The roads I'm going to try here over the next few days are so remote
there are very few English language descriptions online.
Today's ride shares the same start (Außerfragant) as nearby Großer
Oscheniksee – 2394m /
7,854' 1676m vertical 17km, the 19th highest paved road in the Alps.
The description I read says ideally you should do both roads on the
same day.
I held out the possibility as a real stretch goal, but I also knew
these are two of the hardest paved roads in the Alps and had no
delusions I'd be able to pull it off.
It took me most of an hour to drive from Lienz to Außerfragant.
Außerfragant is in the middle of nowhere.
There are large pipes coming down the mountain that end at Außerfragant.
I parked at the bottom of the complex with the water works.
The description I read says the road starts out from Außerfragant
uphill but it isn't too strenuous before reaching a few km of flat road
at Innerfragant.
I beg to differ, the road hits a crazy 13% grade pretty quickly.
That reviewer's memory is bad...
2019/07/19 08:37
Then I reached the dowhhill and flat stretch only to find the pavement
is gone...
2019/07/19 08:44
There was still pavement in downtown Innerfragant
2019/07/19 08:57
Shortly after Innerfragant I saw the turnoff for Großer Oscheniksee
The description made it sound as though the turnoff is hard to find.
There isn't much else around, this would be kind of hard to miss if you
were looking for it.
From what I could tell from the German signs, cyclists
were allowed during daylight hours in the summer only and everyone else
was forbidden.
That's what I told myself it said anyway.
2019/07/19 09:05
PANO - scroll right
2019/07/19 09:10
I knew the Mölltaler was a ski area, but I didn't realize until I got
here that it is an underground train.
2019/07/19 09:10
The road is closed to cars past the train station.
2019/07/19 09:11
2019/07/19 09:15
Oh no!
The road is closed to bikes!
This is a private road, part of the ski area.
I've read that it is frequently under construction but I've never heard
of it being closed to bikes..
For the first time ever, google translate comes up with an exact
translation.
I went back to the train station and started to ask around, hoping
against hope I'd be able to ride this thing.
One person pointed me to the booth where they sell train tickets.
I asked if the road was closed last year, she said no.
I didn't think to ask if they were planning to reopen the road next
year.
The good thing was I already had a backup plan... Großer Oscheniksee
was less than 1km in back of me.
As i rode downhill away from the Mölltaler (my closed road ) toward
Oscheniksee I thought about a rogue 3am ride up the Mölltaler to do it
anyway....
As soon as i started up Oscheniksee I thought better of it
2019/07/19 09:32
The first few turns up Oscheniksee.
Steep.
Insanely steep.
Painful.
Did I mention steep?
2019/07/19 10:00
I kept riding up, waiting for a view of anything other than trees, but
that was not to be.
No views other than trees and for quite a while.
The trees are nice, but they block the view of the mountains.
My knees started bothering me pretty quickly.
The road was on bad but ridable condition, it is seldom driven by the
dam workers, there was debris everywhere.
On a couple of turns there were large deep potholes.
The largest pothole was perhaps 1' across and perhaps a food deep, and
it had a large stick standing up in it so you could see it.
2019/07/19 10:19
2019/07/19 10:35
quite a washout...
2019/07/19 10:36
same washout
I saw a couple of hunting blinds mounted 10' up in the trees at the end
of a couple of turns...
I assume they hunted ibex but I don't know..
2019/07/19 10:51
after turn 20 or so I was above the treeline...
but there are 45 turns!
2019/07/19 10:51
2019/07/19 11:39
I made it!
This was crazy steep and painful, certainly the hardest climb I've
done...
My knees ached and my legs were completely wiped out...
There is no way I'd be able to do both this and Mölltaler on the same
day.
Significantly harder than Ötztaler
Gletscherstraße, the highest paved road in the Alps I did on July
15 which is known for its steepness...
All hail ibuprofen, without ibu none of this is possible...
I hadn't seen another person on this road.
I was very, very alone, and it was cool...
I made sure to bring a whistle with me today in case I got hurt.. I
wanted to be found....
It was not very warm, and the clouds came in as soon as I got to the
top...
Unfortunately that is one of my strongest memories of this climb,
losing the sun at the top..
I considered the top pretty barren and utilitarian and not terribly
scenic, at least compared to many of my other climbs
2019/07/19 11:39
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2019/07/19 11:41
PANO - scroll right
2019/07/19 11:43
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2019/07/19 11:47
PANO - scroll right
2019/07/19 12:04
2019/07/19 12:04
This picture probably best shows how steep this ride is.
2019/07/19 12:04
On the way down at about turn 20 I saw a man and woman resting on their
road bikes.
The woman asked me how much further.
She sounded done.
I told her it was a ways to the top.
I kept going down.
When I got to the bottom I saw their van next to the turn for this road
- they hadn't even started at the proper starting point Außerfragant.
2019/07/19 12:34
Love this sign!
I got back to the car.
I was spent, but I still had to drive an hour back to the Lienz on a 2
lane road...
I stopped at the store, then went to Drua Memorial site.
1000s of Kosack civilians killed themselves and or were beaten by
British soldiers before being sent to the soviet union at the end of
ww2, there were all undoubtedly killed by the soviets since they fought
against the soviets in ww2...
2019/07/19 13:49
2019/07/19 13:47
2019/07/19 13:48
Then I went to Aguntum, a Roman ruin nearby.
There was nobody staffing the front desk to take my money when I came
in.
I quickly realized there wasn't too much good stuff to see here.
Lots of smaller items but no nice pieces, and all or nearly all the
larger
pieces are recreations / fakes...
After they locked me out yesterday much earlier than closing time and
seeing a relatively lame collection today, I
wasn't very sorry that I hadn't paid them today...
2019/07/19 14:11
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2019/07/19 16:38
Finally I got back to the hotel, cleanup, rested a little, then went
out to explore town again.
2019/07/19 16:38
2019/07/19 16:39
2019/07/19 16:39
yes your son or daugher can major in slacklining
2019/07/19 16:40
2019/07/19 16:47
St Andrews Church
2019/07/19 16:48
St Andrews Church
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St Andrews Church
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St Andrews Church
2019/07/19 16:49
St Andrews Church
2019/07/19 17:01
2019/07/19 19:15
Sweet pepper cream soup
I went back to the Grand Hotel for dinner to see if the seabass was as
good the second night...
and also try a full serving of their fantastic steak tartar
I texted the guys pictures while waiting for dinner....
19:06 Europe time 10:06 California time
Paul: Amazing anyone could ever build an underground train to a glacier
Paul: The upfront costs would be enormous and the payback period would
be decades
Paul: Loads of financial risk, particularly with the limited lives of
glaciers (which obviously would not have been predictable at ground
breaking).
19:09 Europe time 10:09 California time
Dusty: Yeah I'm dying to see the new tram up Klien Matterhorn...
Dusty: there are reasons (lawyers) you don't see anything like that in
the states..
Dusty: also our very few glaciers outside of Alaska are in national
parks
2019/07/19 19:23
Steak tartar ... perhaps the best I've ever had...
19:33 Europe time 10:33 California time
Dusty: Lawyers..
Dusty: the same reason I can't get beef tartar in the US...
Dusty: that and a food safety industry that is second to Europe..
Dusty: and Japan....
Dusty: and ...
19:42 Europe time 10:42 California time
Paul: Beer looks too sweet
19:42 Europe time 10:42 California time
Dusty: That tartar was insane
19:44 Europe time 10:44 California time
Dusty: I asked for a dunkel, he didn't understand me, eventually he
said it would be a wheat beer, is that ok? I normally don't order
wheat but i said yes..
Dusty: it is pretty awesome
2019/07/19 19:23
20:05 Europe time 11:05 California time
Dusty: Seabass is just as good the second night..
Dusty: it would take me several days to get tired of this seabass...
20:10 Europe time 11:10 California time
Dusty: Certainly the best wheat beer I've ever had
20:11 Europe time 11:11 California time
Kent: Seabass is what my mom really likes to order in Europe
Kent: Looks great Dusty! The mountain stages are coming in
the tour!
20:15 Europe time 11:15 California time
Dusty: These two climbs are so remote there's almost zero English
language description...
Dusty: I knew Molltaler was a ski area, but didn't know until i was on
top of it that it was underground....
20:18 Europe time 11:18 California time
Dusty: I'm following the Tour on the Guardian, I've only seen one stage
ending live..
Dusty: I'm too busy with the Tour de Tirol (i think technically Ponte
di Logne is not in Tirol, and I'm not sure I'm in Tirol in Lienz either)
20:19 Europe time 11:19 California time
Dusty: But I sure as hell have criss cross tirol for its highest Alps
20:19 Europe time 11:19 California time
Kent: As you should be! Glad the weather has cooperated mostly
for you!
20:20 Europe time 11:20 California time
Dusty: Yeah considering the forecasts its been great, other than
the sleet on the first day
2019/07/19 20:20
20:22 Europe time 11:22 California time
Dusty: They pulled the shade back since the sun went down..
Dusty: pretty sweet here...
Dusty: now time for gelato and collapsing
20:24 Europe time 11:24 California time
Paul: According to the google machine, you are in fact still in Tyrol
Paul: On the Far East fringe of it
Paul: Tyrol border is in the first set of hills directly to your east
20:29 Europe time 11:29 California time
Dusty: Probably ends at Carinthia, where i biked today
2019/07/19 20:20
2019/07/19 20:36
The touristy way to cycle the Alps.
Pay someone to do all the planning and logostics.
Lame.
