I'm going to spend March to July of this year in Vienna. I'll bring my bike, but don't know what the riding is like. Does anybody know? Anybody know of a good bike shop, or a good group of riders? I hope I can hit the mountains on the week ends.

I'm going to spend March to July of this year in Vienna. I'll bring my bike, but don't know what the riding is like. Does anybody know? Anybody know of a good bike shop, or a good group of riders? I hope I can hit the mountains on the week ends.

The biking is fantastic! Heading west and southwest will bring you very quickly into some beautiful hills/low mountains with some incredible views. Heading north and northeast will bring you through some rolling agricultural land and vinyards. Vienna itself is also very cyclist friendly!

A+

Philippe

Ahhh beautiful Vienna! Home of the classic energy drink called "Radler" ("Cyclist") - a simple 50/50 mix of beer and sweet selters (something like Sprite) for lots of carbs and sugars. Try it when you're there.

Here's a shop right on the Danube. Click on "Biketreff" (biker's meeting place) for pics of riders meeting at the shop. Go to the "Aktuelles" box and click on "Vereins-Homepage" for the racing team page. Shop's closed now, but will reopen February 1, 2006.

http://www.donau-fritzi.at/

Sounds great, thanks for the tips. I hope I'll be able to go on longer tours over the weekend, perhaps taking the train into the mountains.
Which brings me to my greates worry: do you think I need a triple? I've started biking in earnest last July and have since logged 2000 miles. I can go for hours, and at a pretty fast clip, but I have never done any climbing. I have the stock double on my LeMond Buenos Aires now and fear I might get stuck on these Alpine passes.

The simple answer would be to mount a triple and be prepared, especially if you've never climbed before. On the other hand, many Alpine passes don't pitch up much over 12%, but they're long in kilometers. It's the relentless uphill grind that gets you. Philippe may have a different take on this - I believe he's the Alpine expert here.

Thinking back on my childhood touring in the Alps around 1960, it occurs to me that we were suffering much more from the weather than anything else. As we climbed from, say, 700 meter to 2000 meter or more in the Alps, we often went from sweating profusely to being pelted with ice pellets just in that one climb. In my opinion, being prepared for these extreme weather changes is more important than having low gears.

But I also have to tell you that in the 1960's we toured on coaster-brake single speeds wearing hiking shoes. If the grade got too steep, we walked - sometimes for hours. If the descent was too steep - we walked, because there's no way a coaster brake would stop us at 60 km/h. In other words, my Alpine bicycle touring involved a lot of walking, so I, like my friends, never even thought about gears. We just grabbed our bikes and went.

Yes, I should just slap on a triple. My LBS and my Midwestern biking pals belong to the "Too cool for triples school" but then again they have never seen an Alpine pass.
I grew up in Southern Germany and remember many hair-raising descents when knowing that your brakes wouldn't work was part of the fun. As they say: " I was immortal once."

I grew up in Southern Germany and remember many hair-raising descents when knowing that your brakes wouldn't work was part of the fun. As they say: " I was immortal once."

My family moved from the North Sea shore to the Swabian Alb (Ulm/Donau) in 1953. I know what you mean about those hair-raising descents. But, hey, I had this wonderful emergency brake on my bike: a small, rod-actuated, smoke-generating rubber pad which pressed on top of the front tire. So I wasn't worried :D See '54 picture.

I can't believe I wore those freakin' leather pants . . . :rolleyes:

The simple answer would be to mount a triple and be prepared, especially if you've never climbed before. On the other hand, many Alpine passes don't pitch up much over 12%, but they're long in kilometers. It's the relentless uphill grind that gets you. Philippe may have a different take on this - I believe he's the Alpine expert here.

Thinking back on my childhood touring in the Alps around 1960, it occurs to me that we were suffering much more from the weather than anything else. As we climbed from, say, 700 meter to 2000 meter or more in the Alps, we often went from sweating profusely to being pelted with ice pellets just in that one climb. In my opinion, being prepared for these extreme weather changes is more important than having low gears.

But I also have to tell you that in the 1960's we toured on coaster-brake single speeds wearing hiking shoes. If the grade got too steep, we walked - sometimes for hours. If the descent was too steep - we walked, because there's no way a coaster brake would stop us at 60 km/h. In other words, my Alpine bicycle touring involved a lot of walking, so I, like my friends, never even thought about gears. We just grabbed our bikes and went.

Wim's got it right, it's not the grade <i>per se</i> that is bad... but the duration of the stretches at 8+ percent that wear on you. If you have only 2000 miles and have not done any climbing, I would go with Wim's advice re the triple. I don't even think that a compact double would be a good solution for you because the Austrian Alps are particularly ferocious. That said, you certainly won't need a triple for the area around Vienna, even if you venture up into the hills S-SW of the city -- a 52-39 w/ a 12-25 or 13-26 should do you fine.

While you are there, take advantage of being in Austria to ride around the Donau, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Linz, Graz/Slovenia and the Dolomites... it's all good!

Grüss Gott

Philippe

Sounds great, thanks for the tips. I hope I'll be able to go on longer tours over the weekend, perhaps taking the train into the mountains.
Which brings me to my greates worry: do you think I need a triple? I've started biking in earnest last July and have since logged 2000 miles. I can go for hours, and at a pretty fast clip, but I have never done any climbing. I have the stock double on my LeMond Buenos Aires now and fear I might get stuck on these Alpine passes.

When I started riding in 2000, my LBS recommended that I get a triple. I rarely use the small chainring and feel like a fool 99% of the time because I have three rings on the front. BUT, every time that I have ridden in the Alps and Pyrenees I have been happy that I had that third ring.

.....and impressive that your are STILL cycling. Compliments!

My family moved from the North Sea shore to the Swabian Alb (Ulm/Donau) in 1953. I know what you mean about those hair-raising descents. But, hey, I had this wonderful emergency brake on my bike: a small, rod-actuated, smoke-generating rubber pad which pressed on top of the front tire. So I wasn't worried :D See '54 picture.

I can't believe I wore those freakin' leather pants . . . :rolleyes:

.....and impressive that your are STILL cycling. Compliments!

Thanks.

Every year it gets more difficult to get myself up and on the bike - yet also every year, the feeling of joy and satisfaction during and after a ride deepens. It's a mystery, and I'll not question it.

Excellent. I really can't wait. Every day I'm riding in the grey and cold here I'm thinking about those gorgeous routes in Europe. Here's the best part: After Vienna, I'm spending a month in Tuscany and a month in the South-West of France. I've been there many times, but never as a cyclist.
Oh, and Wim? Those Lederhosen are fantastic, especially with that Edelweiss on the chest. I lived for 4 years in Ulm, and tooled around on exactly that kind of bike.Hard to believe there were not more accidents.