Alps, Dolomites & Black Forest

our 2004 loop through the Alps, Dolomites & Black Forest.
We planned to go over [SIZE=-1]Großglockner, but one of our guys decided to have a little "get-off" that caused us to detour south to hospital in Belluno. He was OK though.

[/SIZE]Sadly it's not a track but a recreaton. You may need to "recalculate" the route, but you'll get the idea. And yes... we did hit the Autobahn for a bit between Munich & the Black Forest.

The story of the trip is here

Greg, the next time you head up from Imst and want to avoid the usual traffic over the Fernpass, especially on weekends, take the road over the Hahntennjoch out of Imst to the 198. From there you can continue on the 198 to Reutte or swing back from Stanzach to Berwang over Namlos.

A slight detour, but that word doesn't really exist in Alps touring lingo if it makes for a better route.

I came up on the first tunnel on the 179 at Nassereith in 2004 and it was closed. I waited a few minutes till the road crew informed us of the closure...not knowing how long I'd have to wait, I swung back down and took the Hahntennjoch...no regrets...been taking it every year since then to get me to the A7. I've taken the Fernpass in the past and it is always slow going.

hmm.
the route must have recalculated funny. I sort of thought that might happen. The loop we rode that day went like this:



Zur Bruke to Oberau
Oberau to Linderhof
along the L 255 to Bad Kreckelmoos
across & down the B 198 to L 266 turns into L 72 (Hahntennjoch)
then up the B 189 to B 179
B 179 to the B 17 past Schwangau
the Steingaden, Ettal and back to Eschenlohe

Bschlabs is a really pretty town. (pic attached)




the Hahntennjoch is pretty wild.. like a moon-scape.
(we didn't stop to snap any pics though)

Greg, I have no-speed internet, so I didn't bother downloading your gpx file; I only read your trip report and noted that you took the Fern Pass as so many do. Your gpx file shows that you took the Hahntennjoch. A nice pass road!

At Weissenbach am Lech (you drove right through it on the 198 towards Reutte), I turn left onto the 199 and head over the Gaicht Pass to Oberjoch and then up the 310 to the A7.

that does look tasty!
if we'd only been with a tour company...

next time!
at the point where we were headed towards Reutte the lads wanted to see [SIZE=-1]Neuschwanstein Castle, and it was getting towards lunch. But your detour would have worked just as well![/SIZE]

Deja vu all over again. Glad he was OK. I made it over the Grossglockner this July only to have a get off just south of the German border, causing a trip to the Hospital in Berchtesgaden (my destination - so no detour ;-))
Two broken ribs on day 3 of an 18 day ride. :-(
Could have been worse - might have broken something that would have stopped me keep riding
Glad your buddy was OK

One thing I've emphasized everytime I get e-mails from riders on this side of the pond is not to get too overconfident when riding in the Alps. Riding here and riding there; a totally different game.

I've been lucky to never have had a get-off in my 12 years of riding there so far, considering that the tires get used from edge to edge, but I also use my judgement to the extreme (comes from my flying days); its easier to brake now and accelerate later when in doubt, I also read the road surface, etc. Actually one, now that I think of it. It was so minor, I forgot. On the outside of a hairpin coming down the Austrian side of the Timmelsjoch at next to nothing km/hr in light rain. Bike spun around on the footpeg, picked it up and off I was again. No damage at all.

I've also been lucky to have only come across a few motorcycle accidents in that same time period. One coming off the Sella towards Canazei, another in Aosta, and this year on the A7 at the A8 in Stuttgart. I may have missed one.

On the SS46 between Rovereto and Pian della Fugazze, they airlift quite a few riders every month that never make it; most of them from Vicenza and Austria/Germany.

In my case - it could have happened anywhere. In traffic at 20-25KPH, I made a mirror check to see what was happening behind me. When I looked forward again, traffic had stopped. I got on the brakes, the front wheel locked and fall down go boom. Low speed, clean dry pavement. Non-ABS 1200GS.

If you didn't have the required distance, ABS wouldn't have helped. I don't believe in ABS, linked, servo, whatever...except for plain old seperate front rear braking systems.

It wasn't a matter of distance - I never touched the car in front. It was a matter of the front wheel locking and skidding. ABS would have prevented that (true, I then may have impacted the car in front, but at a lower velocity).

TANSTAAFL

just to inject...

George tossed it away by not paying attention (my opinion) could have happened in the US or Europe.

this was the turn:



nothing special really (compared to Stelvio in the snow)... but George was preoccupied with stuff that was going on at home, went around the corner and (according to the guys behind him) grabbed a big handful halfway through the turn and actually sort of highsided the bike to the left. (it's the right hander in the foreground that he was negotiating).

Bottom line (I think) is we need to be careful everywhere.

I’ve been saved by ABS on a R1100RT. Came around a corner in the countryside to find a car stopped right in my path :eek1
I flipped the bike up, slammed the brakes on, ABS immediately cut in and regulated the braking, daughter slammed in to my back and we came to a safe stop just before hitting the back of the car. From there we rode on and had a really good day out

Me, I wouldn’t ride a bike without ABS now, because I know I’m not really that good.

That states my position quite nicely. A GOOD rider can outbrake ABS. Most of us aren't that good.

According to a motorcycle mag I read recently expert riders had to make several tries to outbrake a new abs model!! I think it was a Honda as well. So get an ABS bike and have less chance of replacing plastic parts. Of course my wife and I both ride non abs equiped dualsports but next time..

I agree Fern Pass is terrible, especially when a poker run stop is the restaurant on the Germany facing side and you have to turn left into it. And Hahntenjoch pass is a GREAT ride. Done it twice and loved it. Coming down into Plansee is great also riding along the lake.

I assume this was a driver failure.
Mostly not so experienced drivers loose concentration after a while.
I have seen stuff like that too, we call it a "Logen Platz", laugh.
Most of the time the rider doesn't get too much injured if he doesn't hit anything. There is a reason why I ride only with protective cloth.
(And yes I have had something similar happened to me years ago, but I learned, laugh)

TJ