Riding To the Sky
RIDING TO THE SKY
Touring the Alps, one loop at a time
BEST ROAD RIDING IN THE WORLD? THE ALPS is certainly in the running. And that's based just on the actual asphalt
and multitude of curves available in such high concentration in that epic mountain range. Add in European ambiance, culture, spectacular scenery and great food, and there may be no more spiritually hospitable place in the world to be on two wheels.
So when we needed somewhere Over There to ride the Honda CB1000R, the Alps was the natural choice. As was the call to Edelweiss Bike Travel (www.edelweissbike.com), which has been running motorcycle tours in the area-and other locations around the world-since 1980.
Our tour of choice was the company's Alps Touring Center package. Beneift being a single hotel location rather than the more typical city-to-city run. This is nice because for seven days and six nights, you get to come "home" to a familiar place each day and there is no packing/unpacking. Also, if you bring your spouse and she doesn't feel like riding that day, `s no problem-think 45 degrees and rainy. Even you might not want to ride that day! And you wouldn't have to.
The tour's five ridhig daysgetyou hito four countries and over about 20 famous passes, the epic Stelvio and Timmelsjoch among them. Our ride over the latter was exciting because the pass had only been opened a week earlier, so there were still 12-foot snowdrifts on either side of the road in some sections. Tour leader Markus Hellrigl was kind enough to lend me his rainsuit, which made the wet and cold ride over the 8200-foot pass much more comfortable. Hellrigl is a 15-year veteran of
Edelweiss tours and an excellent guide who also happens to live in the Austrian Alps not far from Seefeld in Tirol where we were based. So his local knowledge is tops, and he seems to speak the language pretty well, too! With sightseeing stops at Mad King Ludwig's castle, several famous churches, many old towns and other places of note, it wasn't just non-stop riding, either. There was always time for coffee and strudel, too.
Tour rates run from $2450 to $3710, depending on the type of bike rented and accommodations chosen (to share or not to share, that is the room question). There is also an optional one-day riding school prior to the tour to help familiarize participants with the local roads and conditions, and to work on the specific skills useful in the Alps.
Our tour had a small group of good ders, so the pace was swift and we never got too strung out. Canadian Peter Lennon said he'd looked into doing his own solo tour of the Alps but feR that the money saved wouldn't have been a good tradeoff considering the level of support offered by Edelweiss in the case of mechanical breakdown or other mishap. Plus, the general organization of the route, lunch stops and over-
all pacing are expertly handled by guides like Hellrigl. For my part, interacting w~h the other tour participants added a social dimen sion I simply wouldn't have gotten going solo. During our lakeside stop to see the cog-wheel train at Achensee, a giant tour bus lumbered by full of people getting their Alps experience with a rattling diesel soundtrack. All I could think to myself was, "Poor bastards don't know what they're missing." -Mark Hoyer
