Climb or Grind? Feedback appreciated

[JustinS007]

Hi folks,

I'd really appreciate some feedback here. My wife and I are currently route planning for a ride from Manchester UK to Rome Italy. We will set off on this ride on Tuesday 22 September 2009 (yes 5 or so weeks) assuming that my wife is in a fit state to do so (she's doing a long run in the UK).

We are torn between two routes as follows:
1 - Manchester to Harwick UK, Ferry to Netherlands, cycle into Germany and follow Rheine & Danube to Vienna, Head south to Klagenfurt, over the Italian border to Venice, across the hills to Rome. Total distance 2700km + any side trips. 24 - 26 days of cycling, 3 rest days, 2 - 4 days in rome before flying home. This is the "Grind" route and really doesn't have any serious climbing in it.

2 - Same as above, but when we get to the Austrian Border we head south away from the Danube, go through Salzburg and end up in Bruck an der Grossglockstrasse. The day into Bruck would be 83km of easy riding. Next day we go over Grossglockner (anyone know about access / whether open this time of year etc. etc.) and finish in Winklern (72km). Climb is about 1800m vertical. Then we make it to Venice over the next 2 days, have a rest and continue as per option 1. Total distance 2300km+ any side trips. 24 days cycling, 3 rest days, 2 - 4 days in Rome per above.

I love to climb hills. My wife hates it. She's a grinder, I'm a blaster. The second option allows us to ride less distance each day and perhaps enjoy the scenery a bit more. But then we're worried that we'll have too much time on our hands if we're only in the saddle for 3 - 4 hours per day. Option 1 allows about 5 hours per day. I'm concerned that if I get so close to "that" pass and don't do it that I'll regret it until such time as I get another chance. At the same time though, we really wanted to visit Vienna again.

We believe we're both fit enough, having done 1600m climb in a single day of 130km (Mt Hotham from Wangaratta) and then followed it with 700km the following 6 days (full panniers / camping gear etc.). Shaz has also just recently ridden 1516km in 7 consecutive days from ~Wang to ~Brisbane. So the issue is more about route than fitness.

What would you do, and why? Thanks, Justin.

[2WheelsGood]

I would do whatever makes the wife happy. Remember, happy wife = happy life

[geoffs]

Well route 1 will be fairly cruisy until you head south from Klagenfurt and cross into Italy. The Italians don't do easy gradients. I've got a couple of photo's on my fridge. One of them is the sign at helingblut which shows that the gradient will be 12% for the next 16kms and the other is one of me collapsed beside a sign in Tuscany showing 25% gradient. Helingblut is on the southern side of the Grossglockner and the way I went was the easy climb. Riding from Bodensee (where you should stay, great town) you will be climbing up + 14% gradients to get to the top.
Salzburg is worth a visit, good luck with the weather though. When we were riding back down the Danube towards Vienna, the Danube flooded it's banks. When talking to another couple of tourers who were from Germany , they said they had been trying to do the ride for the last five years and had been flooded out each time.
If your wife is ok with the Italian section a few more hills prior wont make any difference.
2wheelsgood's advice is very good though!
We tour on a tandem so we get to the top together and have a chance to talk and don't get lost when we ride into a strange town. Last time we were in France for a decent length tour, my wife was initially poring over the Lonely Planet ride guides gradient maps to try to work out what hills we would be doing. After she worked out that there were always hills and we always made it, she stopped worrying.
We did about 2200 kms in 5 weeks and we rode for nearly 4 of those weeks.

[JustinS007]

Thanks guys. Keeping the wife happy is clearly a sensible objective during a holiday.

Having spoken to a few other people as well we figure that we'll just cruise along until we get to Passau and then make some enquiries about the pass, the forthcoming weather, how we're feeling etc. and then decide which way to go. We can literally leave it until we get to the fork in the road so to speak as we won't be booking ahead with accommodation etc..

Thanks again.

[rowdyflat]

You are both as fit as hell but I'd make sure you keep your wife happy on hills.
That means stay with her ,. eat well + ensure that you have low gears .