A bike ride up the Grossglockner

Been meaning to get around to this all summer but wouldn't mind having a crack at it before the winter pulls in.

Flyguy said he might be interested. Any other takers? Would be best to do it before the end of the month. October 15th or 16th would be good for me..

There was a race up it in the summer. The winner did it in 1hr15. Having a look at the profile, it looks almost tooo easy Plus think about the downhill ride on the way back

[img]http://www.grossglockner.at/static/cms/_shared/strasse/profil_gross_de.jpg[/img]

Not on the kind of bike you mean
But here's a current shot from the webcam at Fuschertoerl from www.grossglockner.at.
You sure you wanna do it?

Read the title and thought, that sounds painful.

Hmm, didn't realise there would be snow already.. Guess it's only going to get worse too.. Buggar!

Still, I reckon as long as we don't stop for too long, the body will be generating enough heat to keep us warm

Actually, it also says it's currently 4°C up there...

Maybe time to get the snowboard out instead

It wouldn't be the up that would scare me, but the icy patches on the way down!

I'm a little confused.. isn't the Großglockner the highest mountain in Austria? If so, you musnt be riding up it because surely its higher than 2502m?

The highest mountain in Austria, yes. However the pass road does not go all the way to the top but "only" to 2500m as the profile says. From a little way down the far side there is a spur road that goes up to the glacier, and from there you walk...

Probably wouldn't fancy going up the Großglockner this time of year (although, probably best to do it as late in the year as possible from the cycling fitness point of view), but: anyone up for some cycling this Saturday? Weather forecast is good, and something nice could be found.

(Abridged from Süddeutsche Zeitung October 5, 2005):
Three task groups have published proof in the Journal of Sexual Medicine (Volume 2, pp.596, 605 und 612, 2005) that avid cyclists tend to become impotent. Five percent of them develop medium to severe irreversible impotence due to the saddle pinching important arteries in the groin area. The reduced blood flow leads to scarring within the penis. More than half of the hobby cyclists have experienced numbness in the groin area and app. 20 percent complain of intermittent impotence.
The scientists recommend round saddles or recumbent bicycles.

FYI

If you are looking for a challenging cycle ride which is not yet in snow -- the Rossfeld-Höhenringstrasse nerar Berchtesgaden might be of interest then.

The ascent is 1020 m over 11 km with a passage of 24% in there.
For more information see:

http://www.quaeldich.de/Paesse.pl?PassID=3...¶henringstraße

I am not suggesting this for this weekend, though - sometime, however, yes (I think I'd want more than 39/25 for that, though ...).

OK - anyone up for some cycling/hill climbing this Saturday?

One thing I thought about doing was cycling in the Allgäu -- take the train around 7 am from Hauptbahnhof to Immenstadt (line still closed further south to Oberstdorf) and cycle south with some possibilities of nice hills. Another option (did that three weeks ago) is to take the train to Kufstein and cycle up to Sudelfeld and back down and then into the Chiemgau.
Or any other ideas -- will have a look at maps and think about it until tomorrow.