Österreich

15 Sep 2011

The Lonely Motorcyclist

On leaving Schweiz, I thought that there was no way at all that I would ever see another country even remotely as beautiful as Switzerland, however I was totally wrong: welcome to Österreich!

After leaving Venice, I pointed the bike north east and made for Österreich, via Slovenia. Slovenia was a surprise packet for me, as unfortunately it was one of those countries that I had to ride through in order to get to where I actually wanted to be, however when I have more time, I shall definitely head back to Slovenia to spend some more time there.

My entry in Austria was like so many before it: wet, cold, slippery, not really that much fun. So much of my time during these conditions was spent searching for grip, dry lines, dodging fuel and oil patches, as well as doing my best to fend off cold and demisting my foggy visor. Nothing is more soul destroying than having to pack up a wet tent in the rain, and being completely soaked before even putting any kilometres on the bike for the day. Regardless, I tip-toed my way through the route I'd planned, determined to beat the elements and make Althofen to meet friends.

The following days in Althofen were picture pefect, postcard material, sunny clear skies, in which I spent much of my time unwinding, washing and drying clothes, and recharging cameras and the like. My bike skating issues were still present, however after a day out retracing the route that took me into Austria, I noticed that the bike was still trying to push on corners. I managed to get my knees down a few times, however the rear was definitely starting to slide on corner exits which is a feeling that I don't really like at all. After being fined for exceeding the speed limit, I went home to think more about traction, and how to get it back.

This, as it turns out, was easy.

The last petrol station I checked my pressures at was in Italia, south of Cesano, and I had set my tyres to 34F and 32R, however when checking them locally in Austria, they actually read closer to 38 psi! I must have been reaching the start of the limits of tractions on those Michelins at that pressure, especially when hammering them repeatedly through a series of fast bends. Once the pressure was set correctly, the bike was back on rails again, giving me the confidence I was after to really stick it into the corners as I had on the Dunlops.

I loved Austria so much. Austria definitely wins the prize for the best roads, best and clearest signage, great food, beer, people, the whole she-bang really blew me away. Austria is top on my list of biking countries, but also top on my list of countries in Europe to visit. I simply cannot gush about it further, Österreich made me all gooey and was really the first country I'd visited that demanded that I stay.

For the two-wheelers, you simply must check out my favourite loop in Austria, which also would be in my top ten biking loops in Europe: Althofen, Eberstein, Lavamünd, Eibiswald, Hieflau, Admont, Althofen; around 400 km of sensational roads.

Two days later, and I was on my way north east again, via the Großglockner which had received a decent snowfall the day before I rode through there. Thankfully the road was open, however I couldn't help but notice that the Austrians were repeating sentiment I'd heard all over Europe: 'this is unseasonal weather', 'we never have weather like this', 'snow in July?' etc. I know that amongst the scientific community, Greenhouse (as we used to call it, before the PC idiots attempted to soften the term) is accepted and verified, however amongst the great unwashed most don't believe the evidence at all, yet with Europeans from all countries citing similar weather related stories, one must take some notice.

On the other side of the Großglockner, I headed north towards Germany, being introduced to German twisties on the 307, from Bayrischzell to Sudenfeld and beyond Österreich was thick with Police and radar traps, however somehow I managed to avoid this and make it into Deutschland without incident. Next on the menu was a race through Eastern Europe, something that I was not looking forward to at all...