Faith hope and charity

Within my last post I wrote about a piece I was watching at the theatre in London. It was great - and probably a fair share of the success of that piecs was due to the resident director. Now she's conducting a new piece: "Faith hope and charity" by Ödön von Horváth - a piece about a kind of female Woyczeck.

I think theatre plays like that are pretty important, especially these days. Unfortunately funding in the UK is weak. So if you have a spare coin or note to spend you may consider to help funding that piece by donating that via http://www.wefund.co.uk/project/faith-hope-charity-southwark-playhouse. And if you are in the London region betwen June the 22nd and July the 16th, don't miss the opportunity to watch this piece.

For more information visit www.leapproductions.co.uk or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXxJmUS9YXM.

An evening at the theatre by bike

March was a pretty kilometer intensive month that accounted a total of 1175 km. Well, that's mostly due to a trip to London at the end of that month. The weather was rather good and I took the opportunity to just go to London to visit a good friend's big west end theatre production "The Children Hour" starring some famous actors. Since I was so impressed that my friend got that success I thought my way of bowing to her is to go all the way to the theatre by bike.

The way out to London took me two and a half days. On first I was thinking of going the distance from Bielefeld to Rotterdam/Hoek von Holland in one day, but eventually decided to split it into two parts. That was a good decision, March is still early in year (daylight, temperature, my physical condition), the luggage had some weight, too.

When I reached Kleve after 10 hours of pedaling on the first day I felt I had enough kilometers for that day (a bit more than 200km). The pension Röhrhoff/Kleve provided me a nice room and a good breakfast for 38 EUR. On next morning I started again at 8:30. The weather was misty and rather cold and the mist cleared not completely before noon.

A bit after Nijmegen I lost track and had to use my gps phone for the first time intensively. It worked well.

Twice I rode a few kilometers with some Dutch cyclists who hada nice pace and on late afternoon I reached Hook van Holland. I got my ferry tickets, bought a bit Dutch food at an Albert Heijn (the city of Hook van Holland is rather boring) and entered the ferry.

I was pretty surprised to regognize that this ferry would not go to Ramsgate as I thought, but to Harwich. Well, I needed to consult google maps to make a new route.

The ferry was a very nice one, my cabin pretty neat and silent. For out and return the fare was 168 EUR (bike and cabin) - I'd say not a bargain literally, but a fair price though.

On next morning I repeated my mantra of the day (drive left! drive left!) rode a few kilometers on a rather big road (A120) and then switched to smaller roads and crossed the beautiful sceneries of East Anglia. On early afternoon I eventually reached the city of London and directly drove to the Comedy Theatre where I locked my bike and entered the theatre backstage and was warmly welcomed.

I saw the piece the next day - it was really brilliant, my seat pretty good and I was pretty impressed. Hats (helmet) off for that!

Of course I enjoyed London, too: Buckingham palace, national gallery, sandwiches, Indian food and stuff like that. The protests against social cuts were interesting to see (it seemed a bit different to protesting in Germany).

For the way back I took a train to the ferry, cycled from Hoek van Holland to Emmerich (200 km against a steady wind) where I eventually took a train to Ostwestfalen. All in all that trip was good 750 km in one week (4 days of cycling). Nice one!

A bonus is that the 12 months kilometer count reached 10507 km now. Impressive number, but I guess April will yield to way less kilometers.

Visit the Children's hour at the Comedy theatre while it is still running and check out leap productions for coming productions by my friend Leonie.

Finally: 10.000 km within the last 12 months

January and February have been almost w/o any snow. Hence, I was able to collect a few kilometers (1003km). And while I was a bit disappointed that I failed to reach the 10.000km mark last calendaric year, I am now in the lucky position to have caught it up eventually. Within the last 12 month I rode 10.126 km. I think that is the fist time since ages that I got this mark, but I don't have precise data from the time before 2007.

Jahresbilanz 2010

Es ist Zeit für eine kurze Bilanz des Jahres 2010 - aus radfahrerischer Sicht. Die Gesamtkilometerleistung 2010 beträgt 9519 km.

Das Jahr war sehr schneereich, dadurch wurden in den ersten 10 Wochen des Jahres recht wenig Kilometer gesammelt. Der Sommer entsprach etwa den letztjährigen Kilometerleistungen. Der Herbst mit dem Oktober und November brachte ordentliche Leistungen: im Oktober wurde nicht nur die 1000km-Marke übersprungen, dieser Monat war auch von den zahlreichen Höhenmetern des Schwarzwaldes geprägt.

Der Dezember mit den größeren Schneemengen vermasselte letztendlich das Erreichen der 10.000km-Marke für das Gesamtjahr. 2011 vielleicht...

Vor allem durch die Aufenthalte in Freiburg war 2010 erneut das Jahr des Bergamont Beluga. Der Gesamtanteil der Kilometerleistung betrug 72,6% für das Bergamont-Rad, das Specialized Sirrus wurde im Oktober (Freiburg) und Dezember (Schnee!) sogar überhaupt nicht genutzt.

Als besonders herauszustellende Höhepunkte des Jahres sind vor allem die Tour von Freiburg nach Köln, die Pyrenäenüberquerung und ebenso der 300km-Brevet durch den Schwarzwald und das Jura anzusehen. Den Schwarzwald und das Breisgau habe ich im Frühling und Spätsommer sehr zu schätzen gelernt - eine wunderbare Gegend.

Black Forrest III

And then I had my 3rd time in Freiburg within a good year. The entire October was Freiburg-time. Luckily my work still let me time to do some cycling tours as well as to join the dance exercise at next-step Freiburg - a really nice ballett/dance school.

Anyway, the summer was really in its last days and autumn present everywhere already. Hence the rides had to be done quickly, daylight was a rare resource already. But I tried to collect as many peaks as possible and I guess, did a rather good job given the little time I had. On 1st day after arrival I climbed up to Sankt Peter (716m) via the Ibental and down through the Glottertal. On 2nd day I rode through the forrests up to the Roßkopf (737m) and collected many Maroni/sweet chestnuts on my way down. On 3rd day I rode up the Belchen (1414m), the 50km way up to the Belchen-Haus I did in 2:30h and enjoyed an icecream and the pretty impressive panorama view of the snowy Alps.

But since time was rather rare I mostly did some minor rides (30-60 km distances) through the Glottertal, Dreisamtal and the Roßkopf area or to direction Münstertal. One of the bit longer rides (103km) took me across the Kaiserstuhl including a brief stop in France and a longer visit at the Cafe Ihringer in Breisach. But of course I also rode up to the already snowy Kandel (1242m). Because of the snow already fallen I decided to skip the Feldberg this time. But on last day I once again climbed up the Schauinsland(1284m)/Notschrei which just took me 1 1/4h starting from the city centre. With about 20°C on the peak (warmer than down in Freiburg) it was pretty warm again and the view to the Alps was imressive again. A bit sad though, that I couldn't take a longer rest on the height, since daylight was vanishing soon. But it was a nice way to say good bye. One month with little time, but all in all 1066km. What a nice autumn!

Catalunya!

This summer another bike tour was on schedule. The idea was to travel to Catalunya. From Barcelona to Barcelona with mountains and the sea. The highlight of the tour was the attempt to cross the mountains in the Canigou region from Mariailles to La Preste via the Collada Roques Blanques. There's a picture report about that adventure available on www.via-altera.de/travel/transpyr/transpyr.html.

Also the Cap Creus was a great experience. The Cap is really of particular beauty and the pathes circling the Cap are lonesome and okay to cycle. The impressions of nature are just overwhelming there.

Bathing and relaxing time took a major part of this year's tour, hence the kilometer count just reached about 900km for the three weeks time. A little infection while visiting a friend in Banyuls for a few days was a bit annoying though. Nevertheless the time in Banyuls was a great one and pretty worth repeating .

All in all this tour was a brilliant balance of being on the road and relaxing on the beaches/having an easy time. Even the rain this year wasn't a show stopper. Careful inspections of the sky helped avoiding to get cought by too many showers. And luckily the tent kept dry.

Freiburg-Cologne: Rheinradweg nonstop

My time in Freiburg came to another end and I had to go back home. The weekend of my return I had an invitation for a barbecue in Cologne. Sounded good to me. I thought it would be nice to take the bike instead of a train to get there. I got myself a map, read a bit about the route and decided to just follow the Rhine and ride the "Rheinradweg" which I had seen quite some times while looking out of the window sitting in a train. The weather forecast was good, hence nothing should stop me.

The last day in Freiburg work was only little, most preparation for the tour was done the days before already, most of my stuff packed into a huge box that was handed over to DHL to be delivered to Bielefeld. I had my usual bike bags filled with lots of stuff (mostly clothes) my bottles were filled, video camera's battery charged. I officially finished the course, said good bye to everyone and loaded my bike at about noon on Friday. The Barbecue was scheduled for Saturday afternon/evening. I left Freiburg at 13:00 and headed to the north. The first kilometers I followed routes I knew, I quickly noticed a steep wind from the north. But I felt good.

Then I hit the Rheinradweg and I noticed issues: That track is not intended for speedy cruising. Much of the way is not covered by asphalt, but loose gravel - or closer at the Rhine - with sands or mud. Also the route is not everywhere too well covered with signs. Several times I lost track and eventually stucked in dead ends that bluntly ended at the Rhine coast (IIRC in the Region around Ifitzheim and Rastatt, but I don't remember precisely). So, speed was lousy and I alreday lost a lot of time when I reached Karlsruhe at dusk after 22:00. I decided to do little cheating and took a train to Mannheim. At Mannheim main station I was about midnight or so. I had a meal at McDonald's and then I started off into the night. I was thinking to take a break to sleep somewhere, but once I passed Worms I followed a Bundesstraße (B9), the wind was little now, the asphalt good and the kilometers just went by. So I decided not to take a break but instead to go on. Then in the middle of nowhere I had to leave the big road (the notorious red circle sign with a bicycle and a pedestrian) and had to follow little streets across whine yards or apple fields. Surprisingly those streets were no dead ends. My Ixon IQ and my cheap helmet lamp did a good service and I didn't lost track. On earliest morning I reached Mainz. I was driving to the city center, looking for some food. Disappointingly McDonalds was closed. I asked a few party returners where to get food at this time (dunno exactly, something about 4 a.m.), but nobody had a hint for me. At the station I found a bakery that sold me two pretzels and a Coke.

It was quite strange, sitting there on a tram waiting stand with my fully loaded bike, tired, wearing my reflector vest and bike clothes, eating and drinking and all in all not looking particularly fresh. Around me mostly drunken party ppl waiting for their trams or busses to bring them home, smoking, drinking, chatting. I had the feeling that I didn't belonged into that scenery, felt like an alien...

Leaving Mainz with the early dawn I was awaiting the most beautiful part of the tour where the mountains come closer to the rhine and one castle follows the next. The early morning was just gorgeous. The sunrise beautiful and soon the sun was warming me again (the night was a bit fresh, but okay). A little fog over the meadows, a fox crouching beside the way, a crow with a big red cherry in its beak and the steady fellow: the Rhine. Overwhelming impressions!

The morning went on, I felt a bit tired, traffic and winds increased again. I passed Bingen. The Rheinradweg was now in an okay condition, often a bit narrow though. Most parts were covered with asphalt or paved. In some small town I bought my first breakfast (an expensive juice and some some bakery wares). Then I got pretty tired. At about 8 a.m. I was extremly tired. I had been up for 24 hrs now. I nearly fell asleep on the bike. But the road was not offering many good options to take a break. Evenually I discovered a bench. I put my bike aside, set up my alarm clock, used my jacked as pillow and tried to sleep.

I fell asleep quickly, but woke up half an hour later again. To my big surprise I felt really fresh and awake now. So I ended my break (my alarm clock schedule was allowing me 2 hrs) and rode on.

The way took me further to the Loreley - but she wasn't singing and I managed not to fall into the water but went on. I passed Spay. I hoped to get a better view to the mysterious chimneys in the forrest up on the hills right sided to the Rhine there which I saw from the train quite often already. But I didn't got much more information when I passed them.

The morning became later and the way got somehow crowded - it was a Saturday and the weather brilliant. As the Rheinradweg is very popular and often rather narrow this frequently lead to getting slowed down by other cyclists.

I reached Koblenz and went on to Andernach. There I ate two ices for early lunch, phoned with "my barbecue" and went on. The wind turned and I got wind from the back now. Many ppl crowded the coast enjoing the sun, setting up barbecue grills. And I rode a slalom track through many cyclists. For about 10km I kind of teamed up with a recumbent cyclist who was the only guy during the overall 450km that didn't rode slow.

I passed the Drachenfels and reached Bonn. It seemed to me that in Bonn there are nice places to live near the Rhine. But now I wasn't slowing down, but tried to reach the finish: I was hungry for a barbecue and a chilled drink. At Wesseling I left the Rhine after 420 km and turned left. I passed Meschenich and was wondering about urban development decisions of the 70ies. A few kilometers and I reached Weiden about 16:00 where I reached my finish.

I had a warm welcome by the hosts, took a little time to recover and shower and was wondering myself that I still was not tired. The barbecue was pretty nice, some surprise guests were visting, too. It lasted long and at about 2 or 3 a.m. I eventually went to bed after more than 42 hours with only half an hour of sleep and quite some kilometers.

All in all it was about 450km in 28 hours. Not high speed though, but okay given the luggage load, the wind, the insects before Karlsruhe, the often bad and/or crowded cycling path. It was a gorgeous ride! The dawn was particularly impressing - the fox and thecrow were pretty cool. The night was another great experience - both on the Bundesstraße and crossing the vine yards. The sceneries I traveled across were always beautiful and I sometimes wished to reduce the speed and just take myself the time to stay. But that wasn't the approach of this tour - that's approach was doing Freiburg-Cologne nonstop. And it was just great! But doing the same route in 4-5 days would also be nice. Too many great cities, too impressing landscapes, probably lots of great food that I only touched slightliest on my way. But that's the fate of a long distance ride. You're always kind of rushed, always on the run. You come across a lot of locations, but you never stay, you don't belong, you're the lonesome cowboy... But I don't complain, it is self chosen and it is great.