Crossing Alps on a Bike
На русском. 🇷🇺
A scenic 6-day group bike trip crossing the Alps through 3 countries.
A group of people from the office (Jozef, Daniil, Evgeny and me), we decided to ride through the Alps starting in Munich and ending in Villach.
Additionally, we were joined by a couple of other people from outside (Andrey and Ivan). Unfortunately Ivan had knee problems shortly before the trip and prudently decided to pull himself out.
Jozef and Daniil generously took over the organization and planning.
Day 0/1
We left Berlin in different ways, I took the night bus to get to the start. The others took earlier trains with an overnight stay in Munich.
I managed to get enough sleep on the bus, Flixbus is convenient for bikes - I can recommend it!
On arrival in the morning I had about an hour to see the center of Munich, the city is nice and beautiful, but I will hardly go there for a second time just for a walk.
We've met in the cafe to have breakfast together. After that we've moved in the direction of Austrian Schwaz. The weather was great, the road was a bit hilly (after the flat Berlin 😅), we were enjoying the ride.
As a pleasant surprise we've met a box of free "Zu Verschenken" apples along the road, we took a few of them.
Our hotel had a free sauna, that was handy too.
126km, total climb 870m.
Day 2
The next morning we left around 9am towards Innsbruck. The road there was flat and easy. The town is crowded and old style.
The first steep and long climb started immediately after Innsbruck, it was probably the most difficult as I and some of us were not yet used to keeping the right pace under a long heavy load.
After the first ascent there was the second one, the sky was clear and the heat was 36 °C with no shade. Water supplies were consumed quickly, but from time to time there were sources where you could refill your bottles.
We passed a beautiful suspension bridge along the way.
Due to different ascent pace we've decoupled on the climbs and only met again at a cafe on the Austrian-Italian border in Brennero. Cold beer was particularly relevant and welcome.
Next we drove to Vipiteno, the road was mostly downhill and towards the end there was a very steep downhill where you had to slow down often to keep a reasonable speed. I kept the speed around 40 km/h and heated the brakes, the others went faster.
95km, total climb 1275m.
Day 3
The next day was planned for rest. We spent it in Vipiteno. Part of the group stayed "at home", me and Daniil rode to see the surroundings.
There was a field with amateur airplanes and gliders on the way to the castle-museum Reifenstein. The castle is dark, interesting and authentic, 9 eur entry.
In order to remain fit, we decided to gain some altitude and went to the dam of the power station in the mountains. Bicycle navigation directed us through the forest and on the final section the road turned into a hiking path crossing a mountain stream. We went back down the car road with a breeze.
Over the past couple of days, granny gear (a small gear in the front and the largest in the back) has become the favorite.
In the evening, Andrey and I went to check out the local sauna (not free this time), it turned out to be so-so. Almost all the steam rooms were barely warm, but there was a nice jacuzzi. 🫧🫧🫧
29km, total climb 593m.
Day 4
After the day of leisure came the day of retribution. We've had to climb 1800m in about 100km ride. It turned out to be easier than I thought, climbing habit was developing and also the climbs were not so steep this time.
We've stopped by a mountain lake Dürrensee located about 1500m high. The weather was great, we could swim.
We were heading to a hotel near Cortina d'Ampezzo. On the way there, there was another lake with a mirror-like surface, Misurina.
The higher we got, the more natural beauty of the Dolomites was around us. 🏔️
117km, total climb 1800m.
Day 5
We were at the top point of our journey, and it was downhill from there. For almost the whole first half of the day we had a smooth descent, it was nice and easy to ride.
All this time we rode without any breakdowns or accidents, and finally Jozef had a flat tyre. It didn't take long to replace the tube and we rode on.
After a long descent we had to climb Passo della Maurio (up to an altitude of about 1300m). For the first time the weather started to turn capricious and it started to rain. The rain threatened to intensify, so as soon as everyone had made the ascent, we drove further down without waiting for the road to get wet.
At the bottom the rain intensified, but we were already in the small town of Forni di Sopra and waited for the rain to ease off over coffee and ice-cream in a café.
Next we drove on to Ampezzo, where we had our next overnight stay. Again it was a relatively gentle descent, with wet tarmac almost all the time. A couple of times the bikes almost lost stability on the road, but no falls. There was no place to have dinner at the destination, so Jozef prepared dinner from pasta bought on the spot. 🍝
98km, total climb 1083m.
Day 6
The final segment went all the way to Villach. At about 5 pm me and Daniil planned to leave from there by train to Munich, so we all left early, at about 8:30 am.
The overall elevation difference was quite modest, but that's largely due to the tireless Italians who had drilled a dozen (if not more) tunnels specifically for the cycleway. The road is very beautiful with several waterfalls, flyovers, bridges and tunnels.
We arrived in Villach quite quickly, so we had enough time to leisurely eat a hamburger and a beer at a local cafe.
On the train we were joined by another cycling traveler (from Munich) who was returning from a cycling tour in Iceland. Judging by his story, the trip deep into Iceland was not an easy one. He made 300km in 10 days over rough surfaces with his friend, his friend's bike almost fell apart. After talking about travelling we moved on to the foreign policy situation and assessing the likelihood of a third world nuclear war.
In Munich we had a little time to get off the train and onto the bus to Berlin. Then we were already in Berlin (and in the office 😅) in the morning.
In a strange coincidence, a wheel on Daniil's bike got a flat after being unmounted from the bus. My bike did without any breakages or punctures.
It was an enjoyable and interesting ride, thanks to all participants and especially to Jozef and Daniil for organising it.
112km, total climb 780m.