Cycling the Grossglockner: Austria's Highest Mountain

I know I have so much catching up to do on our adventures in this blog, but I just couldn't wait to get this one down. It's too good.



View of the Grossglockner from Fuschl Tor



Returning home from Slovenia last year in June we drove through Austria and took the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse on the road home. The Grossglockner is Austria's highest mountain and it's second most popular tourist destination. It's Austria's version of the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park and its incredibly spectacular. When we reached the Fuschl Tor near the top, a group of older cyclists (some over 70) had just pulled in, huffing and puffing. I was deeply impressed by their achievement and awed by the mountain.

Fuschl Tor taken during our Slovenia trip

So, when my friend Thomas told me that he has ridden the Grossglockner a bunch of times on his way to Croatia (that's another story) and that he would take me up whenever I wanted, I couldn't resist the challenge and put it on my list of things to do before we left.

With work a bit slow and the weather fabulous this week, we arranged on Sunday that we would ride Grossglockner with his brother-in-law Uncle Thomas (uncle used to distinguish between the two Thomases)and friend Max from Monday night to Tuesday. Yes, it was to be another evening escapade in the mountains for me, but that's fine, I understand now Thomas's strategy to the night approach - no heat, no people, no traffic. The weather conditions on the mountain couldn't be more optimal and despite not feeling my fittest, we decided to go for it. We would drive up to Ferleiten, the park entrance, arrive around ten pm and then take the two to three hours needed to get to the Fuschl Tor at 2428 meters, sleep at the top (in some mountain hut), then get up about 5am and ride to the Hochtor tunnel at 2504 meters and then ride back down the mountain the way we came. In other words, about 33 kilometers and 1283 meters of climbing, with another 150 or so to get to Hochtor, one way.

So, we arrive and off we go up the mountain. The air wass warm, there's a half moon rising over the mountain and nary a cloud in the sky.

Moon rising as we are starting out

The lads all have plastic baskets strapped on their bike racks with sleeping bags, water, jacket, food, change of clothes. Of course, being the American, I have a backpack strapped to my back. No worries, not too heavy, but mental note to self, do some practice rides with a backpack before heading up big mountains (Marie, please add to your rule book). The lads forge ahead, it doesn't take long before I'm on my own heading up the mountain. I keep my light off unless I hear a car, the moon lit up the road nicely. Every so often, Thomas would call down or flash his light from a few turns above and he usually waited if I got too far behind. Even though I wasn't alone, I was riding alone and in the dark on the mountain, that did strange things to my head. I kept singing lyrics from the Who film Tommy to myself: "No one knows what it's like to be a sad man..., etc." Not sure why, it seemed to keep my mind off other things, like the several cars that kept driving up and down the curves, I thought we were being stalked like prey, but Thomas told me the next time I caught up with him that it was drivers doing brake tests. Since the license plates were Ingolstadt, home of Audi, I assume Audi sends its engineers and cars to the Grossglockner to do drive tests. Interesting.

The moon over the mountains was amazing and I managed the odd photo here and there, most very fuzzy.



After three hours, a few stops here and there, Thomas, who had waited for me, and I make it to Fuschl Tor where the other two were waiting for us.

Uncle Thomas (yellow), Thomas and Max grilling

We decided to descend down to our overnight spot to some hut they knew of. Once we arrived, after descending a few hundred meters, Uncle Thomas wasted no time in setting up the grill on the porch and putting brats on. Yes, my Austrian cycle buddies travel in style, beer and brats, minute steaks, pork steaks, it was a feast at the top of the mountain at 1am in the morning, priceless. It was cold but not freezing, the stars were plentiful and no clouds, unusual I'm told for the Grossglockner.

Since we were planning on being up at dawn, I headed into the hut, crawled into my sleeping bag and hunkered down to try and sleep. The others followed a while later, settled down and all was quiet. Until a cell phone rang at 4am in the morning. It was Uncle Thomas's cell, who I should mention here works as a real estate agent and has a pregnant wife at home due in the next three weeks (do you see where I'm going with this?). So either someone wanted to buy a house or it was baby time. Well, it wasn't the former. "Was, es ist soweit? Das Baby kommt?" he yells into the phone. Oh, god, we all moan, it can't be, now? of all the times to go into labor. Yes, Uncle Thomas has to get home, the baby is coming. Her water has broken and we gotta get down off the mountain. I immediately feel like I'm in the middle of a TV sitcom: The baby is coming, what do we do? Get hot water. Oh wait, we are on a mountain and it's 4am, get the ponies and start riding!
Uncle Thomas is packed and ready to go in about 5 minutes. The other Thomas waits for me as I get my stuff together and we head up back up the to Fuschl Tor and then descend. I tried to hang back a wee bit to get a few pictures, but Thomas said "No, no time for pictures, the baby is coming." Damn, I'm thinking, gorgeous colors, sun rising over the mountains and I have no time to take a dang photo. When am I going to ever be here again? Well, about half-way down the mountain, Thomas relents and I get a few fuzzy photos.

Like this one



Here's the only one of me



Getting light as we reach the parking lot

We had planned to take time to descend so I could take lots of photos. Had my MBBC jersey on and wanted to get some good shots with it on, but no, the baby was coming and Daddy had to get home. I guess I'll just have to ride the Glockner again. Hmm, maybe next week.

So, I may have failed to get good photos, but I sure got a good story. And there is a happy ending: We made it from the top of the mountain to Burghausen in 3 hours (cycling and driving) and Uncle Thomas made it to the hospital to welcome baby Moritz into the world. I'm sure that child will hear the story of where his daddy was on the night of his birth many times over.

p.s. Marie: Another addition to the rule book: Never go cycling on overnight trips with guys who have very pregnant wives back home.



Last week at Wacker

My wonderful colleagues in the translation department at Wacker in Burghausen.

It's taken me a little while to get around to writing this post, but here it is. March 22 was my last work day at Wacker Burghausen. No frills, no excitement, just a quiet departure, which is good. I've had a great experience with my colleagues on the Burghausen translation team and the engineers, operators, and chemists working on the Tennessee plant project. It was a pleasure to come to work, I learned new skills, made new friends, improved my German, got to meet up with old friends from our Regensburg days and beyond. Couldn't have asked for more!

We have four more months here in Germany, until the end of July, so that Ronan can finish out the school year and I can start to build up my business again as a freelancer. This may be good-bye to Burghausen, but not to Wacker as I will continue working with Wacker on a freelance basis. So thank you everyone for a wonderful 18 months. Hope to see you around town and I'll be coming to lunch quite often, so see you there!

Celebrating Weiberfasching

Between recovering from the Christmas season, a job offer and major life decision to be made (more details later), I just haven't made it to my blog for a while. But here is an event that I just can't pass up describing.

This past weekend we have seen the coming and going of carnival season, or Fasching, as it is called here in Bavaria. I don't do Fasching much any more, probably has to do with too many Bratwurst breakfasts in Fischmarkt after all night drinking sessions during Fasching back in Regensburg, oh so many years ago. Anyway, one thing I never did participate in was Weiberfasching (Weib in German means woman). This takes place on the Thursday before the big Fasching or carnival weekend. All the ladies get dressed up and go out and party hearty until the rooster crows. Pubs usually have live music and other drink specials happening on the day, the women let loose and just about anything goes. You can always tell it's Weiberfasching in the workplace because men either wear their ugliest ties or no tie at all. You see, part of the fun of Weiberfasching, is that women get to cut men's ties at work (celebrated emasculation in the workplace, never in America). I always noticed this most at the bank. Well this year, it just had to be done, so my intrepid co-workers and I found three willing male volunteers to allow us to cut off their ties (we even provided the ties). Tradition is that it has to be done at 11:11 and the men are rewarded with a kiss, but we held our ceremony later in the day due to meetings and our brave volunteers got chocolate and coffee. This photo of course was taken at a very secret and undisclosed location...

 Before...

During...

After... (mike looks sad)
Thanks lads for being good sports and letting us take part in one of those strange and wonderful German traditions!

Christmas Markets and the Perchtenlauf

Tuesslinger Schloss Christkindlmarkt

The Christmas season has finally kicked off in Germany and I've decided that this really is the best time of year to be in Germany. I think it's because you can really feel the Christmas spirit here. Maybe it has to do with the Christmas markets and the Gluhwein (mulled wine), the bright Christmas lights cheering up the towns, or the fact that everyone just seems happier.

Last weekend, we enjoyed the first Advent Sunday. Ronan came running into our bedroom to announce happy December 1 and to ask if he could he open his advent calendar window, only to realize there was no chocolate in it. A major disappointment that we have since rectified with a second Advent calendar with chocolate.

In Germany, each Advent Sunday is celebrated by lighting one of the candles on the Advent Kranz or wreath. Many German families get together on each Advent Sunday, four altogether leading up to Christmas, to light the candle, drink mulled wine and to sing Christmas songs. Ronan and I are enjoying having a kranz and lighting the candle each evening. Looking forward to lighting candle number 2 this weekend.

This year's first Christmas market took us to the Tussling Schloss, which is where we saw Elton John perform this summer. The castle also hosts a lovely Christmas market, with a laser show, puppet shows for children and brass bands playing Christmas carols. Ronan and I went with a few of my colleagues from work and had a great, but cold time. Ronan tried out a bit of archery, I picked up a few gifties, we enjoyed the sights, sounds and smells. My favorite Christmas smell is the mix of mulled wine and bratwurstl frying.


Ronan trying archery at the market

The other event we really enjoyed this past weekend and one that I had never heard of before was the Perchtenlauf (or Krampuslauf). I’m not really sure how to best translate this term, something like “Procession of the  Perchta.” Perchten refers to the animal masks of Perchta (or Percha) who was once a goddess figure in Southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland and in parts of Italy and Slovenia. Now it refers more to the frightening masks worn by the revellers who parade through alpine towns during the Perchenlauf, which is held around the St. Nicklaus' Day (Dec. 6), to scare away the evil spirits. 

Apparently there has been bit of a revival in the Perchtenlauf in the alpine areas in Germany. Here in Burghausen, the main street was shut down to traffic and folks lined up to watch the parade. We had the choice to view it from our living room window, but opted to at least start out watching from the street where all the action is.

We watched for an hour as the Perchten paraded down main street growling, whipping, and swatting adults and teenagers, and gently scaring those children who didn't seem too frightened, and even posing for photos. They paraded in groups, each representing a different town from around the area. The costumes included the intricate and very frightening wooden masks, lots of fur, there were witches and goblins and any other frightening creature you can imagine. I loved it, it was just so pagan. A great way to get folks out into the community. There was also a DJ booth that was blasting scary music up and down the street, announcing each group. There were a few Gluhwein stands. Everyone was just gathered to watch the spectacle. Ronan preferred to enjoy it from the window of our apartment. I stayed on the street just soaking in the atmosphere and even got swatted a few times, have the bruises to prove it.

Someone about to get swatted here.

Grandpa George comes to Visit

James and I lived in Germany from the late 80's through the mid 90's and my Dad just never had the time or finances to visit back then. This time around has been a different story. After living so long vicariously through his daughters, students, and friends, he's finally taken the time to do some traveling of his own and, at 81, finally came to visit us in Europe.
After recovering from jet lag, I took him on a tour around Burghausen and he and Ronan enjoyed the castle and the castle's current exhibition. We drove over to see the Black Madonna in Altoetting, and we enjoyed a day in Salzburg.

Salzburg Castle

We then went on a road trip to Vienna and Budapest. Unfortunately, we didn't have nearly enough time in Vienna, but we certainly enjoyed our visit to the Kunsthistorisches Museum there. We saw many works of art from the great Italian and Dutch Renaissance artists, including Titian, Poussin, Vermeer, Breugels. Ronan especially enjoyed the ancient Egyptian and Greek exhibits and we all enjoyed our cake and coffee in the museum cafe, what a beautiful and amazing piece of architecture in and of itself. Unfortunately we have no photos because we thought cameras were not allowed, in fact, they are, just no flashes.

Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna

Rathaus in Vienna

We spent the night in a cosy little pension in the town of Mosanmagyarovar, Hungary, called Feyak Fogado (about a half hour drive east of Vienna, also not far from Bratislave. It is a spa town and has over 250 dental practices. Apparently a lot of Austrians go to Hungary for major dental work because it's less expensive for those procedures not covered by insurance.

The pension was very inexpensive, comfortable, cosy, with a great breakfast. Almost didn't want to leave. From there we drove another two hours to Budapest the next day and spent 2 nights in another small pension called Hotel Mohacsi Panzio, which was clean, had personality, and a friendly and hospitable host.

None of us had ever been to Budapest before but we walked into town on the first day and first found ourselves facing the Danube River and the stunning view of the House of Parliament.

View of Buda from our balcony

  



In front of the House of Parliament building



and found a hop-on/hop-off bus tour for which we purchased a group two-day ticket. This enabled us to get around the city and see most of the sites. Budapest is actually two cities, Buda and Pest, divided by the not-always-so-blue Danube. It's a stunning old city with amazing architecture and history. Buda is characterized by the castle on the the hill and the citadel and by numerous parks. Pest has a more lively shopping and restaurant area along with the opera house, museum and Heroes Square, along with St. Stephen's Cathedral where you can see the holy right hand of St. Stephan. We also enjoyed the castle district where we walked around St. Matthew's Church and the Fisherman's Bastion.

St. Mattias Church

On day two, George and James enjoyed an afternoon at the new Cezanne exhibit at the art museum on Heroes Square while Ronan and I went to enjoy the baths. Budapest is situated on top of natural thermal springs and is therefore known as the city of spas with the Szechenyi Baths being the oldest. It's clearly a draw for the elderly crowd for its healing and rejuvenating waters. We saw many older men in the outdoor spa enjoying games of chess while soaking up the waters. I really appreciate the fact that Europeans really know how to enjoy the good life and make it accessible to everyone. We paid the equivalent of $10 for the afternoon, could even rent a robe or towel. Massages, spa treatments and saunas were also available to anyone. Maybe if we in the US were to spend some tax money on recreational infrastructure, we wouldn't have quite such an obesity problem. OK, moving on ;-)

Szechenyi Baths

I may have forgotten to mention that our second day in Budapest was my birthday, so after a great dip at the baths, we all met up again and found a cosy and traditional Hungarian restaurant and had a lovely meal, replete with lots of meat, potatoes, schnitzel, schweinhaxen. It was great to spend my birthday with my three favorite guys. I think my dad really enjoyed the trip, he was like a kid in a candy store who's eyes had been opened for the first time. We had a great chance to catch up and reconnect. I'm so grateful that even at his "advanced age" he is still able to travel. After he left us in Burghausen, he didn't head home, but was off to South Africa for further adventures. Go George!

On a last note, we also took him to Regensburg where we lived many years ago, it was great to share our favorite German city with him as well as enjoying an evening with old friends at the Goldene Ente.



On the old stone bridge in Regensburg with the clock tower in the background



Old friends from the Ente beer garden days

Ente Beer Garden in Spring

Fall is officially here...

and that means it's blogging weather. In other words, with shorter days and cooler nights, it's time to hunker down and reflect a bit on the summer and these past few beautiful autumn weeks. I believe the last time you heard from me was the end of July when I did my one and only official century bike ride. So, to catch up, I'll start with a quick run-down of the summer vacation.

As some of you know took a family trip to Scotland at the end of August. We mixed it up between visiting with James' family and heading up into the highlands. We rented a caravan centrally located on the Isle of Mull, one of the larger islands of the inner Hebrides and one that is a little bit off the beaten track. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery, visited some castles, enjoyed a great day on the beautiful and magical island of Iona where I enjoyed the best 2 hours of the entire vacation playing in the sand, dipping my feet in the water, and watching Ronan build sand castles with his pail and shovel. I should also mention, we had a lovely visit with my Paddy and Emmelence, my brother-and sister-in-law near the town of Castle Douglas in Galloway, south of Glasgow. There, we visited Drumlanrig Castle near Dumfries. We took a tour of the castle. It's quite an amazing place owned by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, who are almost the wealthiest landowners in Britain, second only to the queen. After the tour, I explored a bit of the estate by mountain bike which you can rent at the castle. Definitely recommended. James and Ronan enjoyed the adventure playground.

Duart Castle on Isle of Mull



Ronan and his sand castles on Iona

 The other highlight of the trip, of course, was my mother-in-law's 80th birthday party in James' hometown of Neilston, which he hadn't been back to in 17 years. It was the party of the decade for the village I'm sure. We got to meet lots of relatives who I had never met before but had heard about for years as well as nieces and nephews we hadn't seen since they were Ronan's age. Such a long time. James, his brother Joe, and his sister Mary entertained everyone with lots of great songs until the village's pipe and drum corps entered the parish hall to honor Betty on her birthday. It was a great night and I think the village is still talking about it.


 

Betty and her grown children



Neilston



Betty and the grandkids and great-grandkids

Needless to say, it was a great trip and it was wonderful to meet up again with family and to enjoy the beauty of Scotland. It had been a long time.

The Regensburg Arber Radmarathon



der Grosse Arber

As I explained in my last post, I have been training pretty hard for my first German Rad Marathon (Century Ride), the Regensburg Arber Radmarathon, which took place Sunday, July 29. As part of my training, I've been riding with two different groups on Wed and Sat. and sometimes also my new bike buddies Sven and Thomas (the night hiking guy). But a lot of the time I've gone out on my own, riding up and down the wastewater hill after work or doing a quick 40 kms down river to a town called Tittmoning and then back through Austria, there's a nice climb out of the river valley on that ride.

So the Arber Marathon leaves from Regensburg and heads out into the Bavarian Forest which goes as far as the border with the Czech Republic and also toward Austria. It's called the Aber Marathon because of the mountain you have to climb on the ride called the Arber (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro%C3%9Fer_Arber) which is 1456 meters or 4777 ft in height. Well, I didn't climb the Arber because the Arber is only included in the 250km route with 3300 meters of climbing and my training this summer is not to that level. So I opted for the 170 km route or what the Germans called the Kleine Arber Runde or small Arber route, which involves riding 170 kms with 2200 meters of climbing. And even at that, I wasn't sure I was up to the task. Most of the Century rides I've ridden do not have that much climbing. Also, I also ended up registering for the ride knowing I was going solo because most of the other riders I knew were going for the 250 km. So no moral support from biking buddies, was especially going to miss riding on Trent's wheel.

So, off I headed to Regensburg the night before to hang out with our good friends Simon and Sigi and their boys Tristan and Sammy. I enjoyed a carb-filled spaghetti dinner and a relaxing evening watching a film and the Olympics before having to get up at the crack of dawn for my ride. One funny note, went to pick up my number on Sat night, and low and behold, big bicycle trade show, beer tables everywhere, and a band doing the sound check. And I knew the band from 20 years ago! Luis Trinkers Hohenrausch! Still around, still playing strong, talked to Bertl the lead singer for a few minutes. So cool! First song they sang: Iggy Pop's I am the Passenger (and I ride and I ride and I ride, so fitting).

the starting line

Sunday morning, up and out of the house and down to the start line for 7am start. Got there in time to see the 250 km riders start at 6am. Enjoyed an all-you-can-eat breakfast for EUR 5 and had plenty of time to use the bathroom, etc. Note on the bathroom, only one building with just a few toilets, with signage: Mens on one and Men and Women on the other. Hmm, more men riding than woman? For 6,000 riders, that's not a lot of bathrooms. Also, what I found particularly amusing was the young guy who was keeping the toilets well stocked with supplies and providing music on vinyl records. Johnny Cash was playing as I was waiting. He had also posted amusing signs in each of the stalls, one read: "The length of a minute depends on which side of the bathroom door you are standing on." Nice to have a bathroom attendent with a sense of humor.

So, onto the ride! Man, I was nervous. But everyone just said take your time, you have all day, don't try to keep up with anyone on the hills, go at your own pace. That is pretty much how I rode this ride. Once out of Regensburg, the first 50 kms or so had lots of rolling hills through many quiet villages, barely any traffic and very well signposted. The first stop was in Cham, a smaller town in the middle of the Bavarian forest near the Czech border, felt pretty good but I knew that what I had just ridden was nothing compared to what was to come (check https://www.arberradmarathon.de/touren/ if you want to look at the routes). I did draft here and there, but once we hit the hills I just went at my own pace so it was hard to draft with a larger group.

The second 50kms was the really mountainous part of the ride, we rode a few hills, the hardest in this lot was getting to the top of Kolmberg, where the second rest stop was. This was quite a climb, had some steep parts, but never was I more thankful for the triple ring on my bike and my granny gear, which I proudly used. Went down into that gear and just kept pedaling. Made it to the rest stop thinking the worst was behind me, climbing-wise. Hmm. Well the first good surprise, was the Coca-Cola stand, I was so happy to see it and thought of the Birch Bay rest stop on the Tour de Whatcom back home that always had Coke to get tired riders back home. I drank ample amounts and enjoyed the excellent food, but missed peanut butter! The second, not so good surprise, was the thunderstorm that passed through during this break, got totally dowsed while waiting for it to pass. Ran into my new friend Hans, who was giving me a lift back to Burghausen later that day, he told me the highest climb was yet to come, the Maibrunn (15% slope). Geez. Well, he was riding the 250km ride and had already ridden the Arber.

Once the rain subsided, back on the bike and down the Kolmberg mountain which was nerve-wracking because of the wet roads and almost no braking power, not to mention the other cyclists whizzing past me. I was worried about getting out of control, esp. if a sharp turn came out of nowhere with no brakes. You just never know what to expect in uncharted territory. Luckily I made it off the Kolmberg safely, the sun came out, back into green Bavarian farmland, to face the Maibrunn. Once I saw where the climb started and the other cyclists beginning to pump up the mountain, I took a moment to stop, take off my rain jacket, swallow some coke, eat a caffein jelly bean, then I got up on my bike, into granny gear and started climbing. It wasn't so bad, it felt never-ending and the initial incline was definitely steep, but it leveled off after a while, became steep again, and then leveled off. I even passed a few riders going up and I could hear another rider close behind me. The worst thing about hill climbing is when you aren't familiar with the hill or mountain because you don't know when it's going to end or what's around the next corner, so preserving energy is key when doing a ride for the first time, at least in my opinion. Well, I made it to the top! No cramps, no stopping, no walking, 901 meters or 2952 ft (though we didn't start from the bottom, not fully down to sea level). As I reached the top, this German rider came up from behind and thanked me for pulling him up the mountain. Hmm, I'll be darned. Maybe I'll crack this thing after all, then I asked him if the worst was over and he said yes, but there was still Saulberg to go. Groan, another mountain. Well after the Maibrunn, I felt like I could climb just about anything.

I can't remember what part of the ride this picture is from, but I could see riders in the distance riding the hill behind these farmhouses. Thought it made for a good photo. The one benefit of riding on your own is that you can go at your own pace, but also stop without feeling bad about making your buddies stop with you for photo ops.

The last and final rest stop was just after Saulberg climb, which was nothing compared to the last few. The remainder of the route was a nice flat 40 miles up the Danube with a strong head wind. Lovely! I knew I was going to have to hook up with a group for this last part or it was going to be a lonely hard slog. But not before enjoying a good cold brew! Yes, folks, the last German rest stop had a beer stand with, get this, free beer! Wheat beer, lagers, alcohol free, it was all there. Never in America! I had to indulge! Another thing I noticed on this ride was the

lack of porto potties and lines and lines of riders waiting to use them. There were 2000 riders on my route alone and probably 6,000 or more riders altogether. How is it that there were only 2 porto potties at every rest stop with no lines. Well, I'll tell ya! I saw lots of mostly male riders stopping to pee by the side of the road or heading into the cornfields to do some business. What we would call public urination is not as strict in Europe as it is back home, and as we were out in the countryside, no one really cared.  The fact is Europeans just aren't quite as prudish about bodily functions as we are, not to mention the body in general. So, one beer down and off I went for the last 40 kms and sure enough, killer headwind. I rode about 10kms on my own, thinking that this might be the worst part of the whole day and maybe this is where it would all go to hell. Oh Trent, where was your wheel for that last 40 kms? Suddenly, a lone rider passed me and I jumped onto his wheel and held on for dear life. Then a few more kms down the road, a whole group passed us and he jumped in with them and so did I, but they were speeding along at a fast 30-35 kmh. Each time it looked like I was going to drop off, a rider from behind would pass, jump in, and I would get on his wheel. I hung tight for 20 kms, but when I saw the sign 10 km to go and the group appeared to jump to light speed, I allowed myself to drop off and head into town on my own steam. It was so good to ride into Regensburg, I  passed the area of town where I used to work, one of the movie theaters where we used to go, and onto Dultplatz where I was welcomed with lots of clapping and there was my very good friend Sigi right at the finish line cheering me on! What a buzz! My goal had been to be at the finish at 4pm and I arrived a five to four. Ride time 7 hrs 18 min, average speed of 23.7 kmh, and 173 km. Not bad at all. And, in the swag bag, there was a new cycling shirt, tickets for two free beers and a free meal. There's nothing like having a friend to meet you at the finish line and all the beer and food there waiting for you! No, definitely not bad at all. Can't wait for the next Radmarathon!

Riders enjoying a well-deserved
 beer at the last rest stop