Day 4. Km 1471. 26 hours riding
Last time I crossed the Alps, they were rather unfriendly: a whole day of almost unending rain accompanied by fog. After a while I realized that that fog rising every time the rain was stopping or starting were actually the clouds that we riding above. This time, the Alps made nice: we had two sunny days, warm but not torrid, ideal for the pure pleasure of dancing with the beast on winding roads. For the laymen, let me explain: if the road curves to the left, you lean the bike to the left; if the road curves right, you lean the bike to the right; if the road curves left and then right, you lean the bike to the left first, then to the right; if the road curves alternate left-right-left-right and the distance between them is small enough, and if you have the right speed and can handle it, you don’t ride straight anymore, but in a continuous balance from one side to the other, following the rhythm of the road. This is the dance with the beast, and this is what we did this time in the Alps. I don’t know if there are road designers, but if there aren’t they should be created. And if there are, the one that created the Austrian roads should get an award.
Did you see the Austrian flag? No way! Somebody should give justice to Austria and change their flag to green – incredibly green and blue- incredibly blue, because this is what Austria looks like. Take a look:
Did you see the Austrian flag? No way! Somebody should give justice to Austria and change their flag to green – incredibly green and blue- incredibly blue, because this is what Austria looks like. Take a look:
And maybe a bit of pink, because Austria runs on pink gas (* “ROZ” is the Romanian for “pink”).
After Austria, a bit of Italy through the Alps. On the side of the road, at the entrance to the Stelvio Pass, a collection of bizarre creatures of bones, stones, chains and rusted metal pieces, like a warning for those who want to pass forth: this is what will happen to you if you keep on going!
The Stelvio Pass is a corridor on the border between Italy and Switzerland that bikers choose because of its incredible difficulty, and bikers are a bit masochists. The narrow road climbs to 2700m in an unending chain of tight curves. When the curve is on the left it’s OK, because going on the right you are on the exterior and you have more space to take it, but when the curve is on the right it’s a bit more complicated because you have to take a very tight turn and you have no clue what’s coming on the opposite side. The difficulty is not necessary a technical one; any biker with mediocre abilities (like me) can take this road, but it’s rather a mental challenge: if you get scared, you start hesitating and don’t lean in enough; if you don’t lean in enough you can’t take a tight curve and you risk hitting the rocks, or jumping in front of the oncoming traffic, or falling… either way you risk a boo-boo; and if you risk a boo-boo, you get scared. Hence the dancing with the beast within…
Finally the evening is falling and the road is almost empty – it looks like most tourists ride up and down on the Italian part of the Pass, and we are heading towards Switzerland. The Alps start showing their true colors, the skies get dark, I can see lighting in the rear view mirror and feel the first drops of rain. We stop at a rest stop where we meet a fellow biker with his pants round his ankles. He was changing into rain gear, wait, what did you think…? We change into rain gear too and look around us. This is what we see:
In the end the Alps forgive us and we only get a few drops of rain, but it’s enough to deter us from camping. So we keep riding forth through the fog and then through the night, looking for a cheap motel, which is non-existent in Switzerland, so we have to settle for an expensive one. And we keep going, heads high in the clouds!
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