The crossing - Wednesday, 29 April

Very excited for our second and last climb over the Alps we awoke to sunny skies and brightly lit peaks. Hey, if you're only going to cross the Alps once, you're going to want to see what you're crossing. Full of promise was our morning! Cold, clear, quiet as we made our way through the streets of Pettneu am Arlberg to the highway. And promise even more when Paul saw his find of the trip, a food bag or some such cycling thing ala Alps. Very cool. 

We cycled up and up through a couple more resort towns and then reached St. Anton am Alberg where the "panoramic" scenic byway mountain pass goes one way, and the highspeed auto-only tunnel goes under. Now, we'd learned several days before that the tunnel was closed, so we were fully prepared for our way being way more trafficky once we reached that junction. We were mentally ready for it and the anticipated climb. It was our day to cross the alps! So we diverted from our climbing on the highway to a shorter but much steeper road through the village, but at the top end of town, while we were taking a breather before the next push (which would be back on the highway), a man called out to us from a balcony above and, in essence, told us that the way was "verboten" for cyclists because of the tunnel closure, and that we'd have to go back down and call for a "bicycle taxi" to take us across. 

While some might think of this as a blessing, we were pretty deflated by this news. And pretty deflated by having to turn around and descend the last couple kilometers of climbing. And pretty deflated by having to load our bicycles in a van and have our Alp Crossing go by from the inside of a fast moving vehicle. Still, the jagged rock and snow covered peaks were and awesome 12 euros later, and after having also seen the narrow road and huge trucks, we felt a little better about getting a lift to the top--Apparently a bicycle going down the pass is not "verboten," or so our driver said.

So he dropped us off at the summit for us to brake our way down with the big trucks and busses and trailers along side us on the road. We had to go through a 1.5km tunnel too, which was pretty unsettling with how loud it was! Not in the tunnel, but we did take many stops on the descent to rest our cold and cramped hands and let cars go by. And we were grateful when we could make our turn off the highway and get back onto backroads and cycle paths.

1,800 meters 

The rest of the ride, with the mountains getting smaller behind us, went smoothly (minus flat number 5).

Annalies greeted us at the house her partner, architect and builder Hannes, had rescued from destruction some 10 or 15 years ago. They had the coolest flat on the 2nd level, wide open spaces and big windows. We had a crazy night with them, enjoying good food made by Annalies and good wine and whiskey poured by Hannes. And we even danced (or Hannes and I did). Oi.