Day 19 - Linz, Austria - Good bye Czech Republic & Mountains! Hello again Donau!

Joan's View

Today was going to be a beast of a ride again, and someone was less than thrilled about the approaching soreness. After leaving early and riding about 10 miles of relatively typical Czech roads, we stopped for a break and an attitude adjustment for me or maybe more of an altitude adjustment. Tony gave me some reality checks letting me know that the climb today is to 2,750' altitude with 5,600 total feet of elevation gain. He said that he wasn't going to tell me unless I asked. 🙄 Great!

We rode. We climbed. We stopped part way up sometimes, and sometimes we stopped at the top depending on how much of a break either of us needed. At times the grade was less than the 6% manageable threshold, but other times the grade was extreme. You knew the grade on this yellow sign even without speaking Czech.

What goes down......

We also got a picture of this cool slide for Wade because he is going to build one like this off of their deck for their 3 boys and their dog. 

We also passed these kayakers getting ready to launch, but I wanted the picture to show how popular these Vietnamese hats are in this area. I'm liking em!

This wrong turn up another hill became a rest stop. This hill had grades of over 20%, Tony had the bike in the lowest granny gear and it was brutal. Tony said it was as steep as the hill behind Cara and NIck's only about 3 to 4 times longer. Actually, we were supposed to go through the construction, but it worked out really well because we ended up merging with our planned route in the road ahead. The gentleman in the house behind us came out to sit on his porch and keep an eye on us. 👀

Down there in the construction was the real route.

Some great views from the top.

OK, sometimes the road ahead is not what Tony planned. It can be bumpy and like this one with high grass and trenches on the sides. It can also be an opportunity to take a much needed potty break. As I ventured into the woods, I came across this cool fruit mug just laying there among the trees. Wow! I now have a souvenir! A few of my friends, like Tisha, Jane, Lynne, Carol and Anne can really appreciate the thrill of a great find like I do. Then again our whole family is a bunch of uber deal finders so they'll get a kick out of this one too. 💖 Amazingly, Tony even let me take it on the bike! 😃

The cleaned up mug.

We followed this farmer down a hill for maybe a mile before he turned. Since it was downhill we were right on his tail. We sort of bonded.

This was the never ending climb. As much as we would have liked to conquer it, even the engine needed a break before the top.

Planner Tony mapped out a restaurant to stop for lunch and hopefully recharge our batteries because he knew they would need it and they did. We were at about 25% charge left at this point. There was a beautiful river flowing next to us riding into the town of Vyšší Brod. We had to cross a bridge like we have done many times before. However, this one had a narrow entrance that you had to turn into while jumping some bricks or crumbly road. We fell to the left. Tony caught the bike and smashed some fingers. I took a scrape on my elbow. Tony was hurting trying to get off of the bike but I still got the picture. 😘

Another souvenir?

Our bike is charging in that storage room.

Veronica & Paula. We made time for dessert too.

One of his favorite beers ever!

At the Hotel & Restaurant Sumac, Tony's planned stop, he sent me in once again to ask about charging batteries because he thinks I do better pleading puppy dog eyes. It turned out to be a great place. We took our time eating and even got to enjoy the company of Veronica and Paula. The place was full and the only open tables were reserved so they joined our table. They were on their own bike day trip from Austria. Veronica spent some time in San Diego with her daughter and son-in-law so her English was fairly strong. More wonderful people! We were there for almost 2 hours and the batteries were almost completely charged.

Shortly after waving goodbye to our newest friends, we did one more major climb. Ugh. At the least the engine was fueled for this climb. Only a few miles farther and we crossed in Austria. The picture shows the border crossing but there was no one in sight.

With about 7 miles left in our 63.7 mile ride today, we coasted or rather flew down these steep winding roads into Linz. It is like making a full circle for us since we stayed in Linz on our first European bike trip along the Danube back in 2019. We got our first glimpse of the Danube (Donau in German) and felt the excitement.

Three more riding days, but we are over the humps, aka the mountains. Thanks Wade for wearing your Monarch Pass shirt today to keep inspiring us!

Tony's Extras

Being in the region where The Sound of Music was filmed, I naturally started singing, "The hills are alive with the sound of music." The hills were also alive with the sounds of panting, grunting, pounding heartbeats, and one cyclist desperately trying to remember how breathing works.

On the steep detour climb I mentioned earlier, where the gradient topped 20%, it took me a full two minutes at the summit before my breathing returned to something that could vaguely be described as "normal."

Once I recovered enough oxygen to support higher brain functions, I began singing, "I'm on the top of the world, looking down on creation..." although the only explanation I could find for my condition was that my lungs were on strike and my heart was attempting to escape through my chest.

By the end of the climb, the final song stuck in my head was "The Song That Never Ends." Except the lyrics had changed:

This is the hill that never ends,

It just goes on and on, my friend.

We started climbing, not quite knowing what we'd done,

And now we're still climbing because this hill apparently never ends...

At several points I became convinced that the hill was actually getting longer each time I looked up. I'm pretty sure Austrian engineers and mountain goats got together and designed it specifically to test cyclists' wills, lungs, and life choices.

For all you people who love cool bridges, this one's for you. We crossed a lot of cool bridges on this trip. In fact, some people have asked, "Why are there so many bridge pictures on your blog?"

So, in the interest of maintaining reader attention spans, I toned it down a little this year. But this bridge was simply too cool not to share. Spanning the mighty Danube River, it earned its place in the blog hall of fame.

Joan has been an absolute trooper over the last four super-hard days. There was no complaining, just an occasional statement of fact. The kids will absolutely appreciate the distinction between those two things. 😆

Regardless, Joan is in really good shape now. So all you tennis ladies better beware when she gets back. After climbing hills, battling headwinds, and surviving my navigation choices, facing a tennis match should feel like a recovery day. 😂🎾🚴‍♀️

Tomorrow we're riding the exact same route from Linz to Melk that we rode back in 2019. Since tomorrow's blog post is my responsibility, I have a brilliant plan. I strongly recommend that nobody go back and read the 2019 blog. There is absolutely no reason to compare the two. Why? Because I intend to save a considerable amount of time and effort by simply copying and pasting the old blog post. Some people might call that lazy, let's say Joan. I prefer to think of it as efficient content management. Others might call it recycling. I call it leveraging existing assets. As far as I'm concerned, it's not plagiarism if you're stealing from yourself. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that this is a stroke of pure genius. The route hasn't changed, the river hasn't moved, the vineyards are still there, and the hills are probably still trying to hurt cyclists. Why mess with perfection? 😁🚴‍♂️ When instead I can drink Austrian wine🍷

Besides, if tomorrow somehow turns out exactly like 2019, I'll look like a visionary instead of a guy trying to save an hour of writing. 😂

Day 18 -České Budějovice, Czech Republic -  Recovery and Warm Up Day

Tony's View

We were both running on fumes this morning, but we hit the road anyway knowing that we had only 42 miles and 2,200 feet of climbing ahead. We were hoping for nothing more than a recovery ride and a chance to warm up for tomorrow. After yesterday’s adventure, pretty much any ride would have qualified as recovery.

As it turned out, it was a beautiful day on the bike with plenty of stunning scenery. The climbs were manageable, the miles rolled by easily, and for once we weren’t negotiating with our legs every five minutes. It was the kind of ride that reminds you why you put up with the hard days in the first place. All in all, a perfect recovery day... assuming recovery now includes riding 42 miles and climbing 2,200 feet! 😄

Our first stop out of Tabor was a tower that visitors could climb for a panoramic view. At the bottom was a kiosk ready to take your credit card for admission. I gave it some serious thought... for about three seconds. Then I remembered that yesterday there was  a beer kiosk and decided that was a much better investment. After all, one option involved climbing more stairs, and the other involved refreshing local culture. The beer kiosk would win by a landslide. 🍺😄

We rolled a little farther down the trail and, lo and behold, the asphalt suddenly turned into grass. Thankfully, it was dry and only lasted about half a mile. Apparently, this little detail managed to escape my route planning research. Shocking, I know. 😀

I’m still not sure how I missed it. I had studied the route, analyzed the elevation, checked the weather, and probably overthought every mile and climb. Yet somehow the part where the bike path turned into a lawn never made it onto my radar. Fortunately, the dry conditions saved the day, and we made it through without needing a tractor or a lawn mower. 

It was nice to see so many roadside shrines, especially in a country that was once part of the Soviet sphere. I would have thought many of them would have been destroyed over the years. Instead, they seem to have been carefully preserved. This particular shrine was erected in 1884, making it nearly a century and a half old. It’s amazing to think about how much history it has witnessed while quietly being by the side of the road.

We stopped to snap a picture of these two horses giving each other a back rub. It was pretty amazing to watch because it reminded me that horse back rubs apparently go both ways. With Joan and me, the back-rub system is a little different. The traffic only seems to flow in one direction. To be fair, I do get a thank you, which I suppose is the human equivalent of a horse returning the favor. 😂

Here’s a picture taken from the top, looking out over some absolutely glorious mountains. The view was spectacular and made all that climbing seem almost worthwhile. One thing nobody mentions about reaching the top of a mountain, however, is that the wind has apparently been up there all day waiting for cyclists to arrive. The scenery was breathtaking, and a few minutes later, so was pedaling into the headwind.

It turns out that getting to the top doesn't mean the work is over. Sometimes it just means you've earned the privilege of battling stronger winds with a better view. 😄

We could see these four cooling towers from miles away, so naturally we figured they were important enough to share with everyone. After all, who doesn't get excited about giant concrete cylinders rising majestically from the landscape? 😄 I know you're probably sitting on the edge of your seat right now, completely awestruck by this engineering wonder. If not, just pretend to be impressed for my sake. We climbed a lot of hills to bring you this exciting cooling tower content! 😂

We saw a lot of these 12% grade signs today, but we chose to stop and take a picture of this one because these were our favorite kind... the ones pointing downhill. 😄

With our fully loaded bikes, these descents felt like launching a small freight train. We'd come flying down the hills, sometimes touching the brakes lightly while cruising along at 35 mph. There were even a few stretches where we topped 40 mph, but I intentionally kept it below 35. At those speeds, every pothole starts looking like a life-changing event.

After spending plenty of time climbing all day, these downhill sections felt like the cycling gods were finally giving us a little something back. 😂

We saw this castle from several different viewpoints, and this is the photo we ended up with. Not bad, but here's the frustrating part: the castle actually overlooks a huge lake, and apparently I rode right past the best view without realizing it. Oops. 😠

It's amazing how you can spend hours carefully planning a route, watching the road, checking traffic, dodging potholes, and admiring the scenery, yet somehow miss the one picture that belongs on the postcard. So instead of a dramatic castle-and-lake masterpiece, you get this shot and a cautionary tale about paying attention when sightseeing by bicycle. 😂

This was a beautiful trail we rode today, lined with huge, mature white oak trees. Some of them were absolutely massive. I’d bet a few had trunks close to five feet in diameter.

After we got to our Airbnb, I decided to take the bike to a local bicycle shop and have them look at the rear wheel since a few of the spokes were starting to feel a little loose. I can adjust and even replace spokes well enough to get us to the next bike shop, but wheel truing is one of those skills where I could definitely use a bit more practice.

The mechanic said it would take about an hour, so rather than sit around. I headed off to explore the town. During my wandering, I stumbled across this beautiful cathedral.

Here is a picture of the organ in the rear of the church

The altar, beautiful crucifix and you can see the bishop's chair

While I was getting the bike fixed and touring around town, Joan was back at the Airbnb doing the smart thing: taking a nap and getting ready for tomorrow's ride.

And yes, Cousin Mary, I know I spend a lot of time working on the bike. 😂 But when your bicycle is your only mode of transportation, it’s not exactly a hobby, it's more like preventive maintenance (well actually it is a hobby, too).

Besides, a few minutes spent checking things over beats a few hours spent pushing a fully loaded bike up the next hill. 😄

As part of my "waiting for the bike" tour, I somehow managed to find the city square and a place to get a beer. Imagine that. 🍺😄 I considered it an important part of my preparation for tomorrow's ride.

Afterward, I picked up the repaired rear wheel, got the tandem back to the Airbnb, and gave it a thorough wipe-down and cleaning. With tomorrow shaping up to be one of, if not the biggest ride day of the trip, I decided to go all in on bike preparation.

Naturally, that meant waxing the chain to squeeze out every last bit of efficiency. Some people prepare for big days by resting. I prepare by obsessing over drivetrain friction and convincing myself that a freshly waxed chain is worth at least a few extra miles. Whether that's true or not, it certainly makes me feel faster. 😂

Meanwhile, Joan's preparation involved much less work and much more relaxation. I'm not saying she has the better system, but she was taking a nap while I was cleaning a bicycle with the dedication of a race car pit crew. 😆

Joan's Extras

Yes, thankfully we got into our place today around noon and I was "resting." After all, who likes to ride up mountains day after day (besides Tony & Wade)? 😜

Day 17 - Tábor, Czech Republic- Up, Up and More Up

Joan's View

One big rain was passing through this morning but showed clear beyond that. We were both up early in case there was a chance to get far enough south and beat that rain. Even if we would still have a fairing, the engine's decision to wait to leave until it passes would have been the same. The decision took lots of thought and a little loss of sleep because we have an 8 hour ride today.

The view from our window

We got an extension to stay in our place until 10:30. This is Tony walking the bike down the curved stairs. Remember, this was a ground floor apartment. 🤔

Leaving Prague I acted like Tom Winslow (he rode behind us from New Orleans to The Villages). Tom would alert us to everything he saw, so we called him "Safety Tom." I was doing the same today. Trolley↑ Bus↗ Person→ Car← Dog↘ Street sweeper← Motorcycle (they drive anywhere they want)↔ Scooter↖ Bike← Stroller→. Just as we were almost out of the city, Tony did an "Oh no!" The magnet that he superglued to the handlebar came loose. It has to make a connection when he applies the brakes to regen the batteries, and today was our biggest drain on the batteries. He did his best engineering work using tape, and we moved on.

The first 10 miles out of the city were relatively flat. We passed this massive outdoor bar along the bike path that had everything - kayaks, volleyball, playground, stage, workout equipment, pong pong tables, and more.

The first climb of the day, the biggest, genuinely warmed up the legs, and Tony's lungs. 6% or higher grade, up to 10% on the Garmin, means lots of work. We obviously made a few stops on the way up to recharge and refuel.

Crossing a wooden bridge in a small town.

At this stop, there was a shrine across the road, and look whose name is on it, Bud! No wonder you like the WCT so much! 😂

Another  refuel spot at a gas station.

Tony, the planning geek, had a restaurant stop planned out at either 30 or 40 miles depending on when the batteries needed charged. At 30 miles, we had only used 70% of the batteries, so we rode on. At 40 miles, the restaurant Tony planned to stop at had a sign on the door saying they were closed today. I tried a house supply shop down the street, but the lady did not speak English. Tony was searching on his phone for another place. He had gone into what was supposed to be a bakery, but was more of a small grocery store. He came back and said that I could go ask. The woman who spoke a little English was skeptical and wanted to see our bike. She agreed and we bought some food and paid her a little extra. She has 3 kids that were hanging around the store, but said that her hair wasn't good enough for a picture. You get the picture of Tony instead sitting outside of the store while our batteries charged. He also charged with a few beers.

Back on the road, we had one more giant climb. There was lots of heavy breathing behind me and a few more breaks until we could mostly coast into Tábor. The last 10 miles went very slowly especially since we made a few wrong turns and had to U-turn and back track sometimes up a hill again.

We had several TRs today - 66.5 miles, 5,975 elevation climb, fully spent batteries even after recharging. Tony estimated that with the late start we might get to Tábor around 8:00. Amazingly we made it by 6:30 😙 but it also came with some tired legs and riders. 

We are staying at probably the nicest place that we have ever had on all our bike trips. This 500 year old house is where Olga was born. She even has what looks like family heirlooms in cabinets. Olga and Gas even gave us 2 slices of her fresh apple cake. I'm in heaven!

That apple cake was actually after dinner because we ate a restaurant called Bugy Tábor right around the corner from our place. Amazingly, 2 riders, Laura & Andy that we passed, then they passed us, then we passed them again on the ride today ate at our same restaurant. Perceptive Tony actually recognized them from our ride. We had a great conversation about biking because they have biked in so many countries using different biking companies like those that Tony & Wade used on their cross country trip. Laura & Andy, from California, also started from Prague today, but took a train part of the way. They have biked so much that they know what they like and try to limit their rides to 30-40 miles in a day so that they can stop at beer gardens and bakeries as well. 😁

To sum it up, today was grueling and extremely tiring, but so rewarding to be where we are!

Tony's Extras

We thought we were signing up for 4,850 feet of climbing, but somehow it turned into 5,975 feet. Needless to say, it was a brutal day! Joan was a great cycling partner today, though that's not exactly a surprise. We already knew she was a wonderful wife!

As we were approaching the last 15 miles of today's ride, we spotted a Biergarten kiosk right off the path. The concept was genius: scan your credit card and pour your own beer. Now that's not something you see every day. I love this country... self-serve biergartens!

After we got back, I texted Wade and told him about the ride. I also told him I was so exhausted that I had to put extra effort into pouring my beer. That's when you know you've had a tough day.

Here is a picture of our two granddaughters in matching dresses. I may be a little biased, but they are awfully cute. We also have seven grandsons. They aren't quite as cute 😂, but they make up for it by being tough, adventurous little guys.

I wanted to share this picture because this is a big part of Joan's motivation for taking on these long, brutal, exhausting rides. When you have grandchildren like these, finding the energy for one more climb somehow seems a little easier.