Today we cycled from Lienz to Zell am See, about 95km…all day to ride it, beautiful weather, no problem right? Just one small issue, a bit of a hill in between the two valleys known as the Grossglockner, Austria’s toughest and most famous climb and the most challenging ascent on our whole Lionheart Odyssey! At 3798m / 12461ft, this peak is the highest point in the country; the road tops out at 2504m / 8215ft and is also considered the highest paved road in Austria! Featuring twice on the Giro d’Italia, many cyclists test their abilities on this behemoth of the Alps.

How will we cope? There was a lot of questioning and trepidation at the evening briefing and I’m sure a few besides myself had a restless sleep. I actually got away considerably early as I knew I would end up at the rear anyway.

The ride began with a punchy 6km warmup climb up the Iselberg and a lovely long descent down through a valley to the foot of the Grosslockner.

Locking back down on Lienz from the Iselberg…

It was 8-9% gradient  in here…

Discussing tactics with Captain Sam….

Pete at the top…

30km later we reach the point of no return…

Morning tea beneath this beautiful waterfall…

Last village on the climb, you can see the inspiration for the spires around here!!

Paul, not feeling great but dragged himself up here. Legendary effort…

Sam dragged me up most of the day, so encouraging!

Some of the scenery on the way up…

Adam stretching. He spent long periods out of the seat pushing hard on the pedals…

Adam, Chris and Sam. we are at about Mt Kosi height, with about 4km of riding still to go…

At the top of the pass, soooo happy, soooo tired!

Rocking the new ‘do’. Helmet hair, hope it catches on!

From the top of the pass we rode down to a saddle where we all gathered in a cafe for lunch. as you can see from this shot, the weather was absolutely perfect. Not a breath of wind, not too cold and great visibility.

After lunch we had to climb for 1.6km unto a second summit to be greeted by these amazing views…

Then followed the most scariest yet exhilarating 26km descent. We took our time, but my disc breaks got so hot Im sure I could have started a fire with them!

Eventually things levelled out and we rode into the resort town of Zell am See, a winter skiing destination with beautiful views of the mountains around Lake Zell.

We stayed at the beautiful castle hotel – Schloss Prielau – which happens to be owned by the Porsche family, for a lovely evening meal and well-deserved rest.

To top the afternoon off Sam gave us a lecture on Richard Lionheart’s journey home from the 3rd Crusade in this wonderful ‘classroom’

That was an amazing day full of wonders and challenges for us all!