Road bike tours: The Tannheimer Tal road bike region was a real insider tip for many years. But that has changed rapidly in recent years thanks to the excellent Tannheimer Tal cycle marathon, which the local tourism association has set up. At this year's event, Velomotion is a guest in the beautiful high valley.
Happiness must actually be on the road - right here! It rolls really well on the narrow strip of asphalt that has been squeezed between the rock face of the Rotflüh and the Haldensee. So good that after the overheated air of the midday hours, it's cooling again under your jersey.
There is hardly a car on the road, which is conducive to happiness. Towards evening it is generally quieter on the only main road that leads through the Tannheimer Tal, and so we can really enjoy the last few kilometers of our tour. It's the last day and the crowning glory of a two-day road bike short break with lots of new impressions in an area that only a few people remember as a cycling paradise. We are in Tyrol, but we didn't really want to believe it when we talked to our hosts or when we met the head of tourism, Michael Keller. The language is reminiscent of the more than nearby Allgäu. And tourism is geared towards Germany anyway, with the overwhelming majority of holidaymakers coming from the neighboring country to the north, explains Keller.
The man is - not only from our point of view - a real stroke of luck for the high valley. As a former amateur cyclist and later national trainer of Austrian mountain bikers, he not only has a lot of expertise in cycling, he also feels a special obligation to the athletes. For fifteen years he has been the OC boss of the SkiTrail, one of the major ski marathons in the Alps. Cross-country skiing has a long tradition in Tannheim and the associated villages such as Schattwald, Grän or Nesselwängle, but meanwhile cycling has finally been able to gain a foothold on this beautiful patch of land between Sonthofen in the west, Pfronten in the north and Reutte in the east.
Eight years ago, Keller's idea was to start his own bike marathon. The valley has been the scene of major road bike events numerous times, but mostly only as a location along the route. From the Deutschland Tour to the Tour Transalp, many professionals and amateurs have already climbed the spectacular climb to the Oberjoch, through the Tannheimer Tal and back down over the Gaichtpass. In the summer of 2016, the cycle marathon will take place for the eighth time, and when the OC boss talks about the individual routes, you can guess where the ideas for route planning came from. It's the training laps from his own active days that have been put together into a spectacular Granfondo.
Luckily there are quite a few ways to start a tour in Tannheim. Unlike in most Alpine valleys, which only have the alternatives "uphill" or "downhill" to offer, you can comfortably roll along the high valley. Over three rather short passes you then get to Oberjoch, Pfronten or Weißenbach near Reutte and from there you can connect numerous variants, from the rather flat circuit around the Grünten to high mountain stages over the Hahntennjoch. The Tannheimer Tal itself, on the other hand, is ideal for getting rid of the tiredness of the journey.
Selection of routes like no other in the Alps
And so, on the day of our arrival, two “local heroes”, Verena and Stephan, take us on a leisurely tour of the valley. On small side routes we bypass the often busy main road. The path leads west, from Tannheim in the direction of Schattwald. The goal is a vantage point with the auspicious name "Zugspitzblick". It was clear to us that you have to climb high for this, and so it wasn't long before we turned right onto a steep side street in Zöbeln. It would probably be the dream scenario for a mountain finish: a narrow piece of asphalt, barely wide enough for two oncoming cars, and at the top an inn with an area for the finish area. The missing crash barriers allow an unobstructed view down the valley, which gives us a first overview. Tannheim is quite close below us, the place that is not only geographically the center of the valley. If a big event takes place, then certainly here.
The office building of the tourism association and the ski lift to the Neunerköpfle are right next to the main road. And exactly where skiers fight for parking spaces in the winter months is the start and finish area of the Tannheim Cycle Marathon. Within a very short time, the experienced organizers set up an event that was able to award the title of Austrian State Champion in the cycling marathon at the second edition. In any case, one cannot complain about a bad connection to the ÖRV in Tannheim. And Michael Keller also likes to use his connections in other ways in order to upgrade “his” race a bit. As every year, the ex-professionals Gerrit Glomser and Marcel Wüst will invite you to several trips together this year from Wednesday; all Marathonisti who have already moved into their quarters are cordially invited to get "up to temperature" together.
Spectrum: On July 10th, the Tannheimer Tal cycling marathon leads again over Germany's highest pass
Spectrum: On July 10, the 8th edition of the Tannheimer Tal bike marathon starts on the route that has been tried and tested over the past year. Extensive renovation work on the Arlberg Tunnel made it necessary to change the 2015-kilometer loop in 224. The new route was so well received that it was retained for the upcoming Tannheimer Tal bike marathon. The Tannheimer Tal bike marathon leads […]
The new 230 km circuit is also tough
The next day we want to look at the changed 230-kilometer round of the Tannheimer Cycle Marathon. "There is hardly a better way to demonstrate the variety of racing bike routes around Tannheim," explains our guide Stephan.
It's quite cool the following morning, but that's normal here, at 1.100 meters above sea level, even in the height of summer. "That's why it's so easy to endure here," says Stephan, whom everyone just calls "Schmidi". Compared to other Alpine valleys, the cycling season is relatively long here; already in April one likes to get the bikes out of the cellar. Despite this, the climate remains quite stable. While it's oppressively humid down there in Kempten or Reutte, you can still do short training sessions in the high valley even at lunchtime, crowned by a final jump into Lake Haldensee. We, on the other hand, prefer to pull up our arm warmers and are happy about the few meters of altitude that come together on the way towards Grän.
"Well solved", I think, compared to many other bike marathons that start very flat - and with numerous falls. Here the field stretches a long way before the first winding descent begins. It's a journey into the warm, the first rays of sunshine have already warmed up the air in the Allgäu. Jungholz, Oy-Mittelberg, Immenstadt, Ofterschwang, Obermaiselstein - the places just fly past us, it's reasonably flat and it rolls well. Until we reach the Riedberg Pass. Although it is only six kilometers long, at almost 600 meters in altitude you know what that means - peaks are up to 20 percent steep. The lactate shoots up in the legs and one is grateful for "modern" translations of 34×29. On the other side of the mountain Austria has us again and with it one of the longest climbs I can think of. From the 120 km mark, the road stretches for around 40 km up to the 1620 m high Hochtannberg Pass. There are thousands of meters to collect. What sounds moderate is definitely a torture, because the sun has us in its sights from the south. But those who are at the top are compensated by the 50-kilometer descent through the Lech Valley. The pace is fantastically beautiful up to Weißenbach and tenth by tenth the cut is approaching presentable dimensions again.
One of the most important refreshment points will be set up in Weißenbach for the marathon, because nobody should be misled by the fact that there are only twenty kilometers to go to the finish line – they are tough. The Gaichtpass is still between us and Tannheim, that small ramp with 250 meters of altitude that is so often overlooked in the route map. After 210 kilometers, the few switchbacks can cause despair, especially when the wind blows from the west in your face.
The sun is already low when we cross the pass just before Nesselwängle and happily tackle the last few kilometers in the Tannheimer Tal. The warm air of the day is still in the valley floor, but at the latest at the shady corners of the Haldensee it is noticeably cooler. Is it luck or rather the dinner that lured the tourists to the hotels? We shouldn't care as long as we have the streets to ourselves.
By the way, we spotted a few racing cyclists on the way. I remember my first visit to Tannheim eight years ago – back then they were really exotic.
roadbike-holidays.com offers valuable tips for tours and racing bike holidays in the Tannheimer Tal and many other regions in the Alps. The standards for Roadbike-Holidays partner hotels are very high in order to meet the demands of passionate racing cyclists.
In the Tannheimer Tal, for example, this is that Hotel Bognerhof.
