Austria

A good day of biking. It stormed last night but was sunny (and hot - 38C) today. I spent most of the morning climbing. A little after noon, I got to Seefeld and it was all down hill from there. It was absolutely incredible scenery. After Seefeld, I rode for a while where you looked down into the valley formed by the river Inn. It seemed like you were looking down for miles with the tiny dots of the houses below with the Alps as a magnificent backdrop. At one point, there was a village below such that it seemd I was looking into one of those glass bowls of water with the tiny house and fake snow.

At one point, the downhill grade reached 16% (wow). There was this very intimidating looking sign that made it pretty clear that neither pedestrians nor cyclists were welcome on this stretch of road (wish I had snapped a picture of that). The sign had one word written in what appeared to be 6 different languages. In English it said "DANGER" in big, bold, red letters. The pictures on the sign made it clear that there would be safety chutes for the truckers every 500m. Unfortunately, I had already descended a good bit and, after climibing during the morning to 1200 meters, did not have the strength to turn back. So, down I went, riding the breaks the entire way - they smelled good and hot before I reached even mid way.

The rest of the trip into Innsbruck was pleasant, but otherwise without excitement. Innsbruck itself is a beautiful city. Every view from the city is framed with mountains. Furthermore, as the historic seat of the Hapsburgs, it has a rich history. Though I arrived a little late in the day, I made it to the Hofkirche (imperial church) before it closed. It has 28 life sized statues of the Hapsburgs rulers whom had no apparent shortage of vanity . It is really quite a site.

Tomorrow, the Brenner Pass.

It stormed heavily again last night - the second night in a row. Also, there was a big fireworks celebration for some reason - very nice.

After retrieving an e-mail late last night from mom indicating that my goods being shipped from Moscow had been damaged, I thought I might spend a little time this morning talking with EY this morning to sort things out. Surprise, Surprise. Today turned out to be some sort of holiday in Austria, so nearly everything was closed. I purchased 200 Schillings worth of phone cards at the train station and sorted things out with my liaison at EY (Kate Rothwell). It will be a wonder if this moving thing eventually reaches resolution with my stuff back safely in the US.

Anyway, as everything was clsoed, I decided that I might as well be heading towards Italy and finally got started at around 10:00 AM. The first three hours were Hell - basically me pushing my overloaded bike up grades of 11% and greater. I think by 1:00 (3 hours of "riding") I had made about 12 KM. Then, in the early afternoon, I started to descend!. I must say this was a bit frustrating as I knew I had to get to 1300 meters to get through the Brenner Pass (and knew I was no where near that altitude). I finally made it all the way down to the Sill River and Highway 182, which runs beside it. I had purposely been avoiding this highway since it looked like a main thoroughfare on the map and was not sure how kind the traffic would be to cyclists. My concern was unwarranted, though. There were other cyclists using the highway and by following the natural ascent of the river, the climb was way more manageable than what I had put myself through earlier. From this point, I made phenomonally better time - at least 20 KM in the next 2 hours.

I decided to stop early for several reasons - climbing yesterday, wanting to be well rested for the mountains to come, and not wanting to be looking for a room as darkness fell in a new country (Italy) where I had not figured out how to tell the guesthouses from the regular houses. So I stopped at the Alte Post in Gries. It cost only about USD 12 and the owner even let me use his shower.