बरसात का दिन - अंतरिक्ष यान - क्रीम सॉस

In the morning, pouring and light rain are fighting to dominate the day. The pouring rain seems to be winning. RAINY DAY.

Our friendly hosts from Woerthbauer in Struden take pity on us and the nice couple from Lüneburg, who are also cycling to Vienna. That's why they trust us with the secret of the bike hitchhiker. The bus with a bike trailer for those who don't feel like getting soaked to the bone.

Since all competitions, including the Olympic Games, have been cancelled and we therefore have no increased training needs and don't need to prove to anyone how tough we are, we decide that we are happy to take a 70 km bus ride and only cycle 30 km of today's stage.

Almost an hour before departure, we are at the bus stop, just to make sure he takes us with him. They said you don't have to reserve, just be there on time. We are already wet from the 4 kilometers to the bus stop. Luckily, it's not cold. A group of 8 people arrive at the small waiting shelter with us, they are delivered by a Sprinter van, they unload the bikes from the trailer, everyone puts on rain capes, bags over their shoes, and under umbrellas. It's important for them to put their bikes in a dry place and occupy the bench in the dry. Bikes that were previously and later exposed to the rain on the trailer are now under cover. Other cyclists are standing in the rain. I don't think they even notice.

More and more cyclists arrive and we hope there is plenty of room on the bus! Finally! Here it comes! Oh, it could be tight for everyone. As soon as the driver is at the trailer to load the bikes in pouring rain, everyone naturally pushes forward to secure a seat. The atmosphere is a bit like on Thursday mornings at 8 o'clock at Aldi when there is children's clothing or back when LIDL first sold riding pants.

Anyway, the driver realizes the severity of the situation and panics only "where to?" to determine the order in which he loads the bikes. Everyone is talking at once, not everyone understands his language, a panicked woman wants him to speak into her phone, he is standing there in a T-shirt and just wants to load bikes and get back into his dry bus. Eventually, even those who don't speak German realize that "yes" is the universal answer to everything. "Melk? Yes" "Krems? Yes" "reservation? Yes". Yes, everyone shouts yes, I don't think anyone has made a reservation and in the end, everyone is sitting on the bus and all the bikes (albeit in the wrong order) are on the trailer. Doesn't matter, as long as we don't have to cycle ourselves.

We are glad because the first 23 km would have been a stupid passage anyway: on the shoulder of the highway - without rain just stupid and dangerous, with rain also with a lot of splash water.

The bus takes us to Krems. We put everything back on the bikes and want to have lunch in the city first, assuming that the pouring rain will finally stop in the next hour.

I (Petra) would love to tell a spectacular story of a bike accident: something like...the bikes fully packed, suddenly 1 rhinoceros, 3 elephants, and 2 giraffes come running from the right out of nowhere - no chance to avoid, the animals push me to the ground...or like this...I cleverly position myself and my bike directly in the way of 4 fleeing bank robbers...or maybe like this...I'm peacefully riding towards the center of Krems when aliens in their SPACESHIP ram me and brutally throw me to the ground.

Damn, reality is unfortunately completely unspectacular: for reasons unknown so far, I fall over while standing with the bike. Wrist and knee OUCH, but not serious. The local pharmacy provides us with pills and creams. A cappuccino and a sandwich put aside the initial concerns of amputation or life-altering disabilities. After the snack, the rain completely disappears and we cycle the last 25 km on a beautiful stretch to our accommodation for today, the Aprico in Traismauer.

Once we arrive, we enjoy a coffee and an ice cream. The swimming lake is hardly visited today due to the rainy weather, a great location with a large outdoor area. For dinner, we have pork loin with CREAM SAUCE.