"The Sound of Music" meets "Singing in the Rain" OR "Water biking in Melk, a type of torture left over from the Bush Administration"

Well, despite the fact that the weather was clearly miserable, I found myself on a bike riding along the Danube. Why? Here's why:

1. The weather - it looked like it might be improving and it was cool, which would be pleasant


2. I'd done the ride before back in 2000 and knew it wouldn't be very strenuous


3. It could be another 9 years before I got a chance to do it again

Naturally the Farland children were up for it - Will especially. He had been anxious about it for days and that afternoon insisted that not even a little rain could change his mind. Maddie was keen too. Sebi wanted to as well, although since he was going to be pulled by Herr Farland, he had the least to lose.

The students were overwhelmingly for it, even the ones who neglected to bring any sort of jacket or other rain gear. Only 2 or 3 opted to stay on the dry, warm bus.

So we saddled up at the rent-a-bike in Melk and took off for the 35km ride to Krems. The students raced off with Will in the lead. About this point I remembered that the last time I rode a bike was in 2000 on this route. And I was still sick and out of shape. Fortunately for me, Herr Farland was pulling Sebi in his own private coach and I could keep up with them.



The first 10kms were ideal - the weather was perfect and scenery gorgeous. Sebi found the treats and was also content. Then it started to sprinkle and Maddie and Will, who had been much farther ahead with the students, turned back to find us because Sebi was guarding our lunches.



About then it started pouring and got cold. Maddie managed to find the only covered spot in town to lunch in. (You can see it on the far right in the above picture of Maddie.) We ate which may have temporarily raised spirits (as haribo tends to do), but the storm continued to dampen them. At this point Will had a complete reversal of his previous bicycling policy and refused to entertain the idea of riding on. I wanted to give him a good thump on the head to remind him that it was partially on his impassioned insistence that we were now wet and cold in the middle of rural Austria. But Herr Farland played it much cooler and found the local train station to see if we could catch a train to Krems. We could, but it wouldn't come for another 3 hours.

We had little choice but to ride on. We made it to Willendorf (think "Venus of") where we hoped to find a happy little Gasthof that was warm and open. Failing that, we huddled under the roof of the local fire station.


Sebi with his ride.



Will, cold, wet, and disappointed.



Me, having achieved maximum hydration.

Eventually the firemen showed up and offered us refuge in the station while they worked on putting up some shelves. The station was full of kegs of beer and liters of soda and mineral water. They were certainly prepared to put out all sorts of fires, although they insisted that it was for an upcoming party. They were also proud of their brand new fire engine:



Maddie, Sebi and I huddled together to keep warm and I introduced them to nature's pockets. Herr Farland contacted our favorite Yugoslavian bus driver, Dragon, and somehow convinced him to come rescue us. He also called the bike renters, who said they could pick up the bikes in Willendorf. So I said goodbye to my trusty steed:



Back on the bus, Herr Farland tried to locate the other students. Fortunately the girls who had remained on the bus must be bookies, because they knew everyone's whereabouts and the odds that they could make it to Krems. To Dragon's chagrin, we made a few stops to collect students in various states of distress on the way to Krems. About half the students did make it though.

I missed most of the debriefing of the students, so I don't know if they embraced the experience or if it became a rallying point of the coming revolution. I got in contact with my Austrian, who asked if I couldn't be dropped at a certain exit in STP.

"Well, we've got this Yugoslavian bus driver, and I think we've already used up his good will and maxed out our communication credit," I replied.

"Um Gottes willen! I'll be there in 30 minutes," she sympathized.

So I said goodbye to the Farlands and the bus of drowned rats driven by Dragon made its way back to Vienna. I sat on my sore butt (probably good we only got 1/3 of the way) in the now dry weather, drying out and waiting for my ride and trying not to laugh to hard at our foolhardy day.

P.S. Another account of this adventure can be found here.