Friday, May 30: Bad Aibling - Umrathshausen: Drawn out breakfast, watched it rain, rain stopped. We cycled.
AWAKE quite early, I could hear the tires of the cars sloshing through the water as they passed. Ah crap.
Sure enough, when we looked out, it was pouring quite heavily and steadily. Ah crap again. Well, deciding to stretch breakfast out, we dawdled as we watched the rain, by now resigned to be soaked to the skin within a few minutes of cycling.
Of course, we went back to the room to waste some more time on our tablets hoping to high heavens that the heavens would keep things like raindrops to themselves. We loaded up the bikes out where it was barely sprinkling outside, headed out from the hotel, and within one minute some of us had made a wrong turn. Quickly corrected, we started the climb out of town then were into the rolling hills. Rolling, and better yet, DRYING hills. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, though it was supposed to rain until 3 pm, the rain had stopped and did not resume at all for the rest of our short cycling day.
Rosenheim was a fairly large city but the centre's pedestrian area was quite attractive. The three tourists stopped for a number of kodak moments before we resumed... for another minute when I stopped at a bike shop to lube my squeaky chain. Great timing Brent. Here with three days of cycling left I get my chain sorted out.
Then along came a few hills plus there were the Alps to the south. Very nice. A few very long climbs got me warmed up, but by now I am in pretty good shape so once I got set into a gear I just powered my way up the hill. I have to admit it was almost effortless. Until the really long hill started. We rested at what appeared to be the summit, but when we resumed, up, up and away went the road.
To make things a little more interesting, the descent was long, steep and very fast. I got up to 55 km/h at one point but had to apply the brakes. Imagine blowing a tire or having some breakdown at that speed. No thank you.
Once into Frasdorf we stopped for lunch at an Italian restaurant for some tasty pizza. The other guys had a radler (beer with sprite) but with a few km to go it was no-go for me. Across the road was a pastry shop so we all picked up a few dessert items then resumed our cycling for the final few km to Umrathshausen, which was another climb, but nice since it was pretty cool out, maybe between ten and fifteen degrees.
The hotel was open but deserted but along came a worker who checked us in and got our room ready. A quick call to Mom and Dad then the spacious room was ready. A large guest house with a beer hall like restaurant underneath, we decided to eat there. Not that we had any choice, since there was nothing else but grass and cow manure available. Neither of which appealed.
For a wee stretch we stepped out to check the surroundings to find the Alps beginning to emerge from the mists. The sky was improving. Good things to come tomorrow?
Before calling it a night I stepped into the village church for a few photos. Interestingly, just inside the door was a plaque with old photos commemmorating WW1 German soldiers who had died. Presumably from this village. Interesting to see the 'other' side. War is a tragedy for all sides.
We kind of look lost but we are not. A city that had not seemed too attractive actually had a pretty nice pedestrianized town centre.
Draught taps all lined up. Beer mugs all lined up. This place must get busy at times. In fact, the night before an Italian cycling team including doctors, trainers, and masseurs, had stayed here. Must have been a packed place.
I am presuming those from the village who perished in the Great War. Sometimes we might forget that the 'other' side lost numerous family members as well. And 'they' were just as afraid as 'we' were. War. Hmmmph!
