September 1, 2022
An 'easy' day: Böckstein to Lienz
I awoke to find the things outside still looking pretty gloomy, but the lovely people at the Gasthof zur Post assured me that there would be blue skies on the other side of the mountain. So, fortified with that promise (and with a very solid breakfast), I set off up the last bit of the climb to the Böckstein railway station.
Careful prior study of cycleblaze meant I was well prepared for the logistics of this train ride: cycle past the queue of cars (check!), wait for the ticket-seller to arrive on the incoming train, and for him to pedal over to the booth (check and check!), and then scoot back to the bike carriage. An excellent system, and it all worked smoothly.
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As we came out of the tunnel, one of the other cyclists on board pointed excitedly out of the window: blue skies, as promised!
Somehow my (allegedly) careful study of cycleblaze hadn't fully prepared me for what came next: I knew about the lovely downhill (and it was indeed lovely), but hadn't clocked that the ride down the valley also included a fair number of hilly (and muddy) detours up the valley sides. Objectively, they really weren't that bad, but somehow it always feels particularly unfair to be going uphill on what's supposed to be a Downhill Day.
So it was a relief when a Radlertreff came into view. I found that most of the other cyclists from the train (all of them on e-bikes), whom I'd left behind at the station, had got there before me (I think perhaps they'd, sensibly, skipped some of the detours up the valley); I also found that most of them were enjoying a mid-morning beer -- perhaps another perk of e-biking? I thought I should probably stick to coffee...
After that the riding got a bit easier, and more consistently downhill. At Möllbrucke I made that Right Hand Turn: away from the Alpe Adria route, and onto the Drauradweg.
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The Drauradweg was a real treat: there were a few bumps along the way, but for the most part it was just gently uphill (but really so gentle that you'd hardly know it, especially when there's a helpful tailwind like there is today), very quiet, and with increasingly good views of the surrounding mountains. I detoured from it briefly to find some lunch, stumbling across a nice cafe/deli in Steinfeld, but otherwise it was just a steady trundle up here for the rest of the day.
Eventually, I rolled into Lienz, my destination for today. What was supposed to be an 'easy' day didn't quite feel like that -- somehow they never quite do, in my experience -- but it was still an excellent day's riding. And a dry one too!
Today's ride: 96 km (60 miles)
Total: 278 km (173 miles)
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