2017-THE LONG WEEKEND RIDE IN THE ALPS-DAY 02/2

“UPWARDS”
Part 2

This ride report here is the second part of the second day of “The Long Weekend Ride in the Alps”!
For those of you which already know the first part: Continue reading here on this page.
For all other people: The first part of this ride report you’ll find at …

2017-The Long Weekend Ride in the Alps – Day 02 – Upwards – 1 of 2

Part one: (Pictures and ride report: —> CLICK)
On the second day of the “Long Weekend Ride in the Alps” Чернотa and I started from our last nights shelter in the Tauern-Valley near Mallnitz. We wen´t on for a few km to Wurtenbach-Valley where we climbed up a maintenance road to the top of the “Mölltaler-Glacier-Cable-Car”. After that we continued our ride with a visit of the Felbertauern-Pass-Street and took another remote side valley there near the Außergschlöss.

Part two: (= this ride report here)
Around midday, we rode on south-west-wards via the well known single lane “Staller Sattel” and passed over to southern Tirol/Italy. Along the Italian villages Bruneck and Sterzing we finally passed back over to Austria/Northern Tirol. Therefore, we took the famous alpine pass road “Timmelsjoch”.

Around midday Чернотa and I rode from the southern portal of the Felbertauern-Tunnel further southwards. We passed this huge stone/mud avalanche. It crossed the street via an avalanche protection gallery. This picture shows very well how important such galleries where for the traffic safety in steep alpine terrain.

I rode on with my black beauty through the …

Defreggen Valley. At its end is the …

Lake-Obersee located. In the middle right of the picture above you can see a small inn which is surely a nice location for a rest. But I’m not the resting guy, so we went on.

The “Staller Saddle” is a single lane pass road. For each direction is a traffic light mounted which releases the traffic from both sides alternately.

While waiting for getting the green light, I ate some nuts and made a photo of this rustic hut. The queue ahead of the traffic light grew fast. But with a motorcycle you are always in the frontal starting grid. When the light went green I spurred Чернотa and was far ahead of the other traffic behind me. As mentioned before this saddle is a single lane street with traffic lights. So I wasn’t expecting forthcoming traffic.
That was a mistake: I was riding in the right half of the middle third of the street. Just behind a corner a crazy mountain bike riding moron was coming up the hill. Due to his exhaustion he needed the whole width of the street. At the moment I saw him I pushed hard the front brake lever and with all the luck of our both guardian angels I got it managed to balance Чернотa on the furthest to the right edge of the street, nearly falling down and avoided in this way a collision with this weak brained sucker. Maybe next time he should have a look at his watch when the forthcoming traffic will arrive! I have no idea if he survived the other traffic behind me. I instantly learned from that and rode along the rest of the beautiful single lane road very carefully. While doing this some other crazy bicycle riders outdistanced me under high risk. Kudos to their idiocy!
-_-

After the Staller Saddle the …

we followed the Antholz Valley further southwards. At its end Чернотa and I rode …

into the direction of the North-Italyan city Bruneck. There nearby …

another stop for a potty break and filling up of the water bottle was needed.

After passing this nice church we climbed the …

Jaufen Pass. It’s a real curvy pass road with loads of traffic in summer. But still nice to ride. On its highest point …

it was obvious that a few kilometers further, at the entrance to the …

next famous pass street of the Alps the weather was changing.

Despite the heavy rain I climbed with my black wet beauty …

the “Timmelsjoch-Pass”. It leads up to a height of 2474 meters or 8117 feet. On its top …

the view …

back to Italy was …

a nice one! After taking a …

few pictures…

Чернотa and I followed the road on the Austrian side of the border.

Far in the distance we have seen already one of our next days target.

After paying the toll for this great scenic road at the toll station, which is also a motorcycle museum, we went on. But now, enough tarmac was done at this day. Short before arriving in the village Hochgurgel we left the street …

for some gravel. Along the cable cars of Hochgurgel we fought upwards the tracks.

Due to less oxygen at a height of around 2600 meters or about 8500 feet the performance of Чернотa´s strong heart was noticeable, slowly decreasing the further we climbed.

At a height of 2990 meters or about 9810 feet I …

parked Чернотa in front of the “Top Mountain Star-Bar”. According to its website it is located at a height of 3080m or 10105ft. But that’s bullshit. The peak of the mountain “Hinterer Wurmkogel” lies at this height. With my clunky enduro boots …

I climbed up the last short distance to this peak.

O_o

After a short break and a few photos, I took this last view down to the Timmelsjoch where I just was riding with Чернотa less than a hour before from Italy back to Austria. Then I climbed back down to the …

visitor platform near the mentioned restaurant. The view …

down there was also … , ahhhm ya. ^_^

I rode with Чернотa down a few meters. It was already early evening, so I built up the shelter for the incoming night …

only about forty meters below the restaurant.

Due to the nice weather and the awesome …

light conditions I strayed around the camp a lot. Finally, I made this perfect shot.

The sun was unstoppable moving towards the horizon. Because of that I fired the stove …

The noodles with onions, some basil-sauce and tuna have been prepared quickly. Even quicker they have been eaten. mhmmm :-p

Sitting there and enjoying the view I recognized this white cloud coming up the mountain. It brushes my camp only slightly. As it turned out the white color stems from small hail balls. As fast as this cloud had arrived it disappeared. After that …

I crawled into the tent and continued reading in a SCIFI-book.

Total distance this day: 500km or 310mi.