June 22: Nikolsdorf to Heilgenblut

Breakfast at the hotel was great, with the owner personalizing the softboiled eggs with smiley faces for Boen. Otto Senior showed up early at our hotel so we could do a baggage drop., Stephan and Otto rode by and then we retraced our walk from the train station back to the Drautal bike path, heading towards Lienz. At the intersection leading to Dolsach we stopped to make sure that nobody missed the turnoff, and followed my laid long ago GPS track up to the Iselsberg highway.

It was cool to start but because the road was exposed we warmed up really quickly, and pretty soon we were sweating our way up the 10% grade towards Iselbergpass. I had ridden the road before, but was always coming from Lienz in the past, so this approach was new to me until I saw the city limit sign for Iselsberg. Boen and I were well ahead of everyone except Mark, and we arrived at the Iselsberg pass in time to take a photo.

There's nothing at the pass proper of note, and the next ice cream shop I knew was at Winklern, a town I'd stayed at in the past but had nothing to recommend it. Past Winklern I remembered the ride being relatively hot and unshaded, so an ice cream stop at Winklern was a necessity. There was a SPAR supermarket but it would be closed since it was a Sunday.

The descent from Iselsbergpass was fast, and we hit it at full speed without needing brakes, reaching 46mph. At the ice cream shop, we bought ice cream. By the time we finished, Stephan, Arturo and Ben had reached us. "Our first 70kph descent!" declared Stephan. Bowen was having a slow day, and Xiaoqin opted to stay back with him. Unfortunately, I'd not given her any cash and she would discover that the shops were only taking cash that day, so she'd eventually have to eat at a restaurant that accepted a credit card.

There's an official bike path along the Unter Stanach valley, but I'd always taken the road, since the bike path looked like it did gratuitous climbing. Ben and Mark would take the bike path and reported that it was wonderful. Bowen and Xiaoqin would benefit from their advice. It turned out that early on Sunday you'd get a lot of traffic on the main road. Arturo, with his 25mm tire also preferred the main road.

It being a Sunday there was plenty of lodging, so we'd shown up without reservations. Arturo and I debated various hotels for a while but the Pension Bergkristall had good reviews and was off the main road and close to town center. We rode up to it and negotiated with the owner, showing him the deal that booking.com was offering us. He first prevaricated saying that he couldn't beat the booking.com offer, but when we pointed out to him that we were taking up all the rooms had had left he eventually caved and gave us a discount. On a Sunday with clear weather the tourist has a lot of pricing power.

We left our bags and bikes at the Pension and went downstairs to Cafe-Bar Laterndl to have a pizza lunch. Stephan and Otto showed up and told us that the campground where Otto Sr was parked was at the bottom of the town, but Otto Sr was still out riding. When Otto Sr showed up, we took the bikes out and rode down to the campground to pick up luggage and ride back up and unpacked. Mark reported that the cable car was going to close within the hour, making the cable car visit not worth the money. Boen and I then went over to the National Park Information center for ice cream and to visit the free exhibits. We were just about done when I checked the maps and noticed that Bowen and Xiaoqin were just about to arrive.

We met them outside, took photos, and went back to the hotel to shower, do laundry and change. Dinner was at Casa Antica, a restaurant with the gorgeous views of the area. The crepuscular beams coming down from the sky kept interrupting our dinners as the photo opportunities kept presenting themselves.

After dinner we walked around town. If I'd read the booklets I'd gotten from the National Park Information center more carefully I would have noticed the hikes that were available from town. Nevertheless it was gorgeous and I know what to do the next time I'm in town.