Brevet time again - 300km hooray!

It'sa bit longer since I rode the last brevet - in fact it was the 300 ride through the Black Forrest/Jura in the year 2010. That pause was too long. Hence, I took opportunity and ended that too long break: A 300km tour through the well known and pretty hilly Weserbergland with an accumulated height of about 3500 meters was on schedule last Saturday. And while 4 years went by since my last brevet, the key features are still the same. It's long, it's hard, it's kind of fun. But actually it was a rather hard bread to eat - my general fitness state may be quite okay but I literally don't remember when I rode more than 100km in a row (probably it was last year midsummer). Anyway, all in all it was fine, took a bit longer than expected, made the same mistakes as always (too fast in the beginning, suboptimal eating and drinking - nothing desasterous though). Weather was rather okay - mild with a bit of sun and a little rain in the evening, but thunder and lightning passed me by. Was happy to have returned after the 300km and felt happy asleep later. Next day was required for recovery. This brevet will probably be my only one for this year (don't have time at the other dates), but I shouldn't wait another 4 years to do the next brevet. Bonne route!

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.

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.

The 300km Belchen Brevet 2010

Eventually spring arrived. And I was in Freiburg for a while. Fortunately this year in Freiburg a full BRM series was offered for the first time. While I missed the date for the 200km Brevet I was participating the 300km ride. Wow - and what a ride that was! There are a few diffrences to the Brevets I did in Großenwieden/Weserbergland: many more participants (about 70 compared to about 30 in Großenwieden). And a very different track profile: The mountains here are actually *real* mountains.
The weather was brilliant, my mood quite good, the pockets filled with some Swiss Franken for getting food on the road (part of the track was crossing Switzerland). I also took my video camera with me. I did this Brevet on my good old Bergamont bike again - the Specialized I hadn't taken with me to Freiburg.

The start was nice and the first serious uphill passage came quickly and went straight over the Blackforrest offering a good view to the Belchen. This climbing action was tough but quite nice. On the peak (about 1000m) I took opportunity to go downhill with a few fellows from Switzland who had a rather tough pace. But it was a great ride. Just before the Rhine a few steep hills were awaiting us (Nordschwaben). Still with the "Swiss express" I rode it up quite fast and probably lost a bit too much energy at this still early state of the brevet.

Anyway, we reached Bad Säckingen at a good time (3h for 80km) and instead of taking a little break to have a breakfast I tried to start off immediately again with those Swiss guys. But at the first ascent after the border (a really impressive old bridge over the Rhine), I wasn't able to keep up their pace. Instead I directly fell into a powerless state and had a hard time to climb up the not that steep hills. I didn't took a break, but tried heading to the next control at the Oberbölchener Haus where I heard a pasta buffet was arranged.

But before that control there was serious work to be done to reach that height the Oberbölchener Haus is located. 15% - tough if you feel powerless. I fought for each kilometer and finally reached that control (@ km116 - 5 1/2h). Unfortunately my appetite was gone and the noodles were way too al dente.

I didn't recover there as I hoped and just realized that I had to discard all my speed ambitions and do the remaining 180km really slow. I was happy to know that from km 200 the landscape was said to be flat again.

The route until there was crossing the Jura mountains. Beautiful sceneries just like taken from a Swiss picture album. The next control a bit west from Delemont was hard again, because it seriously went uphill once more and I also had a tube failure - exchanging the tube costed a little additional time. The control (Souboz, km 167) was at a car workshop. And a few randonneurs were pausing there, they all didn't looked fresh, too. I just went on, was too exhausted to even take a break. The way downhill from there was really impressive: tight rocks limiting the road through an impressing ravine.

Then I somewhere crossed the border to France, not even noticing where it actually was. I tried to take break to recover a bit, but didn't fell asleep and just wasted an hour time. Then the evening came and I finally reached flat lands. I crossed the industry areas of Mulhouse when it was dark already. The working plants were kind of impressive and a stark contrast to the nature-beauty of the landscapes just before.

At midnight (a time I originally not only wanted to have finished, but also be showered and being in bed already) I crossed the border to Germany and was just happy to realize, that I still had enough time to finish the last 30km by coasting. Each kilometer closer to Freiburg were a relieve.

Late, very late (at about 2:30 AM - 18 1/2 hours after the start) I eventually reached the finish and was very happy that this was finally done. I think it was my worst time ever.

I wasted way to much power at the first mountains. Also my fitness state was not good yet (the winter was too long) and once again I ate and drunk too little too late. The beginning was great, but the overstressing at the beginning literally killed me. 2/3 of the tour were a big fight for each single kilometer and height meter. If I had had the chance to abandon the tour at km 100 I had done so, but I needed to go on, so I kept on cycling. Nice to know though, that 200km w/o any power is still a thing that can be done. But actually it wasn't big fun. The weather and landscapes were brilliant though.

Again, a lesson learned. Never ever exceed your inner pace!

I was singing in the rain

Oh, it has been wet. It has been so awfully wet!.
That is really the most important and lasting impression from PBP.
Also it is to note, that I only rode 918km and not the entire
distance. This was mostly due to some healthy problems, but the
weather and some technical issues (my gear shifter cable broke and I
had to go more than 80 km without a working shifter) wre not really
helpful. But anyway, I got the taste of PBP. Loving it and hating it
was so close together. And I learned a lot about fighting against
sleep. When you have nobody to talk with it is okay to just sing to
keep you awake. Surprisingly that works not too bad. So I was singing
in the rain...
It has been quite some experience.
Maybe 2011 I'll repeat that, but luckily that is not to decide today,
but in four years.

I wrote a German report about my ride at my website
Enjoy!

Getting off to Paris

The countdown for PBP is close to zero now! Slowly I am geting nervous and
excited. The weatherforcasts shape up a bit for the ride. Currently
the forecast is announcing wind from northern directions, rather low temperatures,
rare sun, but also rare rain. If it keeps like that it'll be fine.
Most important is *no* thunderstorms!!

Many PBP veterans are reporting you won't come back as the guy you left. I am wondering what these changes might be. I'll see.

Also I like to thank all supporters who had warm words or such. I
appreciate that. If you want to track me during the ride you can do so
on http://www.paris-brest-paris.org/EN/index.php?showpage=64 - search
for frame number 3642. Also if you like to send me some warm words
during the ride you're welcome to send sms to my mobile.

All things are packed, bike is okay. I'll leave tomorrow to get a car and will go to Paris on Sunday. If everything works out the way I want to, I'll return on Saturday from Paris.

Cheers!

200 km done, 300 km done

So I did my first Brevets. The 200km distance was hard. Much harder than expected. Lot of mountains and a strong, cold permanent wind from east. Also my equipment was not optimal. Rode that distance wearing a jeans and got a tube failure. Also it was too cold. On top of the hills there was still some snow.

I felt my knees and was quite happy when finished that ride. But after two, three days I felt well again and started to think of the 300km distance.

The 300 km distance was way better: the weather was fine, my equipmet and clothes better. The mountains were not too hard. Reached maximum speed of about 60 km/h. Ate some badly fried fries on the afternoon. The first quarter of the distance (about 75km) I joined the top group, then I decided to let them go and chose my own speed. Most of the distance I rode alone and reached the finish after 14 and a half hours since the start at 7:30 a bit before 22:00 (21:59), cycling time was something about 12 hours.

It was hard, but also fun. Now I am curious to try the 400km distance. I hope for good weather conditions and for not too hard mountains. I'll see. Changed my pedals now to click pedals also my tires were exchanged to avoid tube failures (now Schwalbe Marathon Racer)