My stay in Stuttgart and Ulm was very pleasant. At the AC Hofer, the Frau allowed Hr. Prof. Petrie to keep his bike in the garage. At the wonderful Schiefes Haus in Ulm, I was lucky to find a a nearby hidden spot where I probably would not get a ticket. Now I'm in Innsbruck where I again have the bike garaged.

Wednesday, I came down via the Fernpaß, stopping at the Weißee along the way for lunch, and to get off the Autobahn. Bikes are great for the Fernpaß: it looks like a major road on the map but its not and the only way to pass all of the truck backing up traffic on the tight twisty turns is to ride a motorcycle and depend upon the kindness of the oncoming strangers.

I'm riding without my leather pants, which I rarely do, but it is just too hot. I ended up doing this a lot because the temperature is above 100F in the valleys. I suppose eventually I am going to have to invest in some light-weight synthetic riding gear.

I rode up in the mountains and didn't get back on the A12 until Telfs. Had a hard time finding my hotel initialy, and it was very hot, so perhaps I wasn't thinking clearly, but it turns out that Innsbruck is really a small town, so it really wasn't hard. And the other nice think about the Hotel Zillertal is that there is an ethernet connection built-in to the desk and its free.

I stopped into DERI that afternoon and did a little work, and went out with some of the guys for dinner at a hut a short ways up the mountain. I rode with them in their car because it seems to rain here in the afternoons.

Thursday 23 July, was a riding day. My only really riding-for-fun day. But enough! I did a loop, that was around 650Km, based upon the odo. Since the speedo is optimistic compared with the bicycle speedo that Rik installed, it might have been more. And I was getting almost 16Km/liter, so not bad given that I going up and down mountains. Of course, I tended to coast down.

Instead of following the path I did in 2001, I turned off of the A12 at exit 123 and took the 186 south. At Sölden, I noticed a sign advertising the glacier road. With a flashing outline of a motorcycle.

This is a very nice road, especially after the toll booth (5 Euro). On the way up, I saw 5 motorscooters doing the road but they may not have gone all the way up, because I never saw them on top. There are two different glaciers at the top of the great road (much cooler than below) and to reach one of them, you go through Europe's highest street tunnel. On the otherside, there was a hiking path up to a scenic lookout, but I saw no signs preventing motorcycles from going up as well.

At the other glacier, I had already stopped, taken a bunch of pics, and played with some dogs in the snow. I went back and had a light lunch and headed back, coasting down and still passing the cars.

It was pretty warm, but the Timelsjoch came up shortly. The sport bike groups were passing me on the straights as a matter of principle. Imagine having to follow an old BMW with a windshield and Dutch license plates when one has a real sportbike. Of course, then I would just hang with them through the curves.

As usual, the best part of the road comes after the toll booth. You just have to have a pocket full of Euro coins in the mountains these days. I stopped up at the hut on top of the pass, and again by the side of the road just before starting downhill in Italy. A 2-up sportbike went past, and though I stopped again to take pictures, I caught and passed it later, after turning my engine back on. He was taking the turns very gingerly, possibly being conscientious of the sensitivities of his passenger.

Then down into the HOT valley. It was over 100F. My hat is off to the sportbikers who continued to wear their race leathers. I took off my leather pants. And fortunately I had my cooling vest, which I soaked at a gas station in Merano. The looong ride on the 46 out to Sponding was horrible. Traffic was blocked by trucks and village speed limits, and I was cooking inside. I broke free every once in a while only to find a continuous string of trucks. I thought about giving up in Sponding, but I had an ice coffee and all was well.

I didn't even go very far up the mountain before I was able to put my leather pants back on. Along the way, as with all of these mountain roads, there are numerous construction sites. They have traffic lights where one is supposed to wait. However, I learned from locals that this is unnecessary, especially with a motorcycle. From then on, every time I came to a line of cars waiting, I just passed them, blew through the red light, and took my chances on the usually short single lane.

The way up to the Silfser Joch just gets better and better, the higher. The turns are marked in degrees of turning radius. The first marked turn is 45 degrees. Then it drops down into the 30s. Then the twenties, teens, and pretty soon the posts are a single digit countdown to one degree turns. And steep ones. Wonderful.

They are all first degree turns for me. I had the way free, passing just a few cars, but when I have followed sportbikes, they get in my way. They go no faster than me but they turn very wide so that I am broadsiding them. I have heard this is somehow safer but I don't get it. What it means is that they are in the path of oncoming downhill traffic on right-hand turns. And occasionally that was me coming down, nearly colliding with some bike going up who was not using his side of the road at all.

I do find that the right technique for a right-hand turn that is extremely deep and sharp is to go wide and cut in directly at the apex. But I am not taking up the whole road and the sportbikes are not coming anywhere near the apex. But I'm having fun, and finding, that as I get used to this bike again, that I can move along at a good clip on these roads. It is just plain fun.

At the top, there are not as many bikes as there are on a weekend, earlier in the day. And there is no snow. It is not at all cold and it is clear that this has been a warm summer. All of the ski lodges are running fitness centers. There are groups of people jogging up the mountain paths, here at almost 3000 meters. I had some coffee, cabled my leathers to the bike, and hiked up to the St. Gabriel refuge for some better shots. Down below, I noticed another exercise group in the parking lot being led in calisthenics. The climb was not bad but enough exercise at this height given how worn out I am from the valley heat. And coming down, I noticed that my old knees miss their hiking sticks.

Down below, I hung out for a while and waited for the valley to cool off. Then I went down the backside and took the little shortcut back through Switzerland. I had forgotten my passport, but I knew from experience that they would just wave me on through at the control stations and they did.

I coasted all the way down to the stream at the bottom of the mountain. Where the road crossed the first bridge I had to use the motor a bit. But then I could coast again. The road is dirt past this bridge for a long ways. Then it's paved just before hitting the village (St. Maria) at the bottom. Take a right on the 28 and leave Switzerland back into Italy, nobody asking for a passport again.

Then back on the 46 headed up to Nauders crossing back over into Austria. It is much cooler. It's hay season: they're mowing hay and the road is full of tractors pulling hay wagons. Together with these and the construction stops, and big trucks, I am so glad I am on a motorcycle.

Around the Lake di Resla at Rescensee, with the drowned clock tower, another group of sport bikes passed me. So I hung with them through the sweepers. I could keep up but I had to admit that at least the lead bikes seemed very confident in the blind turns. Then, when they all ducked into a small alleyway in the next town, I understood they were all Italian locals.

There is a tunnel bypassing Landeck, and the sun set while I was inside it. It is remarkable to go in when the sun is still shining and come out when it's not. Then I autobahned it all the way to Innsbruck, stopping for gas. I had started out at a 9:30am. After bopping around in the old part of town a bit, I got back to my room just exactly twelve hours later. Then I found a message to meet some of the DERI guys for dinner. So I had a nice half-hour walk into the Altstadt and had my fill of Hefeweißen. A great end to a great riding day.

Friday, I didn't do much. I had a morning meeting and then used the Internet in my room to do some work. Then I had some Grüner Weltliner for lunch and took it easy in the afternoon. I did take the bike out toward Brenner and took the 10 exit to the Glacier but a mountain thunderstorm came up and I was forced to go back to Innsbruck. I just got past the waterfall. Which was a bit aggravating since one has to pay 2.50E to get off of the A13 and then again to get back on it.