Graz > Bad Tatzmannsdorf 92km and Bad Tatzmannsdorf > Wiesmath 42km

[Originally posted Aug 21, 2014]

The last two days have been glorious eastern Austria rolling hills cycling. 

The road less travelled.

Beautiful views, decent climbs, good weather.  A great two days.  The hills are alive, with The Sound of Music (although, according to every Austrian we have asked, this is a movie they know American’s have all seen and associate with Austria, but none of them have ever seen it).

Two nights ago we stayed with Angela and Sevi, a young couple in Graz, Austria.

Sevi and Angela.

As Katy chatted to Angela about Sevi’s recent bike racing, and plans for RAAM (Race Across America) next year Angela said something that has really stuck with Katy, “I don’t want to go to America to watch Sevi race RAAM cause I don’t want to see him hallucinate.”  Which, for most average people, is a legitimate concern.  But for endurance cycling (at the top level) it is just part of the sport.  To explain: RAAM is the premier event of endurance cycling.  Some may think that this honor should be given to the Tour de France, but the two races are very different.  The Tour de France is a stage race, each day over the course of a month cyclists compete a different stage of about 100 miles, and when that stage is over cyclists are free to rest/eat/sleep until the next day’s stage.  The best cyclists in the world compete in the Tour de France.  Endurance cycling is different.  Here, cyclists race against the clock.  The way RAAM works is that a stopwatch is started in Oceanside, CA and the first cyclist to Annapolis, MD wins.  Sleeping, although beneficial for someone riding their bike across the country, just gets in the way of getting across the country first.  And so the winners of RAAM typically sleep 2-3 hours per night for the 8 days it takes to get across the country (and hence the hallucinations).  This also attracts the world’s premier cyclists, but a somewhat different breed.

Graz, Austria happens to be right smack dab in the epicenter of endurance cycling.  The most recent winner of RAAM, Christoph Strasser lives here (and happens to be a good friend of Sevi, our WS host).  Also, Jure Robic, a five time RAAM winner lives in nearby Slovenia.  Sevi just recently competed in the Race Across the Alps, a 1,000km race around Switzerland which he won (in 36 hours) and is now raising the necessary money to pay for his crew to fly to the States next year so he can race RAAM.  All this to say, I am extremely jealous and am wondering how I can fit these types of ambitions into my next 5+ years of school and residency.

Last night, was a bit different.  We checked into ThermenCamping, what appeared to be a rather run-down dilapidated campsite that has likely seen better days.  We had previously stopped at a B&B but no one was there, so it was back to the campsite.  The definitely overweight older gentleman with almost long white hair was friendlier than I would have guessed, and he spoke good English, so we struck up a conversation.  It wasn’t long before he was offering us his dinner (which we followed our rule - never turn down anything, spicy sausages with a roll and mustard) because, according to him - “I’m just getting bigger and bigger, as he pointed to his belly.”  I told him he would still be considered “little” if he came to America, wish he got quite the kick out of.

Rain threatened, so we took a small cabin for €38 instead of pitching our tent.  It was actually great and quite a nice place.  Cooked a nice little pasta dinner, hot shower (and a good shower curtain - a key item often overlooked in Europe), watched the last half of The Sound of Music (Katy insisted, and then promptly started snoring).  Then in the morning slept in, went for a walk, some yoga, a nap, lunch - it is incredible how wonderful the little conveniences/simplicities in life can be (especially after they’ve been absent for a while).

Dinner (that we made).

ThermenCamping

And now tonight’s host: Lukas.  Lukas lives in the small town of Wiesmath, perched atop the tallest hill in the area overlooking the most beautiful rolling hills we’ve seen.  It’s as if God spent a lot of time and energy creating the landscapes of Europe, but when he got to the Midwest, USA he just said, Oh forget it, flat and boring will just have to do.  Lukas is one of the most conversational 28 year olds I’ve ever met.  We had a long 3 hour chat over dinner/dessert about his hometown, Austria and then the conversation turned to the Mormon church, missionary work, the growing trend of people leaving their parent’s church, personal conviction, the restoration and his thoughts on Catholicism and Austria (and how they are so intertwined - he said that the Austrian government collects money from its citizens and then gives it to the church the individual is registered member of - mandated tithing essentially - and the most interesting thing about this is that this system was put in place by Hitler, and although all of Hitler’s other institutions have been removed, this one remains).

Blue sky, nice fields.

Hmm.

Austrian Hills.

Good views today.

Tomorrow to Vienna, what appears to be the far east of Western Europe.  It will only be another day’s ride before we are in strange places like Bratislava, Slovakia.

Expenses: 

Day 1: €13.50 lunch, €2.20 ice cream, €3.67 pasta dinner, €38 wooden cottage

Day 2: €9.80 lunch