Alpine Adventures

Returned yesterday from quite an amazing time in Österreich with Karin and Heinz. The homebase was their camping platz in Westendorf which is in the Tirol region of Austria. What is the Tirol region, well its a collection of delicious foods, fun clothing, enchanting music and incredible natural beauty. Training was good. I managed to take on 15hrs and 500km. Sat/Sun I did 172/141km respectively. 4200kjs/3000kjs. Two pretty big days back to back over some good climbs. Saturday's ride took me over parts of this year's Giro d'Italia, Gerols Paß. Altitude is not much of a problem, but the length of the climbs and grad
Here is the map:
Here is the just a little bit of the tasty food that I took my fingers and lips too:
Kaiserschmarrn(Tirolean mehlspeisen). This is a desert dish. Similar to pancakes but so much better. A side of apple sauce or fruit compote is a perfect accompaniement. And yes that gold glass in the background is a local beer =)
Tiroler Gröstel aus der Pfanne(pretty much deliciousness in a pan). A collection of potatoes, local bacon, onions, and eggs. You could argue its the perfect recovery meal after a 5hr day in the saddle. Plus you only have one dish to clean, what could be more perfect?
Germknödel mit Mohn und Vanilla Sauße with a cappuccino to boot! At first I thought this was a cake, but its a yeast dough with plum compote in the middle and swimming in a sea of vanilla sauce. Knödel is a popular dish in Tirol and the Tirolean people love sweets so it's pretty much an anytime meal. It's categorized as a Mehlspeisen(which is flour foods). The Mohn is poppy seeds. Hopefully no USADA checkups anytime soon =)

Here is Apfel Strüdel. It's a mainstay in Tirol. Think you have had it before, you better question that statement b/c you haven't. This is the real deal. We took on this project in the historic glass blowing town of Rattenberg. I scored a nice commemorative glass thanks to Karin and Heinz. Heinz and I took our Strüdel with vanilla sauce while Karin went a la mode with vanilla ice cream. It was piping hot as they cooked it right up for us after ordering.
And what could be more complete to the delicious culinary treats of Tirol than savoring their famous fruit schnapps! An after dinner fruit schnapps is tradition in Tirol. This is a pear flavored one. Or maybe a schnapps flavored pear one...it's mearly how you look at it =) It was quite smooth and satisfying. The german flag was a nice touch even though we were in Austria. This was after a delicious fish dinner at the Erbensee in Brixen im Thale.
And of course, being in Europe offers many interesting sites in the supermarket. Stuff that is the norm here is like precious gold in the US to the culinary eyes. Heinz and I enjoyed this particular Swiss specialty one afternoon. Let's just say that the fatigue I felt in the legs after 4200kjs provided the "flying feeling" I needed to get me through the rest of the day =) haha Again, hopefully USADA is nowhere nearby as my Cannibis tea drinking habit could land me in a place far far away.
Now some riding photos:

Paß Thurn is a super hit pass, compared to what we have in Colorado but with the heat, wind in the face, grades: 5-8%, and already 4.5hrs in the saddle it makes for a good effort.
It was definitely a great recharge and escape from the demands of Volkschule =) The Tirolean people are probably some of the most friendly I have ever met. Never have so many people said hello or "Griste" to me in my life. The drivers are also very pleasant with cyclists. Not the honking and passing just a little too close like in Deutschland and in the US. The area we were in contained hundreds of hiking paths and countless mtn bike trails. I estimate that for every 1 road cyclist, there were 20mtn bikers and all levels too!

Making a pause today before getting back at it tomorrow. Sunday is a big LBS Cup race and Monday is a C-Klasse race. Tuesday I head back to the mother country!

Chow,
Bearclaw