Wandering Retirees

This was the final day of our tour. Connie and I are both excited and delightfully tired from our adventure. While we’ve ridden longer distances in the past in a week’s time, we’ve not had a ride as demanding as this one. The entire route was technically demanding for us, and the narrowness (this is a word, right?) and curves made nearly every mile/kilometer quite intense. This was especially true of the ride through the Dolomites yesterday, and the ride returning today to Mieming.

All told, we covered about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) in six days, with more than 4,500 curves and over 650 switchbacks. (I find it a little easier reading this on the backside of the trip!)

After a few kilometers’ warm up on well-maintained roads, we turned onto the Passo Della Erbe, also known as the Würzjoch (“Würz” means spicy!), a relatively unknown, single-track pass with great views. The road looks intimidating because it’s about the width of many bicycle paths in the US. This is especially true when you meet oncoming traffic in the form of a bicycle, a motorcycle or even a car! It turns out there is sufficient room for multiple vehicles to pass each other safely. We’re just used to (spoiled?) much greater room on most American roads. Whereas we had freaked earlier in the week when confronted with narrow lanes, by today we had gained sufficient experience to ride smoothly and confidently no matter the conditions.

This says a lot about our tour guide, Michael, who taught and coached us every day to ride with improved skill and pleasure.  Edelweiss provided us with great machines and a super tour leader.  We all feel as though we are much better riders after this experience.

By this time, the Dolomites were behind us and were again in the South Tyrol mountains. We continued our ride to the Passo di Monte Giovo (Jaufenpass). The 31 km long Jaufenpass is a very smooth ride and offers magnificent views of the South Tyrolean mountains. The pass summit at 2,094 meters is crowned by a tiny wooden hut called “Edelweisshütte”. The small parking lot in front was crowded with motorcycles. It was cold and windy with the threat of rain. We were grateful for some warmth, all ate a good lunch and rested a bit. Connie and I had a goulash soup that was hot and spicy and good.

We mounted back up and rode over the Jaufenpass to the Timmelsjoch, home to the world’s highest motorcycle museum and a spectacular ride. Connie and I had ventured up here on our own before the tour began, so we won’t repeat the description here.

After a coffee and some cake, we head downhill towards Mieming and our “Farewell Dinner” where we shared our stories and thanked our terrific host.

We made new friends with riders from Toronto, Seattle, Denver, and a little town just north of Nürenburg, Germany. Connie and I were the only couple riding. As is normal for us, we rode a little more cautiously than the singles, but shared so much fun learning the skills needed for successful Alpine riding.

Riding, especially high intensity biking, demands that you be “in the moment” every moment.  That makes it tough sometimes to recall the details that enrich the experience.  Connie did her usual amazing job capturing images and video clips of our tour and she shared her work generously with everyone.  You’ve seen some of the fruits of her labor here.  Everyone wondered how she could take such great shots while hanging on in those tight turns.  I don’t know myself, except that she’s an exceptional 2-up rider who knows what she’s doing.  I’m so glad we do this together.

Sunday is a pack-it-all-up and hump it to the train to Munich.  Then it’s pack-it-all up-neat so our bags can be checked in, and then hump them to the airport for our return flight.  We should get in late Monday night.  Being home and in our own beds sounds pretty good right now.  

We hope you’ve enjoyed our blog.  We’re tickled you spent some time with us and maybe found some enjoyment, too.  Thanks for checking in.  

And now, good night.