Austria: Salzburger Land tours for road cyclists - Stage tour by road bike through Salzburger Land
Matthias Rotter
· 30.06.2016
The big end comes at the end. It bears the name Hirschbichl and is recorded in the lists of Alpine passes as little more than a small wave. A very small one. To be precise, the top of the pass is at 1,149 metres - where prominent passes such as Galibier & Co. really get going. Even the starting altitude of the climb at 665 metres does not initially cause the heart to flutter. But our heart rate increases faster than we would like. Because right from the first few hundred metres, the poison dwarf makes it unmistakably clear: it's going to be high percentage!
We wind our way through two hairpin bends out of the deeply incised Saalachtal valley and get a bird's eye view of the pretty church tower of Weißbach. This much can be revealed: Anyone who has to put on their rescue pinion down there will experience their Waterloo further up. But we are not really surprised after three days through the Salzburger Land. Because the Hirschbichl only continues what we had already experienced the previous days: It's not the altitude of the passes that counts, but the way up. And in this part of the Alps, it's usually steep. Very steep.
The Gaisberg will have to wait
Flashback. Four days earlier, on a cool late summer evening, my mate Mike and I arrive in Salzburg. Guarded by the fortress, the city on the Salzach river welcomes us with venerable charm: chandeliers in the hotel, baroque in the old town, where its most famous son Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is present on every corner. But the atmosphere is neither old-fashioned nor dusty. The alleyways and pubs are buzzing with life, not least because of the many university students. Music sounds from many houses, from classical to modern. Cyclists and joggers dash up and down the Salzach. A striking number of cycle paths connect the city's neighbourhoods. "Salzburg is a paradise for cyclists," enthuses Andreas Reichl as we check into his hotel. "You absolutely have to visit in April when the season starts with the Salzburg Cycle Spring. The whole city is out and about on bikes at the street festival," says the cycling-enthusiast hotelier. Our legs are already itching, but more at the sight of the mountains towering behind the city. First and foremost, Salzburg's local mountain, the 1,265 metre high Gaisberg. "It's fourteen per cent up there, so you'll have to work hard," warns Reichl.
But the Gaisberg will have to wait for now, because our four-day stage tour starts with a loop through the Alpine foothills.
These tours and the GPS data can be downloaded below:
4-DAY EXCURSION TOUR through the Salzburger Land:
- Day 1: Salzburg - Ebenau (80 kilometres, 1,000 metres in altitude, max. 14 % gradient)
- Day 2: Ebenau - Flachau (107 kilometres, 1,900 metres in altitude, max. 14 % gradient)
- Day 3: Flachau - Saalfelden (105 kilometres, 1,600 metres in altitude, max. 15 % gradient)
- Day 4: Saalfelden - Salzburg (83 kilometres, 1,340 metres in altitude, max. 30 % gradient)
Tours through Salzburger Land and the Salzkammergut:
- Tour 1: Eddy Merckx Classic (107 kilometres, 1,050 metres in altitude, max. 12 % gradient)
- Tour 2: Lakes Tour (130 kilometres, 1,850 metres in altitude, max. 16 % gradient)
- Tour 3: Postalm (106 kilometres, 2,060 metres in altitude, max. 16 % gradient)
Tours through the Salzburger Sportwelt and the Salzburger Lungau:
- Tour 4: To the Hofalmen (70 kilometres, 1,300 metres in altitude, max. 12 % gradient)
- Tour 5: Niedere Tauern (156 kilometres, 2,700 metres in altitude, max. 13 % gradient)
- Tour 6: Lungau circuit (91 kilometres, 1,400 metres in altitude, max. 13 % gradient)
Tours through the Hohe Tauern National Park holiday region:
- Tour 7: Grossglockner High Alpine Road (101 kilometres, 3,600 metres in altitude, max. 14 % gradient)
- Tour 8: Krimml Waterfalls (133 kilometres, 1,180 metres in altitude, max. 17 % gradient)
- Tour 9: Visit to Kitzbühel (127 kilometres, 1,000 metres in altitude, max. 10 % gradient)
