No worries. I was only in the area for two days anyway and yesterday didn't feel like anything extensive in the heat with dead legs so I just rode up to
Cafe Winklstüberl for a giant slice of cake via some minor climb.
The first climb up to Bayrischell is fairly steep at the start but does let off, as I'm sure you're now well aware.
Yeah... this is where I decided to eat the first bit of food just as it got steep... doh! It was a nice climb up. I like to ride my own pace up steep stuff as I hate grinding out so I dropped the guys I was with a little and pressed on overtaking the hordes. I was expecting the finish not to be that far. Turned into a 45 min climb. I should have looked at the route a bit more before the ride. Nevertheless it was a nice climb.
your descent down from Spitzingsee will be fast as the road is wide & surface is good
That was crazy fast. Touching 55mph or so without any top tube antics... then I looked at Strava and read the KOM averaged 55mph
Overall it was a
great day out on the bike. Weather pretty good if a little hot. A good group I was riding with (a mate's mate's triathlete brothers) and a well run sportive. Thousands of people but everyone was courteous and there was no 'treat it like an absolute race' like there is in UK sportives. The feed stops were huge and plentiful and the ride organisation was kind of like an Audax - you had a wristband and there were various controls you'd pass through on the road and at feed stops to prove you rode the whole event. No start times or even electronic tracking. The views were stunning and I think the worst part of road I rode was about 3 metres and just felt like a standard UK road... most of the roads were super smooth.
I don't really do many sportives and I don't think I've completed a sportive and thought "Yes, I want to do that again sometime" in the UK - usually due to the idiotic riding and lack of value. This event was only €39 and the only thing I was a bit disappointed to see was people riding aero bars in a group... It was too common and a lot of people had aero bars fitted. Saw the odd triathlon bike too (accompanied with sleeveless jersey).
