Day 11: 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

Day 10: 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

Day 9: 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

Day 8: 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

Day 7: 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


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Day 5, Up and Over

Another wonderful day on the bike. The distance was pretty short just over 90 km. We started in the chill of the morning with most everyone wearing jackets. When I get a chance to upload the photos you’ll see some shots that I took as we left. Normally we ride in small groups of 2 to 4, but this morning for some reason about half the group left at the same time.

The first part of the ride was a lot of up and down as we made our way off the ridge we were camping on, then it was a very nice downhill swoosh as were rolled into a large town at about 25 km, just the right time for coffee and pastries.

It was a nice flat ride after that for about 20 more kilometers. By this time we had picked up a nice little group of 5 riders and set up an informal pace line that really makes the ride go fast.

At about the 45 km mark we started the highlight of the day a 1000 meter (about 3000 foot) climb over a mountain before dropping into Munster. The climb was about 25 km long and sometimes the road pitch was more than 11 percent, but the road was shady and the temperature cool at 20 degrees c (68 degrees F). I hate to compare the climb with others but the pitch and shade was similar to Old la Honda that I've ridden in the Bay Area and to total from bottom to top reminded me of parts of Angela Crest in Southern California, both wonderful rides.

The road topped out at a ski resort at 75 km and our lunch was waiting for us. We hung out for a while at the top until we couldn't delay any longer. the remaining 18 km into Munster was a zooming switchback downhill into town. We stopped several times to take photos, I’ll upload them when I can. The views were stunning.

As we reached Muster, we were ready for something to drink and stopped at a bar that was already filled with riders from out group. After a drink, it was a short ride to the campsite where we arrived at about 3PM.

I gotta say that the Garmin GPS has really been useful on this trip. I takes me some time to enter the route into the unit the night before, but the unit has provided us a level of confidence that allows us deviate from the route and find our way back on to the course with no problem.

It has also alerted us to turns that we would have missed, but it beeping and messages on the screen has kept us from going off track.

Well that’s ride from today, Happy Biking,

Brian

Today's Photos

RideWithGPS Route

Day 4; Recovery Ride

After the long ride yesterday, today's was fairly short at 87 km (54 miles). We stopped for coffee and pastry about the 25 km mark. The town was just what you might have expected from a french town with cobble stone streets shops and a open air market.

We were lead to the pastry shop by our noses, no kidding. The day was cooler overall that yesterday and the views were gorgeous!! I've biked in many places, but the views were as pretty as I have seen anywhere.

Click on the map below, "View Details", to view more details of our ride, but since the ride was pretty short today, I was able to catch up on the blog a bit and upload the Garmin GPS data to the internet. I also tried to upload photos for both yesterday and today, but for some reason the photos would not upload. I'll try uploading them at a later time.

That's all for now, Happy Biking,

Brian

Today's Photos

 

RideWithGPS Route

Day 3, A Wonderful Day

I just love it when a biking day goes so well. We left the hotel in a convoy fashion for the first 6 km this morning to insure that everyone found the bike path. The bike path lasted miles and miles mostly following a set of canals. The paths were asphalt and the canals were on one side and farm fields on the other. The paths wound up to a set of lakes. We had hoped to find a place for coffee overlooking the lakes, but we were too early and pushed onwards until we found a small town where we got some pastries and espresso.

I just gotta say that this was one of the most pleasant day on the bike. the morning was cool the scenery was wide open vistas that reminded me very much parts of the US that I've had a chance to ride, lush green rolling hills, with many crops such as wheat, corn and grapes. I just did not want the day to end. At about the halfway point we found the lunch stop and refueled for the rest of the ride.

The Garmin GPS was really handy. The night before I loaded in each turn off the tour provided cue sheet and as we rolled along, the map with the turns are displayed on the unit mounted on my handle bars. We didn't miss a turn and always knew our distance from the end of the ride.

Many of miles after lunch we left our quiet country road and turn on a busy main road that we would follow to our destination. The shade that we enjoyed in the morning disappeared as the temperature increased. We finally found an open cafe where six of us piled in and had espresso and ice cream (two of the most important biking food groups). The the road was pretty busy at this point with many trucks passing by us without much room to spare. The road also began to climb and dip only sapping our strength and slowing our progress. We also came upon What seemed like a short ride to the end became more and more difficult.

We almost reached our destination when we came upon a small farmer's market. Though dinner was only an hour away, we stopped and ate some fruit and figs before heading the last km to the campground.

Currently I'm charging my GPS and laptop while sitting outside the men's bathroom with my extension cords winding their way into the outlets above the wash basins. I'll upload this post, photos and GPS map as soon as I get a WiFi connection.

 Until then, Happy biking,

 Brian

Today's Photos

RideWithGPS route

Day 2, Nuclear power plants and wind turbines

Today as we left our campground that is located on an active farm, we passed the ponies, ducks, geese and lambs and hit the cool road. Bright blue sky called us down the road.

Just a couple of miles down the road we passed a castle with a drawbridge and moat. I knocked on the castle door to talk to the king, but only an angry dog answered from the other side for the door.

About and hour into the day, we pulled into a small town and found one open bakery. Had a pastry and a cup of coffee before heading off again.

We didn't really push the day very hard and even side tracked a bit through a small town and some back-roads. With the Garmin GPS it was pretty easy to track where we actually were, vs. the planned route, so we never felt lost. We were just exploring our options!!

Lunch came up at the 50km point, which was more that 50% of the way to destination of Troyes. As the day  rolled on the crosswinds and headwinds picked up a bit and slowed down our pace a bit. But the road became more quiet while we passed fields of barley, poppies and hemp.

We also passed a nuclear power plant puffing clouds of white smoke and fields of wind turbines.

The last 10 km into town was along a very busy highway, but we just kept moving and were in town in just a short time. This evening we're staying in a very nice hotel and will have tomorrow off to explore our surroundings a bit.

Happy Riding,

Brian

RideWithGPS recorded route

Day 1; Out of Paris

At last!! We're off.

Road through Paris as a part of our first day. Pass many of the famous sites. After 20km we were out on the more rural roads, though the speeding trucks zipping by us sometimes came a bit too close for comfort.

The wind started to pick up a bit in the afternoon, too bad it wasn't a tail wind, mostly a cross to head wind, but not too bad. The day was fairly short, only about 60 miles. I arrived in the campground at about 2 or so.

The campground is part of a working farm and as you can see in the following photos, we had plenty of shade for lounging and getting to know each other.

I also had a chance to test out my Garmin today. The resulting map and ride statistics are shown below:

Happy Biking

Brian

Today's Photos
RideWithGPS Routes

The Adventure Begins

Well the adventure begins today. I'm at airport waiting for my flight Toronto with a connection to Paris. I've taken bike trips previously but this will certainly be the most adventurous so far. Weeks of preparation we completed by midnight with the final item going into the bag before heading off to bed.

Over the years I developed a checklist that I use for these trips, sometimes adding sometimes subtracting. It always seems while I'm packing that I need to add to the list, but after each trip I find stuff at the bottom of my bags that I never used and should have left home. Oh well, cross the extra items off the list for next trip.

Tech:

Every trip the technology changes and there are new gadgets to experiment with. 2002 wast the first trip with a website, 2003 trip to Great Britain (End to End) was the first digital camera.

This year I'm traveling with a Garmin 800 GPS that I hope will keep me from getting lost. It also electronically keeps all the biking statistics and plots the trip map. We'll see how well the web interface works as I will be trying to link the blog to the maps.... We'll see how well it works.  I also picked up a new computer for the trip as well, it a Samsung Chromebook. I was a beta user for the original Google CR-48 Chromebook and have really enjoyed using it for the past couple of years, but the new faster, sleeker and lighter seemed to be ideal for this trip. Like the Garmin GPS, we'll see how well it works out.

I hear my flight being called, so it's off to the adventure!!! Wish me well.

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Brian