ATC2503 - Curving around in motorcyclist's heaven
While more then the half of the group is still on the way to Seefeld, the others, allready here since yesterday, have some plans. A part is participating the Alps Preps Course, they obviously like to be prepared for the new challange of mastering the roads in the mountains. After a classroom session, Markus takes them out on the road for a training ride. After trying the first time "Spätzle" and "Tiroler Gröstl" for lunch the first time, they rolled back to Seefels. Some others are following Christoph to Innsbruck. Stories about the medivial city center and the visit of interesting sights will fill the day. No bikes yet – the real start is tomorrow. Today, our tour guide Christoph took us on a walking tour through Innsbruck. Our group (John & Frannie, Sam & Susan, and I) came down by bus from Seefeld and started at the train station. First stop: the Triumphal Arch, where Christoph talked about life’s ups and downs – weddings and death. Then we walked along Maria-Theresien-Straße to the Hofburg. In front of the Hofburg, the Euregio Youth Orchestra was performing a full program – including Aurora Borealis, dedicated to the goddess of dawn. Fittingly, that’s when the clouds broke and the sun came through. Lunch was at the Goldener Adler, an inn that's been open since 1390 and claims quite a list of famous visitors. Afterward, we climbed the city tower for great views and visited the Cathedral of St. James, where we saw the well-known Mariahilf painting – a destination for many pilgrims. Then it was back to Seefeld – a calm and beautiful beginning. Finally, at 5 pm the tour gets with the welcome briefing and the handover of the motorcycle it's official start.
Our first riding day! Looking at the weather forecast our tourguides decided to adjust the route to the weather. So they picked the Lake Achensee route, but had to cut off the mountain section. We descended from Seefeld to the River Inn Valley and went on the highway halfway around Innsbruck. The first climb on the south side of the valley brought us also the first curvy road, even in half-dry conditions fun to start with. After about an hour we ended in Hall in Tirol, a medivial city, bigger than Innsbruck. Charming houses, an impressiv church and a lot of history and stories served by Markus came with the stroll through that lovely city. After a coffee we headed East all the way to Lake Achensee where we got in time not to miss the historical cogwheel steam train puffing along under heavy smoke back to Jenbach. After an excellent lunch in a traditionell "Gasthaus" we rode partly heavy downpour to Seefeld. Nevertheless it was a great take off for our week of riding and we are looking foreward to the next days - hopefully with less rain.
After we checked yesterday the waterproof of our gear we were today not afraid of the weather. But it was not realy raining - at least for the first group. While Markus and his riders sat down in the sheltered place of the hydroelectric power station at Lake Kochelsee to have coffee, the sky opened and poured all the available rain on Christoph and his followers. Afterwards we headed for the Monestary Ettal for some lunch and to see the fabulous baroque church. Accidentaly somebody was playing the pipeorgan and made the visit even more special. Castle Linderhof was next. It was fascinating to see in which dream world King Ludwig the second lived in. Afterwards we took the shortway home to Seefeld.
Not for nothing Markus showed up this morning wearing a T-shirt saying "Pass Colector". We started out this morning for the first serious mountain riding. Following the Ötz Valley south we reached the toll station/restaurant /museum at the beginning of the Timmelsjoch High Alpine Road. But before we climbed up the pass road, we visited the fabulous museum with hundreds of classic motorcycles and strengthen ouselfs with some coffee. Free riding up the pass was fun and on top we got awarded with spectacular views. The southern slope was alittle more challenging, the first real switchbacks were to take. After a lunch with traditional local cousin we headed for the next pass, Jaufenpass. Great road up there! Our last pass was the lowest - Brennerpass. One more coffee on the Italian side and we headed back to Austria and Seefeld. The tourguides surprised us with a "boot-beer" and we can call us "Pass Collectors" as well now.
Today began with an early start and a fast stretch on the highway, engines humming in harmony. Our first stop was the mysterious Reschensee, where a lonely church tower rises from the lake — a haunting reminder of the sunken village of Graun, flooded in the 1950s to make way for a reservoir. After a short photo break, we cruised into the medieval gem of Glurns, a perfectly preserved town from the 1500s, where cobblestone streets and ancient walls framed our coffee stop. The journey continued to the legendary Stelvio Pass — the Queen of Alpine Roads. We split into two groups: Markus led the charge over the remote Umbrail Pass, while Christoph guided his riders through the iconic 48 switchbacks of Stelvio. The weather danced between drizzle and sunshine, but on the pass itself, we were lucky — clear enough to take in the views. At the summit, we refueled with Bruno’s famously strange hotdogs and soaked in the panoramic scenery. The ride home took us through Switzerland for a proper coffee break in Zernez before looping back. A royal day in the Alps indeed!
After two days full of adrenalin (Timmelsjoch and Passo Stelvio) we needed a day to calm down. The only loop left in the tourbook was Innsbruck and Kühtai - we did not know what to expect. The tourguides picked a nice loop with spectacular views. As we got to Innsbruck we rode to the Hungerburg on the northern outskirts of the city. We allready gained some altitude, but what came next, beat it to the top. We took a cablecar, which climbed up to 6000 ft, way above town. Dramaticly moving clouds and fog, in between a spectacular view of the down, some short shower while we had lunch. After we got back on the motorcycles we headed för Kühtai, our last pass on this tour. Whenj we got to the top, Ed jumped off the bike and called out "It's like riding in a postcard!" - and that's what it looked like. High mountains, grasing cows, horses and sheep, green shimmering lakes and some last switchbacks. It all has to come to an end, and it was a perfect finish of an almost perfect week!
It was a very emotional evening last night. Celebrating new friendships, reliving the victory over Passo Stelvio, and knowing, that a group, which met as strangers became almost like family, let the time pass by fast. We thank you for being such a great crowd of enthusiastic motorcyclist and pillions, you made it for us an easy and enjoyable tour.Thanks for the chats, the fun and for your friendship - we hope to see you again somewhere, somewhen. Kepp the shiny side up and the rubberside down, all the best, Chris and Markus