"What a stupid idea," I thought to myself the day before in our flat in Reutte in Tyrol, from where our Bike'n'SUP tour was to start. "How the hell am I supposed to fit all this stuff, including board and paddle, into my rucksack?" A change of clothes, energy bars, first aid kit - plus the iSUP, which takes up most of the space. "It wouldn't have hurt to try packing once," I muttered when I realised that I had to leave almost a third of my things in the car. When we all put our rucksacks on for the first time in the evening, we almost fell over backwards and laughed out loud at our plan! In the same breath, we opened a beer to go over the three-day route again in peace ...
The next morning - early, very early - the fog hung low. But when we reached the first lake, the fog lifted. The first rays of sunshine bathed the water and the yellow autumn leaves in breathtaking light and thousands of colours. The timing couldn't have been better! At Lake Heiterwanger See near Reutte, autumn showed itself from its most beautiful side. It was as if we were pushing the fog aside with every paddle, while the sun slowly coloured the lake a deep blue. I can still remember the most difficult part of the tour! The ascent was so extremely steep that we had to shoulder the bikes for almost an hour! We slipped several times on the damp earth of the northern slope and had very little grip with our bike shoes on the narrow hiking trail. The sweat was pouring and we had already reached our absolute limit at the start of the tour! We were swearing and shouting, but also cheering each other on. The reward followed: the gigantic view of the Eibsee with the Zugspitze in the background. The beauty of nature on perfect autumn days in the mountains made us overlook some of the pain. We were so distracted by the spectacular view that we often didn't even realise how strenuous our tour actually was.
We practically had to relearn how to cycle: the rucksacks on our backs were so heavy that the narrow trails, which are usually easy to cycle on, now became a challenge. We were constantly slipping with our tyres on wet roots and stones and had to balance the 20-kilo pack again and again. Fortunately, we only had two falls and two punctures in the end. Our team briefly lost track of each other at Blindsee: Andy Dressler looked almost apathetic at the end of day one. My brother Mario and Andy were already very exhausted at this point. Andy was almost unresponsive in his "sport mode" and took a wrong turn in front of our eyes without reacting and despite our shouts. He was lost for 30 minutes. We paddled the Blindsee - the name suited our colleague perfectly - alone at first. A few minutes later, however, the tired Andy found his way back to us and didn't miss out on the Blindsee.
After a tough ascent of over 900 metres in altitude, the next day we headed from Ehrwald to the high mountain lakes in the Mieminger Gebirge in freezing temperatures. Once again, we had to cycle uphill for an hour and a half. When we arrived at the Seebensee lake at 1,657 metres, we were greeted by a magnificent landscape. As the sun rose and set the scene for the Zugspitze, the Wetterstein mountains were reflected in the absolutely smooth surface of the water. The highlights of the second day of the tour were the Seebensee and Drachensee lakes below the Coburger Hütte. Both high mountain lakes boast a breathtaking backdrop of massive rock faces. The sunlight bathed the lakes in turquoise blue. Paddling seemed almost surreal! Any effort was immediately forgotten up here. And suddenly the whole expedition made sense. We were all super happy, pumped full of energy bars and happiness hormones, intoxicated by life and our environment.
The last day of the tour began with rain. The weather was cloudy and the last mountain lakes awaited us, including a tour around the Schöttelkarspitze. After a seemingly endless and extremely steep ascent to the Fischbachalm at 1,462 metres, we parked the bikes at the material lift and set off on our hike - the ascent to the Soiernhaus at 1,622 metres is impossible on a mountain bike. When we reached the two Soiernsee lakes, it cleared up. I rhymed a poem to myself in the frenzy of this intense experience:
"The scenery as if painted. Every paddle is a joyful progression. Wilderness as far as the sun shines - in harmony with nature and gliding silently across the water."
On the way back to Krün, the brakes on our bikes were so heavily loaded under the weight that the discs started to glow. Everything smelled burnt! Andy, who was travelling with V-brakes, even got the rim so hot that the inner tube melted and we had to take a short break to repair the puncture. From then on, we continued downhill via Walchensee to the finish at Kochelsee.
The tour was actually supposed to go as far as Murnau. But we already had 24 lakes in our pockets - more than planned. That was enough. My brother Mario was only able to take part in the tour with a special leg protector due to a complicated leg fracture he suffered in 2012. Despite this, he was in so much pain that he was often on the verge of cancelling the expedition on the first two days. In the end, however, he fought his way through and we always motivated each other to keep going. At the end of the Bike'n'SUP tour, my brother had fewer problems with the old hernia than with a new ailment: He picked up tendonitis at the end of the expedition. No wonder, after three super strenuous days with 205 kilometres, 4,100 metres of altitude, 33 hours in the saddle - or pulling up the spars on 24 paddled lakes, for each of which we took half an hour. The highlights were behind us and everyone's muscles were aching. But it was worth it!
INFO ABOUT THE MOUNTAIN LAKE TOUR
- Stage 1 ( 77 km; 1,600 m elevation gain; 12.5 hours on track; 9 lakes)
From Reutte in Tyrol, the first four mountain lakes were headed for first. With 20 kilos of luggage and a mountain bike, they travelled from Griesen over the Miesingberg towards Eibsee. The gradient was so extreme that the athletes were forced to shoulder their own bikes in addition to their luggage. From the Eibsee, the second ascent continued via the Hochthörlehütte, downhill to the Zugspitzbahn and on to Lermoos. From there, we continued towards the Fernpass for the last three lakes of the first day. After 12.5 hours in the saddle and on the water, the first day was rounded off with a paddle on the Weißensee, which was already in complete darkness. Wearing headlamps, we returned to the guesthouse in Ehrwald - and to a well-earned dinner.
- Stage 2 (78 km; 1,200 m elevation gain; 12 hours on track; 10 lakes)
The team set off from Ehrwald at seven o'clock in the morning - in temperatures around freezing point. Fog and the first frost persisted, and the athletes struggled with the long ascent from Ehrwald to Seebensee and from there to the Coburger Hütte at 1,917 metres. In one stretch, they climbed 900 metres in altitude. The rising sun set the scene for the magnificent view of the Zugspitze from Seebensee. The team paddled its highest lake, Drachensee, below the Coburger Hütte at 1,874 metres. The rest of the day was almost exclusively downhill. The destination for Saturday was accommodation in Krün.
- Stage 3 (50 km; 1,300 m elevation gain; 8 hours on track; 5 lakes)
The last day of the expedition began with rain. After an endlessly long and extremely steep ascent, the team reached the Fischbachalm at 1,462 metres. The bikes were parked there and the boards were shouldered up to the Soiernhaus at 1,622 metres. On the way back to Krün, the brakes were so heavily loaded under the weight that the disc brakes even started to glow. From there, we continued down the valley via Walchensee to the final stop at Kochelsee.
