Ride Summary

Distance: 31 mi
Climbing: 1765 feet
Descending: a bit less
Difficulty: medium
Link to workout in Strava

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Link to photo gallery from this trip

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Up, up and away! Today we entered the Alps.

We woke early and checked the forecast, didn't see a need to rush out of town but were still at the hotel breakfast by 7:15 and filled up on starch with a bit of protein before packing up the rest of the way. At 9am businesses opened so I bought a spare saddle to have along in case mine breaks (mine was creaking ominously, plus I've broken two in the past 8 months) and Lori visited a pharmacy in search of the perfect sunscreen, part 1. Despite the errands, we were loaded up, checked out, and on the road by 10.

The ride started off gently - the first two thirds, about 20 miles, were fairly flat and quick and cycle paths along the river, or no-traffic country roads. We stopped on a roadside bench for a snack and braced for what we thought would be 3000 feet of climbing on the shoulder of a twisty road.

The route ticked upward then but the first major climb was only 500 feet or so on a fine cyclepath across a strip of grass from the highway, with the only ridiculous bit being the last 100 yards as we climbed over the roadway tunnel to pass over Lueg Pass. At the top, we stopped for a beer and snack while we caught our breaths with a great view. Then, as we set out, the skies opened up while we descended, and we were glad for our rain gear. Fortunately, the rain passed before the last couple of climbs - which were DARN steep and sweaty even without the rain gear on. Still, only about half of the climbing we'd expected from the routing software we use. No complaints about all of the "missing" sweat! It sure seems, in retrospect, like perhaps the elevation data in Europe is far less accurate - and almost always in our favoe with less climbing than expected - than in America where the elevation data is good to great and the same software often underestimates the climbing instead.

Our hotel is at the top of a 18 percent grade that I finally had to give up and walk before I threw up from the exertion of riding...the climb wasn't very long - maybe a half mile - but this one WAS ridiculously steep. However, the view at the top of the neighboring castle ("Hohenwerfen") was worth the work, especially since the hotel has the nicest bike parking - a dedicated, electronic-door car garage with tons of outlets to plug in things - that I've ever seen (the whole hotel is really nice! And it is billed as "child free", which I guess is mostly calmer - but also, is selling booze, cigarettes, and CBD gummies from a vending machine).

We'd been thinking of visiting nearby ice caves this afternoon, but they are quite distant (bus shuttle to a 20 minute hike, 3 minute cablecar, 20 minute hike...before a 70ish minute walk through) and the rains came back, so we tucked in for the afternoon with our view and our books and eachother to cuddle it out as we look out over the castle and valley and plan to hit the ice caves first thing tomorrow, as long as it isn't snowing (which it might be - forecasts disagree!)

We took one of the first buses up to the ice caves - and it was UP, so glad not to ride it and then have to walk up. We got so high that it was actively snowing at the top! But the caves were mighty nifty, and the guide was a fun young man who gave the tour in German and English, while we shoined our weird old mining flashlights around the shimmering, drippy caverns. It was neat in a different way than the guided tour, tourist attraction caves I saw in Slovenia and the US (Carlsbad), and I was glad we made the short bus ride and the long walk + cablecar journey up to and through the caves.