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| Mountains as cold and grey as the cloud-covered sky |
Starting the Steinberg 70km circuit with the
thermometer standing at 2C, it seems pretty clear this is going to be one of
the final rides of the year. The forecast is for snow and that brings ice and
salt on the roads.
People along the way are preparing their
gardens for the winter. Bushes are bundled and tied up. Leaves cleared. Garden
furniture stowed away.
The small roads and bike trails are a mess.
Cattle have been herded along them to the winter stalls – leaving a brown,
sticky trail to mark their passing. Tractors have trundled by with trailers dripping
with steaming dung to spread on the meadows. There’s more brown muck on the
lanes than at any other time of year. Everywhere smells.
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| The Steinberg Circuit - 70km around this mountain |
Climbing: it’s harder than usual. Muscles and
joints not so limber as on a hot summer’s ride.
Descending: such a pleasure on a warm sunny
day, the summer grin turns to a wintery grimace. A temperature of plus 3°C when
riding downhill at 50kmh is minus 4°C when calculating the wind chill factor.
Contemplation of the past summer’s rides is
distraction from the chilly fingertips and icy blast around the cheeks. The
record of the rides completed, distances, vertical ascent and comments is a
good reminder of great days in the saddle.
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| The world turned monochrome |
In this mountainous part of the world, more
interesting than the distances is the meters climbed. As I ride I do the maths.
Almost 25,000m vertical ascent. How high is Everest? Can it be that in a summer
season we climb more than the height of the world’s highest mountain? A quick
check back home and, sure – we’ve “Everested” almost three times this year.
Close to half the distance covered in
the year is on tour. This means pedalling a load approaching 20kg – pretty much
everything two people need for three weeks plus water, tools etc. And much of that, up Everest a couple of
times.
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| The Pillersee, like a sheet of stainless steel |
There’s not another cyclist to be seen. The
few people on foot give me a pitying look. The mountains are the cold grey of the
cloud-covered sky. The Pillersee lake is like a sheet of stainless steel. The larches on the mountainsides are dull
gold candles waiting for the sun to set them alight.
A few photographs – stiff fingers muddle the controls. Maybe in this weather pictures in black and white will be more appropriate.
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| Larches, gold candles waiting for the sun to set them alight |
Well past half way, really humming along. Round a bend a vicious headwind drags the speed down to half what it was. Back into the woods - it isn’t so noticeable. Shuffling along through a thick bed of fallen leaves, it’s hard to stay the tarmac.
If that was the last ride of the year, then
it was a good one. Cold but satisfying. But maybe, just maybe, the temperature
will rise and there will be a few more rides to come.
Ps: 24 hours later the snow began to fall –
the world turned monochrome
