May 31, 2023
Day 5 - Zell am See to Golling
Finally some drama
Well, if the gravel was bad yesterday, today managed to outdo it. In fact, today I have actual drama to report.
It started out innocently enough with a nice breakfast at the hotel and a flat easy ride out of the south end of Zell am See. Then there were the usual wrong turns because my gps is hard to follow and the signage is not as clear as I recall it being. That involves often getting out of the velomobile and turning around. We velonauts tend to not talk about the painful parts of riding, like the large turning circle and how awkward it is when you make a wrong turn and have to get out and turn around. I have done this quite a few times this trip….
If only that were the worst thing today. I have been joined the last few days by another rider in a nice new Bülk velomobile. From the start today his bike was not acting quite right. He was unable to shift into the big ring up front. We pulled aside the road and did some investigating. Somehow the cable for the front derailleur broke up by the shifter. I’ve never seen a derailleur cable do this. I’m not sure how it’s even possible with a brand new cable. Perhaps it was faulty, perhaps it was installed at too abrupt an angle. Perhaps there are gremlins in Zell am See attacking innocent Velomobiles. Whatever the case, there was nothing I could think of to get it working again. When a casing is busted like that, tightening the cable just makes it split further. That put a damper on ride speed. I ended up coasting quite a bit today.
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Now, this seems like enough drama for one ride, right? But no. We were not out of the woods yet. Next the chain fell out of the rear idler. And just in case that wasn’t enough, the power side chain tube somehow slid back towards the rear idler blowing out the carbon fiber in that area. Thankfully the carbon fiber is only cosmetic in that area. The chain tube was pulled back to its proper position, duct taped to the other chain tube, and a couple cable ties added for good measure. Because my riding partner had to use only the small chain ring today, the chain ended up coming off the idler a couple more times when hitting bumps in higher gears. The chain was just too loose to stay in place.
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Drama quota reached? Not quite. There is a big hill you have to go up over between Lend and Schwarzach. I’ve been up it once before. It is mean, but manageable. The hill starts below Posaunerhof. Or it did. But not anymore. Now it starts way back in Lend and goes up and up and up steeply for much longer. You see, they are working on the old Bundesstrasse. Cyclists are now detoured up through Lend on a very poorly signed route that connects up with where the Alpe Adria Radweg heads off into the Gasteinertal. I don’t know how much time was lost trying to figure out the detour, but it was way too much. The Tauern Radweg website describes the detour but does not include a map. None of my apps show the new route. The green signs for direction are not placed in locations ways for a harried cyclist to see. And the pavement was terrible too. It took way too long to get tk Posaunerhof. My only consolation is that I did ride the entire thing including 14% gradients. Every. Single. Agonizing. One. Of. Them.
Once up top, the scenery was nice, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wasn’t really in a frame of mind to properly appreciate it. In fact, I’m still adjusting from jet lag and woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. Naturally this would be the day with the most adversity, because that’s how life is sometimes. What goes up must come down though. I’ve been nervous about the descent from the big hill. I recall my disc brakes on my bike being a different color when I got down last time I rode here. We took it easy riding down and stopped briefly a couple times. In the end I think the brakes would have been fine doing the descent in one go, but I’d rather be safe than be sorry.
In Schwarzach the gravel section started. It was much better gravel than yesterday. I spent quite a lot of the time on the gravel coasting because the rider behind me could only pedal so fast. Just when you need a bike shop, one doesn’t exist. Like I said, it was a day of adversity.
Beyond Werfen the gravel ends. That’s where the long downhill starts on the shoulder of the B road. Usually B roads are busy, but this one is not due to the Autobahn nearby. It was much more lovely zooming along through the massive gorge the Salzach flows through. My mood started to improve and I was able to relax and enjoy things a bit.
The downhill is briefly interrupted by a short climb up to Pass Lueg. While it’s considered a pass, it’s a pretty easy one with a max 10% gradient. I found it to be a pretty mellow climb, especially after the nasty climbs earlier in the day and the extended rest on the downhill. The ride down from the pass was quite nice too. In fact, I don’t think any pedaling was done until hitting the traffic circle in Golling. I opted to keep my speed around 40 or so mph on the descent just in case there were any rough spots on the road. The bike handles so well at higher speeds.
The hotel was fairly easy to find, and I am now prepared to go to bed and hopefully sleep a lot. Hopefully tomorrow luck will be more favorable and I won’t be quite so grumpy. I am sure I will look back at the video from today and think fondly of the scenery. Sorry, no photos from the gorge or the descent. I was kinda busy riding. Video to come when I get back home. As a final note, I will add that hill climbing in a velomobile is actually not bad at all. I actually find it raise than on my recumbent bikes. I don’t expend any energy trying to stay upright and can put full power into pedaling. I’m not sure if I’ve ever ridden a 14% gradient with my recumbent bikes. Oh, and finally, Velomobile World, the company that built these bikes, already has a parts package on the way overnight with UPS to replace the parts and get things going again. Extra points for super quick service. At least the repairs are easy ones. Oh, and I also forgot my brake lights are stuck on. They’re sending the part to fix that too. Crazy how these things never happen to my bikes at home. Just when I’m an ocean away from my tool box. Such is luck. At least here I am surrounded by nice mountains while I do repair work.
Today's ride: 46 miles (74 km)
Total: 194 miles (312 km)
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