We started to carry extra water on the back rack of our bikes usin velcro straps. The ride to Linz was as beautiful as the rest of the Czech countryside has been. Fields of wildflowers delightful villages. We did learn to carry extra water and lunch with us because there were no stores of any kind in the small villages. For lunch we came across a picnic table under a tree in a small village. There was a cow tied to the tree and a dog running around. We unpacked our lunch and sat down to eat. About this time a man came out from a building across the street and called the dog inside. No sooner had the man gone back inside then the dog jumped out of a window and came back over to us. We laughed and pet the dog, the man came out again and called the dog back home. Later that afternoon we came to the Austrian boarder. The old boarder station was still there but there was no one to at the station so we just rode through. About this time is when we were reminded that boarders usually include a river or a mountain as we began to climb the mountain between the Czech Republic and Austria. The climb was not steep but it was long, it seemed like the hill would never end. We climbed for what seemed like hours until we came to the top. At the top we saw that the ride down the hill went straight down. It did not gently curve around the mountain as the ride up had done. We rode down alternating brakes from front to back so as not to overheat our brakes. Thank goodness for beautiful Austrian roads because there were no bumps or cracks in the road as we flew down the hill. I love a good long down hill ride but this was a little excessive even for me. In Linz we stayed at Harry’s Home Hotel which as great chain of hotels that is very bike friendly. They even had a pump and bike repair station in the basement parking garage.