From Austria with Love

Hi Ernie

Hope you are well, and getting in some good trips away this winter, ski touring?

We have left the land of FLAT, and are ensconced in Adolf's birth country in the town of Hopfgarten. Our apartment is in the old part of the town, next to a massive catholic cathedral with its twin bell towers and hunchback bell ringers. The bells are definitely out of tune. There was a big wedding going down yesterday. We watched the massive brass band and flag dancers perform in front of the church, all wearing lederhosen, and that's why we love the Austrians.

Ditte's knee has made a great recovery, and she is back biking and walking on on some easier stuff, managing a couple of 24km trails with both around 600m of climbing. I just added a couple of side trails to retain my moral fibre.

There is not a lot of singletrack in this area, as it’s the Austrian foothills, but some good stuff to get Ditte’s knee back in shape. We have seen way more e bikes here than the pedal only versions, and it's very disconcerting to be passed by a gaggle of old age pensioners on a steep up hill, me sweating profusely and they are still doing their knitting. They do have trouble going downhill any faster than at snail's pace, so blasting past them is my revenge. The bottom image is also a solution to the ageing problem. 

We have really enjoyed Le Tour this year with plenty of coverage on Eurosport. Bad luck for Ritchy Porte and for Bauke Mollema, but good to see some new faces coming along. Great to see the Manx missile back in form.

We are here for another week then off to Ischl for the high mountains and some adventure singletrack.

Hope the winter is kind.

Love

Dave and Ditte