Beautiful wildflowers, singing Germans and friendly cows. That’s what Tuesdays are for in the Ötztal Valley.

About a month ago, Chris shuttled me up to Timmelsjoch Pass early Tuesday morning so I could explore a route down back to Sölden. He dropped me off at the ticket gate so we didn’t have to pay the hefty toll. Money in the pocket meant, you guessed it, a nice healthy Alps climb to get to a big descent.

It was really nice to be out so early, which happens to be my favorite part of the day.  The light was beautiful, the temperature perfect and I noticed the alpine air had its own distinct fragrance. Not too soon after I started pedaling did I come across some markings on the road and quickly noticed the name “Didi”. It was a bicycle mural homage to Didi, the guy who dresses up like the devil during major bike races.

It took at least an hour to ride up through the snow walls and switchbacks all the way to the Italy border. And you can bet I made those few extra pedal strokes so that I could put a foot in each country (who wouldn’t?) From there, I checked the cafe hoping for a coffee and a pastry since I had already burned through my breakfast. Unfortunately, I would have nothing and like it. The cafe was closed and all I could do was look through the window at a nicely stocked bar, stacks of coffee mugs waiting for espresso shots and rows of freshly stocked souvenir cow bells.

Even though my stomach was growling, I ventured off onto the pass looking for future photo shoot locations. The view towards Italy across the rugged peaks and pastoral valleys was amazing.

I finally started the descent on singletrack that dropped back into the valley, paralleling the paved road I had already ridden up to Timmelsjoch Pass. The trail was as rugged as anything I had ridden already in the Alps – narrow and very natural. There were plenty of spots where I didn’t want to risk a catching a pedal so I found myself walking a fair amount. I normally hate hike-a-biking but I was perfectly happy, riding and stopping for photos whenever I needed. The wildflowers seemed to be exploding everywhere and I was able to stage some interesting shots. Between the trail and the photo making, my original idea of finishing the ride by mid-morning was pretty much shot.

The rough singletrack continued all the way down the upper valley until it dropped off the edge into a beautiful open meadow. As a descending through a sea of yellow flowers,  I encountered a German couple hiking uphill. The woman didn’t speak english so she called to her husband and we started to chat. As soon as he found out I was from the US, he was in shock – “American woman here? Whoa!” He then communicated that he thought American women were “soft”. He was really excited and just couldn’t believe I was biking the trail. He took my picture, said I had the heart of Ivan and then sang me the Danke song in German (which basically means thank you for everything). It was fun, funny and very sweet.

From there, the riding (and hike-a-biking) continued until the trail dropped into the forest. Thankfully things finally mellowed out a bit. By now I was making pretty good progress towards the village of Zwieselstein. Just about the time I was thinking about a pizza lunch, I came across a herd of those charming cows. You know, the ones that are so well groomed and have those fancy bells.

At first I thought I needed to keep my distance since most of them has little horns. Then I saw a couple hiking towards me on the other end of the herd. They put their hands out and I saw that the cows were more like dogs than livestock. I held my hand out as well and made friends quickly. I pulled my phone out to take a few photos and, before I knew it, I was surrounded by four of them sniffing, licking and rubbing my bike. The most outgoing of the bunch was using my handlebar as a head scratcher. At this point I took the opportunity to get my backpack off and pull out my camera. By then they were close to pushing the bike over on top of me. It was all very playful – they were very curious. After saying goodbye to my new friends, I dropped quickly into Zwieselstein. Pizza time!

Since it had been such long morning, I made quick work of lunch before pedaling the last bit to Sölden. It’s super hard to pedal right after a big meal, especially when the trail goes straight up hill. For whatever reason, I thought the route would be downhill into town. Unfortunately, as the river drops into the gorge, the trail climbs up to contour along the top edge. Luckily, it was still spring and the roiling waters made for a pretty spectacular sight as I pushed, pulled and dragged by bike up the trail.  

The finale of the ride was a crossing of a suspension bridge over the gorge. Strangely enough, it connects back into the main part of Sölden by way of the grocery store. 

Unfortunately, the rest of the ride was eventful – no wildflowers, singing Germans or outgoing cows. It was just me and the long slow 13% climb back to the apartment for a nice long nap.