I'm at an internet site that is charging 3 euros per hour!

Great ride today, but I'll update with info tomorrow. I'm at an internet site that is charging 3 euros per hour!! crazy I tell you!!

Happy Biking,

Brian

Out of Ulm

We slipped out from Ulm today on the bike path this morning. The air was still and the temperature warmer that it has been since the beginning of the ride. The tree lined trail twisted and turned as we worked our way out of town.

We soon found ourselves on unpaved trails again and we soon we rumbling along the trail with the tiny stone popping to the left and right as we trundled along.

There was even a Roman ruin temple that we visited along the way. The ride was about 100 km and at about 45 we found an open bakery with great pastry and cappuccino. We overloaded the small shop when about 20 riders piled into the shop at the same time.

We missed the lunch van somehow today. but we found a supermarket in the town of Eggelstetten where we grabbed some sandwiches and fruit and had a picnick lunch under a shade tree before heading in to the campsite.

That’s about it for today, happy biking,

Brian

Follow the Bike Paths

Today we made an attempt to get on the bike path (cycle way) and for the most part succeeded in staying on the path. It was pretty nice. Some paved roads and some up unpaved roads. The unpaved roads did no harm to the bikes except for leaving them very dusty.

Happy Trails,

Brian Cox

Trust the Garmin.... I think...

The route sheet for today was simple, get on the bike path to Sigmaringen, ride on the bike path all the way to Sigmaringen and end up at the campsite. Sounds easy, Hun?

Well, we started off on the bike path and it was very nice in the still morning air. We just glided along the bike path enjoying the view from the bike seat. However after several kilometers we noticed the bike path signs did not match the same signs that we has followed earlier in the ride. Relying in the Garmin we decided to follow the directions that it was providing even though it wasn't routing on us back to the bike path. It turned out to be a wonderful decision, taking us up over several hills were we had some wonderful views. We were likely to be traveling faster that the group on the river bike path.

Pretty soon we were in the picturesque town of Sigmaringen that has it's own castle with family roots that goes back a 1000 years.

We stopped in town for cool drinks and pastry before taking a tour of the castle. I think that this was the first authentic castle I've been in, though I have toured the Hearst Castle in California.

That's it for now, Happy Biking,

Brian

Source of the Danube

What can I say about today? Weather perfect; blue skies, temperatures upper 60's to mid 70's and road surface great. The roads in California are getting pretty rough to ride on. California generally has not resurfaced their roads in years, however in both France and Germany, generally the roads (including the rural ones) have been pretty nice.

Take a look at the Garmin plot below and you will see that we had a climb to about the 32 km mark and then generally down hill from there. The climb was pretty challenging, with some spots hitting 13 and 12 percent grade, but most of the time it was about 11 percent. It's during these long challenging climbs that you just need to find your pace. It will take time to reach the top and other riders may be faster or slower than you, but you need to ride your own rate. Go too fast and you might "burn out your legs" for the rest of the ride, ride too slowly and you'll just use too much energy.

I hope the photos from today capture the beauty of the ride, the green forest, the mountain stream, the blue sky.

We hit the lunch spot at the 42 km mark, and after some sandwiches and bananas, we were off to the final stop 18 km away.  The four of us; Jim, Steve, Lori and myself zoomed into town after following a bike path for about 10 km and decided to head to the "source of the Dambue", a spring in the center of town. Well, the GPS headed us in the correct direction, but when we got there, it was undergoing restoration and we couldn't get close because of the construction.

We then headed back toward the center of town, found an outdoor cafe and parked ourselves there for about 2 hours or so, waving down other riders as they went past.  We must of generated a lot of business for the cafe today!!

It was only a couple more kilometers to the campground along some bike paths where we set up our tents and had a couple of cool ones.

Tomorrow promises to be really fun as we start to follow the Dambue along the bike paths. They say the we'll be on the  path all the way to Vienna.

Well that's all for today, Happy Biking,

Brian