For outdoor & adventure sports, few large cities are a better base than Munich. For climbing, Arno and I have quickly discovered the Wilde Kaiser. But if the weather is not stable enough for the long routes we go mountain biking. And within 1-1.5 h, there are plenty of fantastic mountain biking venues on surfaces ranging from high-quality gravel roads to tricky trails.
The toughest tour this year so far was on the 9th of July and started in Bayrischzell. It was only 42 km long but but it covered 1718 altitude metres. Here is Arno at the start, ascending out of gorgeous Bayerischzell.
Great tracks but many steep bits...
... and sometimes not so steep bits...
... to meet some horses...
... before descending to the Brünnsteinhaus for an alcohol-free Weisses (honest!) and some soup.
We then decided to add more altimetres by adding a loop down to the bottom of the glen only to climb back up...
... to reach an Alm.
... followed by some meadows...
... and by a not quite so straightforward trail.
Sun & heat at the bottom...
... which I enjoyed, too.
But it is not all about mountain biking here in Munich. Road cycling is fantastic too and recreational gravel cycling is very popular. One of the cycle classics is the round around the Chiemsee which Ana and I did on the 10th of June 2018. Here is Ana on a typical gravel path in gorgeous upper Bavaria.
This is gods own cycle country and thus there are many cyclists.
Here, lake Chiemsee. The whole round around the lake is 61.5 km.
Plenty of beaches to chill...
... and plenty of boats, stand up paddlers and kayaks.
A great day especially because we escaped the thunderstorms.
Finally, I had my appointment with two proper bicycle guns, Thorsten and Nico on the 24th of June. We did the - let's get it done and over with - "Wank-Runde". Well, you think, I knew these Germans were dodgy but surely there must be a typo. There is no typo. Garmisch-Partenkirchen is "Wank" here, there and everywhere (there is even a poster saying "we want a Wank-tunnel for our children now!"). All that is fine as long as you have managed to avoid the more obscure vocabulary of the English language that is not typically taught of school. So what is the "Wank"? It is a mountain in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and I avoided it so I did not need to use the "W***" word.
Luckily we have dealt with the W*** issue now so let us focus, esteemed reader, with the cycle ride itself. Here are Nico and Thorsten on the first bit, a long, tough, bad ramp with up to 24% ascent.
Then a coffee at an Alm and then a descent to arrive in the glen with a gorgeous view of the Karwendel range...
... and the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in German.
Here, is Thorsten on a perfect mountain bike track that brought us to Mittenwald, a great base for mountain biking, walking, mountaineering and climbing (the Wilde Kaiser is better for climbing though).
After that another ascent...
... and a descent and ridge back to Garmisch.
For today, Arno and I had planned to climb on the Wilde Kaiser again. But the forecast was not reliable enough and so a big, bad nearly 20 pitch route was out of the question. So I introduced Arno to my quick fix local route which goes around the Wallberg and Schinder with 46 km and 938 m of ascent. The start is in Kreuth, just South of the Tegernsee.
A steady climb to an Alm, and then a descent with a bit of a trail. We played it safe at times as there were sharp, slippery rocks.
After that the steepest ascent but only 300 m up...
... followed by some cycling on the road, lunch in one of the many Alpine huts and a return to the car.
In a nutshell, the Bavarian Alps are a great venue for mountain biking and there are plenty of places to hire bikes, or if the training status of your lower extremities is lamentable, e-bikes!
HW
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