13 August 2014
Kuchl to Schwarzach, Austria (35 miles; Total = 672 miles)

There’s a group of about 20 cyclists stopped on the other side of the intersection we are passing through and they are looking at us, smiling, and clapping. Clapping? This is concerning. What do they know that we don’t? Is the route ahead so steep that they are applauding our attempt to ride it, loaded down with our panniers and gear? I can’t tell between the creases and blurry lines on my 10 year old cycling map if there’s trouble ahead in the form of the dreaded “double chevron,” which translates from our German map into English as “get off your bike and push.”

We’ve done that once already today as we headed over Pass Lueg. I was hoping that “Pass” meant something in German other than “steep mountain pathway” but it didn’t. It was a short-ish push up, followed by a short-ish steep down, followed by 3 miles of Southern Tier type terror riding down a narrow road, squeezed between the white line and the guardrail, sharing this limited space with fast-moving cars and trucks. Very uncharacteristic of these Austrian bike routes, throwing us out there with the Audis and Mercedes, but it was blessedly short in the big scheme of things and at least momentarily took our minds off of the building storm clouds on the horizon.

Continuing our way along the Salzach River, the dreaded double chevron never appears, but the rain drops do so we stop in one of those towns that brings to mind the “You win some, you lose some” saying. Nice hotel? Win. Dumpy town? Lose. Getting indoors before the rain starts pouring down again? Biggest win of all.