mac and johanna's bike tripjoh

Aug 16 2014 San Candido to Oberdrauburg
Awoke today at the Hotel Walter to partly sunny skies. From our hotel we could look across the tracks to a bike rental place. We had no idea what we were in for. After going thru town to mail some cards we got on the trail and it was mayhem. It seemed like every Italian in Italy was on the trail. And they ride bikes like they drive. The trail from San Candido to Lienz is largely downhill but with all the people it was like rush hour At Le Mans. Oddly enough we only saw one injury but J almost got me into a wreck when she pulled out in front of 3 bikes overtaking and passing her. Lienz is 47k and it is all on a separate trail. Really nice but for the traffic. We got into Lienz at noon and rode by the train station and there was several hundred people assembling in the parking lot. They were all in traditional costume. It was a parade of the local shooting clubs. They marched to the church for some service and then probably some beer drinking. In the same parking lot all the people that had rented bikes and rode with us were turning in the bikes and they were being loaded on trailers and taken back to the starting point. The people took the train back. It was a mess with the marchers, bike trailers, bikers and normal cars all vying for the same space.

After the parade we left Lienz and there was nobody on the trail. We had crossed the Austria-Itlay border a few k back and moved into the Ost tirol. We rode about 20k and decided to stop at the village of Oberdrauburg. We had called ahead for a room because this is a 3 day weekend and sometimes rooms are hard to come by. We ended up at the Hotel Post, with a suite. 2 separate rooms and Mikes had a balcony over the plaza just like a king.