The day gets off to a tedious, almost irritating start as we bike out of Augsburg. Maybe we’ve not found the best route through town, but the old city doesn’t feel particularly cycle-friendly - especially now when much of it is torn up for a tram or light rail project. Once we’re finally out of town we cross the Lech and enjoy a too brief stretch alongside the river on the Via Claudia Augusta. We soon leave it though for the most direct route south, on the bike path alongside busy Route 2. It’s a fast, efficient ride but not an especially pleasant one with the sound of fast moving traffic always at our shoulder.
With more time I’m sure it would be a slower but much more pleasant ride to continue on the Claudia Augusta. We have other plans for the day though, and are happy to sacrifice a bit of atmosphere in the interests of a higher goal.
Finally, ten miles into the ride we leave Route 2 and come to Mering. Beyond this the quality of the road improves immeasurably - both because we’re abruptly back in the beautiful Bavarian countryside again and because we’ve veered off to the southeast and suddenly benefit from a robust tailwind, the strongest wind we’ve experienced since the weather turned so fair ten days ago.
Our destination tonight is Starnberg at the northern edge of the Starnberger See. Our real destination for the day though is in Gauting, and a CycleBlaze meetup with Suzanne and Janos. Ever since Wertheim we’ve been generally reversing the route of one or their recent tours, We Got as Far as Wertheim, mentally counting down the days and kilometers until we reached their home.
I forget for sure how long it’s been since we started threatening to drop in on Suzanne when we were in the neighborhood, but it goes back more than three years - at least since the time we left that other site and started Cycle365, and before CycleBlaze sprang to life. We first got acquainted through Bicycle Life though, the page from that other site open to day rides and such. Suzanne landed there because by that point in their lives they were eBikers, and of course eBikes weren’t permitted on the Main Page. Forum quarrels over eBikes was probably the beginning of the end of our association with that spot.
I’d already been following Suzanne’s journals before that though, drawn in particular by her photography. She’s always been one of my three favorite photographers in the cycle touring world.
The miles breeze by quickly as we bike southeast. Somewhere along the way I have the inspiration to forward to Suzanne the invitation email to follow our ride so she can track our progress and see how soon we’ll arrive. We project that we’ll arrive around two but are running a bit late because along the way we stop first for a quick lunch and then to view beautiful Fürstenfeld Abbey.
It’s our tenth straight way of fair weather but conditions are definitely changing. It’s in our favor today though as we enjoy a robust tailwind once we turn southeast.
At the entryway to Fürstenfeld Abbey, recreating the photo taken by Suzanne linked above. Not bad, but it’s not the same without those bright red panniers to brighten it up.
Suzanne had advised us to route ourselves through Fürstenfeld but hadn’t warned us of the stiff climb up from the abbey we’d face afterwards. once on top though it’s a beautiful descent through the prettiest part of the day; and then, a few miles from Gauting my devious scheme in forwarding Rachael’s email bears fruit when we see a familiar pair of figures spring from the shadows on the road ahead of us.
Suzanne neglected to warn us of the stiff climb up from the abbey, by far the stiffest work of the day. Once over the top though the views south are spectacular. If it were clearer we could see the alps in the distance from here.
After a joyous celebration by the side of the road we bike on to their home, Suzanne leading the way as we struggle to keep pace on our slow push bikes, Janos bringing up the rear with his worryingly handheld video cam.
We stop off at their home for a few hours to chat, ro get acquainted in the real world, and for me to contentedly descend into Lagerbier Hell. Then we continue south six miles to our hotel, following the route Suzanne said she’d show us when we arrived. We didn’t know at the time though that she meant she’d show us in person, as they gave us a personal escort to our hotel down on the lake. Regrettably we have no video of this ride because Rachael’s GoPro battery ran dry soon after we met up.
No matter. We’re here two nights, so we’ll get a second chance tomorrow.
We’ll have our work cut out for us keeping up with these two mounts.
From a rise above the lake, which is visible in the lower right. Mountains are faintly visible in the distance - the Alps, Suzanne said without a lot of confidence in her voice.
