After the first two days I would have really been able to eat ten Big Macs with no effect, theoretical. Started in Linz at 9 a.m. our average speed was about 25 km/h for the first 80 km. Then in Ybbs/Donau we stopped for a Pizza at Giovannis Pizzeria which I can really recommend.
After that first longer break we moved on. In Wachau we then grabbed some fresh and tasty cherries and apricots. Half an hour later, the sky was getting darker and we looked for a place to sleep. In fact, we wanted to find something under a bridge to avoid getting wet in case of rain and thunderstorms. We then figured out a nice place near the highway in the woods. Everything looked pretty dry, even the light rain couldn’t really manage to get through all the trees. So we decided to stay there for the first night.
So we looked for the driest spots and placed our Biwaks there, which are kind of tents without fiberglass bars. I had a single person Biwak from McKinley, my dad a bit larger one. And if you ever think of buying a Biwak, I can recommend not to buy one from McKinley. In my case, it really sucked. For the first hour, everything was pretty dry. Then the rain started to get stronger, and another hour later my silk sleeping bag got wettish already.
I then moved to my dads one, and it got kind of tight. Rain got even stronger. It was not possible to fully close the Biwak to keep the rain outside, so our heads regularly got wet. When one moved out for toilet, the other got the whole bunch of rain resting on the Biwak onto his head. Beside that, it got really cold outside. Strictly spoken, we both were happy when the birds chirped.
The morning surprised us with a lot of sun and we were happy to be able to dry our things (inside my Biwak there was a little lake). At 10 a.m. we finally moved on towards Vienna. My first impression was “we’re never going to manage it, my butt just hurts too much”. We both had the impression, to be much slower than the day before but in fact we cycled exactly the same distance (120 km) at about the same time (OK, it took us 20 minutes longer, which was because we couldn’t find my uncles house).
So finally, 240 km, an effective cycling time of about 11,5 hours and 5000 additional kcal later we arrived. The third day is for regeneration, on the fourth we’re heading to Innsbruck by train, which means getting up at 4 in the morning… Will get to bed at 6 p.m. I suppose.
