Austrian Mt. Biking

I think I now know why hiking seems to be more popular in Austria than Mt biking. The "mountain bike" trail we rode today was a gravel road. It would have been nice if it had been even double track, but no, it was just a gravel road. Parts of it even had access by motorized vehicles. It was suspiciously similar to riding up a regular old forest road in the US. The difference was the fantastic views.
I started out with Winter and Jessica, but the initial climb was a death march and Winter soon was unable to continue so Jessica generously offered to take her back to the house while I continued on. Thus the photos are all self-photographed except for the last ones at the lake (where a nice Austrian lady served as photographer.)
By the way, I just about killed myself today - I am not as young as I once was and I was really sucking wind today. I could make excuses all day long about how the air is thinner and whatnot, but in reality, the mountain just kicked my butt (and so did the saddle on the rental bike). Tomorrow is going to be painful. Lovely views though!