Achensee - A Lake

Ok, how many got the play on words in the title - 10 calories if you didn't. For those that didn't then it's Achensee (achen-zay) and then a lake (Ah Can Zay A Lake)......OK, it's crap. I know but I'm not sorry!

Well, today dawned dry, bright and very very warm. Because Tracey can't walk - her ankle was huge and black - I decided to ride to Achensee. It's a good ride, down the Zillertal and then one climb of about 500m at an average grade of about 5% (thats a guess). The climb isn't hard, even for a fatty like me, but the promise of the descent is appealing.

I hit the Zillertal and immediately noticed that I was cruising at 24 or 25 mph on the falt for no effort....Gott Verdamned Wind.....(the German coming out in me). It was a strong tail wind coming straight up the Zillertal behind me and throwing me along the road.....I've got to ride back into this!

I reached Strass and then left the Zillertal and started the climb. It was a very warm day, 30c on the Garmin and the wind was crossing me as I zig-zagged up the climb. It wasn't hard today but then again I was just spinning easy rather than really trying. The traffic on this road is quite heavy, Achensee is a huge lake and a huge pull for non-cycling tourists and today was no exception. I was careful because of the traffic, but thankfully no near death experiences today.

The top was reached and rather than descending to the lake and eating (I do loads of that, eating.....) I decided to head straight back to meet Trace and watch the TransAlp come in to Mayrhofen. A couple of club mates were riding it. The descent was everything it promised on the climb and I reached 48mph max speed, I could ahve got faster but for the wind.

Then onto the Zillertal at Strass and a nightmare of a road ride back. 20 plus miles in 33c heat and what I estimate was a 20mph head wind. I died, grovelled, prayed to the wind gods and got no answer. I suffered every bloody mile back and the average speed of the ride dropped rapidly, my virtual partner on my Garmin overtook me laughing while giving me the two fingers and he rode off without letting me get his wheel, the bastard! Two gels later and I got a bit quicker but then ran out of fluid and died again for the last two miles from Hippach to Mayrhofen.

The TransAlp had taken over the centre of Mayrhofen and the place was full of very skinny, fit looking cyclists and I felt rather tubby.....so I consoled myself with some Goulash Soup and three bottles of mineral water......then when I got back here, to the appartment I had two beers.......all calories burnt now added back plus some and my belly is no smaller. The Over Weight Cyclist is still overweight, but chilled out.

This week has been the best of this year for hours in the saddle and miles covered in a single week. I'm happy with that as there's some good climbing in there too.

See you next week.

Here is the Endomondo workout for today.