Cycling heroes

My cycling heroes are not the riders in the Tour de France though I am in awe of the ability to ride such distances and climb so far, day after day. No, my heroes are the people who set off into the world on a bike, seeking adventure:

Anne Mustoe:

A headmistress and history teacher, who after retiring in her 50s, was given a bike on which she set off for Rome. Having got that far she went on and rode 12,000 miles right around the world. She wrote a successful book about her travels, then mounted her bike to ride back in the other direction visiting places she’d missed the first time. On all her rides, she followed historical routes including the Silk Road over the 4733m Khunjerab Pass in the Himalayas.

Anne Mustoe died in 2009 at the age of 76 while cycling in Syria. How sad she would be to see the country today.

Books: A Bike Ride, Lone Traveller, Two Wheels in the Dust, Ché Guevara and the Mountain of Silver

Josie Dew:

A young cycle touring fanatic who alone has ridden to 48 countries carrying a incredible amount of gear on her Roberts bike. She paid for her early journeys by working as a cook and then setting off. She has written lots of entertaining books charting her progress. Though she is now a Mum, she still is pedalling.

http://www.josiedew.com

Colin Martin:

A great friend who took 40 years to ride round the world on a Moulton bike – albeit in stages. At the age of 20 on a unique Moulton “Marathon” he rode via Afghanistan, from England to Singapore and sailed to Western Australia. After setting off to cross the Nullabor desert en route to the east coast, his bike was stolen. Years later on a replacement Moulton he crossed the USA from Seattle to New York. Dissatisfied that he had not quite achieved his goal of riding round the world, he returned to Perth a few years ago and pedalled till he reached the sea at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. He has since cycled on a Moulton in the Himalayas.

A new website is under construction but reports from the Himalayas are here: http://moultonbike.blogspot.co.at

 

Colin and the replacement Moulton in Sydney

Irmgard:

my wife, whose determination gets her to the tops of improbably long hills and passes, and who delights in surprising the young men who crow about their performance in reaching the very same summit.

Irmgard's t-shirt will soon need updating

Chas Roberts:

though I don’t know if he ever rides a bike, but he has for 50 years hand-built the very best touring bikes.

Tauern Radweg - minimise the load

The Tauern Radweg is my home stretch. We regularly ride the route between Krimml and Salzburg in one direction or another – usually in shorter stretches rather than the whole thing. This is the best section of the long-distance bike route – dramatic mountain scenery, varied terrain, not too many ups and downs – it’s not surprising that each summer hundreds of cyclists follow the trail.

Early view among the dramatic scenery between Taxenbach and Schwarzach

The Tauern Bike Route begins at the huge and impressive Krimml waterfall which flings spray over all who come near. Its smooth and undemanding until it reaches Taxenbach when the Salzach valley narrows, and the route climbs steeply to follow a tiny road which itself rocks and rolls high above the river and highway as it passes through a gorge. The bike path offers great views of the Hochkönig mountain as compensation for the climb.

 

Views of the Hochkönig make the climb worthwhile

Back in the valley the route rejoins the River Salzach as it winds around the romantic castle at Werfen then dives, along with the bike route into the deep and narrow gorge at the Pass Lueg. If you are lucky, the strong winds that funnel through the gorge are at your back.

 

The romantic Castle at Werfen sandwiched between huge mountains

Leaving the gorge it is as if you are taking off a restrictive coat. The weather is warmer, the horizon at each side more distant, the narrow valley gives way to wide open farmland – with just a few modest hills to make it more fun.

After Hallein you have a choice of a bike path on the left or right side of the river – both are gravel trails but the best is on the right, newly packed and as you reach Salzburg there is a wonderful view of the castle.

Salzburg is a bike friendly city and the cycle track runs beside the river and under the bridges so before you know it, and without having to put a foot down, you are already leaving town. However, that would be a shame – there’s plenty to see and a chance for a good cup of coffee at least.

 

Great views of the Salzburg castle from the bike path as it enters the city

Once beyond Salzburg, things change: the route follows the river Salzach until it joins the Inn, the trail is gravel strewn, pretty flat and unexciting. The highlights are the towns like Obernberg and Schärding and the chance of seeing rare bird life – at a distance.

At Passau a flight of steps and a narrow dirt track is the ignominious entré to Austria’s most popular cycle trail along the Danube: keep pedalling onward for Vienna, Budapest and the Black Sea.

Along the whole route, there are plenty of places to eat drink and sleep. So why are so many people anxious to see just how much gear they can carry on a bike? Many of the thousands of cyclists passing through each year appear to have brought pretty much all they own, if not the kitchen sink. Campers, of course, probably need the kitchen sink, or at least a roof over their heads and something soft to rest tired bodies on. But the theory should be the same: minimise the load and maximise the fun.

 

Great coffee: Salzburg: 220 Grad,    

                        Primadonna, Platzl

                        Passau: KaffeeWerk

You said it!

Just as the ideal of classic Greek culture was the most perfect harmony of mind and body, so a human and a bicycle are the perfect synthesis of body and machine. 

Richard Ballantine

 

Profile of the route to Salzburg beginning with the sharp descent from Embach to Lend

Alpe Adria - down, down to the sea

First published 2012

There's something special about riding a bike from a mountain in a landlocked country, to the sea. From 1000m altitude to 0m. So when the Ciclovia Alpe Adria project became reality, and as this new cycle route almost passed the door, riding 350km from the front door to the Adriatic rose to the top of the bike touring program me.

Could anything be better than Austria's long distance bike routes? Well-signposted, and with generally good but often gravel surfaces, they follow the valleys and criss-cross the nation. The Alpe Adria uses these trails beginning in Salzburg and turning south and east to Villach and then south again into Italy.

Austria's cycle routes often follow the rivers, here along the river Drau

European borders are a disappointing collection of unused buildings and folorn bars. But here the Alpe Adria italian-style begins. What a shock! Smooth asphalt, yellow lines marking the edges of the trail and even a centre line making some of Austria's gravel tracks look primitive.

From Trevisio the Alpe Adria follows a former single-track railway crossing the Alps with a gradual gradient, numerous bridges and tunnels, and views that would have been more wonderful if it had not been for a main road and an Autostrada sharing the same valley. Could Italy be the best place in Europe for long distance cycling?

Perfect! Gently downhill, smooth surface, no traffic.

At a small town called Resiutta one finds the answer: “No!” As the marked trail comes to an end, so does the signposting which if anything had been superfluous. It is necessary to take to the roads and in one place, to follow the Alpe Adria along a rubble-strewn track through unlit tunnels and to find the way in and out of the large and bustling town of Udine. Basically, riders are largely left to their own devices for something like 100km.  

The final stage to Grado - back on a cycle-only path

Then, coming out of Palma Nova there are the signs again and a bike path which runs beside the almost dead straight road all the way to Grado and the sea. It's just the gap in the middle which lets the whole project down. (This was first published 2012. Things may have changed along the route since then.)

Getting home again is a problem. But Slovenia, too has bike trails. Could they be any good? So cross country to Nuovo Gorice in Slovenia, and a train to Jesenice Riding out of town towards the Italian border at Trevisio, there is a bike track sign. And behold! A superb bike trail, smooth asphalt, white lines on either side and a white centre line. A gradual climb up to the ski town of Kranjska Gora then cruise down to Italy again along an old railway line.

These bike trails in Italy and Slovenia have been funded partly by the EU to bring clean, green tourism into the villages where hungry cyclists will be looking for food, drink and a bed. The routes are so good that they make some of Austria's look rather rough and ready. So maybe it is time for Austria to look at upgrading to meet the challenge from the south.

Great coffee: everywhere in Italy – cheap too!

You said it!
Think of bicycles as rideable art that can just about save the world. Grant Peterson