August 24, 2018
Radstadt to Flachau to Weißenbach
Bus to Flachau, Bike to Weißenbach
The inevitability of any 2 week vacation done almost entirely outdoors is that sooner or later you will get wet. The chances of perfect weather for that long a stretch are pretty low. I was very fortunate to have outstanding weather while riding the Tauern Radweg, a stretch that I was particularly looking forward to.
As I mentioned yesterday, today I moved on to the Enns Radweg. There was some rain that hit while I was eating supper in Radstadt where my train ride ended last night. I think I also mentioned that rain clouds were moving in while I was at the train station in Golling. My ride to Schladming was remarkably dry with moments where the sun even peeked out. About half the path was paved and the other half was packed limestone with patches of looser or bumpier gravel. It's not a surface that I particularly like riding on, but I stayed upright despite riding faster than I normally do on gravel.
Today I was in a hurry. I've been wanting to take the cable car up to the Dachstein which meant getting to Schladming early enough to catch a bus for the 50 minute ride up the mountain to the cable car station. The Dachstein requires you reserve a spot ahead at a particular time and that definitely put some restrictions on my palns today. But first I had to get to the start of the trail.
To get to the start of the Enns Radweg in Flachau (actually beyond that in flachauwinkel), required a bus ride with the option to head out at 8:05am or at 10:30am. The 8:05 was not going to happen so I took my time this morning, wandered a bit in Radstadt, and then caught the bus to Flachau. The driver was mildly insane and was flying around corners and through small villages. It was somewhat terrifying.
Having somehow survived the ride, I headed in the direction of the beginning of the bike path. I went within maybe a mile of it and decided I'd seen enough and could head in the proper direction.
The scenery along the way is not unlike that along the Tauern Radweg. Maybe slightly wilder in spots while also very oriented towards tourism, especially for families. There wasn't anything particularly exciting that happened during the ride. It didn't rain, no one tried to run me over, and I only missed a sign and headed very briefly the wrong way a few times (those little green signs are easy to miss when you're looking around.) I did not pass any open bakeries so I never had any sort of proper lunch. The only bakery I passed was in Mandling and they inexplicably closed during lunch.
On my way I passed Radstadt where I'd been last night. Also along the way were a couple minor hills that annoyingly were rough packed gravel. Why it was necessary to go up into the hills in that area I don't know. There was a perfectly good field down below that the path could have skirted the edge of. It actually didn't take me as long as I was afraid it would to get to Schladming. In fact I was early enough to stop at the tourist office to inquire after a room for the night, and I'm glad I did. Turns out there's a big concert happening there and every room is filled there and in the surrounding area. I had to make multiple phone calls before the nice lady at the tourism office in Haus im Ennstal found me a room a 30-40 minute ride further down the Radweg from Schladming. Also due to the number of people infesting Schladming and my desperate search for accomodations, I only took one picture in Schladming. It's ok. It wasn't an exceptional city today.
The bus ride to the Dachstein mountain and glacier was even more angsty than my ride earlier today. To get to the Dachstein you need to get a good ways up into the hills. To get up those hills (essentially the side of the mountain), requires hairpin turns. Oh man. This lady drove ever faster and crazier than the last one and I actually was feeling a bit car sick. We somehow survived that experience as well, but when I got to the glacier cable car, the mountain top was completely enclosed in clouds. Given that I doubt I'll be back, I went anyway. It was weird being up there in clouds, though not unlike my experience on the Zugspitze 2 years ago. I could only see 10 or 15ft ahead of me and I honestly hope I wasn't at the very very edge of any precipice or anything like that. I didn't go very far on the glacier and I stayed on the signed and groomed glacier trail. When you can't see what's around you, the last thing you should do is be adventurous! It was definitely disappointing to be up on another high peak with no view of below. At some point my luck with this has to change. Being in the clouds also meant being in the rain which added an extra bit of adventure to walking a bit on the glacier. It was warm enough up there to rain which means it's also warm enough for the glacier to be melting. Not a high enough peak I guess.
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In the cable car on the way down I checked to see what time the bus would head back. The schedule I had downloaded didn't show any later busses! That seemed awfully dumb to me. Why not run later busses since the cable car runs as late as 5:30pm?? Along with being dumb, it had me worried about how I'd get back to my bike and on to my hotel (and a real meal of something besides gummy bears and chocolate.) I considered begging a ride from random strangers, hiring a taxi, begging any nearby tour busses for rides, and generally panicked. When I got to the ticket counter I asked one of the ladies if any more busses were running. Thankfully there was one in 13 minutes and my day was saved.
I'm now on that bus heading back to Schladming and my bike and wouldn't you know, it's been raining the whole way down. I did leave everything protected from water more or less except for forgetting to put the pad for my bike seat in a dry location. I knew I'd have to eventually ride in the rain. I can only hope that there will be a less raining window of time tomorrow to ride in.
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Back in Schladming the fun started. I left my seat pad on the bike rather than in the safety of a dry bag and it was good and wet. Oops. I attempted turning the pad over, but I still got a very wet butt even with rain pants (my rain pants my be on their last legs.) Google said the ride was about 30 minutes and I'd estimate that to be fairly accurate. Even 5 minutes in this rain would have been too much. Everything was completely wet except for the stuff in my dry bags. My raincoat and pants were a little lacking in function. Part of that is the angle the rain hits me on a recumbent, the rest is that it just was raining that hard and my rain gear is aging. I also got a nice little hill in going into Haus im Ennstal. Always fun in the rain.
Now I'm in Weißenbach Not far from Haus waiting for my supper. There appears to be one actual restaurant here and everyone is here. With the concert in Schladming they may be busier than normal. Whatever the case, I'm getting awfully hungry and I hope they'll bring my food soon.
Rain is projected the next couple days so my memories of the Enns Radweg probably won't be exceptional ones and I'm fine with that. I also have the consolation of train line paralleling the Radweg and if I get too wet and miserable I have the option of bailing. Based on what I've ridden so far I'd compare the Enns Radweg to the Bodensee-königsee Radweg. Nice, but not one I'd revisit. Given that after tomorrow there will be longer stretches on the Bundesstraße, I'm not optimistic my opinion will change.
Today's ride: 32 miles (51 km)
Total: 128 miles (206 km)
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