Into The Valley Of Near Death (Experiences)

It was due to be a nice day today so what did I do last night - I drank too much. I woke this morning feeling crappy with a dodgy stomach. I still decided to head out but later than planned.

I went to the Stillup Tal today, one of the harder rides in the Zillertal. A good, long and steep climb to a hut called the Grune Wand Hutte, the last mile or so is at 15%. Once again today had a head wind on the climb but the roads at the bottom were also wet, so there wasn't going to be a great fast descent either!

On the climb you reach a hut called Gasthof Wasserfall where car traffic stops, from there it's a closed road open only to the Mini Buses that take tourists to the Grune Wand Hutte. They drive like bloody madmen on that road. I was climbing and crossing a wooden bridge with no-where to go and one of these idiots decided to drive the other way onto the bridge without stopping - he had a few choice words as we sqeezed past each other! Then I reached the hard bit........oh I was slow and very, very tired (I mustn't forget still tubby).

At the top, I didn't bother stopping, just chucked on my Gillet (it was cold so high up) and started the descent, no risks today as the idiot bus drivers could be round the next corner and the amount of fat tourists struggling to walk up what I'd just ridden up kept forcing me to slow down and holler, "Entsuldigung" in my best German. Then I'd watch the delayed reaction as the sound of my voice fought it's way past the layers of cake induced blubber and finally reached their brains - then they'd move but by that time I was almost stopped! This seemed to happen quite alot!

I took the bottom twisty, damp section easy - there was a big drop off to my left which I didn't want to risk going over and eventually I reached Mayrhofen. Just to add some distance and bring up my average speed a bit I rode down the Zillertal to Aschau, then back to Mo's and a Chicken burger and a few bottles of mineral water.

As I type this I'm sat on the balcony of the Appartment Rose in wonderful warm weather, with the tour on the TV (turned so I can see it) with a coffee and some baked crisps (healthier than fried but still full of fat). Still, I'm on holiday and supposed to be enjoying myself.

I shall avoid the wine tonight though!

Here is the Endomondo workout for the ride