Home » Slovakia Italy Hungary Germany » From the snowy mountains to the sandy beach (2000)

After getting experiences on five cycletours in Slovakia and two in Austria and Slovenia in july 2000 I was ready to bike on my most serious tour in my life...

From the snowy mountains to the sandy beach (2000)

Gyorgyigabor
2004-02-05 19:55:23

Displayed times (last time: )

without them. From Merano the ascent was various; generaly flat and middle steep climbs changed each other. The day with its long and gently sloping road and at its end with the 1504m high Reschenpass wouldn’t have been a light one, but with the wind together it made me tired. Because of the wind it was just like I had to cycle on a middle steep climb for hours. It was with a 24 kg pack and a day before the bicyclemarathon. On the flat stages I rarely could cycle faster than 18 km/h. I needed my last energy to go up to the Reschen pass (Passo Resia). At the summit I had to take raincoat and raintrousers. The competitors who were waiting for the registration saw me with a surprise, because they arrived there in warm cars with having a rest. Because of the strong efforts and the cold weather (on a paper of the tourist office I read that next they the temperature on the Stilfser Joch would be only about 5 degrees centigrade) I changed my registration for the longer distance to the shorter B distance. I had been waiting for climbing up to the Stilfser Joch for months but I had to decide that, because I didn’t want to get cold and not to arrive home by bike. After the marathon I had to cycle a lot of kilometers. In the tourist office the officers were friendly: because the cold weather they welcome the bikers with brandy. In my hotelroom that I had reserved from Hungary I fell asleep with a little bit of excitement.
2nd day: Dreiländer Radgiro Bicyclemarathon = 136 km + 2020 m heightdifference
While the competitors who chose the longer distance started in the early morning I and the other competitors who chose the shorter distance started at 8.30 am after a salute of guns and voices of trumpets. We were about 300. We were cycling up on the gently sloping ascent of the Reschenpass under middle clouds and somewhere blue sky. On our 136 km we had to climb the 1504m high Reschenpass, then the 2149m high Ofenpass and at last the 1471m high Norbertshöhe. I took ...