Today seems like one of those days that couldn’t be all one day. As I look through the pictures and the videos I have to ask myself “was that just this morning?”
And yet, it was. I woke up around 7:00 and got myself ready to catch the 8:20 AM train from Mallnitz to Böckstein, using the information I had seen. But, I messed up on my research because the 8:20 AM train is from the other side and from my side you have to add another 30 minutes. so I got to the train station a bit early, which was good. I had the time to go through the frustration of trying to buy a train ticket with a bicycle. Since 99% of the people go from just Mallnitz to Böckstein, it seems like there would be a button that you can push for just that, but no no no, you can go to anywhere in Europe and so it has lots of variations.
Anyway, I got on the train and took the short ride over to the other side. I was the only bike.
From there, it seemed like a pretty mellow slope down the mountain until all of a sudden, the road tilted down, and I headed towards Bad Gastein!
What an amazing place, with all the buildings perched on the sides of precipitous slopes and a rushing river with amazing waterfalls coursing down right through the city.
Yesterday‘s ride up to Mallnitz seemed plenty steep to me, but going down the other side made me thankful for what I had done. The down just kept on coming and coming.
I had left the campsite this morning without having coffee or breakfast, so I was looking for a place. I ended up stopping at a supermarket that had a nice little café and had a smoked salmon and boiled egg sandwich with a lovely coffee.
It was hot today, near 90°F, and I saw a lot of people pushing their bikes up some of the steep grades. Some of the people with electric bikes even were pushing their bikes, which sort of confused me. Having just come down some of those grades I felt conflicted whether I should warn them that they hadn’t even got to the hard part, but I just kept my mouth shut. 
I had several possible stopping points in my plans today, but it seemed with the downhill, I could probably make it all the way to Salzburg. Or pretty close anyway. Also, in the back of my mind was the fact that the weather was forecast to turn ugly on Sunday mid-afternoon and rain pretty heavily for the next two days. My body was telling me it needed a day of rest and so I was wondering if the days of rain would offer a convenient time for me to take a day off the bike. I’ve ridden about 550 miles in the last 10 days.
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