Day 3 in Austria – the queen stage. We were staying in Saalbach, but of course I had to ride to the Großglockner, the highest mountain in Austria.
Rolled around Zell am See, straight into the Großglockner climb. And yeah… still the Alps. Still steep. Still stuck with my not-so-Alps-ready gearing. Grinding my way up in 35°C heat, 20 km of climbing, 1,700 meters of elevation. Pure suffering.
At some point I passed what turned out to be an event with SRAM and Porsche – no clue at the time, only found out later on the Besenwagen podcast. Missed that one, shame.
But the win? I never got passed. Overtook a few riders myself. Only stopped once halfway to refill bottles because it was that hot. Then pushed all the way up to the Edelweiss-Spitze – the highest point you can ride. The last 100 meters? Steep cobblestones. Perfect place to empty the tank and pass a few more riders.
Honestly, I probably suffered more than I should have with bad gearing and the heat, but hey – that’s cycling. No one’s paying me for this. We do it for fun. And I’ll be back.