Since my interest in cycling tightened its grip on me I’d dreamed of riding in the Alps. I recall watching Le Tour on Channel 4 when I was a kid as my Dad liked to watch it in the summer, but it wasn’t until 2003/2004 that I started to appreciate Le Tour and the iconic mountain stages.
In 2006, on honeymoon in Austria, I managed to carve out a window to ride up my first Alpine pass: The Grossglockner. Obviously I’d done a little research with the honeymoon destination and had really hoped that I may be able to do a ride at some point.
The scenic High Alpine Road (Großglockner-Hochalpenstraße) runs from Bruck to Heiligenblut with a branch-off to the Franz-Josefs-Höhe viewpoint. It was built across the historic Hochtor Pass of the Alpine divide between 1930 and 1935. The pass road, Austria’s highest, reaches 2,576 m (8,451 ft), and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country.
Almost a week in and we had been having a great time in Austria and during a visit to Zell am Seé, I had seen a bike rental place. So, I enquired and ended up sorting out a rental bike which was nothing very high end, but it was satisfactory and dangerously it was set up with European braking (front brake on the left) which I only realised on a quick test spin…
With the bike sorted out it was time to make an attempt on the Grossglockner, and the following day we set off after breakfast to the bottom of the pass. We parked up at Fusch, as shortly after here is where the real climbing actually starts. Laura was happy enough to read and relax in the car for a while whilst I went and collected my first alpine pass, and there were some refreshment opportunities where we had parked up. In any case, I think she enjoyed the time away from me, as we had been in each others company for days by this time.
We were there in May and the pass had only recently opened up to traffic after heavy snow during the winter, and with the sun shining at the bottom it felt nice and warm, but I thought it wise to take a jacket with me for the upper slopes of the ascent, surely it would be colder up at the top of the high alpine road. I really wasn’t kitted up properly for the climb, I managed to pack my cycling shorts, but that was all, no cleated shoes, jerseys or other cycling specific gear hence me cycling in my Vans.
I set off excitedly and within a five minutes or so I was thinking “shit, how am I going to keep this up?” it was different to the climbing I’d been exposed to in the UK.
The gradient wasn’t as severe as some of the climbs in the UK, but the length was many times greater, but soon enough I stabilised with the effort and I felt like I was covering ground, gradually ticking off the hairpins. I couldn’t believe I was riding in the alps really, I felt very lucky and very pleased that I’d made it happen. The views were stunning, and I don’t think I could have picked a more impressive alpine pass as my first to climb on the bike.
Viewpoints along the route allowed a bit of respite and some chance to absorb the scenery. The higher I climbed up the more snow, ice and slush there was at the sides of the road. It was getting pretty cold, and I was starting to think I may be underdressed for such an adventure.
There is a small excursion that can be made on the high alpine road and that is up to the Édelweissspitze, which is the highest accessible point on the high alpine road. From here you can see the road impressively snaking it’s way through the mountains. My turnaround point would be the top of the pass at Hochtor, just on the other side of the far tunnel that can be seen below.
I was looking forward to turning around and descending the route I’d just came up, but without the heat generated through the effort of climbing I knew I’d be cold, so I put my rain jacket on for as much warmth as I could get. No gloves though so my hands were freezing.
There were little rivers of ice cold melt water running across the road and every time I went through one the water splash onto my lower legs was bloody freezing. Impressive snow walls on the descent made it look like the road was carving through thick snow. I was loving it.
I was amazed at how long I was descending for, so much so that my neck and shoulders were starting to feel fatigued, particularly under braking forces at the many hairpins. The weather held out for me, I wasn’t rained on and eventually I started to sense the warmth of lower altitude coming towards me. What a great ride this had been for my first alpine climb.
