Metten to Wetzelsdorf

Wednesday November 3, 2010

My campsite for the night, on the Danube (Donau) river at the town of Metten, Bavaria, Germany.

Okay, so this is getting a bit repetitive, but anyway, my goal for today was to ride 200 km again. Hey, I have to if I'm to reach Vienna by Thursday.
It's getting difficult to keep waking up at 6:30 each morning; I think I need to get to bed earlier.
Anyway, I got up and ate breakfast. By the way, this is what a typical breakfast looks like:

My typical breakfast consisting of a variety of cereals, usually including Weet-Bix, Corn Flakes and Muesli, amongst others, in my 1.5 litre Tupperware container. Note: the tomatoes are for lunch.

Then I found a public toilet, which I was lucky to find because it was in these gardens which were apparently closed over the winter season, but there had happened to be some maintenance staff who'd unlocked the gate to the gardens. When I came out of the toilet though, they wasted no time in kicking me out, and telling me that public access was not permitted (although not in those words, in what I call simple English). Next I found an unlocked Wi-Fi network and checked and sent email, which took about half an hour, and with that I was off.
I think my legs are getting used to these long distances each day, they're holding up fine so far. The only part of my body that's sore is my hands and wrists from gripping the handlebars all day.
I'm usually not a fan of routine but I've been in one for these past four days: stop for a snack after two hours (40 km), stop for lunch at about 12:30 pm or 1 pm (after 75-95 km), have another snack mid-afternoon, ride into the night (it gets dark very early these days, at 5:30 pm, since daylight savings finished), stop for tea at about 7 pm (after 175 km), then ride the last 30 km and find a spot to pitch the tent. That's pretty much it for the past 4 days. Before taking up the challenge of riding 200 km each day, I wasn't sure if it would be sustainable. But I've already done three 200 km days in a row, and while it takes some motivation and drive, it seems to be sustainable. I could probably ride 200 km each day indefinitely if I had to, although it probably wouldn't be fun. I'll have to wait and see how my wrists hold up too.
So why am I putting myself through this, you might ask? Well, a number of reasons really.
Firstly because I want to get to Vienna in time to catch my friend Juls, I haven't really seen any friends from home for almost two months. Secondly because I wanted to take up the challenge, to ride 1000 km in five days. I haven't done anything like this before, so I want to see if I can. Inside though, I knew that once I'd decided back in Koblenz that I was going to make it to Vienna by Thursday, I knew I would.
Thirdly, I wanted to cover a lot of ground so that I could get to Siena and see Rosanna sooner, and then I'd be able to see more places afterwards too, and have time to ride back to London for my plane.
Fourthly...hmm, what's another reason...fourthly, it would be good training, I could build up some leg strength and endurance. I'm always looking to improve my cycling abilities, become a faster cyclist. I'm looking forward to racing again when I get back to Melbourne actually.
The weather today was again great, I've been very lucky to have a string of good weather. And the scenery was pretty beautiful for most of the ride today too, still following the Donau river. For much of it, I was on a bike path right beside the river, under the trees, and I had it all to myself, other than the occasional car. I haven't seen too many other cyclists, and no touring cyclists.

Riding down the Danube river, just past Besensandbach, Bavaria, Germany.

Riding down the Danube river near Winterhof, just after crossing into Austria.

The Danube river near Winterhof, just after crossing into Austria.

Shortly after riding through a town called Passau, I finally crossed the border into Austria. I'd been cruising down a bike path running alongside the road, when I passed a yellow road work kind of sign, which seemed to indicate the road was closed, and that you were meant to take a detour. I checked the map, and it appeared the detour climbed up quite a long way, and I wasn't keen for riding up hills, I knew it'd slow me down too much. So I stopped a passer-by, who could speak a little English, and he reckoned I'd be fine to go through on my bicycle.
A few kilometres down the road though, the bike path and the road were properly closed and blocked off.

The road was blocked for an unknown reason, on the Nibelungen Straße, Austria.

A car reached this point at the same time and the driver hopped out, he could speak English very well. I asked him if he knew what it was all about, he told me he didn't, but said to wait there and he'd go for a stroll and check it out, then come back and let me know.
He walked down the road to investigate, but after a while, I got impatient and found my way through the barrier, and rode after him. A ran into him again and he reckoned I'd be fine to get through, but he'd have to go back and take the detour. I rode on and luckily I could get through, because that one could have been a costly delay, it could have really up-heaved my plans.
One thing I had to be careful of was which side of the river I was on. For some of the way there is a bike path on both sides of the river so you can ride on either side, but then sometimes one of those paths will end. If it ends at a point where there is no bridge, where you have to catch a ferry across to the other side, then you're in trouble, because none of the ferries seem to be running at this time of year. So I had to watch out for this.

Looking across the Danube river to the town of Obernzell, which in in Germany (but my side of the river is Austria).

Further down the river, I was treated to some really stunning views, it was really pleasant cycling.

Looking across the Danube river at the vivid and contrasting colours of the trees, from Roning, Austria.

Looking down the Danube river from near the Jochenstein, Germany.

A lock in the Danube river, near Jochenstein, Germany.

My lunch stop by the Danube river, past a place called Schlögen, Austria.

Riding along the bike path beside the Danube river, just past a place called Inzell, Austria.

As night fell, I was coming into some more built-up areas. All the paths today seemed to be sealed ones, unlike the past few days where I've done a lot of riding on gravel paths. Coming into Linz I had a long straight flat path which must have gone for about 10 km, and it was so smooth.

Riding along the bike path towards Ottensheim, Austria.

I tried to time-trial along it, riding pretty hard, head down, just trying to maintain a good pace. It was really peaceful too, because I was all on my own, and I was relaxed at the same time. It felt like a form of meditation.
I rode straight through Linz, which seems to be quite a sizeable city, I only stopped at a supermarket to get some more supplies.

Looking across the Danube river towards Lustenau, Vorarlberg, Austria.

I kept going through a few smaller towns on the other side, because I didn't want to stop for tea until I'd covered 175 km again.
It was about 8 o'clock when I'd done that, and I was in a town which would be the last for about 20 km, so I had to stop there for tea. There wasn't so much choice, it was either a dodgy kebab shop, a Chinese restaurant or a pub. I went to the pub and ordered a chicken Kiev for tea, which was quite delicious.

A chicken Kiev for dinner in the Mauthausen pub, Austria.

It didn't really fill me up, but it would have to do.
I headed off again, and as I was looking at the map trying to work out how to get back onto the bike path, just rolling at about 15 km/h, I looked up and suddenly there was a curb right in front of me. I reactionarily veered left to avoid it, then my foot came down hard to stop me dropping the bike, and I just saved myself from falling, just regained control. Phew, that was a close one, almost had a crash there. I took a mental note to always watch where I'm going. That one shook me a bit; my heart rate was raised for several minutes afterwards.
I kept going, ground out the last 25 km to crack the 200 km mark again, then kept my eyes peeled for a camping spot.
It took a while to present itself but luckily I found a perfect spot, right next to the bike path where I didn't expect to see anyone else, and with tables and chairs and a fire place, and soft grass to set up the tent on.
Again I wasted no time in setting up and going to bed, and get to sleep just before midnight.

My route for the day, Metten in Germany to Wetzelsdorf in Austria.

An overview of my route so far, from France to Austria.

Ride stats:
Distance: 219.45 km
Average: 21.1 km/h
Maximum: 44.7 km/h
Time: 10:22:55
Total ascent: 757 m
Total descent: 822 m