And Off We Goooo …. !

 Salzburg to Bishofshofen: a short stage, gradually uphill with two short climbs

Yes, it was “off we go” but in fact the others left ahead of me because of the repairs needed on my bike. We’ve not been staying close to one another so the only one I got to see head off was Di, who was meeting up with the others at a pre-arranged spot just over 2 kilometres from the hotel  where Di and I have been staying. 

Before I left I had a little business with a bike shop. While I was waiting to speak with the mechanic I did a bit of browsing and quite liked this little display: a bike frame surrounded by bikepacking equipment.

As it turned out I DID NOT NEED A NEW GEAR SHIFTER!! The mechanic was very experienced and had used and worked on my type of group set and seen this problem before: Ekar - the world’s first 13 speed group set, designed especially for gravel - just doesn’t work well with chain waxing, which has become a big thing lately but remains divisive. It has become popular because it’s a LOT cleaner than using oil-based and even synthetic lubricants, it preserves the life of the chain and all the other bits of the drive train and - if done carefully and scientifically has less resistance that traditional means of lubricating a chain.

Hmm. That’s a bit off topic, isn’t it? Short version: he applied lubricants, did a fair bit of adjustment to the derailleur and saved me wasting somewhere between 150 and 300 euros.

So anyway, that put me about an hour and a half between the others in getting on the road. Before Di left I took this photo of her in front of our hotel:

And I must not forget the map and elevation graph “for those who like them:

As you can see, we’ve gained a bit of elevation today and climbed two steep but relatively short hill today. We rode 55 kilometres and gained about 125 metres and climbed between 450 and 500 metres along the way.

In trying to keep things in relatively chronological order I’ve pinched some fotos from the forward five which I’ll share with you now. Here’s Jane followed by Louise and Michael:

A little reminder: if you click on a photo you’ll enlarge it and be able to see more detail. Don’t you just love Michael’s colorful jersey? It looks kind of African-themed to me: fierce tribesmen brandishing spears sort of thing.

Here’s a terrific photo of Louise and Jane riding along the one section of gravel (very hard packed with no traction issues) with peaks in the background.

 

I especially like this photo of Duckworth (who prefers people addressing him by his surname) and is real old school in his approach to bike packing. He’s riding a rim braked bike - a gorgeous handmade thing built out of titanium, kitted out with top line Campagnolo running gear. For those of you who don’t speak bikelingo, Campagnolo is the most storied of manufacturers of bicycle bits and pieces on Planet Earth. Those in the know used to say “Campagnolo wears in; Shimano wears out”. There’s been a lot of water under the bridge since then, but “Campy” is working its way back into the mix after almost collapsing a couple of years ago.

The others stopped at a cafe along the way, which I missed because some construction work happening in front of it. Probably just as well. When I showed this photo to Michael he said, Who ordered that!” - with his characteristic grin:

As you can see, even though we haven’t gained much elevation we’re starting to get into the mountains now rather than just seeing them from afar …

And here comes Di in roughly the same spot when the sun appeared briefly …

We did ride past a castle along the way …

I need to mention that we were very lucky with the weather, it that it didn’t actually rain as such even though the forecast made it look likely that we’d get wet - more likely as the day wore on. I rode after the others with a constant eye on the weather but got all the way in a short sleeve jersey. It would be an understatement to say that I was relieved, and just a short time after we settled into our accommodation a very sharp shower hit the rooftops.

A very good thing about the day was that we had a tailwind most of the way: gentle at first but gradually strengthening as the day wore on. 

Here I am somewhere along the route, wearing my Southern Pedals kit (it’s Wednesday in Tasmania):

I don’t think I saw anything of the sun along the ride today. The sky did lighten a bit from time to time but no warmth was coming from above so I kept up a good work rate to keep warm.

Apart from the great scenery there were a few interesting things along the way. One was this quarry. I’m not sure what rock they’re pulling out of the hillside but they’ve had a fair whack over the years …

We were riding close to a series of rivers for the whole ride and I was taken with the powerful profile this weir/dam thing presented, thrust into the river as it were:

Something else that caught my eye was this structure:

From a ways off I wasn’t sure what it was: aqueduct? Railway bridge? It turned out to be supporting a bend on a major highway.

I did shoot a few short videos along the way. Here’s one where two rivers meet and a large bridge crosses the larger of the two …

Here’s a view of the large river and the section of gravel where Jane and Louise were riding along before I got there …

… and a quite nice still from a bit further along …

There wasn’t a lot of livestock to be seen along the way but this small herd seemed to be pretty well fed in pristine pastures …

I think I’ll finish with this lovely photo of Jane on the gravel. It’s got a great feel about it and for me somehow  epitomises riding a bike is all about. There is a sense of absolute freedom in the photo, with the mountains luring us forward.

And yes, I did beat my self-imposed deadline: by a minute!