Ride Report: Grossglockner

[jeffg]

Austria:

This country has some amazing climbs, and the Grossglockner has to be among the most impressive both from a sporting and aesthetic/architectual point of view. The climb itself has four distinct stages I can think of from the Salzburg province side: (1) the valley floor. Whether you start from Bruck or Fusch (or Zell am See), it is relatively flat until you enter the Hohe Tauern national park outside of Fusch; (2) entrance to the national park until the toll gate. After 1.5 km at 9.9%, it levels out at about 4-5% for the next 5km or so until you get to go around the toll gate in a special bike lane (pic to follow) and then hit the main climb; (3) toll gate to either Fuschetörl I or II. It then heads up at about 10% average for the next 13.5 km, first straight ahead, then through beautiful hairpins through Edelweiss country. There are cows, great little spigots with ice cold water but mainly one of the toughest sections of road I have ever battled, at one point it is basically at 11-12% for about 5km and the climb is just long!; (4) once you hit the Fuschetörl I and head straight up or whether you follow the road to the lookout point at Fuschetörl II (worth it!) and then descend a bit to get back, the last 2km at 10% are on a road not open to buses, with good reason as part of it is cobbled and is a wicked descent.

So, all in all an awesome climb that will really test you. I found it harder than Ventoux a month ago, though my work schedule could have something to do with that.

If you look at the scale they use at www.salite.ch, you can compare the difficulty index of 204 to some other climbs:

Alpe D'Huez: 124
Ventoux: 165
Angliru: 197
Mt. Washington: 220

The first time I did it I skipped lunch and bonked with an average temperature of 92 with a max of 102. That hurt. Then I came back and did the climb from the toll gate at the lowly average speed of 6.4mph (about 1.5 hrs to the top of the Edelweissspitze), but felt very good.

Descent is awesome if you go early enough to avoid the crowds!

This would be awesome training for Mt. Washington atmo ...

[jeffg]

cool!

[Ken Robb]

ride it??? heck I got tired legs working the pedals of a 325i when I drove over that sucker!

[dauwhe]

Goodness gracious--I need to go to Europe with my bike!!!

Beautiful...

[72gmc]

that is a remarkable ride, especially with the "radfahrer" entrance. i'm thinking about riding some of the cascade passes here in washington state, but the lack of room and traffic volume on the more appealing roads (the chinook and cayuse passes) is a deterrent.

how were the motorists you encountered? wise and courteous like those drivers climb-o found in italy?

[jeffg]

as drivers I encountered in the Dolomites or on Ventoux.

But in the US, I would imagine you would get road raged off the mountain since the road is free for cyclists but cars pay a €26 toll!

[jeffg]

1st pic is from Fuschetörl II looking down at the last 300 meters or so. If you descend towards the hut you connect to the little road that goes an additional 2km to the Edelweissspitze.

And, the last pic is a gratuitous shot of Zell am See from above

[stevep]

beautiful climb.
you guys have to go over and do some of the magnificent european climbs. worth the traveling.
10% grade= 34-27 for me.
mt washington was a 22-23 for me and i needed all of it.

[Fat Robert]

why do people want to go up hills?

fly me to the top

i'll tear down that sucker

[Too Tall]

Things to do before I die include riding in Europe, Harley's and espressos with
JeffG, SteveP, ClimbOH :)

[jeffg]

why do people want to go up hills?

fly me to the top

i'll tear down that sucker

Dude, you train and suffer all the time as a racer! Maybe I don't get the difference, but climbing is just a form of cycling suffering I revel in. Of course, it's that fine line between suffering but feeling strong and blowing up (or just having a bad day) that separates the sublime from the why the &%$§! am I doing this.

Hey, the worst day on a climb still beats work IMHO ;)

[stevep]

climbing is climbing. you just need to get into the mode. i'm not a good climber in general but when you do these climbs they are so magnificent..the views, the history, in france the names painted on the road, the cycling monuments on many of the major summits, there is too much to the overall experience to just think of the climbing... the cool air, the big clouds, the blue sky, the wind on the top, and ah yes..the descent. god bless the descent.
its not climbing..its living.

[Ray]

why do people want to go up hills?
As someone who's pretty damn slow going uphill but who loves climbing anyway, I've always been sort of fascinated with this question. As I said, I love climbing, but there's a certain point beyond which I don't like it at all. That point changes a bit with my fitness, but it has to do with a combination of grade and duration. I love short steep climbs - I mean no more than a couple of football fields long if it's much over 10-12%. I like medium length moderate climbs - up to a few miles at up to 8% or so. And anything under 4% barely rates as a climb and I don't care what the distance is. When something steeper than 10-12% gets longer than a kilometer or two, it stops being fun really fast and turns into an exercise in survival (which is why I have no desire to do Mt. Washington and probably wouldn't like a few of the great European climbs). Anytime I'm trying to hang with someone more than a little stronger than me, going uphill stops being fun pretty quickly.

But up to wherever that 'point' is on any given day there's nothing that's more of an affirmation of being a cyclist and being relatively fit than going uphill and not feeling like its all that difficult. When I'm riding alone or otherwise climbing at a comfortable rate (some days faster than others), it feels like I'm floating up the hill, like I'm defying gravity, like I'm doing something that maybe 98% of the people in the world probably couldn't do. Getting into a sustainable rhythm on a climb just feels so friggin' great and sort of super-human. As soon as someone faster comes by and I raise the effort to try to hang, though, that feeling goes straight out the window and I can learn to hate climbing pretty quickly.

So, if you're thinking of climbing in a racing context, I can understand your dis-content. But as a touring/recreational cyclist, climbing can be great fun.

And then you get to descend!

-Ray