Introduction

I cannot remember when I first thought about biking the Alps, but it was certainly before 2010, when I biked from Frankfurt to Munich via the Rhine River, Basel, and Lucerne before heading east for Konstanz and on to Munich. Originally I had wanted to bike from Lucerne over to Milan via Grimselpass and Simplonpass, where I would meet a non-biking friend for some time in Italy. Instead, he wanted to go to Munich, so I modified my route and met him there. We then spent a very pleasant week touring by car, visiting lower Bavaria, hidden lakes, and the foothills of the Alps. We also made it by train over to Salzburg for a day. Of course, all of this only whetted my appetite for more!

So after that trip, I had sort of set my eyes on making this a 60th birthday present to myself. Well, for various reasons that did not happen. Instead, last year, the start of my semi-retirement and rewiring for life ahead, I biked the East Coast and the Abruzzi region of Italy, both very satisfying trips.

So here I am at age 61, finally attempting this goal. And I am confident it will be accomplished. And enjoyed. Mark Nguyen, who biked Abruzzi with me and loves climbing as much as I do, is my partner in crime.

Mark and I leaving Lynchburg, Virginia for Peaks of Otter.

So we obviously climbed Peaks of Otter earlier this year as part of our training "program" to get ready for this trip . . . and then, just because it was there. This year, so far, I have biked 4,218 miles and climbed 186,162 feet! That's over 35 vertical miles! I think I'm as ready as I will ever be!

So here we go . . .

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