Emmersdorf to Vienna

June 21st
122km (455m vertical)

Lost another rider to injury today. Don broke his collar bone after catching his pedal on a little metal collar in the middle of the bike path (the kind that can hold a post to stop cars from entering the bike path). He was in good spirits in the hotel lobby at the end of the day but he'll be flying home to Canada as soon as he can get a flight. This makes 3 riders that have left the trip due to injury. That sounds like more than enough (knock on wood). No new news on Neil. The last we heard he was still not conscious and the doctors were expecting him to remain in the German hospital for at least 3 weeks before he was fit to fly home. Serious stuff for an old adventurer. You can read some of Niel's blog on the Tour D'Afrique website, that is linked on the top right of this page.

Everyone got up an hour early today, so that we could make it into Vienna before all the shops close. (Shops in Europe are never open on Sundays it seems, so there won't be much shopping on our rest day tomorrow.) Unfortunately, Nicole had more wheel troubles in the morning, and ended up riding on Shanny's wheel again. Hers is garbage and will need to be replaced in Vienna. In the end, we were last out of camp at about 7:50am.

It was really hot today. Up to 90 F at one point. The first third of the ride was beautiful, riding through vineyards from one small town to another. We'd climb leisurely into the hills and then race down through narrow cobblestone streets back to the river.

The afternoon was less fun, mostly because it was so hot. We rode alone the river, on a flat, smooth bicycle path...just watching the kms tick by. We ended up sprinting for 1km then normal pace for 2km just to give us a way to pass the time. Occasionally there were nude locals sunbathing next to the path, and swimming or fishing in the river. Most were fat old men, which no one really needs to see naked on a hot day.

Arrived in the hotel around 2:45pm, but all the local bike shops were closed. We'll have to try again on Monday.

Had dinner with a group of 20 riders at a local Italian place. Watched the Eurocup quarter final match on TV between The Netherlands and Russia. The game was being played in Vienna, and there was a lot of interest in the game. Russia won. Sure that Tanya is happy about that. Poor Manon.