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Austria Landeck, Austria
John: An extremely picturesque ride today, following a rushing whitewater river. Storybook towns with cathedrals in mountain valleys. The Alps along the sides. It was a record for me for maximum downhill bike speed after we went over Arlberg Pass. It's the second highest pass in Austria. Got up tremendous speed coming down... peaking at 44.6 miles per hour. So fast, in fact, I came perilously close to wiping out coming one of the S-Turns. Wipe out meaning... like... over the edge. Over the freakin' edge. I came within one foot of the cliff's wall. One foot from death. It was fast. It was real fast. It was too fast. Dick: I almost wiped out around that bend too, it was sharp and unexpected. But I knew you were going faster behind me. I looked back to see if you made it. John: Yeah, that's too dangerous. That could have been it. Right off the edge. What a rush!
We're here in the Austrian countryside, we seem to have taken a wrong turn some how. We were heading up a regular paved road, and then the road turned to dirt. And, we're now in the middle of a cornfield. Dick, how did this happen? Dick: Just following your directions, my boy. John: Well, the map didn't have the road we were on listed so we tried for a shortcut. It seemed directionally logical and there is the visual of a town ahead. When we tried to get back on the proper road, the route turned to dirt and then a path through a cornfield. Old ladies are out here hoeing, looking oddly at us. So now we have to cut through the field. And we've come to another dead end. But, yes... we can hoist the bikes up over this... fence. And that's it, we'll be sprung. Innsbruck, Austria - Wednesday, July 14
Dick: Buffoons, maybe, but not idiots. John: On this menu there are some familiar things. Can't mistake sauerkraut. Dick, what are you thinking of ordering? Dick: Some sort of spaghetti. I'm not sure what exactly will come with it though. Don't want to get any meat in there. And this is a land of meat. John: I'm not sure what they'll bring, but I'm going to order "zwiebelbrat mit kartouffel". According to the book that should be some sort of onion roast with roasted potatoes. Sounds good to me. We already have our beer. This place is an authentic beer garden. Pebbles on the ground and everything. No Americans here. Dick: Except two. John: Oh, right. WALKING John: It seems that here in Innsbruck there's a foot massage machine outside every supermarket. I guess that's because, as I read in the guidebook, that "Innsbruck has the highest proportion of sore-footed shoppers". Dick: It didn't say that. John: It could have, should have, as that would explain the foot massagers. There also seem to be gumball machines everywhere in Austria. There were two of them mounted on the front of a church. Salzburg, Austria - Saturday, July 17
AT A BEER CELLAR
Dick: From what I can tell, most people here are regulars. A few American tourists but I think most of the people seem to know the hired help. That's the view from this side. You might have a better view from where you sit as you are sitting looking out at the crowd. John: Well, there was a chain-smoking beer drinker over there. A man who knows his vices. He went home a moment ago but, there seems to be another chain-smoker to replace him in the same spot. At these "biergartens", there tend to be a lot of people who come in by themselves and drink beer all night. But we did, in fact, eat dinner here. We're on our second order of french fries. Supposedly at seven o'clock a "hilarious" accordion player is supposed to start playing. Hopefully we'll get to hear some of his hilarious Austrian humor. We will be able to monitor the hilarity by the degree of laughter coming from the single chain-smokers. We won't know what he's saying.
John: Our ride today was a short one. It's been raining quite a bit here around Salzburg. It's my theory that it always rains because of all the salt seeding the clouds. Because "Salz" is German for salt. That's why they call it "Salz"burg. So, you see, the salt goes up into the clouds and seeds them and then it rains constantly. It hasn't stopped since we've been here. Dick, you know this theory is true. Admit it. Dick: Get out of here. I know it's wrong, for a fact. John: For a fact? Come on! Anyway... it was raining, so we got away from Salzburg and headed here to Braunau, 42 miles away. We headed north and there are no more Alps anymore. There're no more mountains in this direction. I think for the rest of our riding. It was a flat ride. Rolling farm land. No major climbs at all. Wels, Austria - Monday, July 19 John:
Dick: Oh, come on. It wasn't that bad. John: It was terrible. I didn't enjoy one moment of the whole ride. Dick: Well, after you get done with your summary, I'll give mine. John: Okay. Well, it started out pretty dreary... well, all right, we had a nice little breakfast in Braunau. That was okay, although we did learn that Braunau was the birthplace of Adolf Hitler. Glad I didn't know that last night, I might have had nightmares. Then we cashed our traveler's checks at an extra good exchange rate. That was nice. But, then we started riding and it was cloudy and dreary and wet and cold. Terrible riding weather. So, we started out riding into the wind for 20 miles. Kept riding into the wind. Gloomy all day. The sun never came out. There were some hills. Nothing too interesting. My stomach was upset. I even have a little fever now. I can't think of anything else good that happened. Go ahead Dick, what were the good points. Dick: Okay. We woke up this morning in a wonderful little hostel in Braunau where there were only six of us in the entire hostel. Last night, while everyone was out in town, I had it pretty much all to my own. I found that quite enjoyable.
Dick: Braunau is a pleasant little town. It's quaint and there are not a whole lot of tourists. I enjoyed that also. We woke up and had "fruhstuck" breakfast downstairs. We were served by an older woman who was quite cheerful though she only spoke German. Did some morning shopping and it was quite pleasant. We had a cup of coffee in the cafe after having two in the hostel, so by the time we got on the road we were quite buzzing and I was in kind of an upbeat mood. Unfortunately, it was cooler and we had to put on some warmer clothes. The ride was kind of uneventful. In the morning it was overcast and there was threatening rain and the wind was going against us. I suppose the riding part was... John: Oh come on, cut the crap. It was a miserable day and you know it. Cheerful older woman... all right, go on with your abuse of the word "pleasant". This gloomy, dreary, cloudy, windy day. So, go ahead, Dick. Dick: Yes, excuse me. You got your turn to speak. Let me pick up where I left off. So, the riding part of the day wasn't the most enjoyable. But I'll tell you, if biking into the wind is work, what else would I rather be doing for work. The views and the environment and the senses that go along with some location make up for what may be a bad ride. I think today with all the traffic and the steady wind it may not have been one of the most enjoyable rides we've had but I wouldn't trade it for a lot of other days. John: Okay Dick, your next enjoyable ride is across the Siberian plain. Dick: I'll look forward to it.
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