Your ride today....

[EltonFrog]

On Saturday we flew to Vienna, embarking on a trip whose central premise is: take a train to Passau, then cycle all the way back like people who have voluntarily chosen discomfort as a hobby.

Sunday involved riding twelve miles from the airport hotel to Vienna Central Station in a toasty 39°, which is the sort of temperature normally used to keep food warm, not cyclists. Nevertheless, we arrived early, glowing gently like pastries fresh from the oven.

Monday was devoted to sightseeing in Passau — a restful interlude before today’s grand adventure along the cycle paths. These began beside a “busy‑ish” main road, the sort of traffic that makes you question your life choices, until the road was blessedly closed for resurfacing. The bike path, however, remained open, presumably because cyclists are considered expendable. Still, riding traffic‑free through quiet villages with the Danube sweeping dramatically alongside does make one feel almost heroic.

At Au the north‑bank path abruptly ends, as if the planners simply ran out of enthusiasm. A short ferry trip carries you downstream to where the route resumes, pretending nothing happened. We stopped for the night in Obermühl at a guest house with excellent food and absolutely no air conditioning — a combination that encourages one to eat heartily and then lie very still. It’s 26°, storms are expected tomorrow, and we await them with the optimism of people who have not yet cycled in a storm.
Approximately 30 miles.

 

[HLaB]

I forgot to post yesterday.
In addition to my normal commute I got to cycle to a site which gave me a nice 35miles round ride with a reasonable amount of climbing (2,000ft). Which was a complete contrast to my usual group ride in the flat Fens. Well almost usual, when we got to Ramsey the road was up and we were diverted down parked up residential streets in stop, stop, start, stop traffic. The driver in front of us nearly and justifiably exploded. He'd drawn in at yet another parked car to let on coming cars through and before he could move off again the car behind us overtook our pack and the driver. She spent the next 5mins in front of him with loudly revving engine.

 

[EltonFrog]

Obermühl to Linz.
We left early, not out of enthusiasm but because the storm apparently had plans for us. A quick ferry crossing and we were on the south bank of the Danube, cycling through air best described as “lightly poached.” The scenery was offensively gorgeous: lush greenery, immaculate flat paths, and a level of traffic‑free serenity that felt almost smug. Touring cyclists appeared everywhere, all clearly attempting the same meteorological dodge.

We stopped for a brief coffee at Asach — the sort of pause that suggests civilisation still exists — then continued south of the river until Ottensheim. Another ferry, another bank, and then the inevitable punishment: a dreary 10 km beside a busy road and railway, as if the universe felt we’d been having too nice a time. At least it was on segregated cycle path, just wasn’t very pretty.

Eventually we rolled into Linz, bustling and tourist‑heavy, slipping in just before the storm made its dramatic entrance.

 

[Donger]

My second ride of our Anglesey holiday this morning. Weather dull and overcast, and the BBC said it was going to rain. It didn't. A lumpier ride, this one, with plenty of ups and downs. Just as with my earlier ride, the lanes were wonderfully quiet, but nearly every crossroads and other junction was completely unsignposted.

Using my trusty flatnav again, I found my way out to the East coast of the island at Red Wharf Bay, to the pub we had our Sunday lunch in the other day.

I had found my way there by researching G**gle Str**t View and memorising my turning points. On the way back things looked less familiar, and I overshot a turn, only discovering my mistake when I passed beneath the North Wales Expressway and found myself then having to decide whether to take the busy A5 or cross that too and pick my way home through a warren of unmarked lanes. I opted for the latter, and gauged my direction from the position of the dark, brooding mountains of Snowdonia, noting a railway bridge that I crossed to fix the position of a right turn that I needed to take.

17.5 miles this morning. Another really enjoyable ride. One more ride to come on Friday, and I'm planning to add to my collection of UK coastal rides by following a bit of the opposite shore of the Menai Strait.

 

[Aescott]

After a bad fall when on my mountain bike (lots of blood but nothing broken), I hadn't cycled for a fortnight. Not sure that today's plan of a 47k cycle from Dunoon to Tighnabruaich was the best idea. A LOT of hills - but managed.

Rewarded with this view from the Tighnabruaich viewpoint - and the welcome sight of my wife in cafe, having driven round to meet me.....

 

[All uphill]

While you are all off to glamorous places I'm cycling my own backyard, metaphorically. For a bit of excitement and suffering I pushed out into Devon this morning, leaving home at 0645.

By 0800 I was in the Blackdown Hills, and it was drizzling.

Hemyock came and went, then Culmstock.
A few more ups and downs and I arrived in Rockwell Green. I ate my lunchtime sandwich at 1000 and headed home, delighted that I can still manage 30 miles and 1000ft of climbing and be home for elevenses.

 

[EltonFrog]

51.47 of your earth miles today or nearly 83kms in new money, from Linz to Ybbs. Mostly pan‑flat, smooth, traffic‑free tracks — the sort of cycling that feels like cheating, or at least like someone finally read the brief. Every so often the route lurches you into a village or small town, presumably to remind you that civilisation exists. And, naturally, on those rare detours you encounter the obligatory nobheads in cars being twuntish. A sort of cultural outreach programme, really. Still, nothing approaching the full‑fat idiocy one routinely enjoys in the U.K.

The scenery continues to show off: flat farmland plateaus, tree‑lined valleys, quiet countryside, villages that look as though they’ve been curated for a brochure, and people who are disarmingly pleasant. We stopped for coffee at a bar styling itself as an 18th‑century American tavern — because why not, Frankly the most eccentric thing we’ve seen all day. Cooler temperatures, but still warm enough to feel smug.

A bicycle weather vane.