Day 16: Vienna to Bad Erlach

Yesterday morning, I packed my things and headed out of the hostel in Vienna. I needed breakfast, especially some coffee, so I went to NEYSE Coffee & Food. I had the best cheesecake there along with a cappuccino.

The owner of the cafe is Patrick and he’s also Chinese. We started a conversation about my trip and he told me of his plans to visit China this year with his wife. Patrick was so impressed by what I was doing that he gave me a slice of banana bread for my ride. He even offered me a bottle of water, which I should have taken since the temperature got so hot later in the day, but I didn’t. I was very touched by Patrick’s kindness and I’m glad that ended my visit to Vienna rather than the conversation about Trump with Peter from the night before.

I cycled out of Vienna mainly on the bike lanes. I had downloaded the offline maps for Austria on Mapy and I wanted to see how the app behaves in terms of battery usage. It turned out that Mapy used more battery than Organic Maps, maybe twice as fast.

In any case, the route that Mapy used was the same as the EuroVelo route so I followed it the entire way to Bad Erlach. The route had a slight uphill the entire way, but I barely noticed it.

For lunch, I had a doner kebab at a sandwich shop in Wiener Neustadt, about 10 miles from my destination.

The afternoon heat was almost unbearable with temperature at 33C, or 91F. I arrived at Katy’s house at 2:30 PM in Bad Erlach. I had finished all my water and was very sweaty, having cycled 45 miles for the day.

When I met Katy, she was busy preparing things in the kitchen. I relaxed under the shade by the swimming pool. Soon, Katy’s friend Michael came. Michael works as a snowboarding instructor and a diving instructor. Two other friends of Katy’s came for a brief visit as well, but they left shortly after. I spent the rest of the day with Michael and Katy and even went in the pool for a bit.

Our dinner was made by Katy and she cooked some excellent fish for me. It was very delicious! I ended up going to bed around 11 PM and slept until 7:30 AM.

Today is another hot day with temperature reaching 33C. I also have a huge hill to cycle up. Moreover, there might be thunderstorm in the early afternoon so I have to reach my hotel in the small village of Oberlungitz before the storm. I have about 40 miles to ride today.

Patrick, the owner of NEYSE Coffee & Food, gave me some banana bread for the road.

Riding out of Vienna on the bike lanes

Glad to be in the shade

Following the EuroVelo route

Glad the stair has a ramp for the bicycle

Along the river I go

No shade

On the gravel path

Loving the clouds

Snuck around the fence

And carried my bike across the train tracks

Beautiful weather, but the temperature was too hot!

Made it to Bad Erlach

Ate some redcurrants

Delicious fish dinner made by Katy

Katy and Michael

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