Cycling through Austria - 13 Aug 2020

In August, two friends and I did a little two-day ride through Austria. We planned various routes on komoot and in the end settled on the ones with the least amount of big roads and the most amount of altitude.

It's a kind of tradeoff - if you want to stay clear of big roads, you have to climb some ramps.

Day 1 #

On a very nice and sunny morning, we took the train to Fischbachau where our ride began. Not a lot of cars, perfect roads, rolling through the wooded mountains - all of this got me very excited about the day(s) to come. After crossing the border to Austria there were the first descents that allowed us to get in the groove of taking downward hairpin turns.

We left Kufstein behind and started our first detour that netted us about 450 meters (~ 1500 ft) of altitude in exchange for very nice and quiet roads.

The altitude was hard-earned though, as there were long stretches where the slope was over 10% and some parts where it went as high as 16%. Also, it had gotten very hot with my bike computer showing something around 35°C (95°F). When we got up that hill we collapsed in the shadow of a tree (not quite enough for three people) and guzzled water like no tomorrow. But there wasn't only a tomorrow, but also another climb to come.

Before that, during the following descent we found the nicest place to have a rest and get some calories in the little town of "Scheffau am Wilden Kaiser". The place is called Lieblingsplatzl, which is austrian dialect for "favorite place". And it really is one of my favorite places now. Everything from the Radler to the Tacos and the Coffee not only tasted great, but came with a little extra. Like the coffee being served with fresh water with a strawberry bouncing around in it.

The day was not done yet, though. There was one other really tough and hot road to be climbed. The sun was burning down and there was no shadow in sight. That's the time when you turn your head off, ignore that you're dripping like a wet towel and just crank those pedals again and again.

After cresting that summit followed 50 more kilometres (~31 miles) of more or less pleasant riding through very beautiful scenery. But I cursed myself for booking the guesthouse in a place that added 10 slightly uphill kilometres at the end. My butt wasn't used to a day that long in the saddle.

Day 2 #

As the weather forecast said something about potential thunderstorms in the afternoon, we got up pretty early. The 10 slightly uphill kilometres from the day before now made for a good start. And that wasn't all - it kind of went downhill until the start of the first climb.

Almost all the roads were very nice to drive again. I missed a turn onto a bikeway and forced us to drive on an uncomfortably busy road for a couple of kilometres. But once we got on the bikeway everything was good.

The first climb was also the most brutal climb I think I have ever done. It's almost 500m (1640 ft) of altitude during 6.5 km (~4 miles). And there are parts that are just. so. steep. Right at the end, when my heart was continuously pounding at 170bpm already there are two inclines that really finished me off. They're not long, but continuously over 15% and up to 20% incline. At some point I was going so slow that I was scared to fall over and had to stop for a bit and get myself together. Fortunately, this road was very shadowy and the heat of the day before had also declined.

Arriving at the top was pretty amazing though, and after a not so little pause we pressed on. The scenery was amazing, it felt very mountainous. The road was great too, no cars allowed but perfect asphalt, rolling through a kind of wooded plateau.

A very steep descent was followed by the last climb of the tour. Just as we crested the top and sat down for a short rest it started raining and continued to do so quite forcefully for about an hour. Thankfully there was a bus shelter for us to sit it out.

When it stopped, we saddled our horses one last time and let our squeaking disc brakes sing on the descent. Another hour of rolling through the beautiful Berchtesgadener Land and we ended the tour in the little town of Teisendorf which I will always remember for that tasty Pfefferbreze.