The goal? A 2-month bike tour starting in Austria and ending in southern France for my friend Kate's wedding reception. Departure date: July 4, 2012. BUT... I'm laid up in Wörgl, a small town in a beautiful valley at the base of the Austrian Alps. Strange weather patterns have come here this summer, too. There are lots of rainy, gray days and crazy hail. Three days ago, hail fell the size of golf balls. It shattered car windshields and left hoods and roofs pockmarked. Local news said more than 2.5m euros worth of damage was done to vehicles alone, just in the town of Wörgl (population 12,000). So, why laid up? Quite unserendipitously, on the flight over, serious pain commenced in my foot, and I can barely walk. I've been chilling at my friend Nina's house, icing and Ibuprofening and resting. I'm headed to a sports doctor today and hoping he'll say a cortisone shot and a good tape job will get me on the road. Nina and I took the bike out of the box and put her back together. Now she just needs a rider. Ive been trying to stay up beat, in case being positive heals feet. Yesterday, I found round band aids for blisters on the ground, just after realizing my new supportive shoes were rubbing. And later i saw a huge rainbow in the sky. Two great signs, I thought. Just a little about Wörgl: if it has a comparable city in the US, maybe it's something like Bend, OR or Boulder, CO. Gorgeous landscape, multiple year-round outdoor sports, world class athletes. There's a river and lakes everywhere. The small downtown is built on old farmland -- between buildings in the curve of the street there will be an old barn still in use, or you'll see a clearing and bails of hay. Two days a year, the main street is filled with cows as they're moved from barn to pasture. I've loved Wörgl -- hanging with Nina's lovely and welcoming, super sports family, swimming in cool Alpine lakes, drinking delicious coffee, and marveling at wise European design and standards: doors and windows that open multiple ways; a small, simple espresso maker, no bells or whistles, that always makes a perfect cup; tiny bathroom sinks. Why go bigger?; no top sheet on the bed, just the comforter. Etc. If you've been here, you've wondered at the same things. Tonight or tomorrow morning I'll take a train to Linz, where I'll meet up with my fellow bikers from Alaska, Sage and Sandra. I cant wait to drink it out with them and come up with a plan! Lastly, since this is my first post, i need to give a huge, huge thanks to Matt, Gonzalo, Mike D., Steve, Grayson et al at CycleLife USA in Washington DC for hooking me up and setting me up on my bike (like I'd have to hand over my first born if they ask for it). I'm so, so thankful to them for getting me here. Today I visited my bike in the basement and admired her. The perfectly fit stem and handlebars, the re-purposed bar tape, the green housing flair, the precision cut chain, the towpath pebbles in the Vittorias, the CycleLife USA water bottle, and last and most beloved by CycleLife USA employees, the optimally placed Terry Butterfly saddle. Also a huge thanks to behind-the-scenes support from my bike guru and confidant, Mark Andersen, who advised me on all the bargain parts and provided links for where to buy them! I do what Mark tells me to. And to my remote physical therapists and valgus collapse specialists, Amy Gladin and Nicole Haas. You're over 30, but you still rock.
