Looks like there is some good riding

There is always a day before Riding day 1! while some are relaxing and are looking forward to what will come others are allready participating at a prep course to get ready. Doug, Jeff, Fy and Cody took the Edelweiss Riding school. After a classroom session we headed for the parkinglot to do Slalom, figure eight, riding curves and breaking before we left for the "real" thing. On small roads climbing the mountain we headed for Kühtai. Fascinating views, free roaming cows and horses and on the top an excellent lunch.

At five pm. we all met to start the tour officially, Lisa, Rob, Kirstin and John joined in.

First riding day - first adventure!

After heavy rain and thunderstorm during the night the morning did not look too bad weatherwise. Looking North the clouds were not as dark and so the decission was to choose this direction - which turned out to be a good one. Crossing into Germany at Mittenwald we headed to Walchensee, the sky started to clear up and after Rob's first "Apfelstrudel" on tour, it was almost perfect. Enjoying the sweeping roads through Bavaria we got closer to the mountains again and after a brief stop at the Monastery of Ettal we headed for one of King Ludwig's castles, to Linderhof, an amazing gem of art.

After a quick snack rain could not stop us from riding, but after about 15 minutes the sun came out again and we could finish the day with a spectacular ride over Hahntennjoch bevor heading back to the hotel. Great day, great ride!

08:30 am - raining! We postbone the briefing to 10 am, according to the weatherforecast the rain should stop. But by the time we leave the garage the rain hits in and on the way towards Innsbruck we get soaked wet. By the time we reach the floor of the River Inn Valley the rain almost stops and a few minutes later the buzzling traffic of Innsbruck grabs us. We found parking in walking distance to the old part of town, which we started to explore. History, architecture, the historical hotel, where austronaut John Glen (amongst all royals and politicians) stayed overnight, the beautiful cathedral and one of the best places in town to have coffee applestrudel where along our route through the medivial citycenter.

Sky started to clear and so we headed into the mountains. Kühtai, located on about 6000 feet, was our destination, not only for the amazing landscape but also for a great lunchstop. After descending on a small twisty road to the main valley and climbing on the other side back to Seefeld the sky awarded us with a wonderful rainbow.

Today we probably will do the most challenging ride - passo Stelvio is on the list! Markus found the window on the weather screen, where it's promised that there will be no rain. We got on the Autobahn to save time heading west and after a 5 mile long tunnel we continued on the mainroad towards the Italien border. The steeple sticking out of the waters of Lake Reschen as a witness marks the location of the village of Grain before the damm was flooded.

A quick coffeebreak in the romantic town of Glurns, a tiny fully walled town, made us ready for the 49 switchbacks up to the top of Passo Stelvio. For some of us it was some kind of workout, but reaching the top of the pass, getting a delicious saussage from Bruno, enjoying an outstanding scenery, erases all struggles you had up this road.

Heading on we crossed into Switzerland cruising down Umbrail Pass and over Ofen Pass and following the River Inn we rode back into Austria and to our hotel. At dinner Lisa recieved a well deserved award: beeing on her fifth tour needed to be celebrated!

After climbing Passo Stelvio yesterday Timmelsjoch is peanuts. But is is another beautiful passroad t o collect and we were also realy attracted by the motorcyclemuseum. What a place! after admiring all this wonderful collector items we finally got back on the road again and while Doug and Gerry where heading straight back to the hotel, the rest of us climbed to the top of Timmelsjoch. Breathtaking scenery from up there and an also breathtaking road down through this almost sheer trop-off on the South side. The next pass on the list was Jaufenpass with its perfectly paved road on the south slope leading to the top. crossing back into Austria through Brennerpass we headed back to our hotel. Oh, and not to forget: Happy birthday Kristin!

Last riding day! fortunately there are still good roads left and so we took off to explore the Zillertaler Höhenstraße, which means the "Ziller Valley High Alpine Road". And it was realy high alpine. After turning off thhe main valley into Zillertal we started to climb pretty soon on small twisty roads all the way above tree line. Spectacular views opened up, wherever you looked you did see rough peaked mountains in the distance, some covered with glaciers. After havind seen and riden on that small trail enough we decended back to the valley. Heading north we crossed the river Inn Valley and climbed up to Lake Achen (or Achensee, as the locals say). We got there in time to admire one of the three operating cogwheel steam trains, which are pulling Waggons from Jenbach to Achensee. Changing the route a little bit, we made it try and safe back. What a cool and great week!