Day 338 – SWITZERLAND and GERMANY: From Basel to Fribourg


Today’s distance / 今日の走行距離: 74.6km
Average speed / 平均速度: 14.2km/h
Time on skateboard / 走行時間: 5h 14m
A big thank you to Randall for putting me up for the last two nights in Basel. Thanks to his great help with finding outdoor shops and cycling shops in town, it was a very fuitful stay.

It was hot today. I sweated like a…like a…like a person skateboarding with a pack on his back. I found my rhythm early however, and after leaving Randall’s place at about 11am, I was cruising along happily on the smooth roads of France.

Aye? France, I say?

Just past the border with Germany, there is a big dam on the Rhine River with a lock, where pedestirians can cross the river freely. I skated across and ended up skating about 30km along the west side of the Rhine in France. Not that it felt like France. All the town names were German-ish names.

A lock on the Rhine River in southern Germany.

Crossing the border from Switzerland to Germany was no worries. I had to ask for a stamp in my passport!

This skateboarding caper is hard work. On the flat I can average about 17km/h to 20km/h comfortably. But usually I can only keep this pace up for about 30 to 45 minutes before needing a rest. I figure that this is more to do with the fact that all the little balance muscles in my legs are still getting used to the load. On a bike – especially a recumbent – these balancing muscles don’t need to work at all. I hope that my body will adjust enough for me to be able to keep up the pace for up to an hour before choosing to stop for a rest.

The road conditions are varying. A good smooth road allows me to skate almost without thinking about my balance or the rhythm of swapping pushing legs. However, if the road gets just a little rough, like where overhanging trees have deteriorated the road slightly, skating requires a lot of concentration. It is like cycling on a sealed road compared to a rough gravel road. Speed drops, and more concentration is required.


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2 thoughts on “Day 338 – SWITZERLAND and GERMANY: From Basel to Fribourg

  • mirjam

    "Has Rob been going in circles? Is it because he didn't change legs when pushing?" some might have asked themselves when realizing that he had left Fribourg – only to arrive back in Fribourg a few days later. Here's the solution to the riddle:

    There are 2 Freiburgs in Europe!

    One is in Switzerland:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freiburg
    where the majority of the population speaks French, therefore this town is usually referred to as 'Fribourg'. But as it is a bilingual town, the Swissgerman might call it 'Freiburg' too.

    The other Freiburg is in the South of Germany
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freiburg
    Here everyone calls it Freiburg as they speak German only.

    This is just to avoid that people might end up in the wrong country when buying a ticket to visit. But then again: Both towns are worth a trip!

    Mirjam

    (feeling slightly guilty of having started the entire confusion 😉 )