Previous
Thursday July 11, 2019
train from Vienna to Innsbruck,
drive to Zell am See
Friday July 12, 2019
Grossglockner-Hochalpenstrasse Edelweissspritze
Next
Saturday July 13, 2019
drive from Heiligenblut, AT to Prutz, AT
2019/07/12 06:00
View from my room of a drizzly morning in Zell am See looking southeast
I assumed (correctly, it turned out) that my road followed the valley
with the hanging clouds to the south in
the middle of this picture.
Train station is right across the street.
Today's goal is the tenth highest paved road in the Alps Grossglockner-Hochalpenstrasse
Edelweissspritze 2571m 1711m vertical 29km
from Zell am See
The normal start is Bruck, a few km closer to the mountain, but I
wanted to stay near the lake.
I was happy to start from here since I had a safe place to park for the
day.
Grossglockner High Alpine Road was built as a depression era project
between 1930 and 1935.
The cobbled road up Edelweissspritze
with 6 turns was completed in only 47 days in the summer of 1934.
Wlil at cycling-challenge
called this one of his favorite climbs, I was
really looking forward to this, but I was also apprehensive about the
weather.
The forecast called for the weather to get worse later today, and it
looked like it might rain over most of the Tirolean Alps for the better
part of the next 3 days.
I decided if I could get one ride in this morning I'd be doing pretty
well.
I got rained on last year on Cime de la Bonette and didn't get very wet
at all under my 'new' rain gear, so I felt the risk of getting soaked
and freezing to
death in the rain was minimal or non existant..
I wore my rain jacket with only my short sleeve cycling jersey
underneath, and didn't bring my much warmer long sleeve cycling jersey
because it nearly takes up my entire daypack.
I checked out of the hotel, put my backpack in the back of my car, and
started...only to stop at the bakery just across the street for
breakfast - juice and a chocolate croissant
I had to deal with a few kilometers of busy roads and highways before I
found the toll road up into the Alps.
The toll booth is a few kilometers down the road, at the point where
you can first see the high mountains (to entice you into paying the
toll)
2019/07/12 07:56
Grossglockner is the highest point in Austria, it seems to be quite the
source of national pride, or at least quite the local tourist
attraction.
This is the much publicized wildlife park at the toll booth
2019/07/12 07:57
Grossglockner toll road gates for cyclists and motorcycles
2019/07/12 07:57
Grossglockner toll road gates for autos
2019/07/12 07:57
2019/07/12 08:45
The road got pretty steep and the conditions deteriorated slowly.
It didn't really rain, but it was plenty wet, and I slowly realized
that I was getting wet under my raingear.
Fortunately it wasn't too cold and there was almost no wind.
2019/07/12 09:21
Now I was soaked through and cold but not freezing.
I couldn't believe what an idiot I had been to NOT bring my warmer long
sleeze jersey.
2019/07/12 09:45
Now the wind started to slowly blow over the pass from the south....
straight through me...
Being soaked wasn't great, but that alone wasn't a fatal problem.
But every single time the breeze picked up I felt like an ice cube.
I kept climbing higher.
I didn't stop to take many pictures because I couldn't see much of
anything, and stopping meant I got even colder..
I needed to keep moving.
There was no question I was going to get
to the top of this thing regardless of the weather...
Somewhere in this stretch I saw my first cyclist of the day - he was
headed downhill fast.
I assumed he'd started on the much shorter other side of the mountain,
and that I was the first person to climb up my side of the mountain
today.
2019/07/12 09:45
2019/07/12 09:45
2019/07/13 09:52
This picture was taken the next day.
The road up to the Edelweissspritze is cobbled...
As I hit the start of the cobbles it started to sleet.
Now I was frozen and soaked, and the cobbles were just brutal - very
steep, very bumpy.
I was not having too much fun, but I was going to get to the top.
The sleet stopped after about a minute, but the conditions did not
improve beyond that.
2019/07/13 09:54
This picture was taken the next day.
Hairpins on the south side of Edelweissspritze
I kept pedalling up on auto-pilot.
My hands were numb and my fingers were frozen.
The climb was steep and pretty painful at this point.
I'd never been on cobbles before, and I quickly became not-a-fan.
On a road bike they are just painful.
I couldn't believe how long it took me to get up this thing.
2019/07/12 10:43
I made it!
I've climbed 7 of the 10 highest paved roads in the Alps!
I'm soaked and hypothermic and I'm shivering uncontrollably!
The only dry clothes I have with me are a second pair of socks.
My hands and fingers were very, very cold and barely functional.
Fingers are important since they are used to control your brakes.
Failure to brake properly downhill can result in some very bad outcomes.
My iphone battery said 50% as I saved my gps track, then it died
suddenly within about a minute..
It did not like to cold..
I saw a taxi van with tourists - they must have driven in from a ways
away.
They picked a poor day for sightseeing... of course we all did.
I was the only cyclist on top and was the center of attention.
Others in the parking lot gave me chocolate and a banana.
I had food with me, but no chocolate.
I don't like bananas but I took it to be polite.
I scarfed the chocolate and slowly descended back to the restaurant at
the start of the cobbles.
2019/07/12 10:43
2019/07/12 10:43
This picture was taken the next day.
I shivered my way inside, sat down, and ordered a cup of hot chocolate,
then a bowl of golash soup.
I wrapped my frozen fingers and hands around the chocolate and soup
like my life depended on it, cause it kind of did..
After 30-45 minutes of sitting inside with hot food and drink my
cold cold hands started to thaw out.
I was still soaked, but I wasn't hypothermic anymore and my fingers
were functional again.
I carefully road back down the mountain as the skies slowly cleared.
I stopped to take a few more pictures since i could actually see
something.
2019/07/12 12:08
2019/07/12 12:08
2019/07/12 12:09
2019/07/12 12:11
PANO - scroll right
I made it!
I didn't freeze to death!
I changed clothes in the hotel.
Now I had to drive over the same road I'd just biked to get to
tonight's hotel in Heiligenblut.
I'd signed up for a race tomorrow morning.
I had long since decided that if conditions were anything like this bad
tomorrow morning I would not be riding.
I also had to drive 4-1/2 hours tomorrow to get to Prutz for my next
ride, freezing to death again before that ride was not going to happen.
I texted my friends a few pictures, then started driving over
Grossglockner-Hochalpenstrasse
2019/07/12 14:38
Edelweissspritze (on the far right) from the south
2019/07/12 14:43
2019/07/12 14:46
Looking southwest from Hochtorpass
2019/07/12 14:46
Looking south from Hochtorpass
2019/07/12 14:46
Hochtorpass
2019/07/12 14:47
Hochtorpass
PANO - scroll right
2019/07/12 15:13
Finally I arrived in Heiligenblut, starting point for the race tomorrow.
Grossglockner is hidden in the clouds behind one of the snow covered
peaks on the right.
2019/07/12 15:25
I only signed up for the bike race a couple of weeks before leaving for
Austria.
I managed to find the last room available anywhere near Heiligenblut on
booking.com - it was nonrefundable, but it was "only" $105 risked...
2019/07/12 16:01
my hotel, Panoramahotel
Lärchenhof - 4 stars.
I'm not sure I've stayed in a 4 star hotel in Europe before.
It was nice :)
13:02 Europe time 05:02 California time
Kent: Awesome Dusty! Stay warm! Just a little sleet!
:)
14:45 Europe time 06:45 California time
Paul: You will have an advantage in that race
Paul: You train in San Francisco, the land of perpetual shit weather
14:47 Europe time 06:47 California time
Dusty: Mountain weather is different
Dusty: sleet and cobblestones at the same time...
Dusty: that was unreal..
Dusty: i was dying
Dusty: It was less than a minute of sleet, but it counted
Dusty: I could see it on the cobbles
14:54 Europe time 06:54 California time
Ray: 26 hrs of travel excluding flights is a shitload!
Ray: Very pretty landscape!
15:01 Europe time 07:01 California time
Dusty: Yeah but it is over 18 days
Dusty: And the rain is coming
15:56 Europe time 07:56 California time
Dusty: God inconveniently did not put the 20 highest paved roads in the
Alps near each other....what a prankster!
2019/07/12 16:03
I wandered down to see the festivities and get my number for the race.
2019/07/12 16:14
2019/07/12 16:14
2019/07/12 16:14
2019/07/12 16:15
2019/07/12 16:17
16:05 Europe time 08:05 California time
Dusty: Everyone is outside either at the event or along the track
(road), kids races today, new group of kids running every 15 or so
minutes
Dusty: Can't understand a thing, just the cheering..
Dusty: Oh the announcer says "thank you" alot...
Dusty: That's pretty much the extent of my understanding of current
events
16:19 Europe time 08:19 California time
Paul: You gotta race! You've got the shirt! Come on man, how often do
you get the chance to do a bike race in Europe?
16:20 Europe time 08:20 California time
Dusty: Not in the pissing rain I don't have to race....
16:21 Europe time 08:21 California time
Dusty: I got far wetter and colder than i had planned today, which
means i screwed up
Dusty: Screwing up is how bad shit happens
16:21 Europe time 08:21 California time
Paul: Check your phone, all that's coming through from your end
is "meow, meow, meow"
16:22 Europe time 08:22 California time
Dusty: What i did today was way more than this, and I was either first
or second up the mountain from my side.
16:23 Europe time 08:23 California time
Paul: Get some soup and a bath and I bet tomorrow morning you'll decide
to go
16:26 Europe time 08:26 California time
Dusty: 5964' 1818m vertical 20.2 miles 32.5km
Dusty: And have now completed 7 of the top 10, that was #10
16:31 Europe time 08:31 California time
Dusty: This tiny room must be right over the kitchen, all I ear is
kitchen noise.
16:37 Europe time 08:37 California time
Dusty: This morning i saw 3 days of bad weather before it clears up..
Dusty: i figured if I could get one in today, I wouldn't feel bad about
not getting chilled to the bone the nexy couple of days
Dusty: I think tomorrows race up Kaiser-Franz-Josef-Höhe may be the
21st highest paved road in the
Alps, but I don't see it listed consistently
Dusty: And don't have a reliable elevation
Dusty: I have 2 that are like 30m apart
Dusty: I believe everyone in tomorrows race is a man in my age group if
today was any indication
(I later decided that at 2369m it is the 24th highest paved road in the
Alps It
is not listed on the highest
roads in europe wikipedia page)
2019/07/12 16:27
Dusty: I am nowhere near as good as Kent at finding cool churches, but
I'm in the habit of checking Tripavisor before i go anywhere new..
Dusty: this church and this event are the highlights of this town...
2019/07/12 16:27
2019/07/12 16:30
2019/07/12 16:32
Dusty: There's a pasta party at 6, I've got a box of spaghetti in my
goody bag
2019/07/12 17:07
Dusty: Here's the jersey for the event I bought
Dusty: Not impressed with the logo
Unfortunately it is WAY too small for me to wear, I keep assuming
rashly that European sizes are something like US sizes.
2019/07/12 19:08
2019/07/12 19:08
I've gotten in the habit of trying to eat like a king every night I'm
in Europe, spending a fair amount of time on tripadvisor looking at the
best restaurants in the area.
Since there were hundreds of cyclists in town tonight and dinner was
included with my room rate, I realized it would be downright foolish to
try to find a different meal.
2019/07/12 19:17
The local beer is Zipfer, brewed in Zipf
2019/07/12 19:17
broccoli tureen with balsamic dressing
2019/07/12 19:17
Salad bar
2019/07/12 19:39
Hake fillet with potatoes in herb butter and tartar sauce
The hake was almost as good as last night - not sure I've had hake
before
2019/07/12 20:03
strawberry cheesecake dumplings in nut butter crumbs
The desert was insane and lasted mere seconds
The forecast...
Previous
Thursday July 11, 2019
train from Vienna to Innsbruck,
drive to Zell am See
Friday July 12, 2019
Grossglockner-Hochalpenstrasse Edelweissspritze
Next
Saturday July 13, 2019
drive from Heiligenblut, AT to Prutz, AT
