We Rode the Bike Course Yesterday and Played Tourist Today

We rode the bike course yesterday.

Well, the first 2/3 of it.

It is probably the best ride we've done since we got to Austria but as a 1/2 ironman course it is a killer.  First 20ks gradually downhill with a tunnel that bikes are allowed to go through.  Still the same roar inside but only about 750 metres long.  We rode around it anyway.

The the fun started when we turned off the "main" road.  Downhill into a cold dark valley.  Then uphill for the next 13 ks.  First k steep then steady for the next nine or 10 ks.  Beautiful scenery winding up a steep sided valley in the cold morning air with just the occasional house or few houses.  Every now and then a peak at some peaks.

Looking back at the start of the climb

Stopping to admire the view 

The view

Top of the climb

Over the top of the climb the first few hundred metres were steep and uneven.  The surface improved to perfect and releasing the brake meant a rapid acceleration to over 60kph.  Unfortunately the sweeping corners meant there were plenty of brakes needed.  The morning fog was beginning to lift and the sensational views on the way were even better on the descent - which continued for the next 10 ks.  A little more sedate but rolling alongside the fast flowing river at over 40 all the way. 

So hard to stop on a screaming descent but the view was breathtaking

We turned off onto some winding roads across farmland at the north end of the lake.  Smooth, undulating, no traffic and as usual, picturesque in any direction but stunning views south with the fog burning off.

Country roads

Rich pastures - mostly mown and turned into silage

After an earlyish run we headed south today - in tourist mode.

Caught the bus south of the lake, east through Kaprun then up the valley to Kitzsteinhorn.  A town at the end of the valley that has chairlifts and gondolas going up in every direction to ski fields up to 3000 metres.

Three gondola/cable car rides later, not including the bus we get off at the Kitzsteinhorn glacier.  3020 metres up, seven degrees hot and dirty ice in the hollows of the steep rocky peaks.  On top of the world.  Its hard to think of new words to describe the views but they were as good as it gets.  Felt like we were on top of the world. 

The view north east over Zell am see

The Grossglokner at 3900 metres

West from the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier

South West to the Grossglokner

Us

From our perch we could see the Grossglochner.  Rugged peaks to the south at nearly 3900 metres.  For the couple of hours we were up there we had occasional views of four huge eagles soaring around the peaks.  Big birds looking perfectly comfortable gliding on the air rushing up the face of the steep rocks.  Voles were the only thing we could think of that would keep them alive - apart from the odd lamb or kid.

Christian and Casseea amused themselves on toboggans and we all climbed up to a viewing platform then back through a tunnel, where the temperature must have been zero or below, to the top of the gondola for the trip down.

Back to town, registration for the race and a swim in the lake to wash the sweat off.  Looks like we will be racing in some pretty warm conditions on Sunday.

Zell Am See

Zell am see must be the most picturesque place ever.  If you swim out into the lake and look in any direction there are steep mountains.  The lower ones covered in pine forest or rich pasture, the higher ones steep and rocky with large areas of snow on the northern faces.  To the south is the Kitzsteinhorn glacier - high up at 3000 metres.

The view north from the southern end of the lake, taking in Zell am see.  The race swim is in the water directly in front.

The view south across the lake.

The rocky peaks north.

And the lake is clear and deep.  Temperature about 23, warmed by the sun and cooled by the streams running into it from the mountains.  Great swimming.

We rode around the lake yesterday with the kids.  Bike path all the way if you include a few narrow paths on the eastern side of the lake.  And heaps of restaurants and coffee shops.

There's cafes all around the lake.

Salzburg to Zell am See

The Lovell's arrived Thursday.

We missed the morning's bike ride because we slept in.  Rolled down on the bikes to where David and Justine are staying and arrived just as their taxi pulled up.  They looked fresher than we felt when we arrived - maybe you get more sleep in business class.

Left them to discover town and we went up the Salzach River.  Another great ride on smooth roads.  The rivers seem to run quickly and although you don't realise it the grade is probably 1-2%.  It is still easy riding tho' because there is little wind, no potholes and no sudden changes in grade.  Got to Berchtesgaden then climbed over the range into the Saalach River Valley, then home to Salzburg.  Still wasn't as straightforward as riding at home.  On and off bike paths, trying to pick the right minor road and a fair bit of traffic.

The Salzach River at Berchtesgaden.

On Friday we "Did" schtrudel, the Mirabell Gardens in Salzburg with the Lovells then went back up to Berchtesgaden with Dave.

Screamed back down the gentle slope to Salzburg - rolling along in the mid 40s with weight on.  Fifth fastest trip down this year and 13th fastest overall according to strava.  And some guy sat on, from Berchtesdagen to Grodig, didn't take a turn or offer to, then cruised past at the lights at Grodig without even a hi or a thanks.

Great feed in the main part of Salzburg.  Menu had all sorts of allergens highlighted so was an easy night - the kids were exhausted and slept through the food.

Packed up, put our luggage on a taxi Saturday morning with Justine and the kids, then headed to Zell am See on our bikes.

Shouldn't be too hard.  Downloaded course on the garmin.  Gentle, gradual uphill ride to Zell.  Or that was the idea.

Farted around the rich farmland on the bike paths around Salzburg for what seemed like hours before we finally found the Saalach River and head south west.  Didn't even get to Bad Reichenall before we needed coffee.

It was turning a three hour ride into lots longer and after the training week leading up to it, was a long day in the saddle.  Day off tomorrow.

The road to Zell am See

Zell am See

Cleverly missed one tunnel on the way and another as we were coming into Zell am See.  That explained how, when we put in the route, there were restricted access signs on google maps.  Didn't say why.  The tunnel coming in to Zell am See goes for several kilometres, keeping streams of traffic out of the narrow streets of the town.

Anyway we're here.  Ironman signs everywhere.  Tourists everywhere - lots of Arabs.

Wednesday

I must be on holidays, I'm starting to lose track of time.  And I only took four photos today - which means I'm out of photo frenzy mode.

The photo in the last post that was supposed to be of our hotel was a lie.  Pretty nice hotel - at least from the outside.  We are not staying in a hotel but a one bedroom unit - part of a teknik area north of the city. This is where we are staying:

Not quite as flash but functional.

Went running this morning.  First to get 20ks under my belt.  Then to get to the pool and back.  Total 30+.  Energy expenditure including yesterday's ride meant that most of the rest of the day was spent eating.

Which brings us to yesterday's ride.  We'd planned a route that took us on the 1, the B1 or Linzer Bundestrasse depending on which map you use.  Head 50 ks east then cross country to Attersee, ride around the lake and come back past Fuschlsee (where we rode to on Monday).  Getting out of town was easier than Monday as we had a better idea where we had to go and were getting more comfortable with the traffic.  By about 10ks we were getting used to the mix of highway and bike tracks that just cut across farmland, tieing the villages together.  The photo below shows the road on the left and the bike track wandering across the next hill.

Searching for the bike tracks took time sometimes so we ended up sticking to the B1.  Which was great until we disappeared into a tunnel.  As we went in there was no indication that it was anything but a longish underpass.  A narrow lane each way we could cope with for a few seconds but we realised after about 30 seconds we were in the wrong place.  It was lit dimly but with both of us not daring to take a hand off to remove sunglasses the road was pretty dark.  But the noise was deafening.  Louder maybe.  A truck coming the other way sounded like a jet taking off and we could hear it coming from (maybe a) kilometre back.  We both shat ourselves.  And continued shitting ourselves.  We didn't dare turn around.  I kept thinking the tunnel would end around the corner but it continued - and the trucks continued.  The echos meant we couldn't tell whether the truck noise was from behind or in front.  After a minute we both scrambled onto the narrow footpath on the side.  I started riding along there but Kim couldn't balance because she was shaking so much.  When we came to an escape area we stopped and took stock.  There hadn't been any vehicles come past us since we had entered the tunnel so I guessed they must have been stopped.  When we realised this we started riding on the road again.  The tunnel seemed to be going forever.

As we rode on I realised we were going to be in big trouble.  This was reinforced by the police car with its lights on that came up behind us about 500 metres from the end, waving us along in front of it.  We took the first exit after the tunnel and pulled off the road as soon as it was moderately safe.
Yes we realised we shouldn't have entered but only after it was too late.
Yes we can see the car sign but it didn't seem to rule out bikes.
No we didn't realise the tunnel was so long.

The police suggested that at the next tunnel we should follow the road around - like bikes are supposed to.  At the mention of next we decided it was safer to get off the B1.

Considering we had held up traffic for at least 10 minutes on a busy highway the police were pretty understanding.  No yelling, No fine.  No gaol.  Might not have escaped as easily in Australia.

We were still buzzing.  And not wanting to face the stream of vehicles pouring out of the lane we had blocked we decided it was coffee time.

The rest of the day was mild by comparison.  We left the highway after another 10 ks and had a bite on the shores of Mondsee.  From there it was magic.  Magic scenery - cliffs rising from the lake hundreds of  metres.

Magic riding - a mix of bike paths and smooth paved roads for the next 80ks as we skirted Mondsee and completely circumnavigated Attersee before climbing to Fuschlsee then climbing more over the pass to Salzburg.  Great day.

Oh.  And there was one more tunnel.  Just for bikes.  Continued for about a kilometre where some of the cliffs disappear into the lake.  Imagine the cost.  Completely separate to the road tunnel.

We slept well considering we could have been in gaol.

Some thoughts for later discussion:
There are far fewer fat people in Austria than Australia - like even moderately fat.  In comparison it seems like half the population of Australia is fat.  Not as many McDonalds in Austria.

Salzburg has a fantastic network of bicycle tracks.  And people use them.  There is bike storage everywhere.  Outside every shop, business, house and railway station.  Some bike lanes are squeezed onto the roads, like in Sydney. But they don't stop and start - maybe cross to the other side sometimes.  There is also the most comprehensive network of dedicated paths - some go more than 20 ks out, meaning you can ride a bike to some of the lakes and be on bike paths or on bike lanes the whole way.

There are far more smokers here than in Australia.

If you head in any direction away from the river in Austria you go up.  Fast.

Cows

Woke up this morning dead.
Yesterday's exertions must have had some impact and on top of the jetlag I was dead.
And it was raining, and didn't look like stopping.
Cup of tea.
Shopping at Aldi (Hofer here) - I was pretty excited at the idea of some serious food but its just as disorganised as the Aldi in Australia.  Bits and pieces everywhere.  Bikes next to biscuits.  T shirts next to tomatoes.  I thought Germans were supposed to be organised.
Then breakfast and Aldi filter coffee.
Still dead.
Ok, its still raining so the long ride is postponed till after lunch lets go for a swim.
Caught a bus to town, found the pool I discovered yesterday and did laps till we were both so cold that we shivered for the next two hours.
Neither of us had thought to bring warm clothes or food so we eventually shared a tasty Thai feed, had a coffee, found a way up to the castle,

walked back through the old (read tourist) town and home via a real supermarket (Spa) where order is restored and we picked up some gluten free bread and other groceries to make up what we couldn't find in Hofer.

Don't know how the cows fit in but with the rich looking pastures around the countryside it is not surprising that they should have a thriving dairy industry.  All over Salzburg there are cows - milch cows - all painted and life sized.

Didn't see many in the paddocks yesterday but we weren't looking for them.

Finally, I thought I should put up a photo of the hotel we are staying in.

Quaint.

Long ride planned for tomorrow - in search of more lakes.

The Ups and Downs of Travel

I was going to write this last night but had to sleep instead.  After lobbing into Salzburg on a public holiday and not being able to find food, the weekend worked out a treat.

The three hour wait in Frankfurt to catch a 45 minute flight to Salzburg was balanced by the uncrowded terminal in Salzburg, no queues at customs or immigration (that was all done in Frankfurt on our arrival into the EU) and a taxi big enough to carry all our gear that we walked right onto.

20 minutes to our new home, a little farting around to find the key and we were in.

We spent the next few hours walking around town trying to convince ourselves that the next supermarket would be open.  But we found a bike maintenance depot - out in the open - with tools and a pump attached.  Anyone can roll up on their bike and use the tools, which are on cables or bolted down.

We eventually found a shop in a nearby servo for some bread for Kim some cheese to go with some potatoes we found at a middle eastern shop.

Sunday our heavy legs (from sitting on the plane) took us for a run - up the river for Kim and down the river for me.  Home, bike down to the markets to check out the town, great Thai feed for lunch then back on the bike to go check out the first lake east - Fuschlsee.

20 ks away and a quality bike track all the way.  The garmin struggled to find a way out of town - and then back.  When its on bike it doesn't want to go near a road with cars, so next time out it will be a car.

Fabulous scenery and great roads once we got to the lake.

The trip back was mostly on road.  From the lake it went up for about 2ks - great road but steep.  But the ride down into the next valley was so much fun I was laughing on the way down.  Even Kim had her brakes off for fair bit - long sweeping corners on smooth hotmix meant close to 80kph a couple of times.  When we stopped to get our bearings it was coffee time again.

Cruisy ride back to town where we were able to pick up some bacon(ish) meat and some rice cakes to spice up the potatoes for dinner.

Downs of jet lag and lack of food were well balance by the ups of a good workout, tasty lunch and a ride that was as good as any in France a couple of years ago.

In Transit

Flight one done and dusted. The bikes should have been in first class considering we were charged over $200 each for them to come with us.
Lucky Kim got to eat gluten free too thanks to flight centre leaving it till the last minute to request gluten free. 

We're sitting in the airport lounge listening to a guy on piano and a lovely lady singing abba songs. They don't seem to be making much of an effort to sound like abba.

Looking forward to 12 hours on the next leg to Frankfurt.

Why?

So why are we here?

I've been training my arse off (literally) all year because of the shame Kim has put me through with her competing in triathlons.  I've managed to stay relatively free from injury and completed my first ironman distance at Port Macquarie in May.  Came third in my age group, Kim came second in hers and it was enough to get us both qualification for the Hawaiian ironman.  So that's where we are headed.

But first we are going to Austria.  There's a 1/2 ironman in Zell am see in three weeks time and we are travelling with another couple and their twin seven year olds - hence the Lovells - leave this Friday in fact. Next week in Salzburg the week after in Zell.  After that we go to the Adriatic Coast of Italy to train and holiday.  In September we head to the US to compete in an olympic distance race in Chicago - the world championship for age groupers.  Then Hawaii.  We will have a couple of weeks there before the race but its quite a buzz to be there at that time.  Home in mid October.

I want a photo to match this one.

A couple of nights before.

A practice night with Davee, Juzzy, Chrissy, Cassee.

A little fuzzy.