Alps, August 2003 − Travels − Captain Tom

Alps, August 2003

The second Alps vacation this year.

This time combined with Nürburgring racetrack training and a visit to Grandma in Munich.

In total two weeks, almost 3100 miles, nice scenery everywhere and pleasurable participants

I tried not to summarize the vacation chronologically but by topic

1 The participants

Frank. I did the Nürburgring racetrack training with him
The group I was in during the training on Nürburgring
My Grandma in Munich
Franz and Manu. I did not take a picture of them due to a little mishap
The main person. The litte one
Butter would not melt in his mouth
Exposed to corrective methods
Prepared for a tour in a car - as precaution with a swimming ring
Möni and Andreas with and without bike and with and without the little one
And at least myself - here doing something typcial for me: planning a route for the next day
2 Nürburgring racetrack training

Like in previous years I have taken part in a training on Nürburgring racetrack.
The first day was a little bit wet but from noon on it got better and on the second day we had sunny weather.
The pictures of me on the track have been taken by a professional photographer who comes to the trainings every year.

The group
View to the Eifel mountains the first morning. Not quite encouraging
Tom in Karussell turn
Tom in Klostertal turn
Nürburg castle in the background
3 Munich

In Munich I visited my Grandma and I did a ride with Franz and Manu (but did not take pictures)

Grandma on a walk at Lake Tegernsee
Tour with Grandma to Wank mountain close to Garmisch-Partenkirchen
There is a paraglider take-off point and quite a few people prepared for a flight. So we watched then and their take-offs
Preparations
The first ones take off
Some circle around already
Many paragliders in the air
After Wank mountain we went to Lake Eibsee below Zugspitze mountain. Nice lake but quite busy.
4 The rides

I did almost 3200 miles during my rides with and without escort. Biggest tour was from Munich to Caldonazzo which included the highest and most beautiful passes (Gavia pass and Stilfser Joch).

I went over the following passes and roads (in the order of riding them, grouped by rides)
  • Fernpass 1209 m
  • Piller Höhe 1558 m
  • Finstermünzpass 1188 m
  • Reschenpass 1508 m
  • Stilfser Joch 2758 m
  • Gaviapass 2618 m
  • Tonalepass 1883 m
  • Passo Campo Carlo Magno (Madonna di Campiglio) 1682 m

  • Pellegrinopass 1919 m
  • Vallespass 2031 m
  • Rollepass 1989 m
  • Broconpass 1815 m

  • Passo di Borcoloa 1206
  • Passo Xon 671 m
  • Passo di Campogrosso 1457 m
  • Passo Pian delle Fugazze 1156 m
  • Porte del Pasubio 1934 m
  • Monte Bondone 2091 m

  • Monte Bondone 2091 m

  • Brocon-Pass 1815 m

  • Pellegrino-Pass 1919 m
  • Giaupass 2230 m
  • Gemärkpass 1518 m
  • Felbertauernstraße 1650 m
  • Thurnpass 1274 m
View from Piller Höhe to valley of river Inn
View over Lake Reschensee at Reschenpass to Ortler mountains
Fist turn of the northern ramp of Stilfser Joch
The hairpins are numbered descending
View to Ortler glacier on northern ramp of Stilfser Joch
Northern ramp of Stilfser Joch
Southern ramp of Stilfser Joch
Southern ramp of Gavia pass
Brocon-Pass - very nice there
Passo di Borcola - wonderful area and tiny roads - absolutely worth riding there and enjoying the scenery
Passo di Campolongo
Felbertauernstraße road
I wanted to go via Großglockner. But I had seen snow flakes on Giau pass and it rained heavily I decided to take the Felbertaunertunnel
My decision was right. There was snow on top and I would have been blocked by snow on Großglockner.
5 Accomodation

We had rented a nice holiday appartment in Caldonazzo, North East of Lago di Garda (Lake Garda) in Castel Trapp. Appartment C. Quite nice and quite unique inside an old castle once owned by the Trapp family who owned almost everthying in this area in ancient times.

View to the house. The pool was quite comfortable after a ride
View out of the window into the yard. On the opposite side the noisy church of the village
Living room
View to Caldonazzo from Monte Rovere
If you use a digital zoom you can see the church and left of it the castle
6 What else?

I found this cricket at the lifts to Panarotta (6568 ft)
I reached 22,222 km on my bike. Given the fact that I had this bike for 205 days at this point in time it is quite remarkable. This is about 108.4 km (67.3 miles) per day.
72 Euros to the Republic of Austria taken by a motorbike police officer. I was supposed to have seven times overtaken where not allowed. Per misconduct 36 Euros. We agreed upon two of them with instant pay.