II

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I’m dead. Who the hell had the idea to put hills on my biking route? Who had even the idea to make a bicycle tour through a country which isn’t known for its flatness? What? Me? Well, okay, I never claimed to be intelligent anyway.

Today’s travel data:

Way: Neulengbach – Sankt Leonhard am Walde

Distance: 105km

Height difference: I think, I don’t even wanna know that…

Time: 08:00 – 18:00

Average temperature: 38°C, Maximum: 42°C

After spending a wonderful and, most important, lazy day wih my beloved friends near Neulengbach, I started driving again in the morning after I almost overslept (thanks for waking me up, by the way).

The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and due the early hour it wasn’t very hot yet. I was full of energy and zest for action, till I got to the first hill. Looking back, the first one was nothing, but at this point I didn’t know what I had still in front of me.

Most of the time I  was driving on the streets. Luckily there haven’t been many cars around and I tried to stay on side roads, but I still noticed some different behaviour of the drivers. Some actually slowed down while passing me, some used the other lane for passing (just as you would for passing a car). Given that there is no oncoming traffic of course. And some drivers seemed to play a game called ‘I pretend that there is no bicycle on the road’. These were my favourite type, but they were kind of rare.

I passed many small villages that day, but from the names I guess, I will remember only one.

*There soon comes a picture once I have a signal good enough so it would let me upload pictures*

How this one village was called, you will learn once I uploaded the picture.

I made a few more breaks this time. After about 50km, around the half, when I ate my breads I had with me, I first noticed something. It was Sunday. My plan to buy food on the way won’t work. Note to myself: You’re stupid.

In Purgstall I think, I had enough social contact for the day by asking in a restaurant, if they could fill my water bottles again with water. For everone who is wondering now, I wasn’t hungry enough to stay there and east something in the restaurant. And I like to take my food with me and eat always a bit on the way. I wouldn’t have been able to do that.

Anyway, now the fun part began. I knew, Sankt Leonhard was on a higher location and I had to drive uphill for some time. So I wasn’t fully unprepared.

There were different kinds of driving uphill as well. First, I had the parts where I still was able to drive. Slow, but still driving. And then there were the parts I had to push my bicycle. At first, it was quite funny. After pushing the bicycle uphill, most of the time the road went downhill afterwards. So I had a rapid change of cursing around and cheerful “Weeeeeehhhhh” moments. But the closer I got to the finish, the more infrequent the”Weeeeeehhhhh” moments became. Till I had to push it all the way.

I think, the last 30km took me about 6 hours. I think, I never cursed that much in one turn as I did today. Why exactly was I that stupid again?

I knew the point I wanted to reach. A crossing, which I should have been able to recognise, and I knew, after that I only had a short way downhill to the house left. You can say, this crossing was my summit.

Alone for the last 4km, I think I needed at least one hour, if not more. I watched the display of my tachometer, counted the metres I passed, tried to concentrate on my music so I would forget my exhaustion. Didn’t work, to be honest.

I felt like Frodo and Sam on the Mount Doom. Or more like Sam, I had to push my bicycle and all my stuff as well. Then I saw the street and the crossing. I saw it already, it was like, 600 metres away, but I needed about 15 minutes for that little piece of way, because I had to stop every 5 steps. Who invented hills anyway? This person shouldn’t have been allowed to put them everywhere they liked.

During these last couple of kilometres, during the whole torture uphill, I continued thinking, why on Earth am I doing something like this? Now imagine the way I felt, once I have reached that crossing  covered in a mixture of little bugs, sweat, salt and sun creme. Happy or proud doesn’t do this feeling justice. I was at the end of my power, hut I got it. After a lot of cursing and hating myself and the hills, but I got it.

I even had a very nice evening here with two of the renters of the farm here, Fred and Maria. Quite the better alternative than sitting here alone as I imagined it would be.

Now, things I have learned today? Hills are bad. I need to remember the day, or at least I need to know if it is Sunday or not, and prepare myself properly for it. Taking a route about 100km long is nice and good, but not if the last part is only uphill. Never end the day wih uphill. And, most important, please don’t forget to enjoy the scenery while driving. I’m not doing this because the roads look so nice, so I need to stop staring at them while driving.

I’m already looking forward to the muscle ache tomorrow.