administrative and business affairs to take care of so the weather was a blessing in disguise really. By staying an extra day I could also include Helene in my riding schedule as she had a day off! So it was all meant to be!

I eventually hit the road on Tuesday, May 20th to cycle over a huge 1800 meter pass towards Innsbruck. I studied the terrain and knew it would be one of the hardest physical challenges of my life—and the sour weather would not help. Luckily I had a mild tail wind heading out of Feldkirch and only showers without too many major downpours. I basically started climbing right away and did not stop until I hit the town of Dalaas five hours later where the rain started to get heavy and the temperature downright freezing.

I did not see any potential guest riders and was honestly happy to have some time solo with my music just enjoying a day of riding. After six amazing riders in Switzerland it was actually nice to just pedal solo. Dalaas is at about 850 meters (about 2600 feet) above sea level. I planned to camp that night so it made no sense to go any higher where the temperatures would surely be well below zero. So I found a cute restaurant and saddled up for a local meal called Jagertoast—pork cutlets on bread smothered in cheese washed down with a cold beer. I dried off in no time and the owner of the hotel took a liking to me after I was able to share the meaning of my huge bike in front of her place in my broken German. She offered me a free place to crash in a spare outside room that was just perfect, as well as a nice glass of pear schnapps to keep me warm. It rained hard all night long and it’s no fun camping in that nastiness!

The next day I knew was going to be a doozy. I had about 1,000 meters to climb, over 3,200 feet, with a 100+ kilo bike, by myself, no guest rider. And, unlike Asia where the roads are graded for low horsepower cars and trucks, I knew I would be grinding up some 12-15%+ grades. Ouch. But the weather was not too bad when I set off and I could actually a bit of the stunning scenery that was hiding behind all the clouds once in a while—but it was rare, especially as I climbed higher into the alps.

Once I hit Klösterle I knew it was time for the serious work to begin. Tunnels were the luxury for trains and cars to avoid the high pass, but bikes had to go right over and into the clouds. For four hard hours I averaged about 7 kilometers and hour grinding away over the pass. The green scenery was replaced by snow as I eventually was riding through a ski resort. It was amazing, but very challenging. At times I was on a 15% grade and could only pedal about 50 meters before having to stop and rest with my legs and lungs burning. It was brutal. But inch by inch, meter by meter, I finally hit the summit of 1,802 meters and was welcomed by several kids and local construction workers rooting me on.

I chowed down some local salami sticks for raw energy, put on the same Assos beanie I used in the Himalayas in 2002, and got ready for the decent. Like my last new friend in Dalaas, I met the owner of a small café up there who set me up with a coffee with a shot of local pear schnapps. She said it would “calm my nerves and keep me warm”. She was right! I was warm all the way down and very relaxed!

The other side of the pass was just as steep as the first and I was hitting 65km/hour winding through the forested hills. There was some marvelous scenery peaking out here and ther but unfortunately I now had a mean headwind to deal with and when the grade became a mellow downhill. I still had to pedal pretty darn hard to keep my speed up with the wind pushing me back up the hill. By now, I was pretty dead tired and my legs were like rubber. Fortunately during this time of year I still had plenty of daylight left and Helene was not expected for a few hours. I decided to just pedal nice and slow, spin as much as possible, conserve my strength, and suck in the scenery.

I finally arrived in Landeck just as I got a call from Helene saying she was just around the corner. Perfect timing! The local campsite was closed down and I was looking forward to a nice shower, but we decided to ride onwards towards Innsbruck until we found a place to camp for free in nature. It was good to see Helene again and have someone to share my crazy stories with of life heading over the summit, not to mention some pedal power!

We found a nugget campsite and, although it was a bit close to the highway and train tracks, it was flat, had our own picnic table, and was right on the bike path. I had gone shopping while very hungry (not a good idea) and had a huge bag full of yummy food and bottle of prosecco to celebrate our reuniting and my successful mission over the summit. We laughed, chatted, ate heaps and philosophized until we were pretty much soaking wet sitting at the table in the constant drizzle. We slept like babies and slept in until about 9AM when cyclists on the bike path were beckoning us out of the tent.

Helene does not own a car and chooses to commute each day to work on her bike so I assumed she would be super duper strong—and she is strong. But, she HATES hills and does not like getting her heart rate pumping too much. And that day there were plenty of hills, especially in the morning following the bike path versus the road. My legs were totally sore and tired after 2 days of climbing the Alps so we were not doing so well in the morning. We rolled into our lunch stop knackered and in search of the easiest way to ride the remaining 52km to Innsbruck.

We opted for a secondary road, which was mostly flat, but boy did that afternoon headwind blow as a mean storm seemed to be brewing. I was hoping it would pass and we would get some chance to actually see the Alps and maybe to do some filming as the weather report said it would be party sunny that day. Luckily Helene likes the flat terrain and we both got our leg s back after lunch and were still able to keep 20km/hour into a wind and get some kilometers behind us.

With just 30km of riding left we were both in great spirits and feeling strong. But it was just then that the rain started to fall, and it got stronger and stronger every kilometer we rode. By the time we rolled into Innsbruck we were soaking wet and exhausted after a tough 82km ride. We found a hostel right in old town, lugged all the wet gear up to our room and got cleaned up.

Helene had to be on a 4AM train to get back to work the next day and was totally exhausted so we decided not to go out again into the rain. We opted to cook up some dinner at the hostel and sip some vino. We spent our last night sipping nice Chilean red wine, eating yummy pasta with a special Helene cheese sauce and we managed to have some long chats and do some filming to share all the nuggets we discovered during all our philosophizing together.

I took Helene to her train in the pouring rain at 3:30AM and it was sad to say goodbye to really my only true Austrian friend I met while in the country. I went back to bed and woke up to crystal clear skies and sun entering my room for the first time in about a week! I wished Helene could have been there to share it and I was happy it was out, but sad to be alone once again.

Fortunately I got some very nice emails from family and friends, one of them from my Slovenian friend Ursa saying she and her husband to be Luka would be meeting me in the border town of Jesennice in Slovenia! Also, a Croatian friend in met in Nepal would be hosting me after Slovenia! So I had great adventures to look forward to and the sadness finally lifted in the afternoon as I checked out the famous Olympic ski jump with endless views—something I had always dreamed of seeing.

I spent the rest of the evening with my jaw hanging in awe at all the endless precious scenery, historic buildings, funky architecture, interesting people watching and chomping down some yummy sweets and treats! Life is good, especially when the sun is out!

So I’m just a few hours from being in Slovenia and the scenery passing by my train window makes it hard to keep typing—waterfalls, wildflowers, tall peaks, rivers, cute villages, crisp blue skies! Yeah, I would have loved to ride in this kind of weather, but I’m sure there are some lessons to be learned somewhere and I was meant to ride in the nasty weather in Austria. I guess I’ll have to come back—WITH PLEASURE! It’s magical and I strongly recommend a visit here!