From Tri Talk....
I've just come back from a very relaxing and enjoyable 10 days in Klagenfurt. The aim was to learn a few lessons prior to IMA, and the post below shares some of these - the second half will be primarily (if at all) of interest to anyone thinking about driving down.
Danny (SuperSpecs) and I wanted to check out the bike course before the winter, so we could adapt our training accordingly. Im pleased to say that I did manage to get all the way round, though I cant say I felt like running a marathon at the end. Still, at least I know the hills arent of the 'keep slowing down until your going so slow you cant even unclip, and then fall off' variety - even on the second loop.
We also tried out most of the run course (I think - hard to tell exactly what route you need to take through Krumpendorf, and Im not convinced that all of the route is available at normal times). Thankfully, it really is nice and flat. we also discovered a very nice half marathon course, permanently laid out with km markers, toilets and drinking fountains. This city really is one large playground.
I also discovered, though unintentionally, that the water in the lake is so clean that you can continue swimming quite contentedly with open eyes if you completely lose your goggles when you gracefully dive (or rather bellyflop) from the floating platform into the lake.
Campsite itself is nice, good amenities, and fairly quiet. We'd run out of new places to eat by the end, though, and our wallets were considerably lighter than they would have been if we'd taken our normal French holiday. The Italian place inside the Standbad is ok and pretty good value, though. (This is probably all very different around race time, so may not even be relevant).
Perhaps the most important aspect of the trip from my point of view was trying out the route down, and discovering how long it would take me to recover from a long drive. (Although we both have driving licences, Im the only one to actually drive, but I'll say no more on that topic, as that way lies much domestic dis-harmony)
We left Cambridge at lunchtime on Sunday and got a Eurostar at around 4pm. We'd used Tesco vouchers, and whilst the free crossings are great, be aware that there are limited Tesco places on each crossing, so you need to book well in advance - we wouldnt normally leave for holiday on a Sunday afternoon!) We had planned to drive as long as we could, and then stop off in a motorway service station. We drive a motorcaravan, and so stopping off is not a problem.
Route wise, I wanted to go down through France - A26 to Reims, then A4 to the Greman border. This was partly bacuse I wanted at least part of the journey to be on familiar roads, partly because I knew Id be happy spending the night in a French Aire, and partly because, on the maps, it looked easier - and the short distances between junctions on the various route options to the east and early into Germany suggested that these roads would be much busier.
After 6 hours kip in an Aire West of Metz we continued in the direction of Strasbourg, then up the A35 and across into Germany near baden Baden, before continuing North to Karlsruhe, and then towards Stuttgart. There dont seem to be any route options which dont involve a significant wiggle at this point, but heading North does feel frustrating!
We had already noticed how much busier the German motorways were than the French ones, and from my point of view, much more stressful - it felt very similar to driving round the M25 - not difficult, but you wouldnt want to do it all day. We then hit very bad roadworks before Stuttgart, and several further sets thereafter. All of the really bad ones claimed that they would be finished well before next years race, but anyone heading down for a training visit in the meantime will want to allow an extra 2-3 hours driving time (aargh!). All in all, I didnt like the Autonbahn, and was glad that Id spent the previous day chilled out of SANEF's admittedly expenmsive but nice and empty roads. Drivers of vans will need to note the numerous stretches where there are speedlimits or overtaking restrictions that apply to you in Germany.
On the Munich ringroad by mid afternoon, we decided to make a bid for Klagenfurt the same day. From now on, things were pretty straightforward, though I didnt like the longer Austrian tunnels, especially the one which currently has a contraflow through it. We arrived, we thoroughly tired, at about 8.30pm.
On refelection, I wouldnt advise doing the journey in 1.5 days (though with lots of stops I dint feel I was being unsafe). However, I wouldnt have felt comfortable stopping in a German or Austrian service area overnight. Next time, I may consider a campsite somewhere near or just beyond Munich. Still, I managed a 3 hour run the next day, so it cant have been all that bad.
When it came time to go home, we decided to make a bid for the French border in one day, stay the night in a Aire and take things from there. Traffic was again a nightmare, and was accompanied by an horrendous storm. We stopped at the first available Aire in France. Judging by how busy all the Aires were (the first 2 we tried were full), lorry drivers also understand the advantages of overnighting in France rather than Germany. We had managed much less distance than on the way down.
The next day, I had intended to go back into Germany at Saarbrucken and up that way. But my previous days experience of German traffichad put me off, and we decided to come back the same way. This allowed us to continue our normal practice of a night at the Camspite Vivier auz Carpes near St Quentin (so only a short day's drive today), followed by a short 2 hour drive to the booze shops of Calais, followed by an evening departure. There are now over 100 bottles of red under my stairs! It took me longer to recover from the drive home - but maybe thats just because wine isnt the best recovery drink...
My advice, if you are intending to drive down, is that a day of German and Austria motorways is not too knackering, but two would be. I thoroughly recommend the French route - even though I didnt, in the end, try the alternative - and I'll be sticking with it.
I thoroughly enjoyed Klagenfurt. It's very daunting to think of the task that I will have to accomplish next time I'm there, though!
OK, more on the bike course (Maybe more than you want, but I did some but of this 5 times over the time we were there!)
First part, along the Suduferstrasse, is probably best described as rolling (I live in Cambridge, though, so a couple of ant hills make a route rolling as far as I am concerned). No real problems here, no need to use the small chain ring, at least, not on the first lap! (I was riding a compact with a 12-25)
The link between the two loops is very slightly uphill (would be a bit of a drag if there were a headwind), followed by a nice, quick descent into Rossegg - road narrows across the river, and I did have a momentary panic about being on the wrong side of the road when a sports car was speeding towards me, but I regained my composure and remembered that I was on the correct side just in time.
Turn right in Rossegg, and in a couple of miles, I needed to get into the small chain ring for the first time, but not for long. This is then followed by another good descent, which brings you alongside the motorway. This is a nice quick section.
By now, I was realsing that I'd done more descending than climbing (havent checked if that is true, but it certainly felt it). But along comes a roundabout at which you turn left, and the fun begins., with the first serious climb of the day. Its detailed on the IMA website, so I wont say much here, except that it annoyingly continues after you've g0one round the corner. For the graffiti watchers (if it hasnt been washedd off and replaced by then), its over not long after the third @?&*. (well, if we will leave roads scrawled with encouragement to athletes, we must expect the loacl youths to embellish after we've gone, I suppose).
Turn left at the top, and a frustrating descent where we couldnt get up the speed that we wanted. I guess things will be much better on closed roads, as on coming traffic and pedestrian crossings were the main issues. In Ross am Egg, turn left. Heres a patch with some nice new tarmac. Hopefully, it wont still be tacky by the time you get there!
Turn left again towards Ledenitzen (?sp), where I can recommend the cafe! I found this stretch a bit of a drag - still not entirely recoverd from the hill, very slightly climbing, but looks almost flat, and we had a headwind. Ive made a mental note not to get despondent if I fail to achieve the speeds that I want on this stretch.
At the end of the road, you turn left onto a very nice, very fast, long downhill section. Even I managed 38mph on this stretch. Then filter off left to go under this mainroad on a smaller roaback to Rossegg. a couple of minor climbs, and you go through a village called Frog, but in no time at all you are back into Rossegg and joining the link sedction in the opposite direction.
I hated the hill on the return leg of the link section. For me, it was bad enough to hurt (especially seond time), but I felt guilty about hurting, as its not one of the two 'official' hills.
Its now, as you rejoin the first loop, that the fun begins. A climb through Augsburg is only over when you spot the firestation on the left.
A sharp right turn in Schliesing (?sp) am See now takes you downhill, and this is a good time to eat, as the big hill isnt now far away. Turn left in St Egyden (?sp - sorry, cant be bothered to open a second window to ckeck the place names at this moment!), climb slightly out of the village, but dont get over excited, this isnt it yet, descend slightly, and start going up hill again. This is it, and you're going to be going up hill for a while. Eventually, it starts to level out, but there is a sting in the tail, with a second steep section. I now think of this more as two hills joined by an uphill section. Thats why the webpage quotes such a low average gradient. You are pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so no real landmarks to let you know how far through the climb you are.
Suddenly, you're no longer going 6mph, but well over 40. The roads as wide, fairly straight, and well surfaced. This is more like it. Once it flattens out and you slow down a bit, you might notice that the signs round here are dual language - you're very close to Slovenia, and the view of the high mountains is very good.
There are a couple of further short climbs that really hurt me - not bad in themselves, but coming soon after the big hill, this Cambridge boy was struggling.
Once you pass the shop selling Xentis wheels, you're on the home stretch. Not long after, you join the mainroad from Slovenia into Klagenfurt, which is another very quick section. then joined a local cycle route to avoid the traffic. It had a 20kph speed limit, which was a very wlecome enforced chage of space (There were special sign to inform you that the limit also applied to cycles, suggesting we may not have been the first ever triathletes to use this shortcut!)
Now do it all again. Then collapse - or if you still fancy some exercise, I guess you could run a marathon...
Courtesy of XML on this link
www.tritalk.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=48782&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0