Rob's Great Alpine Adventure
- Thread starter RobertG
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The Grey One
Registered user
In fact its a bit east of the Grossglockner
It goes under the Tauern mountain range not the Grossglockner. From just south of Bad Gastein to Mallnitz. Here is a ink to the English website http://www.oebb.at/en/Planning_your_trip/Car_motor-_and_bicycle/Tauern_motorail/index.jsp
The service runs all year and is a good alternative to the A10 Autobahn or the Felbertaurn road (currently closed)
John
thanks that was what i was looking for,google didnt help.
only 1euro between a car and a bikes a bit steep.
The Grey One
Registered user
thanks that was what i was looking for,google didnt help.
only 1euro between a car and a bikes a bit steep.
If the Felbertaurn road was open they would charge you 10 Euros for that, the Grossglockner is 23 Euros and not always open, the A10 has an extra 10 Euro toll for the two big tunnels in addition to the vignette. With that in mind 16 Euros is not too bad. And it takes you into Carinthia!
John
RobertG
Registered user
So, as the Grey One correctly points out, the Grossglockner train (that's how I'll remember it 
) is east of the Grossglockner and doesn't go under it. As it turns out, the Grossglockner pass doesn't even go over the Grossglockner but is actually just east of it as well. You can however go to the summit (ish) where they have built a three storey car park 
. In summary you can (sort of) go over it, under it, or around it 
. Having done two of the three I am confidently predicting the vertical option is preferable 
.
Geography lesson over
Day 10 Pontresina to Jageralpe in Heidi land.
Today we route north through Liechtenstein (for no other reason than to say we did) and on to the Jageralpe ski resort which is about 100KM west of Innsbruck.
We kick of with some immediate off roading proving what rufty tuftys we are.
All right you got me, it was just some road works.
There is something truly wonderful about being just three minutes on the bike when you hit views like this. (Thats not rain on the lens just crap from our off roading)
To get to Liechtenstein we need to route through quite a few villages which is a bit of a pain. This visit is really just a first timers objective and could be safely left of the list. But on we battle.
Of course in between the villages are wonderful roads with amazing views. I just don't seem to have a vocabulary capable of sharing how awesome these views are. Either that or the nightly beer drinking has dimmed my brain
.
We take a quick photo stop to appease the photo journalists in the group. Some see mountains as the point of attraction, the petrol heads see...
On then for a hot chocolate and a bun.
We get a lesson from Tennessee in how to get your knee down.
We discuss menu options for dinner and this chap highly recommends the chicken.
We stop for lunch near the Liechtenstein border.
Then into Liechtenstein for a quick visit. The Duke was home, but we decide not to call in this time.
We have a nice afternoon pottering our way up towards tonight's stop. With about 30KM to go I decide that I haven't finished riding for the day and head to Innsbruck just for the hell of it. I've never been there, so why not.
I follow the old side pass roads that skirt along the valley never rising too high but giving great views of the area and the motorway below. A little over two hours later I arrive in Innsbruck and decide I might have dinner there and head back slowly. I get the phone to text the lads and let them know and I have one received text. It's 6.50 now and the the text tells me to make it back to the junction I split off at by 8.15 because they are closing the road. So, it took over two hours to get here and I have one hour twenty-five to get back.
Only thing for it is to head to the motorway and open her up. It's boring as hell, but this lad plays cat and mouse with me for about 60K and even plays me a tune with the engine in the tunnels.
I give it a blast up the pass and make the curfew.
Then, arrive at a deserted hotel
I ring Ollie. "Ollie, I'm at the GPS coordinates, but the hotel is closed up and the sign say not open till July. WTF". "Sorry Robert", he says "you must be at the wrong place". It's now late, cold (2C), mist is rolling in, and I have 30KM of fuel in the tank. I am not happy. As I ponder who I want to kill first, the door of the hotel opens and I hear laughter. The bikes are in the garage and the hotel is just open for our group.
) is east of the Grossglockner and doesn't go under it. As it turns out, the Grossglockner pass doesn't even go over the Grossglockner but is actually just east of it as well. You can however go to the summit (ish) where they have built a three storey car park . In summary you can (sort of) go over it, under it, or around it . Having done two of the three I am confidently predicting the vertical option is preferable . Geography lesson over
Day 10 Pontresina to Jageralpe in Heidi land.
Today we route north through Liechtenstein (for no other reason than to say we did) and on to the Jageralpe ski resort which is about 100KM west of Innsbruck.
We kick of with some immediate off roading proving what rufty tuftys we are.
All right you got me, it was just some road works.
There is something truly wonderful about being just three minutes on the bike when you hit views like this. (Thats not rain on the lens just crap from our off roading)
To get to Liechtenstein we need to route through quite a few villages which is a bit of a pain. This visit is really just a first timers objective and could be safely left of the list. But on we battle.
Of course in between the villages are wonderful roads with amazing views. I just don't seem to have a vocabulary capable of sharing how awesome these views are. Either that or the nightly beer drinking has dimmed my brain
.
We take a quick photo stop to appease the photo journalists in the group. Some see mountains as the point of attraction, the petrol heads see...
On then for a hot chocolate and a bun.
We get a lesson from Tennessee in how to get your knee down.
We discuss menu options for dinner and this chap highly recommends the chicken.
We stop for lunch near the Liechtenstein border.
Then into Liechtenstein for a quick visit. The Duke was home, but we decide not to call in this time.
We have a nice afternoon pottering our way up towards tonight's stop. With about 30KM to go I decide that I haven't finished riding for the day and head to Innsbruck just for the hell of it. I've never been there, so why not.
I follow the old side pass roads that skirt along the valley never rising too high but giving great views of the area and the motorway below. A little over two hours later I arrive in Innsbruck and decide I might have dinner there and head back slowly. I get the phone to text the lads and let them know and I have one received text. It's 6.50 now and the the text tells me to make it back to the junction I split off at by 8.15 because they are closing the road. So, it took over two hours to get here and I have one hour twenty-five to get back.
Only thing for it is to head to the motorway and open her up. It's boring as hell, but this lad plays cat and mouse with me for about 60K and even plays me a tune with the engine in the tunnels.
I give it a blast up the pass and make the curfew.
Then, arrive at a deserted hotel
I ring Ollie. "Ollie, I'm at the GPS coordinates, but the hotel is closed up and the sign say not open till July. WTF". "Sorry Robert", he says "you must be at the wrong place". It's now late, cold (2C), mist is rolling in, and I have 30KM of fuel in the tank. I am not happy. As I ponder who I want to kill first, the door of the hotel opens and I hear laughter. The bikes are in the garage and the hotel is just open for our group.
RobertG
Registered user
Day 11 from Jageralpe to Munich
Day 11 shall be henceforth know as pottering along day. It is the last day of the group together and nobody is really in a rush for it to end.
We start of with a fine breakfast of scrambled eggs with bits of bacon and god knows what else. Despite the unidentifiable contents it tastes great and we polish it off before heading down into the garage to retrieve the machinery.
We split into two groups most days. I seem to be a wandering soul and move around, the others seem to stick together now. I want to ride with both groups today as I met lovely people in both. Anyway, who to ride with first is decided by the fact that only one group needs fuel - and despite an extra fill up yesterday, my 200KM blast to Innsbruck puts me in the empty tank brigade.
As we are about to leave, Ollie, who is riding the van today cheekily asks if the gadget machine has jump leads on board. Unfortunately not. Well even if I did I'm not sure my machine would cosy up to a sick Multi Duke. We leave them figuring it out. Can you bump start a dead Duke?
We pootle off through the maze of little villages and somehow the 30 zones aren't as frustrating today.
Beautiful clear skies, which (knock on wood) have stayed with us since the drenching in Munich last week, set us up for a "nice" day.
There is a little bit of ABC (another bloody castle) today, but I am not as sensitive about it as usual.
Nobody is pushing too hard today and the amazing torque of the GS comes to the fore. Leave it in 4th, or drop to 3rd occasionally and it pulls effortlessly out of every sweeping bend.
We head off to the lakes for a little coffee stop. The color is so green I'm sure the tourist board is dying it.
We head on for ABC photo opportunity (OK it is Neuschwanstein which he copied from Disney). We will track back from here and should pass the other group as they head out.
Here is a better (not mine) shot of the castle. As you can see, Disney will be very upset with him.
[Edit: Pic to large to load sensibly - linky instead]
We head on to Ludwig's less famous and delicately effeminate Herrenchiemsee castle which is a (very) miniature of the Palace of Versaille. The queues are short and the tour a merciful 25 minutes. While we wait it dawns on me that this was where I would swap groups and the others haven't arrived yet.
The palace is exquisite. No pictures inside I am afraid. Frau tour guide warned me off. Well worth a visit if you are over there and only about €8.
So the theme is a fairytale set of palaces, a pink changing room, and perfect gardens.
...and apparently nobody suspected anything. The German's aren't as good on detail as they would lead us to believe so.
By the time the tour is over and lunch is swallowed, the other group arrive. Apparently the Duke took a while to sort. With leads hooked up the dash lights were on, but it wouldn't start. Not the battery so. After a suitable lapse of time the Duke keeper shared that he had dropped the key the previous night (one of those proximity electronic gizmos) and it had fallen apart when it hit the ground. It went back together though. Well lead man Ollie decided to take a closer look and opened it up again. It went back together all right, the only problem was the battery and chip weren't in there anymore. After much patient searching the offending item was found in a dark underground car park the size of a football field. Somebody had the gods looking down on them.
The time delay meant that I would have to wait over an hour to change groups so I left the Brazilian/Mexican band and stayed with the Americans. An equally lovely group of people, but it would have been nice to ride out with both.
We did our best to delay the arrival back at base, but it came in the end. Our slightly earlier arrival left time for a beer or three before dinner. Below is my adopted Brazilian and Mexican family. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there is something endearing about the Latino culture. These are serious and successful professional people in their work - business owners, bankers and neuro scientists - but they wore it lightly. I learned something from them this week - and that alone makes it a good week.
Day 11 shall be henceforth know as pottering along day. It is the last day of the group together and nobody is really in a rush for it to end.
We start of with a fine breakfast of scrambled eggs with bits of bacon and god knows what else. Despite the unidentifiable contents it tastes great and we polish it off before heading down into the garage to retrieve the machinery.
We split into two groups most days. I seem to be a wandering soul and move around, the others seem to stick together now. I want to ride with both groups today as I met lovely people in both. Anyway, who to ride with first is decided by the fact that only one group needs fuel - and despite an extra fill up yesterday, my 200KM blast to Innsbruck puts me in the empty tank brigade.
As we are about to leave, Ollie, who is riding the van today cheekily asks if the gadget machine has jump leads on board. Unfortunately not. Well even if I did I'm not sure my machine would cosy up to a sick Multi Duke. We leave them figuring it out. Can you bump start a dead Duke?
We pootle off through the maze of little villages and somehow the 30 zones aren't as frustrating today.
Beautiful clear skies, which (knock on wood) have stayed with us since the drenching in Munich last week, set us up for a "nice" day.
There is a little bit of ABC (another bloody castle) today, but I am not as sensitive about it as usual.
Nobody is pushing too hard today and the amazing torque of the GS comes to the fore. Leave it in 4th, or drop to 3rd occasionally and it pulls effortlessly out of every sweeping bend.
We head off to the lakes for a little coffee stop. The color is so green I'm sure the tourist board is dying it.
We head on for ABC photo opportunity (OK it is Neuschwanstein which he copied from Disney). We will track back from here and should pass the other group as they head out.
Here is a better (not mine) shot of the castle. As you can see, Disney will be very upset with him.
[Edit: Pic to large to load sensibly - linky instead]
We head on to Ludwig's less famous and delicately effeminate Herrenchiemsee castle which is a (very) miniature of the Palace of Versaille. The queues are short and the tour a merciful 25 minutes. While we wait it dawns on me that this was where I would swap groups and the others haven't arrived yet.
The palace is exquisite. No pictures inside I am afraid. Frau tour guide warned me off. Well worth a visit if you are over there and only about €8.
So the theme is a fairytale set of palaces, a pink changing room, and perfect gardens.
...and apparently nobody suspected anything. The German's aren't as good on detail as they would lead us to believe so.
By the time the tour is over and lunch is swallowed, the other group arrive. Apparently the Duke took a while to sort. With leads hooked up the dash lights were on, but it wouldn't start. Not the battery so. After a suitable lapse of time the Duke keeper shared that he had dropped the key the previous night (one of those proximity electronic gizmos) and it had fallen apart when it hit the ground. It went back together though. Well lead man Ollie decided to take a closer look and opened it up again. It went back together all right, the only problem was the battery and chip weren't in there anymore. After much patient searching the offending item was found in a dark underground car park the size of a football field. Somebody had the gods looking down on them.
The time delay meant that I would have to wait over an hour to change groups so I left the Brazilian/Mexican band and stayed with the Americans. An equally lovely group of people, but it would have been nice to ride out with both.
We did our best to delay the arrival back at base, but it came in the end. Our slightly earlier arrival left time for a beer or three before dinner. Below is my adopted Brazilian and Mexican family. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there is something endearing about the Latino culture. These are serious and successful professional people in their work - business owners, bankers and neuro scientists - but they wore it lightly. I learned something from them this week - and that alone makes it a good week.
Hi Rob,
Enjoying this report - i'll hopefully be doing something similar in a month or two. Though, fingers crossed, with less rain
On an aside, was this a Bugatti? ie
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/05/05/1936-bugatti-type-57sc-atlantic-sells-for-a-record-30-million/
Safe travels,
S
Enjoying this report - i'll hopefully be doing something similar in a month or two. Though, fingers crossed, with less rain
On an aside, was this a Bugatti? ie
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/05/05/1936-bugatti-type-57sc-atlantic-sells-for-a-record-30-million/
Safe travels,
S
Keep her lit Rob 
Looking forward to reading about the return journey.
We did the Falzarego yesterday. Cracking ride.
The Pordoi was fun too with 27 hairpins on one side & 34 on the other. So good we had to do it twice
Looking forward to reading about the return journey.
We did the Falzarego yesterday. Cracking ride.
The Pordoi was fun too with 27 hairpins on one side & 34 on the other. So good we had to do it twice
Looks like a Morgan Aero 8. It has the engine from the BMW M5 in it, so sounds glorious.Hi Rob,
Enjoying this report - i'll hopefully be doing something similar in a month or two. Though, fingers crossed, with less rain
On an aside, was this a Bugatti? ie
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/05/05/1936-bugatti-type-57sc-atlantic-sells-for-a-record-30-million/
Safe travels,
S
I'm really enjoying this Rob
What camera are you using, to take the pictures while you're riding?
+ 1
RobertG
Registered user
Keep her lit Rob
We did the Falzarego yesterday. Cracking ride.
The Pordoi was fun too with 27 hairpins on one side & 34 on the other. So good we had to do it twice
Both cracking passes. Only managed them once though
RobertG
Registered user
Hi Rob,
Enjoying this report - i'll hopefully be doing something similar in a month or two. Though, fingers crossed, with less rain
In fairness apart from the three days of monsoon last week I have had clear skies and sunshine. I bought the Armas set before I went and took a right ribbing from the ABR gang in NI (Cliff that is not Heff
). My logic was that it could rain for three solid days in the Black Forest and it did - I was the only boy with dry balls at the end of it. I think that's a good thing Definitely not that Bugatti. My instinct goes with paul08 and the Morgan Aero, but I am not a car buff. I have some video as well and I will post that when I have some editing time and decent speed internet.
RobertG
Registered user
+2
The camera
All of the pictures in motion are from a GoPro Hero 3 Black in various mounting positions and using the remote control.
I'll post some pictures of the set up and some words on the experience of using it in a few days time. It has done the job, but was not without its frustrations. The majority of the shots are taken from a sticky mount on the beak, which survived everything thrown at it including several hours of flat out autobahn.
Just got the GoPro Hero3 Black Edition and away to Norway and immediately afterwards the Alps for the Stella Alpina Rally .... waiting to hear what those frustrations are Rob
Further to my post above Rob ... used the Hero3 a couple of times, testing it really, not used on a trip yet! Got a battery back PAC for it but the remote's battery life seems not so good. I think I'm going to have to run the remote wired up to a USB supply to keep it going, or pop it back on charge at coffee/pee stops
RobertG
Registered user
Just got the GoPro Hero3 Black Edition and away to Norway and immediately afterwards the Alps for the Stella Alpina Rally .... waiting to hear what those frustrations are Rob
OK ride reporting on pause - you need the quickie version. Which is the long version cos I haven't time to make it neat!
Advice first.
a)Spend plenty of time messing with the menu system. There is a logic to it (all be it a convoluted one - this is no Apple interface) and you need to get it in your brain. When cold/hot, wet/sweaty, tired/hungover, possibly all three, you don't want to be working it out as you feck about with little buttons while it's mounted.
b)Set the defaults for video, picture, video&picture, multi shot etc. Try them and then reset them! 30 shots in 10 seconds sounded like a great way of never missing a shot, until i) you realise it takes another 10 seconds to write the images before you can shoot again, and ii) having triggered it a reasonable 50 times during the day you have 1,500 pictures to sort through
c) set the "on button default" to the mode you will use most. I had it set for video (720) with picture every 60 seconds. Then one click of the mode remote gave you single picture (7MP) mode.
d) bring a spare micro SD. It ate my 64GB one.
e) update to the latest firmware, it fixes some hanging issues. If you are a boy scout bring a copy of the firmware (Google for the manual mode of updating NOT java) on a spare microSD and you can reinstall if it goes pear shaped.
Mounts: The more the better, BUT they have to be easy to swap out. I will install more ram balls around the bike in the future and then it is just a matter of moving the arm. I left the entire mount on the beak every time and unscrewed the case from it then put the case on the 3 way mount connected to a ram ball for other positions. I used the long arm to give more movement.
Battery life: Battery life is shockingly bad. At very best two hours in "stand by" mode. That is with wifi on but camera off (it needs to be like this for the remote to be able to start it up. So with the remote linked up the battery life is not much better than the total record time if you leave the wifi off and have the unit permanently recording. Not good enough really. I had been running three batteries before I went, but then charging requires swapping them around at night. PITA. My solution, which worked pretty well, was to by another case (wanted to keep one in original watertight condition for times of deluge) and Dremel out the side to allow a usb cable in. I sealed it with a bit of blue tack. Worked well, except in torrential rain. The camera stayed dry, but enough moisture got in to fog the lens. No more though than gets in if you change the battery while it is raining. I have two permanently wired Burns USB sockets under the clocks and the camera stayed plugged in there. This allows you to run all day (or until the card is full). Two learning points. Every time you switch the engine off and on it resets the camera to the default on setting (so set that to do what you want it to before hand). The other took a while to figure out, but if the battery charges fully (unlikely if you are recording even modest amounts of video) it will switch off because it thinks you are finished charging. This requires a button reset on the camera. So plug out occasionally or record regularly. Also if the battery has not got a decent charge in it, recording for extended periods drains it (even with the USB in) because the Burns USB only delivers 1 Amp and the camera must use more than this when recording. Only happened to me once.
The Remote: The remote battery life is quite good. Possibly 5-6 hours. Even so, not enough for a full days riding. So I left the usb cable in it, and knotted it on a caribiner. The carabiner then clamped to any cable handy on the bars and left the remote swinging. I left it permanently plugged into the second USB socket, unless I was charging the phone. Once I got used to it, it worked pretty well. The remote looses its link occasionally for no good reason. Sometimes it picks back up and other times you have to restart the wifi on the camera. But 95% of the time it was OK. Some mornings I had to re-pair it. No idea why - but check it has paired before everybody starts their engines
Pairing the phone to see the image is a pain because you then have another operation to go through to switch back to the remote. Anyway, the angle of view is so wide I just judged it every time and as you have seen it came out OK.
Bring a microSD card reader to download the files. I couldn't get it to download via the USB cable
So as you see a lot of faffing about, but the results were good.
I will have to have a think about whether this set up is sustainable for me in the longer run.
RobertG
Registered user
Further to my post above Rob ... used the Hero3 a couple of times, testing it really, not used on a trip yet! Got a battery back PAC for it but the remote's battery life seems not so good. I think I'm going to have to run the remote wired up to a USB supply to keep it going, or pop it back on charge at coffee/pee stops
I tried the battery pack and found it extended life by 50%. Still wasn't long enough to satisfy me.
So, another frustration with the remote is that when it is finished charging it turns ON - WTF - and searches for a camera. Now if you just plug it out without switching it off it drains the battery
. This caught me out a few times. Once I caught on to that I found the battery life OK - but left it plugged in all day anyway!
I tried the battery pack and found it extended life by 50%. Still wasn't long enough to satisfy me.
So, another frustration with the remote is that when it is finished charging it turns ON - WTF - and searches for a camera. Now if you just plug it out without switching it off it drains the battery
Ha ... yeah, I soon latched on to that one
Thanks for your time in answering the above ... can see exactly where you're coming from .... ta
Mounting not a problem, I have a couple of situated mounting points that the 'tripod mount' fastens straight on to. No faffing, no messing
I don't have my camera on all the time, just stop and switch on for the interesting bits .... always have in mind that editing can only be done in 'real time' .... I'll aim for four or five ten/fifteen minutes of viewing a day. That's enough for anyone!
Just bought a Seagate Wireless Plus 1T external HD and at the end of the day can upload video from iPad to it after checking it through and deleting none worthy stuff.
I only use my Hero3 in video mode
Now get back to your ride report please Rob
Thanks
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