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Tirolean Two-Wheeling

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Gary McKechnie

Published: November 2, 2007

SEEFELD, Austria Cruising at an altitude of 7,500 feet, I was facing a most intimidating route. Threading the needle between alpine summits where sharp banking turns followed steep ascents, I saw beauty all around but few opportunities to steal a glance at the small Tirolean villages along the valley floor.

I opened the throttle, which sent the gauges on my instrument panel springing forward. Only absolute concentration would get me out safely.

It was the most impressive feat of aerial navigation I had ever executed. Impressive, because I was doing it on a motorcycle.

A ride in the Alps is among the Seven Wonders of the Motorcycling World. The vivid images of high glacier lakes and broad granite mountains, small villages and hot chocolate at sidewalk cafes, cud-chewing cows and yodeling skiers are rivaled only by the roads.

Imagine sweeping curves and hairpin turns, narrow avenues through medieval towns, leaps over steep mountain passes and long lanes stretching through amber wheat fields and shaded canopy roads.

Well-versed in two-wheeled travel, Edelweiss Bike Travels would help me translate 150,000 accident-free miles of American motorcycling into 1,500 kilometers of accident-free European riding.

Our group was based in Seefeld, a small and immaculate resort village 30 miles west of Innsbruck. Over the next few days we would embark on loop tours through Bavaria, northern Italy, eastern Switzerland and the Tirolean Alps, where, at the current rate of exchange, American sidewalks are known as roads.

Bavarian Rhapsody

Day one: I was 5,000 miles from home in a foreign country and riding a new BMW 1200 RT. Leaving my visor up, I sucked in huge draughts of Alpine air as we sailed through open German fields, across churning rivers, into small villages and on narrow roads tacked to the side of towering mountains.

I was soon accustomed to European traffic signage, road rules and drivers who don't consider either as mandatory.

Our first stop was near Oberammergau at the 13th century Ettal Abbey. Hidden within a compound, the Benedictine monastery's majestic church is concealed from view. So when entering the courtyard, visitors receive the full spiritual impact of the 120-foot-tall Baroque cathedral.

Next, our motorcade of seven bikes headed a few miles to Linderhof, the favorite residence of Bavaria's "Mad" King Ludwig II. At this scale model of Versailles, terraced steps rose from a reflecting pool to a statue of Venus that was counterbalanced to the north by a hilltop pavilion and flowing, terraced stream rolling down to the castle.

Inside were stunning examples of ornate, well-preserved artifacts, including an actual "king"-sized bed.

Miles lay ahead of us, and we clocked them with an impressive cadence. Accustomed to solo riding, I was part of a motorcade that, when tackling mountain passes or throttling out of a wide turn, made me marvel at the sight.

I rode slower than the rest to take in the pure waters of glacial Lake Plansee, the cobblestone-peppered avenues of ancient towns and, in the distance, a lingering view of Ludwig's grand castle, Neuschwanstein.

Changes In Altitudes

It was day two. In the Austrian countryside southwest of Innsbruck, farm wives tended flower boxes and men in fields felled swaths of grass in a single arcing sweep of their scythes. The temperature fell as the road rose to 2,020 meters at Kühtai, then traced a path beside a river that rumbled over boulders and plunged in and out of the forest.

Dropping south from Oetz, the unusually gentle roads of the Ötztal valley gave me the time I needed to think and relax and soak in a landscape that mixed the power of Yosemite with the tranquillity of Vermont. It stayed like this until, just past Sölden, we arrived at a toll road and entered a lonely landscape of rock and snow.

Dropping back from the pack, I lost my sense of dimension as the landscape grew larger and more ominous. It had become a motorcycle tour through a "Lord of the Rings" landscape, where turns and tunnels and blind corners were leading to supernaturally magnificent vistas.

Switching off the bike, we sat and observed a pure and natural silence that mirrored the emptiness. For the first but certainly not last time, this motorcycle journey was putting life in perspective.

Several miles later we rejoined the pack at Timmelsjoch, the 2,509-meter pass at the Italian border. From a small hill, I looked back and saw my motorcycle framed before a mountain a dozen miles wide. In relation, the bike — and myself, to be fair — seemed insignificant.

On the plunging roads into Italy, the clear Alpine air mingled with the sharp aroma of burning brake pads until we arrived at a cafe to dine and marvel at the valley below. It was a well-timed break before tackling more miles through Moos and 14-degree grades and Jaufenpass and roads that snapped around tight turns and posed the very real potential of launching a motorcycle thousands of feet to the valley floor.

Of course, I have no photos to support this. A brief sideways glance, let alone one through a viewfinder, could have triggered enough vertigo to kill an elephant.

Independence Day

The monotony of the highway matched the ensuing lack of scenery on day three until we reached Galtür, Austria, where a midmorning strudel break was followed a most magnificent ride.

Compress the wildest roads in America's Wild West, and you'll understand the canyon environment we had entered. Within it was every image contained in a page-a-day scenic calendar. From the peak of a hill, we could survey miles of a valley, and seconds later, we would drop down the shaft of an asphalt elevator and into a chain of switchback turns all to the sounds of a straining gearbox and an intricate symphony of braking and shifting.

The effort was worth the price of admission because there were miles of green forests and snowcapped Alps to savor from the occasional pullouts. Letting the other riders roll on, we dropped back in a vain effort to crunch these grand vistas into 4-by-6-inch photographs.

What inadvertently developed was the transformation from group to solo riding. When we rejoined the group in St. Anton, we were confident in our ability to return to Seefeld solo. With Markus connecting a series of small towns and scenic roads on our map, we set off to find our own way, at our own pace.

This minor declaration of independence led us to gentle roads, scenic overlooks and arrow-straight lanes that shot through a column of pines. By the time our fellow travelers returned to the hotel, we were tucked into the hotel spa's hot tub, relaxing like royalty.

Passover

The forecast was clear. Today we would tackle one of the most challenging mountain passes in Europe. Nancy, wisely, chose to spend the day in Innsbruck.

Riding the Autobahn west to cover ground, our first stop was in Reschensee, an artificial Italian lake created in the late 1940s. The casualty was 163 homes and the village of Graun, which remains submerged. All that is visible above the surface is a church steeple poised like a Polaris missile.

Cruising the lakefront past a fleet of kite surfers and rack of windmills, we soon reached Glorenza. Once the epicenter of active trading routes, battles for its control eventually waned, and Glorenza became just your average, frozen-in-time, 12th century walled fortress. There was a palpable feeling of time travel as we squeezed our bikes through a narrow gothic gate and past a watering trough, cathedral and 500-year-old homes.

Leaving Glorenza, we headed for an assault on the legendary Passo dello Stelvio (Queen of the Passes). It would be a rough ride. Combined, my bike and I weighed nearly 750 pounds. I'd have to maneuver this through a series of 48 intricate and difficult hairpin turns en route to the summit at nearly 8,500 feet.

The twists in the road were surpassed by twists in my gut; prompted by a perfect storm of anxiety, thin Alpine air, noxious exhaust fumes, and the real possibility of dropping over the side of a cliff.

Tackling the 13-degree roads, I counted the turns while attempting to pass bicyclists on the straights and steer clear of sports cars racing down the mountain. My focus was occasionally broken by silly musings on the aerodynamics of rescue helicopters, the merits of an open-casket funeral and the legality of a will scratched onto a motorcycle gas tank.

Random pullouts offered sanctuary. I could watch skimming clouds being ripped apart by mountain peaks and slivers of waterfalls bursting from crevices, and pity the unlucky riders lifting their bikes after a tight curve forced them to the pavement.

Following an ascent that lasted slightly longer than Hillary's summit of Everest, I reached the top and found a motorcycling colony where riders dined on bratwurst and sauerkraut sandwiches served by street vendors.

Twenty minutes later, the downhill run was far easier, with our group falling into line with other riders and hitting the turns with sharp precision. The views seemed even more spectacular, with monstrous waterfalls and the unusual experience of riding through clouds that had drifted into the valleys.

The most difficult stretches came as we rocketed through a series of long, midnight-dark tunnels made even darker by my sunglasses. I was riding by Braille.

But there was light at the end of the tunnel. When I reached the clearing, I observed the powerful and impressive image of seven motorcycles swinging into turns in perfect synchronization.

My ability to manipulate the mechanical soup of brakes, gears, clutch and throttle was reaching hall of fame status. There was no turn too tight, no road too steep that I couldn't judge accurately and ride through easily.

For the remaining 200 kilometers, through the Swiss villages Susch and Zernez, and aside the mighty River Inn, I savored the power of my bike and beauty of the land.

Gary McKechnie is a freelance travel writer in Mount Dora and author of "Great American Motorcycle Tours." His Web site is at www.motorcycleamerica.com.>

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TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE

alpine summits • seefeld austria • tirolean alps • canopy roads • granite mountains • sidewalk cafes • alpine air • wheat fields • towering mountains • glacier lakes • bmw 1200 • aerial navigation • european traffic • eastern switzerland • threading the needle • impressive feat • medieval towns • narrow roads • steep mountain • vivid images

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