July 11th, 2007 | categorizilation: all categories,Germany
Today’s distance / 今日の走行距離: 53.1km
Average speed / 平均速度: 14.1km/h
Time on skateboard / 走行時間: 3h 46m
Total skateboarding distance to date / 今までスケボで走った距離: 53.1km (plus 400km)
Total cycling distance to date / 今まで自転車で走った距離: 11,800km
Ascent / 上り: +330m
Descent / 下り: -330m
Big thanks to Markus and his parents for looking after me for the last two days. Markus’s mum makes great food! All the best for Markus as he plans his big adventure.
The winds were fair to me today. A steady breeze from the south helped me along the smooth cycle paths from Gengenbach through Offenburg, and ultimately 53km to a small village called Winden, close to Sinzheim. My legs felt steady and relaxed after the two days off – taking it easy for these first few weeks on the board seems to be the way to go.
Today I passed through the following towns:
I left Markus’s place at around 11am, and at 12:05 stopped for 10 minutes at a supermarket to buy more alcohol for my stove. I ended up finding Soya Granulate also – the alusive TVP I had been looking for to up the protein value of my meals. At 1.69 Euro for 250g, it was the most reasonable price I have seen in Germany so far.
Had a lunch break from 12:30 till 13:30. Lunch was sandwiches (kindly prepared by Markus’s mum – thank you!) and left over oatmeal from breakfast eaten with some banana and strawberry jam (homemade by Markus’s mum).
From 15:10 I had another break for 20 minutes, before skating until 17:00 when I stopped for dinner under a cherry tree. I discovered that cherry trees are not a great choice for sitting under at this time of year – birds pecking at the ripe cherries at the top of the tree send soft broken cherries down, falling on clothes, staining them…
I ate and read a book until 18:30, and skated to my kind host’s place to arrive there at 19:45.
My hosts for tonight are the Wallers. Their son was a YFU exchange student, and through the YFU network, I managed to end up staying here tonight. Markus was also a YFU exchange student in the past, and he organised for me to stay here tonight. Kind of a random situation, with the Wallers knowing very little about who I am, but things seem to be working out.
July 9th, 2007 | categorizilation: all categories,Germany
I was rather comfy under the bridge just outsde of Offenburg, but I knew that by 7am I needed to get going. People were starting to move about.
I cooked up some porridge, and headed to the local internet cafe to see if I could get a hold of Markus. I checked and re-checked his phone number, and in the end decided one more time to call him. Sure that it would make no difference, I added the ’0′ to the number. Markus answered right away, and he was in Offenburg to pick me up with half an hour.
Markus is not your typical German English speaker. He sounds Canadian. Very well traveled, and mad on cycling. He once cycled 280km in one day. Great stuff. He is planning a Germany to China cycling trip beginning in February next year: Cycling Without Borders
We headed to his parent’s place; his father breeds rabbits, and there were two skinned rabbits handing from hooks near the kitchen bench. That is not why he breeds rabbits however. In the entrance to their house the first thing you notice is the cabinet chock full of trophies. Markus’s dad breeds some very pretty rabbits.
We went out for a walk around Gengenbach, a beautiful small town with traditional Germand houses and narrow alleys. Jolly nice wee town.
Dinner was roast rabbit with ‘Spätzle‘ noodles and gravy. Very nice indeed.
July 8th, 2007 | categorizilation: all categories,Germany
Today’s distance / 今日の走行距離: 72.5km
Average speed / 平均速度: 13.8km/h
Time on skateboard / 走行時間: 5h 15m
Max speed: 35.5km/h
I was hoping to get in contact with some Couchsurfing people in Fribourg last night, but unfortunately I only emailed some people yesterday morning. It was far too last minute, and many were not home. However, I did manage to find a secluded spot in a park to sleep for the night – feeling rather too conspicuous in my bright yellow sleeping bag.
The result was that I didn’t sleep too well, and woke in the morning feeling a litte tired already, on top of the fatigue from yesterday. I did need to make it to Offenburg that night however, so I could meet up with Markus, a friend I met through my website. Markus (http://cyclingwithoutborders.wordpress.com/) is planning a Germany to China epic cycling trip for early next year. He came upon my website when looking for resources in his planning. Markus had offered for me to stay at his place, and I was not one to pass that up.
I set out from Fribourg at about 9am, and headed out into the unknowed. I still didn’t have a map of the area, so I was just following road signs. Somewhere in the middle of the day, I ran into a medievial festival in a small town called Kenzingen. The organisers were charging a 2 Euro entry fee into the main street, but I was waved through after I asked whether I was going to have to go around the town to get past.
I must say that at least this part of Germany reminds me a lot of New Zealand, especially Southland. Forested hills, a few pastures. Therefore so far I’m not particularly excited by the surroundings. The German people however make up for this lack of enviromental stimulus. Kind and friendly, they are interested in what I am doing. They take my mind off my yearning to be back in the wide open hostile spaces of Tajikistan.
Now the plan was to get in contact with Markus by the evening, so he would know that I was heading in his direction. However, the whole experience of trying to get in contact with him was a great learning experience. Let me show off my recently acquired knowledge:
If a phone number in Germany has a ’0′ at the beginning, it means that you have to dail it.
I tried many times to call the number that Markus had given me, but I was always dropping the 0 from it. I always got reponses from the other end from confused German people wondering why I was asking for Markus…
The result was that I couldn’t get in contact with Markus, and ended up sleeping under a bridge. Just as well I was under the bridge; it rained cats and dogs at night.
July 7th, 2007 | categorizilation: all categories,Germany,Switzerland
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.
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.
