Alps Touring Center, riding the heart of the alps (ATC1201)

Alps Touring Center, riding the heart of the alps (ATC1201)

27 May 2012
/Stephan Kaltschmid
The first touring center in the Alps just started today with the Welcome Briefing. Tomorrow the whole group will hit the road towards some nice passes. Allthough not everybody was here we had 3 riders and a passenger which took advantage of the Edelweiss Riding School todayand enjoyed a wonderful start in the Alps Classroom training with Hans Nevin and Rachel doing a good job during the riding school The group (Nevin, Rachel, David and Nigel) is ready for some fun ride after the training. Day 1 On our first riding day we decided to had south to find the sunshine in the northern italian mountains. After climbing the Timmelsjoch we had our lunch break in the Passier Valley, actually in the house where Andreas Hofer was born. In the afternoon Jaufenpass and Brennerpass took us back to our home location Seefeld. We managed it to find all the sunshine in North and South Tyrol. Some of the guys at our coffee stop in Ötz Nigel is ready to head to the Timmelsjoch The gang at the Passo Rombo Day 2, visiting the city of Innsbruck Today Innsbruck. Great possibility to enjoy the town even in rainy conditions Dave enjoys it as we can see... Citytower Innsbruck What a smile.... After the city tower we are ready for a coffee in a nice cafe Waiting for a nice cappuccino in a secret cafe... Day 3, the longest riding day of this tour. Due to the perfect weather forecast we decided to head to Italy. Today's plan was to ride four passes, Reschen, Stilfser, Umbrail and Ofen and of course we made it! Espacially the Passo di Stelvio was a major highlight for everybody. The Brazilian riders in front of the Reschensee After 48 switchbacks our riders need some good food. Bruno's south tyrolean hot dogs are therefore the best option. Enjoying a smoked pork sausage in a "Finschgerl" with Sauerkraut Leo and Ricardo on the way up to Ofenpass 360 km, 4 passes and 3 countries in one perfect sunny day. Day 4, lets see what Bavaria offers for us. Today our route took us north to Bavaria and the famous Ludwigs Castles. From Seefeld we were riding towards Benediktbeuren and had some fun at the Kesselberg. After this our bike took us to the castle Linderhof where we got a really good impression of Ludwigs live. In the afternoon our way took us back over the Fernpass to Austria. Some of us stopped at the Edelweiss Headquarter. Coffee stop in a real Biergarten at Benediktbeuren Steve is having some fun, also when he is not riding Liza and Rock, what a view Day 5, riding through the lower Inn valley. On our last riding day we visited several nice sights in Tyrol. First we stopped at the olympic bobsleigh in Igls after that some took the chance and bought some homemade Schnaps to bring a part of Tyrol back to America. The old city of Hall was also on our schedule today. The last lunch stop offered us extremely good traditional Tyrolean dishes. In the afternoon we took a very lovely road through the Karwendel which brought us back to Seefeld. Stop at the bobsleigh Debbie is hungry, will she finish this plate? This is our group of excellent riders. We have to say thank you, riding with this group was a pleasure for us. Stephan & Christoph