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The Pass-Passion of Josef Fruehholz

2022-09-18T15:43:30.500Z


The Pass-Passion of Josef Fruehholz Created: 09/18/2022, 17:25 By: Hanna von Prittwitz Josef Frühholz from Hechendorf on the Manghen Pass. It was the 58th and last of a list of passes that cyclists should have ridden in their lifetime. © Hanna von Prittwitz He's crazy, Josef Frühholz. The 58-year-old, who was born in Herrschingen, crossed 58 Alpine passes on his racing bike. He completed the l


The Pass-Passion of Josef Fruehholz

Created: 09/18/2022, 17:25

By: Hanna von Prittwitz

Josef Frühholz from Hechendorf on the Manghen Pass.

It was the 58th and last of a list of passes that cyclists should have ridden in their lifetime.

© Hanna von Prittwitz

He's crazy, Josef Frühholz.

The 58-year-old, who was born in Herrschingen, crossed 58 Alpine passes on his racing bike.

He completed the last of a list from the racing bike community quaeldich.de a few days ago.

Hechendorf/South Tyrol

- Riding a racing bike over passes is a special passion.

Josef Frühholz, nicknamed Jo, who was born in Herrschinger, was already in his twenties, as was his friend Max Kellner.

Both went to school together in Herrsching, both rode as 15-year-olds in a breakneck action with racing bikes and completely unprepared over the Penserjoch to Bozen, and both are so crazy about cycling to this day that they founded a successful cycling department at TSV Hechendorf (we reported) .

Today, at the age of 58, Jo Frühholz has crossed all 58 passes that, according to the online racing bike community quaeldich.de, are among the life goals of a racing cyclist.

He mastered the last one last weekend with five other cyclists from Herrsching and Hechendorf.

Among them: Max Kellner.

How everything began

When Jo Frühholz was 15 years old, his sister Kunigunde had a boyfriend, Herbert Unterholzer, called Bertl, from Bozen.

"He came from Bolzano on his racing bike, which drove me completely crazy," says Frühholz.

At some point Bertl said to him and waiter: "We're driving from Herrsching to Bozen." The highest mountain that Frühholz had driven up to that point was the Griesberg up to Unering, a whopping 110 meters in altitude.

It was supposed to start at 7 a.m. in the morning.

Waiters and Frühholz were a few minutes late, Unterholzer had already left.

So the two pedaled the first few kilometers at full speed to even catch up with him.

The three of them then cycled a total of 270 kilometers in one go and mastered 4000 meters in altitude over the Penserjoch to Bolzano.

“It was terrible,” recalls Frühholz.

"I only got up there with the mental support of Max, who yelled at me." He was cold and the mood was bad.

His sister picked them up in Bolzano.

On the pass they stopped for a photo, on the way there they probably didn't have the strength to do so.

"And I was still in a bad mood." Still.

Early wood was infected with the Radel virus.

Did all sorts of races like the Ötztal marathon and the Dolomiten tour.

His football career ended early anyway because of a knee injury.

And then he came across the list of 58 Alpine passes “that you must have driven”, as he says with a grin.

"I already had a part, so I just kept going." Organization and logistics were the most complicated things in the years that followed.

The preparation

Anyone planning long road bike tours in the Alps should prepare months in advance.

"My goal for the year is 5,000 kilometers by bike," says Jo Frühholz.

Sometimes there are more, sometimes less.

“But probably 3000 kilometers are enough to be able to do tours like this.

But you should have driven it by now."

It is important to allocate the forces well.

"It doesn't do you any good if you drive up the mountain and you're fast and foxy at the top.

Because you have to shut it down again, and that's exhausting too.

Physically and in terms of concentration.

You must never get up there with your last strength.” And the food is important.

At the pass this means: drink regularly, always eat something, for example energy bars or a banana.

"If you get hungry, it's too late."

In the area around Hechendorf, where he lives, Frühholz often rides all the waves up and down, i.e. to Widdersberg, to Drößling and up to Andechs, which brings a few meters in altitude.

He also thinks consistency is important, even if it's just a two-hour tour, like the ones Frühholz offers on Mondays for racing cyclists at TSV Hechendorf and Max Kellner on Wednesdays for mountain bikers.

That's what the doctor says

Professor Florian Krötz is chief cardiologist at the Starnberg Clinic, Dr.

Laura Fischer his employee and triathlete.

Both say: Such tours require a long preparation.

"We train a good basic area with long and quiet training sessions," says Fischer.

"If you can still have a good conversation during the sport, you're definitely in the green zone." Especially newcomers would often do too much too fast.

Your own performance is overestimated and you train in the wrong areas.

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Both cardiologists definitely recommend performance tests before the layman exposes himself to such hardships.

"Some people feel good, but have, for example, diseased coronary arteries," says Krötz.

Those are often the ones who just fell over.

The much-cited "big heart", caused by a lot of maximum stress, can cause problems, and the large heart muscle can also impede its function.

Especially in mass sports, it is essential to pay attention to the body's signals.

The anniversary tour

The Manghen Pass is 2042 meters high and is one of the lesser known Alpine passes.

In 1999, racing cyclist Marco Pantani left his opponents behind at the Giro am Manghen – soon after, he was disqualified for doping.

At the top, the view extends from the top of the pass to the main Alpine ridge.

Until then, however, inclines of up to 18 percent have to be overcome, especially on the last six kilometers.

That hurts.

There is a driving ban for trucks and buses.

There are ten tight hairpin bends to the summit.

Frühholz and his five companions approached the pass from Cavalese via Piscine, Sover and Borgo from the south.

That was 70 kilometers in advance, including an alleged 1000 meters in altitude.

"The decisive factor is that everyone drives at their own pace," says Frühholz to mountain bikers.

Sure, you can wait in bends or on levels if it's not too cold.

The path up to the pass leads through forests on the south side, then the valley opens up and also offers a view of the pass.

Fortunately, the course of the road is not yet recognizable.

"You shouldn't look there either, but always look down at the route you've already covered," advises Frühholz.

Because pass driving, "that's also a matter of the mind".

On the last few kilometers, the steep switchbacks towards the apex, the big spectacle begins.

The street is narrow like a towel.

The cyclists share the mountain with car drivers and, above all, motorcyclists, who thunder up the bends in groups.

Their roar echoes through the mountain world from below and from above.

There are also so-called broom wagons that pick up exhausted cyclists.

Frühholz' team fights its way up the mountain with a crowd of Dutchmen.

One of them is finally so exhausted that he stops and, with his bike still between his legs, trudges up to the pass with his legs apart.

Then there are the racing bike pros who fly up the mountain so fast that they have to brake in the corners.

The Bavarian cycling group manages the pass quickly and unscathed, the first ones reach the top after two hours.

Then a big hello on the pass:

The motorcyclists applaud, photo shoots take place at the completely taped-over pass sign, everyone is happy, although it suddenly rains and even hails.

Early wood and waiters are also beaming.

"There's a certain sense in the fact that we drove the first and now this pass together," says Frühholz and hugs his friend.

Then it's like walking downhill: the surface is wet, farmers drive cows over the narrow streets, cow dung makes the asphalt slippery.

But everyone makes it back down safely.

The anniversary celebration

The pure driving time at the end of the day is six hours and ten minutes for 117 kilometers and 2600 meters in altitude.

In the evening everyone is happy about their performance.

This is the time for stories: about farmers who first drive their milk cans down into the valley before picking up the cyclist who got two flat tires at the top and is on the road without a repair kit;

of near-accidents, truck and bus queues on the mountain, blocked passes due to falling rocks.

And then Frühholz and Kellner tell the story of the first descent, back then, on their trip to Bozen.

It could all have turned out very differently.

From the Penserjoch they had to go down through 25 tunnels.

15-year-old Frühholz threw himself much too quickly into one of the tunnels – at that time black holes with dark rock walls and no light.

Inside the tunnel made another kink, a car shot towards him.

Somehow, Frühholz leaned into the curve in such a way that he flew past the driver to the left by a hair's breadth.

Waiter still breaks out in a sweat today, he saw the manoeuvre.

And now?

"Now I only go to South Tyrol for bacon and Federweißer," says Frühholz.

But nobody wants to believe him on the bike tour.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-09-18

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