ATC2504 - Dreamrides in a postcard!
About one third of the group arrived earlier to enjoy and explore the area around Seefeld. Today, on the official starting day one after the other of the rest of the group shows up at the hotel, looking forward to a week full of adventures. Those allready here start a busy day allready in the morning. Harald, one of the tourguides intruduces five riders to the Alps Prep Course to make them feeling more comfortable on alpine roads. After a classroom session he takes them out for some practice in a parking lot and afterwards on to some mountainroads to get used to this kind of riding. Daniel, one of our tourguide colleagues comes in for the guided city tour with one of the guests. And Markus is doing the preration for a smooth tourstart. Finally we all meet at 5pm and the show beginns!
The first day was an easy one! Getting used to the bikes, the roads and the traffic we headed north. Crossing the border into Germany right before Mittenwald, the tourguides took some nice backroads to get out of all that vacation traffic. A firsttop at Lake Walchensee included also our first coffee stop before we mastered the first serious curves on Kesselberg, a road which was used for "mountain races" on motorcycles.Ctuising through the rolling hills of Bavaria we reached the Monastery of Ettal, an impressiv Baroque church. After the delicious lunch we headed for Castle Linderhof, the residence of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. Unfortunately it was so crowded that we did not get inside, but what we saw from the outside, the park and the fountain, shooting up into the air, was worth the visit. A last coffee stop at Lake Heiterwang rounded up the day while we were riding towards Seefeld.
Another day in a postcard! Descending and following the river Inn Valley we turned off pretty soon into the Ötz Valley, a very sceninc and long valley leading towards the Alp's mainrange. After Sölden fun started and curves, sweepers and switchbacks lead up to a shrine for motorcycle collectors - hundreds of vintage bikes on display. After following the road to the top, we crossed into Italy. Descending on the south slopes we learned about switchbacks, easy and wide ones, kind of a warm up for the tight ones to come on Stelvio. The lunchplace were we stopped at, was the birthplace of a Tyrolian hero, Andreas Hofer, who fought against Napoleons troops at the beginning of the 19th century. We needed to do two more passes to get home and after crossing bach to Austria we stopped one more time at the Europe Bridge, a technical masterpiece for its time.
Another day in a postcard - but this time with some teardrops! According to the weather the tourguides decided to do an easy and short loop without climbing a pass or a mountain. We left Seefeld towards Innsbruck, passed the buzzling city on the motorway and climbed the southern side of the valley. Up and down, we cruised through small villages and farmland before we descended back to the River Inn Valley. The medivial city of Hall in Tirol is full of history and hidden treasures to find. Markus showed us around, we visited the gothik church and did a loop through town. Afterwards we kept on going East until we turned towards Lake Achensee, climbing up a steep road. The steam cog train was just about to leave when we arrived there. After lunch we tested our raingear all the way back to Seefeld. To our surprise the tour guides threw a party - time for a boot beer!
Today we have two postcards! Scott and Joy, Scott B. and Libby and Chris and Anita decided to visit King Ludwig one more time. They had a great ride through Bavaria to Castle Neuschwanstein.Hiking up to the bridge, getting close to the castle and also having a look at Castle Hohenschwangau (King Ludwig's father's castle) they covered some miles by foot before they left for Seefeld. So they had their own great adventure! Some stayed in Seefeld and a brave group of eight riders plus the tourguides took the risk either to get wet or to conquere Passo Stelvio. After a stretch on the Autobahn we rolled towards Reschen Pass. After entering Italy we faced the bell tower of the church of Grain, a village, that was flooded, when the dam was built. In Glurns, while having some coffee, the tourguides checked the weather one more time and gave it a go. Climbing 48 switchbacks, getting in and out of fog, to see the dramatic change of the landscape was areal adventure. And it got awarded with Bruno's famouse hotdog for everybody! We continued riding Umbrai Pass into Switzerland, did Ofenpass, took a break in Zernez and headed finaly back to Seefeld. The last one and a have hours we were traveling in the rain - but that didn't matter, because we made it - climbing Passo Stelvio!
After four days there is only one postcard left: Innsbruck and Kühtai. As yesterday was a challenging one, the tourguides postboned todays start to 9.00 am, which was very convenient. So we started out, no rain and dry roads, just perfect. We bypassed the center of Innsbruck and went directly to a part of the town, called Hungerburg. We got the first sight of the city from above, but after continueing by cable car to the Seegrube, we got a picture almost like an aerial - or a postcard. Clouds and fog moved in and out, it was just spectacular. In the afternoon we left Innsbruck and climbed the road to Kühtai, skiing area on 6000 ft sealevel. At the Dorfstadel, a wellknown Gasthaus, we tried the famous apelstrudel with vanilla cream, a traditional sweet, not to beat. Some final twisties brought us to Edelweiss headquarters in Mieming, to the end of our jouney. A cab took us back to the hotel and now we are waiting for the fare well