Road Cycling and Gravel Biking in the Kamptal

"Would you like a little more wine? Or would you prefer the Checkpoint now?" Grinning, Michael presents me with what seems to be the typical choice around here.
Admittedly: First the gravel tour, then the wine tasting would have been the biochemically more agreeable sequence. But as is well known, one should celebrate festivals as they come.

And there are truly enough relevant celebrations at Loisium Langenlois: Sparkling wine breakfast, adventure cellar, tavern hiking, Wine Treatment, dinner with wine pairing, winemaker talk... and recently, thanks to the Loisium Bike World: gravel ride, road bike tour, cycling tour, MTB trails.

The Loisium Bikewelt offers this clientele a truly extensive fleet of rental bikes, from comfortable low-entry bikes to powerful e-MTBs and sleek racing bikes, as well as - also electric-assisted - bikes for adolescents. Yes, even a trailer for toddlers and dogs has been considered, and even helmets and racing shoes can be borrowed.
It is a matter of honor, namely Michi Mitterbacher's honor, that the bikes are only issued perfectly maintained, adjusted, and tailored to customer wishes. Those who want to know exactly can even go through the latter using professional bike fittings - also with a bike brought along.

For the even more demanding clientele, what the partner Trek understands by Demo Center in a broader sense becomes evident: Surrounding dealers can send someone who wants to purchase a high-quality bike from the US manufacturer to the Bikewelt for an extensive test ride(s). The rental fee is refunded upon later, actual purchase.
A fine thing if you're not quite sure about the model, size, equipment, or even just suitability! And for everyone else, at least a guarantee that only the most current material is always lent out in the Bikewelt. Not to mention the visual treats - some racing bikes in fancy custom finishes are also in stock.
Hotel guests receive a ten percent discount on all services of the Loisium Bikewelt. In principle, however, the shop and its offers are open to all cycling fans.

Our first tour plan fits perfectly with the vinophilic environment and pre-program like a pot fits a lid: 37 comfortable gravel kilometers through the most significant locations of Langenlois and Co., garnished with cultural and spiritual highlights. And by that, we do not mean the delicious Heurigen snack that we quickly indulge in to quell the emerging midday hunger just before our departure... although the opulent snack taken in the picturesque ambiance of the 10er-Haus could certainly also pass as an intellectual uplift.

No 100 meters after the start of the 400-meter elevation round, the Kamptal already surrounds us with all its power and glory: the clearly sprouting green of the vineyards, which comfortably stretches towards the spring sun; the narrow, winding asphalt road that swiftly curves down through the gardens towards Zöbing; the bright blue sky, adorned with white clouds, stretching like the dome of a cathedral over the gently undulating hillscape; and on the horizon, the dark silhouettes of wooded elevations, which gradually turn into real mountains in the distance: Rax and Schneeberg, for example, or the Mürzsteger Alps.

It is a quaint world of cellar lanes and vineyards, stone walls and river meanders, meadows and fields, and scattered villages and shrines that surrounds us. As dark and mysterious as the Kamp winds through the valley, the terraced land presents itself as friendly and open in contrast.
Not every little house is adorned, not every banquet well-maintained. All the more perfectly do we fit into the picture with our gravel bikes.

Already at the crossing of the Heiligenstein, a famous Riesling mountain and every spring the site of the legendary MTB race Kamptal Trophy, it became immediately clear that the fast off-road speedsters are the ideal sporting equipment for this area. And as we now advance further southeast, this impression becomes an irrefutable certainty. Gravel tracks, field paths, side roads, cellar lanes – between the foothills of the Manhartsberg in the north and the Wagram in the east, a dense network of prototypical gravel terrain unfolds, causing our locals, Bikewelt director Michael and BB boss NoPain, to ponder more than once about the best of the many rewarding options for the route from A to B.

And so we make our way from Zöbing further over Straß and its charming market square towards Gösting. Sometimes we speed through enchanted hollow paths, with imposing loess walls within arm's reach. Sometimes we admire especially lovingly decorated wine press houses. Sometimes we cruise along surprising edges of the terrain and enjoy the expansive views over the Tullnerfeld to the Lower Austrian foothills.
Then suddenly a bright, green forest engulfs us. Over soft soil and thin branches, we climb gently uphill until we reach the 371-meter-high Hengstberg, a notable elevation of the Wagram.

For the local vintners, of course, all this represents their most valuable treasures - and workplaces: the already mentioned Heiligenstein, always easily recognizable due to its 21 m high lookout, famous for its sought-after structure of reddish-brown sandstones and coarse conglomerates across Europe; the Ried Hasel, the largest of the ten StraĂźertal vineyard areas, where, besides region-typical whites, Burgundy varieties also thrive well; the Wagram, since 2021 a DAC-nobilitated terrain stage made of glacially blown loess on former seabed and Danube gravel; or later Gobelsburg, an ancient wine-growing area near Langenlois and today popular not least because of its lively tavern culture.

Just a few more rental contracts to finalize, give tour tips, sell bars and pumps, and let customers try on jerseys, then all other customer requests are fulfilled, and we can get going.
In addition to yesterday's core team, which includes another Michael, namely Loisium marketing advisor, sports therapist, and former triathlon pro "Micky" Szymoniuk, as well as BB photographer NoSane, today spa staff member and hobby triathlete Tanya has also made time to join our group.

Once again, we first head for StraĂź im StraĂźertale. This time, however, we do not leave the market town eastwards, but follow the course of the Gschinzbach over the B35 to the north and Manhartsberg.
The valley floor here is noticeably narrow, and its now wooded slopes rise steeply on both sides. Precisely at the narrowest point, where the river makes a distinctive 90° turn, sits the Falkenberg castle ruin - or rather the sparse remainder of what was once certainly a grand, medieval structure.
"It feels completely different from yesterday," it occurs to me for the first time at this point. And it won't be the last time.

Thankfully, we do not have to go over the Manhartsberg. Correction: we cannot. The state road, which traverses this elongated, maximum 537-meter-high barrier between Waldviertel and Weinviertel from almost north to south, is – as the former, remote Waldviertel would suggest – unpaved over much of its length.
Therefore, often used for special stages in the Waldviertel Rally, we bypass the wooded hump to the right. We circle it via Elsarn, Bösendürnbach, Mühlbach, and Eggendorf, and then swiftly descend from Kleinburgstall down to Plank am Kamp, where we quickly change to the river side.
If it were summer, a brief visit to the famous Kampbad with its red-and-white-striped wooden bathhouse would be almost obligatory. However, as it stands, let me simply suggest that there will be no further dining options until Schiltern and – not just for that reason – it is recommended for the hungry and thirsty to visit the Strand-Heuriger Bachmann, which is usually open from mid-May onwards.

By now, my metabolism has done its duty. So, it's not necessarily easy or even soothing that it's going uphill to ThĂĽrneustift now for a longer stretch; but still, thanks to my high-quality sports equipment, it's okay. By the way, of course, it was me who preferred the comfort of the endurance racer over the speed of the aero racer. And our, my traveling speed proves me right.
Within three kilometers, we climb nearly two hundred meters in altitude; typical for the west bank of the Kamp between Zöbing and Gars, where the slopes sometimes even drop off much steeper and occasionally form real walls. The view from above over the valley notch is accordingly impressive.

Subsequently, we virtually glide over the high plateau that the Waldviertel develops into beyond ThĂĽrneustift. Meadows alternate with fields that are partly still brown, partly already lush green. Here and there, a small grove provides shade or a brightly yellow blooming sea of rapeseed pushes into the picture. It's lonely up here. Lonely and beautiful.
Apart from a few isolated farms and the small village of Tautendorf with 180 inhabitants, we hardly encounter any signs of human life. However, the roads are well-maintained, mostly completely free of traffic, clear, and even with an oncoming tractor still wide enough for everyone. A road cyclist's paradise!

The Stiefernbach stream also gives a good reason for a few meters of elevation down, and then up again. But no one needs to fear nasty spikes or evil ramps on the Gföhler Straße - rather, a constant headwind.
Although, to finally sink exhausted into the pallet furniture of the brewery in Schiltern, it is enough to be traveling with people who are significantly fitter...