View Larger Map
Monday, August 26th - Keszthely to Furstenfeld, 9810 km
It’s another pleasant day. Eero and Jan are up early as usual. So is Jochen but Mathias is another story. When Jochen finally does manage to get him to get up he looks a bit like the walking dead. He’s definitely not a morning person. I have learned quickly not to talk to him for the first half hour.
Breakfast at the hostel is followed by a half hour wait while myself and the other three wait for his coffee to take effect. I was a bit like this in Toronto, but never this bad. By the time his bike is loaded up, which is around 10 am, he has as
much energy as the rest of us.
Our route from Keszthely is a zig-zag course through twisty back roads that lead north-west through Zalaegerszeg to Bagod, and then north to Kormend. That is where
Eero and Jan will split off from the rest of us to continue north to Vienna while Jochen, Mathias and I will go west into Austria towards Graz.
I think straight men have an intuitive sense, much like gaydar in gay men, but for detecting other straight men. Eero and Jan did not react to my presence over the past two days like they do to Mathias and Jochen. Their reaction is a competitive one. We have a long way to go today so I am sure Eero and Jan are anxious about this, but today’s ride has turned into a rather uncomfortable race.
Mathias is quite competitive and stays right up with Jan. Eero has left his shepherding position at the rear to keep up with them and Jochen and I stay close behind. No one will admit to finding the pace too strenuous, for fear of losing face I suppose. It is totally ridiculous and at several points I consider letting them race on without me, but after five months of cycling I am probably in better shape for this workout than they are. We fly along a rough average of 25 km/hr on our little road that rises and drops a bit as it snakes between 200 metre hills.
When we reach Zalaegerszeg we pause for a ten minute break after having kept that hurried pace for two hours. Then the race continues. The road is flatter and somewhat straighter through Bagod and north to Kormend. We are all quite wet from perspiration by that point, which is about 80 km from Keszthely. We say goodbye to Eero and Jan the straight way, with handshakes in place of hugs, and then go our separate ways.
Mathias turns to me as soon as they are out of sight and warns me, “We normally don’t like to ride that fast.” I smile. “Why didn’t you say something?” I ask. He shrugs, “It doesn’t matter,” and sets off in front at a reasonable pace about ¾ as fast as we had been going.
We are following a broad valley of the Feistritz River after reaching the Austrian border just beyond Szenttgothard. It is very flat with distant low hills on either side. They have not said how for they plan to cycle before stopping for the night. The light is beginning to fade as it mercifully dips behind a bank of clouds along the western 
horizon. We are at the foot of the hills along the north side of the valley as we pass through the towns of Heiligenkreuz, Eltendorf and Dobersdorf before we agree to start looking for a place to stay. There is no youth hostel in Rudersdorf so we coast on at a gentler pace to Furstenfeld where we find a dorm room in a youth hostel on Haupstrasse, near the central square.
It is already late but the Germans don’t want to go out for a meal anyway. They are definitely the type to live on groceries that they pack with them. We throw together a haphazard meal in our dorm room. They are happy with the progress today, and with the saner pace since Kormend. So am I. I think we should do well cycling together. We have covered 128 km today.
PHOTO 1: Jan, me, Jochen, Eero & Mathias
PHOTO 2: leaving Keszthely
PHOTO 3: synagogue in Zalaegerszeg
PHOTO 4: hills of west Hungary
PHOTO 5: Kormend castle
PHOTO 6: Burgerland, east Austria
PHOTO 7: coming into Furstenfeld
No comments:
Post a Comment