Day 65: Sterzing to Innsbruck

June 16, 2022

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Today's story is really in two parts, one heaven one hell. As you might expect the split has to do with going up to the top of Brenner Pass, and coming down. But unexpectedly, it was the coming down that was the hell part, and that even included a lot of climbing.

Before we get to the heaven and hell, we need a small rant/expression of anxiety about the hotel this morning. We slept in about 15 minutes, but we did not expect to find, at 7:15 a.m., fifty people seated eating breakfast in the hotel's stuffy breakfast room. It was yesterday's bus tour group, and they were really on the ball. It was a dilemma for us. With the Brenner Pass ahead, we knew we needed food. And today is a religious holiday, so bakeries and groceries could be expected to be shut tight. And with Brenner in the sights, neither could we afford the time to wait for the people and the room air to clear out. So we dove in to this potential super spreader. We'll find out in due course if we survived. But man, gone are the days when indoor dining was banned, and the days when every second restaurant seat was cordoned off, and the days when you wore a mask indoors. Maybe it's ok, and covid is all over. The Italians definitely have forgotten their extreme lock down time, and when they led Europe in covid deaths. Hmmm.

Ok, let's get on with heaven. Here is the overview, and then maybe most photos will speak for themselves. We passed through that lovely Sterzing old town, and quickly were on good cycle path. The path began to follow the rail line, which we liked because it meant the grade would not be extreme. But indeed, one way or another we began to climb. although we climbed, the grades were not enough to bother us at all. It was just normal, with less exertion than on many another day. One thing that troubled me, and even Dodie to some extent, was that the climbing took us up to high ridges above the valley below. It was rather cliff like off the side of the trail, and we, especially me, clung to the "wrong" or left side of the trail, which was up against the mountain rather than the cliff.

We looked ahead to the spectacular mountains, and knowing that we were heading up to a pass among them added a special excitement. We also observed the clouds, gathered at mountain top level. Dodie saw in this not just interesting meteorology but the likelihood of rain. "I'm getting out my rain jacket, do you want yours?", she said. I replied that the clouds were clearly there just for decoration and there was no need to do anything about them. "You'll be sorry", she forecasted. Ten minutes later I had to admit it really looked like rain. Dodie sweetly stopped and got out the jacket. Two minutes later it was pouring, and it rained on and off all day!

The scenery was so inspiring, the path so smooth and well marked, and the grades so manageable, I had time to again muse about the alpine meadows. Riding beneath towering mountains is great, but riding beside endless flowers - almost greater, to me anyway.

So that's how it went, really a cycling heaven, gliding among the flowers, not a care in the world. Let's have a look at that in photos.

Leaving Sterzing. One could spend a lot more time strolling the lovely historical centre.

The trail begins - beside the road at first

We are down here, the cars are up there.

Gack, humans will build anything for the sake of cars

Signage was generally good. But not so much right here.

It's beautiful, but what about those clouds?

An abandoned station house shows we are on a rail trail

This man lived in the little house. Perhaps a true mountain hermit story.

We will remember the meadows as much as anything

At the top, what we looked on as wimpy cyclists, but probably really smart.

We had no real expectations of what would be found at the top of the pass, but it was a little surprising to find Outlet Malls, and all manner of other retail.

What we did not find was signage! any indication of how to cycle down to Innsbruck was simply not there. We did know, or thought we knew, that the first bit would be on road. We followed some kind of sign and found ourselves on road alright, but heading down into Italy! We turned around, but there began at least 10 km of really steep, really busy, downhill. There was basically no shoulder, and all we could do was just to hold our ground, descend carefully, and hope to not get hit.

Meanwhile, much braver cyclists than we (though mostly young men on fast bikes) we ascending the crazy slope and fighting the traffic. By now we were fully bundled in our rain gear and warm stuff underneath, but some coming up (and going down) in the rain had not even a rain jacket.

I would summarize our 12 km or so descent to Steinach as "brutal", but looking on it from the reverse, ascent, point of view, it was "absolutely brutal". I think if had to tackle the slope coming up, it could be a maybe. And the traffic - maybe. But slope and traffic - no way!

I expected (hoped) that at Steinach hell would turn into the gently descending, well curated/signed bike path that would lead us to our luxury accommodation in Innsbruck, from which we would go out to that schnitzel with pommes we had been talking about. This was all, and I mean all, complete self delusion and fantasy. What actually happened was that the descent from Brenner (ok, so at least it was down) turned into descent and ascent. In fact we burned up more battery and energy in this stage than at any other part of the ride today. And most was on road, with some situations really scary. Probably worst of this was coming off the high ridge we had somehow climbed opposite Innsbruck. The road descended and twisted (cutting off lines of sight) and had stone wall and no shoulder on the side. This was really brutal. And yet, some cyclists were still ascending the darn thing on the other side!

Muhlbachl - good track starts here? Nope!

Fighting traffic to come up, near Innsbruck

The lady fighting this bus is our vintage!

Innsbruck anti-cycle defence road. There was no careful system of signs and paths into the city.

Coming down the descending, twisting thing we came to a city anti cyclist defence, in the form of a giant impassable autobahn. We slowly pushed the bikes back up to where we could get above it, and cross on a passerelle. To get off the passerelle there were steps, but at least also a ramp for the bike wheels.

Once in the town, we could clearly see it as a big city, with large sturdy 5 story buildings.

We did pass a really pretty looking pedestrian street, but we were now intent on finding our hotel - yes, that luxury hotel and the luxury meal!

The hotel turned out to have the luxury price, but in fact was just a converted youth hostel. The room is teeny tiny, has no furniture, little ventilation. There is no restaurant, and the nearest thing in walking distance is a Greek one. We like Greek, but not walking, at this end of the Brenner Pass. We have eaten one lame sandwich, and are calling it quits.

What gave meaning to life today? Being able to ascend the Brenner. Being able to descend the Brenner!

Today's ride: 67 km (42 miles)
Total: 3,670 km (2,279 miles)

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Suzanne GibsonNo, that side of the Brenner is not meant for bicycles. But you made it!
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2 years ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Suzanne GibsonWe briefly chatted to a lady, while we were struggling on the way down, who said the route designers made a big mistake with the route between Innsbruck and Brenner and that everyone should take the train between these two points. I think, when all is said and done, we would agree.
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2 years ago

Kathleen ClassenWe have always done it on the train. We have a healthy sense of self preservation and had heard it was dangerous to ride up or down from Brenner. The train runs very frequently. At least you can say you did it and survived!
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2 years ago

Ben ParkeMajor respect. I considered riding from München to Sterzing and into the Dolomites last summer. Even had I done that, I was not planning to ride the Innsbruck side of the Brenner Pass. As others have said above, the train works really well. Takes its time due to the gradient so you still can enjoy the scenery without vehicles breathing down your back. It seems like they could create a proper bike path on the Innsbruck side. It’s a popular way up over the big hill.
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2 years ago