Day 20 - St. Georgen, Austria - Riding along the beautiful Danube Again

Tony's View

What a beautiful ride along the Danube today. It was a relaxing and scenic 62 miles. There were a few very steep climbs, but overall it was a wonderful day. To be fair, those climbs were the result of my navigation errors, not the route's fault.

For the first time on this trip, the wind was actually at our backs, and it felt absolutely glorious. After days of fighting headwinds, it almost felt like the cycling gods had finally decided to cut us a break.

But before I get too far into today's ride, I have to talk about the descent into Linz. Those 18% downhill grades were no joke. The steep drop, combined with tight switchbacks and occasionally rough roads, made for a very exciting ride, and by exciting, I mean slightly terrifying. I was squeezing the disc brakes so hard they were squealing loudly enough for people to hear us coming long before they saw us. Every pedestrian who turned their head probably thought a freight train was coming down the mountain. There were definitely a few moments when I was more than a little nervous.

And then there was Joan. Imagine being seated in front with no control over the bike and relying entirely on the person behind you to keep things under control. That's a situation nobody volunteers for, yet there she was trusting me not to send us both into the next county.

Another thing that comes to mind is Isaiah from Choice One. He talks about doing days with huge climbs and big mileage for fun on a Saturday morning. He's probably reading this blog right now and thinking, "What a couple of wimps."

Of course, to put things into perspective, Isaiah rides a super-lightweight Canyon road bike with no luggage attached. He's also lightweight, in great shape, and probably flies uphill faster than I ride on flat ground with a tailwind. Meanwhile, Joan and I are hauling ourselves, our gear, and enough supplies to survive a small expedition. Under those circumstances, I think we're allowed a little drama over an 18% descent!

As we were riding along the bike path, I spotted some wild hops growing nearby. Being a beer lover, I had no choice but to stop and investigate.

I picked a few cones and took a moment to enjoy their wonderful aroma. The sweet, familiar smell instantly reminded me of a brew day back home. For a brief moment, I considered carrying them with me for the rest of the trip just so I could enjoy that wonderful hop aroma along the way. In the end, practicality won out. As much as I loved the smell, I decided not to haul a handful of wild hops across Austria. They were returned to nature, and I continued down the trail smelling slightly less like a brewery than I had hoped. 🍺

Here are a few of the first beautiful views from our ride today. As always, the pictures don't do us justice... or the scenery, for that matter. We saw a lot of people fishing today. This must be a great fishing spot, Bud!

I talked Joan into stopping at the Mauthausen Memorial again, the one we visited the last time we rode this route. Since I hadn't added it to our Komoot route, I pulled it up on Google Maps when we got close. I handed the phone to Joan and confidently said, "Let's just follow the phone." Well, that brilliant plan led us up a steep hill... and then the navigation stopped making sense. While I was standing there trying to catch my breath, I looked at the phone and realized my mistake. I had forgotten to type in "Memorial."

Dang it. Wrong destination, one unnecessary mountain-climbing expedition, and a serious blow to my reputation as the navigation expert. After that little debacle, I decided the Memorial would have to wait for another day. My lungs had already visited enough historical sites for one afternoon. 😄

 While we were sitting at the top of the hill wondering where to go now, an older gentleman came out to help us. The only problem was that he only spoke German. Joan immediately switched into German mode and started chatting away with him. He listened to our story, then said, "Wait," disappeared for a minute, and came back with a map so he could show us exactly how to get to the Memorial. I told him we were going to skip it since we'd already managed to miss it and accidentally added a bonus mountain climb to our ride. Joan explained that we'd been there before anyway, and he seemed perfectly satisfied with that explanation. Yet another example of how friendly and helpful people are around here. The man didn't know us from Adam, but he was ready to become our personal tour guide.

We then started heading back down the steep hill, carefully enjoying our hard-earned gravity assist, only to have to stop halfway down to wait for a delivery guy. After all that effort climbing, it seemed only fair that something would prevent us from fully enjoying the ride back down! 😂

Here Joan is inside a fish, just like the one in the story below. So for today, she shall no longer be known as Joan. From this moment forward, she is Jonah.

After surviving wrong turns, unnecessary mountain climbs, and my award-winning navigation skills, it seems only fitting that she has now entered her prophet phase. Unlike the original Jonah, however, she didn't spend three days in the fish. She just posed for a photo and escaped before the fish started charging admission.

So today we ride with a famous prophet among us. Joan is temporarily retired, and Jonah the Cycling Prophet has taken her place. 😂

More beautiful Danube pictures that I'm sure you aren't nearly as impressed with as we are. But that's okay. You're getting them anyway. 😄

We came across this tower and Joan asked, "Do you want to climb it?" I immediately said, "Absolutely!" Not because I had any special interest in the tower, mind you. It was because there wasn't a payment kiosk at the bottom. Up I went, huffing and puffing my way to the top. Joan stayed below long enough to preserve her energy, then took a picture of me standing at the summit looking much more athletic than I actually felt.

Here's a picture of me looking down at Joan from the top of the tower. From up there, they had one of those really cool telescopes that identified all the mountains in the distance. You'd look through it, and instead of just guessing what you were seeing, it would show the mountain names right on the view.

Of course, the first thing I started looking for was ski areas. I would bet there are some great ski slopes out there, but I didn't recognize any of the mountain names. Then again, Dan and I will be skiing in the Swiss and French Alps this coming January, so those are the names I'm trying to memorize.

I had to take a picture of this because it was basically an advertisement for a contractor who could install one of these towers for you.

That's right. If you've ever looked out into your backyard and thought, "You know what this place needs? A giant observation tower,"apparently there's a guy for that. "See this tower? We can put one in your yard."

I have to admit, I was intrigued. Imagine the possibilities. Instead of asking the neighbors over for a barbecue, you could invite them up to your personal observation deck to survey the countryside.

We found a great Biergarten about halfway through today's ride. It was located right next to one of the many hydroelectric plants along the Danube, complete with the massive locks that help all those cruise boats make their way up and down the river. The real selling point wasn't the engineering marvel. It was the picnic tables in the shade.

After spending hours on bikes, shade instantly becomes one of life's greatest luxuries. Forget five-star hotels. Give cyclists a cold drink, a picnic table, and a tree blocking the sun, and we'll rave about the place for years. So there we sat, enjoying our refreshments.

This is the same place that we ate 6 years ago, so we had to stop. We were on the top deck and the bike was on the edge of the bicycle path. I am getting up so often to keep an eye on it.

Here is the beautiful view from our table

While we were eating, there was a cruise ship docked nearby. At some point it pulled away from the dock, headed upstream around the bend, and then apparently changed its mind. A little while later it turned around and started heading downstream. We finished our lunch and generously gave the boat a head start. That was very thoughtful of us. Unfortunately for the cruise ship, we had a strong tailwind today. Before long, we caught up to it and blew right past it like it was standing still.

There is something deeply satisfying about passing a vessel carrying hundreds of people while riding a bicycle. I can only imagine what the passengers were thinking:

"Look, Martha, we're being overtaken by cyclists."

"Not just cyclists... senior cyclists." 😆

For a brief moment, Joan and I felt like world-class racers. Never mind that our amazing speed may have been sponsored almost entirely by Mother Nature and a strong wind at our backs. We still counted it as a victory. The cruise ship had engines, a captain, and a crew. We had sandwiches, determination, and a tailwind. Advantage: senior cyclists. 😂

This truck was completely blocking the bike path. The driver was actually trying to get out of our way, but traffic was so heavy that nobody would let him pull out. So there we stood, waiting patiently while he waited patiently, and the cars kept rolling by as if none of us had places to be. Joan then pointed to the name on the top of the truck and said, "Get a picture of that!" The sign said Lucky Luke. Naturally, that caught Joan's attention. After all, her grandson Luke seems to be a pretty lucky guy, since he beats Grandma in games and cards 😂

After we got settled into the Airbnb, I decided there was one more important mission for the day: finding a good local Austrian wine. So I hopped back on the bike and headed into town in search of liquid refreshments and cultural enrichment.

Since I was up on the hillside road, I had a great view of Melk Abbey, and I managed to get this picture of it. We toured the Abbey the last time we were here, so it was nice to see it again from a different perspective. The Abbey is impressive enough when you're standing in it, but seeing it perched above the town from a distance really reminds you why it's one of the most recognizable landmarks along the Danube. Of course, while the Abbey was the official sightseeing objective, the wine search remained my primary mission.I'm happy to report that the expedition was a complete success. The bike survived the trip, I got a nice picture of Melk Abbey, and most importantly, I located a good local Austrian wine.

Some people end their cycling days with stretching and recovery exercises. I prefer to support the local economy. 😆

All in all, it was a very productive day. History, culture, exercise, and wine. That's what I call a well-rounded day. Cheers! 😂

Joan's Extras

Plenty of sights looked familiar today, but it is a different perspective from last time. We have so many more cycling experiences under our tires now that we can appreciate this area even more. 

We passed probably hundreds of roadside shrines the last few days. I sort of remember this one from last time, but we didn't stop. I got Tony to do a fast brake today so that I could climb up and check this one out.

Tonight our place is up this steep hill the small town of St. Georgen near Melk. We had to lean back to get down the hill for dinner at one of the only restaurants nearby, and then lean forward to get back up the steep hill. The houses are ancient and my thoughts go to the poor horses that had to pull wagons full of farm supplies up these hills. There had to be a valid reason for someone to build these houses up so high.

Our place tonight is very unusual comparing it to all the Airbnbs that we have used over the years. We have most of this really old house, with steps up or down to every room, and it's decorated to look like a castle. I'm grateful there is a St. Francis hanging on the wall. 💟
 

Day 19 - Linz, Austria - Good bye Czech Republic & Mountains! Hello again Donau!

Joan's View

Today was going to be a beast of a ride again, and someone was less than thrilled about the approaching soreness. After leaving early and riding about 10 miles of relatively typical Czech roads, we stopped for a break and an attitude adjustment for me or maybe more of an altitude adjustment. Tony gave me some reality checks letting me know that the climb today is to 2,750' altitude with 5,600 total feet of elevation gain. He said that he wasn't going to tell me unless I asked. 🙄 Great!

We rode. We climbed. We stopped part way up sometimes, and sometimes we stopped at the top depending on how much of a break either of us needed. At times the grade was less than the 6% manageable threshold, but other times the grade was extreme. You knew the grade on this yellow sign even without speaking Czech.

What goes down......

We also got a picture of this cool slide for Wade because he is going to build one like this off of their deck for their 3 boys and their dog. 

We also passed these kayakers getting ready to launch, but I wanted the picture to show how popular these Vietnamese hats are in this area. I'm liking em!

This wrong turn up another hill became a rest stop. This hill had grades of over 20%, Tony had the bike in the lowest granny gear and it was brutal. Tony said it was as steep as the hill behind Cara and NIck's only about 3 to 4 times longer. Actually, we were supposed to go through the construction, but it worked out really well because we ended up merging with our planned route in the road ahead. The gentleman in the house behind us came out to sit on his porch and keep an eye on us. 👀

Down there in the construction was the real route.

Some great views from the top.

OK, sometimes the road ahead is not what Tony planned. It can be bumpy and like this one with high grass and trenches on the sides. It can also be an opportunity to take a much needed potty break. As I ventured into the woods, I came across this cool fruit mug just laying there among the trees. Wow! I now have a souvenir! A few of my friends, like Tisha, Jane, Lynne, Carol, Janet and Anne can really appreciate the thrill of a great find like I do. Then again our whole family is a bunch of uber deal finders so they'll get a kick out of this one too. 💖 Amazingly, Tony even let me take it on the bike! 😃

The cleaned up mug.

We followed this farmer down a hill for maybe a mile before he turned. Since it was downhill we were right on his tail. We sort of bonded.

This was the never ending climb. As much as we would have liked to conquer it, even the engine needed a break before the top.

Planner Tony mapped out a restaurant to stop for lunch and hopefully recharge our batteries because he knew they would need it and they did. We were at about 25% charge left at this point. There was a beautiful river flowing next to us riding into the town of Vyšší Brod. We had to cross a bridge like we have done many times before. However, this one had a narrow entrance that you had to turn into while jumping some bricks or crumbly road. We fell to the left. Tony caught the bike and smashed some fingers. I took a scrape on my elbow. Tony was hurting trying to get off of the bike but I still got the picture. 😘

Another souvenir?

Our bike is charging in that storage room.

Veronica & Paula. We made time for dessert too.

One of his favorite beers ever!

At the Hotel & Restaurant Sumac, Tony's planned stop, he sent me in once again to ask about charging batteries because he thinks I do better pleading puppy dog eyes. It turned out to be a great place. We took our time eating and even got to enjoy the company of Veronica and Paula. The place was full and the only open tables were reserved so they joined our table. They were on their own bike day trip from Austria. Veronica spent some time in San Diego with her daughter and son-in-law so her English was fairly strong. More wonderful people! We were there for almost 2 hours and the batteries were almost completely charged.

Shortly after waving goodbye to our newest friends, we did one more major climb. Ugh. At the least the engine was fueled for this climb. Only a few miles farther and we crossed in Austria. The picture shows the border crossing but there was no one in sight.

With about 7 miles left in our 63.7 mile ride today, we coasted or rather flew down these steep winding roads into Linz. It is like making a full circle for us since we stayed in Linz on our first European bike trip along the Danube back in 2019. We got our first glimpse of the Danube (Donau in German) and felt the excitement.

Three more riding days, but we are over the humps, aka the mountains. Thanks Wade for wearing your Monarch Pass shirt today to keep inspiring us!

Tony's Extras

Being in the region where The Sound of Music was filmed, I naturally started singing, "The hills are alive with the sound of music." The hills were also alive with the sounds of panting, grunting, pounding heartbeats, and one cyclist desperately trying to remember how breathing works.

On the steep detour climb I mentioned earlier, where the gradient topped 20%, it took me a full two minutes at the summit before my breathing returned to something that could vaguely be described as "normal."

Once I recovered enough oxygen to support higher brain functions, I began singing, "I'm on the top of the world, looking down on creation..." although the only explanation I could find for my condition was that my lungs were on strike and my heart was attempting to escape through my chest.

By the end of the climb, the final song stuck in my head was "The Song That Never Ends." Except the lyrics had changed:

This is the hill that never ends,

It just goes on and on, my friend.

We started climbing, not quite knowing what we'd done,

And now we're still climbing because this hill apparently never ends...

At several points I became convinced that the hill was actually getting longer each time I looked up. I'm pretty sure Austrian engineers and mountain goats got together and designed it specifically to test cyclists' wills, lungs, and life choices.

For all you people who love cool bridges, this one's for you. We crossed a lot of cool bridges on this trip. In fact, some people have asked, "Why are there so many bridge pictures on your blog?"

So, in the interest of maintaining reader attention spans, I toned it down a little this year. But this bridge was simply too cool not to share. Spanning the mighty Danube River, it earned its place in the blog hall of fame.

Joan has been an absolute trooper over the last four super-hard days. There was no complaining, just an occasional statement of fact. The kids will absolutely appreciate the distinction between those two things. 😆

Regardless, Joan is in really good shape now. So all you tennis ladies better beware when she gets back. After climbing hills, battling headwinds, and surviving my navigation choices, facing a tennis match should feel like a recovery day. 😂🎾🚴‍♀️

Tomorrow we're riding the exact same route from Linz to Melk that we rode back in 2019. Since tomorrow's blog post is my responsibility, I have a brilliant plan. I strongly recommend that nobody go back and read the 2019 blog. There is absolutely no reason to compare the two. Why? Because I intend to save a considerable amount of time and effort by simply copying and pasting the old blog post. Some people might call that lazy, let's say Joan. I prefer to think of it as efficient content management. Others might call it recycling. I call it leveraging existing assets. As far as I'm concerned, it's not plagiarism if you're stealing from yourself. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that this is a stroke of pure genius. The route hasn't changed, the river hasn't moved, the vineyards are still there, and the hills are probably still trying to hurt cyclists. Why mess with perfection? 😁🚴‍♂️ When instead I can drink Austrian wine🍷

Besides, if tomorrow somehow turns out exactly like 2019, I'll look like a visionary instead of a guy trying to save an hour of writing. 😂

Day 18 -České Budějovice, Czech Republic -  Recovery and Warm Up Day

Tony's View

We were both running on fumes this morning, but we hit the road anyway knowing that we had only 42 miles and 2,200 feet of climbing ahead. We were hoping for nothing more than a recovery ride and a chance to warm up for tomorrow. After yesterday’s adventure, pretty much any ride would have qualified as recovery.

As it turned out, it was a beautiful day on the bike with plenty of stunning scenery. The climbs were manageable, the miles rolled by easily, and for once we weren’t negotiating with our legs every five minutes. It was the kind of ride that reminds you why you put up with the hard days in the first place. All in all, a perfect recovery day... assuming recovery now includes riding 42 miles and climbing 2,200 feet! 😄

Our first stop out of Tabor was a tower that visitors could climb for a panoramic view. At the bottom was a kiosk ready to take your credit card for admission. I gave it some serious thought... for about three seconds. Then I remembered that yesterday there was  a beer kiosk and decided that was a much better investment. After all, one option involved climbing more stairs, and the other involved refreshing local culture. The beer kiosk would win by a landslide. 🍺😄

We rolled a little farther down the trail and, lo and behold, the asphalt suddenly turned into grass. Thankfully, it was dry and only lasted about half a mile. Apparently, this little detail managed to escape my route planning research. Shocking, I know. 😀

I’m still not sure how I missed it. I had studied the route, analyzed the elevation, checked the weather, and probably overthought every mile and climb. Yet somehow the part where the bike path turned into a lawn never made it onto my radar. Fortunately, the dry conditions saved the day, and we made it through without needing a tractor or a lawn mower. 

It was nice to see so many roadside shrines, especially in a country that was once part of the Soviet sphere. I would have thought many of them would have been destroyed over the years. Instead, they seem to have been carefully preserved. This particular shrine was erected in 1884, making it nearly a century and a half old. It’s amazing to think about how much history it has witnessed while quietly being by the side of the road.

We stopped to snap a picture of these two horses giving each other a back rub. It was pretty amazing to watch because it reminded me that horse back rubs apparently go both ways. With Joan and me, the back-rub system is a little different. The traffic only seems to flow in one direction. To be fair, I do get a thank you, which I suppose is the human equivalent of a horse returning the favor. 😂

Here’s a picture taken from the top, looking out over some absolutely glorious mountains. The view was spectacular and made all that climbing seem almost worthwhile. One thing nobody mentions about reaching the top of a mountain, however, is that the wind has apparently been up there all day waiting for cyclists to arrive. The scenery was breathtaking, and a few minutes later, so was pedaling into the headwind.

It turns out that getting to the top doesn't mean the work is over. Sometimes it just means you've earned the privilege of battling stronger winds with a better view. 😄

We could see these four cooling towers from miles away, so naturally we figured they were important enough to share with everyone. After all, who doesn't get excited about giant concrete cylinders rising majestically from the landscape? 😄 I know you're probably sitting on the edge of your seat right now, completely awestruck by this engineering wonder. If not, just pretend to be impressed for my sake. We climbed a lot of hills to bring you this exciting cooling tower content! 😂

We saw a lot of these 12% grade signs today, but we chose to stop and take a picture of this one because these were our favorite kind... the ones pointing downhill. 😄

With our fully loaded bikes, these descents felt like launching a small freight train. We'd come flying down the hills, sometimes touching the brakes lightly while cruising along at 35 mph. There were even a few stretches where we topped 40 mph, but I intentionally kept it below 35. At those speeds, every pothole starts looking like a life-changing event.

After spending plenty of time climbing all day, these downhill sections felt like the cycling gods were finally giving us a little something back. 😂

We saw this castle from several different viewpoints, and this is the photo we ended up with. Not bad, but here's the frustrating part: the castle actually overlooks a huge lake, and apparently I rode right past the best view without realizing it. Oops. 😠

It's amazing how you can spend hours carefully planning a route, watching the road, checking traffic, dodging potholes, and admiring the scenery, yet somehow miss the one picture that belongs on the postcard. So instead of a dramatic castle-and-lake masterpiece, you get this shot and a cautionary tale about paying attention when sightseeing by bicycle. 😂

This was a beautiful trail we rode today, lined with huge, mature white oak trees. Some of them were absolutely massive. I’d bet a few had trunks close to five feet in diameter.

After we got to our Airbnb, I decided to take the bike to a local bicycle shop and have them look at the rear wheel since a few of the spokes were starting to feel a little loose. I can adjust and even replace spokes well enough to get us to the next bike shop, but wheel truing is one of those skills where I could definitely use a bit more practice.

The mechanic said it would take about an hour, so rather than sit around. I headed off to explore the town. During my wandering, I stumbled across this beautiful cathedral.

Here is a picture of the organ in the rear of the church

The altar, beautiful crucifix and you can see the bishop's chair

While I was getting the bike fixed and touring around town, Joan was back at the Airbnb doing the smart thing: taking a nap and getting ready for tomorrow's ride.

And yes, Cousin Mary, I know I spend a lot of time working on the bike. 😂 But when your bicycle is your only mode of transportation, it’s not exactly a hobby, it's more like preventive maintenance (well actually it is a hobby, too).

Besides, a few minutes spent checking things over beats a few hours spent pushing a fully loaded bike up the next hill. 😄

As part of my "waiting for the bike" tour, I somehow managed to find the city square and a place to get a beer. Imagine that. 🍺😄 I considered it an important part of my preparation for tomorrow's ride.

Afterward, I picked up the repaired rear wheel, got the tandem back to the Airbnb, and gave it a thorough wipe-down and cleaning. With tomorrow shaping up to be one of, if not the biggest ride day of the trip, I decided to go all in on bike preparation.

Naturally, that meant waxing the chain to squeeze out every last bit of efficiency. Some people prepare for big days by resting. I prepare by obsessing over drivetrain friction and convincing myself that a freshly waxed chain is worth at least a few extra miles. Whether that's true or not, it certainly makes me feel faster. 😂

Meanwhile, Joan's preparation involved much less work and much more relaxation. I'm not saying she has the better system, but she was taking a nap while I was cleaning a bicycle with the dedication of a race car pit crew. 😆

Joan's Extras

Yes, thankfully we got into our place today around noon and I was "resting." After all, who likes to ride up mountains day after day (besides Tony & Wade)? 😜