Pan Europe Project on hold

 So what does one do if one plans to cycle to Praque but the pandemic is interfering. 

Well there is my secondary project hiking the E1 hiking path but also - at the moment I can do small snippets of this - and won't get far without an overnight facility.

Now that I got a functional inflatable boat I plan to surround all the lakes in the surroundings - that is - all those where this is legal. This is perfect with the pools all being closed for slowpoke people like me.

I am doing some rucking - some on the E1, some with the respective Goruck Rucking Clubs, most alone, for we are still in a pandemic. I picked up the 4x4x48 format - four miles every four hours for 48 hours and we did a sunrise ruck.

I have been submitting ingress banners - to help get others into the great outdoors - and of course have tested them.

Two successful field projects - ingress is possible under pandemy conditions. And keeps my mind awake.

I have re-found my old sewing hobby, sewn and given away several hundreds masks and organized the distribution of face shields when demand was high. 

I have been camping for three days - just me, my tent, my bike, going there by car and being outside. 

So, I figure I restart this blog, featuring a few things I have done in the time I have for physical training and in the time I am not allowed to work due to the pandemy.

And for starters I post some of the pictures I took on my different endeavours.

Masks etc: 

one of the very first masks from my production.

and that's the other end of that timeline...

Ingress: 

The Blue Cheese Cake project... or - defying "Thou shall not pass"

Camping:

Three days at the Neckar... Also some ingress involved but especially a lot of nature, lots of km in the sun.

For ingress - twice up the castle... Every conquered hill equals one victory

Hiking and rucking:

Sahara Dust goes Kraichgau

Night vision - finally entered a State without curfew...

E1 near Bretten:

Just a few to showcase. To open up that Call to go out. 

Play it smart and safe - this virus does not stop in front of you.

But - let's find those things which we can do instead of focusing on the things we cannot do. 

The next few posts will again showcase that crazy last year. But take this as a starter :)

Cheers. 

See you soon (TM)

Pan Europe Bike Path... Now Rothenburg to Paris

So. Home again. Laundry washed.
Thoughts...
So I met this couple - a male and a female cyclist from New Zealand.
They take six weeks vacation time to cycle Germany.
And they just had stoppped for a moment to savor the plums which grew along the way.

While eating some more of the juicy fruits, we discussed differences - weather patterns and insect population. These two wondered why they did not get bitten by mosquitos.
They also wondered if the borders of fields were overgrown with random weeds and other plants - on purpose.

I kind of helped them to find the next camp ground before we all set off our merry cycling ways.
One thought of course... No insects due to insect killer chemistry? No mosquitos - well along the Rhine (there I know that - somewhere else I don't) they spray stuff to kill larvae.
On the other hand... there are bugs in the air... On the route to Rothenburg I had a flying protein snack right into my throat. And was coughing my soul out for at least an hour later...

Probably we get a bad combination of all. Chemistry. Dry surroundings. More chemistry...
One reason to never touch my lavender while it is populated by bees and bumblebees.
And I will vinture into the Kirrlach forests to figure if there are still those nasty horseflies...

Another thought. Riding Europe. For my next step I just eyeballed the bike path to Prague.
No google maps for cycling there.
The Czech don't cycle? I cannot believe this.
I am very curious how other countries' maps will work... And other bike paths.

Then. Arriving in Crailsheim.
Nobody was answering the bell in my selected hotel, so I just used the phone.
The guy smelled like booze.
Complained a bit about his work hours when his boss wasn't there.
But... he had a job - and maybe this is a job for keeping him at work. I really don't know.
He had - in Germany non legal - I guess - work times from 6am to 10pm.
And in my room that stash of empty bottles.
Do I want to know the background here? Not really... just
maybe...
maybe I would.

Riding Europe by bike - and returning by train. That's a special thing to do. I was glad that bus driver let me in with my bike. With the replacement busses - people turn away from trains.
On the other hand - that one-day ticket is amazing. Any distance for little money.
Including the bike.
So if it works there is already a lot of incentive to use public transport.

But I do so much still miss the possibility to find a way from A to B on some map program - entering Train and Bike - combined.

Last thought. I am doing this alone. I talk to all kinds of people, listen to them, hope to learn. I do like doing this, collecting vibes, thinking some about those and about ideas others come up with. Maybe the Scottish couple and the Brexit. Maybe the French gentleman and the fountain. Maybe the elderly couple knowing about potability of their village's water. Maybe the monuments people put up to remind us all about our history and what may never repeat. Much too many of those.
La Tour - and how Sports gets people together. Pictures of beautiful landscapes and forests - forests which are threatened by dry weather.
Castles I pass - thinking about how people lived centuries ago. no luxury...
A lot of impressions. many pictures taken.

Next leg coming up.
soon (TM)

Schwaebisch Hall to Rothenburg... But wait. there's more...

 First things first. Breakfast in Schwaebisch Hall. They had muffin-ish thingies, like omelets and pached egs, including herbs and/or bacon.
And coffee, of course.
Carb loading.
I already had some good carbs the day before - in the shape of potatoes. Now the breadrolls.

When I had woken up I had noticed that my special contraption I had made for my watch to keep on my arm without the long end of the wristband sticking out - that this contraption had failed. Or... actually not the leather piece but the plastic it was holding.

I also had noticed that my charging cradle for the Garmin was at home so I had to deal with one full charge for two days and a bit. This in combination made me use a piece of string and mount the garmin on the stumps of the wristband around the handlebar.  It was still all functional
The garmin screen usually shows me a tiny  part of the map. Green where I should be, black where I am.
In this way I could see the screen on the handlebar, and it was good for navigation.

The Paneuropean goes from Schwaebisch Hall to Rothenburg ob der Tauber through a handful of smaller towns. Rothenburg being in Upper Franconia, not in the Federal State I live in anymore.
The beginning of the path went along the Kocher - a narrow river, very winding, but without too many elevations.
Then it connects to the bike path "Liebliches Taubertal" (lovely valley of the Tauber) - more water involved. And there are romantic fews - at least if the random cyclist is able to avert the eyes from the road.

Bridges galore. Always good for a pic with bike...  

Or without. 
A lot of Geranium about in each city.
As soon as I left the Kocher the hills restarted. They were not as nasty as the ones I had the previous day but they were hills.
And my legs let me know.

Beautiful weather - this time I had added an electrolyte tab into my water bottle.
Very wide landscape at some places.
And eventually I came close to Rothenburg. It was about 70km I rode that day, and I was thinking to take a hotel room here.
Turning into an icecream parlor (see a pattern here?) I was observing my surroundings, and defined I don't want to be tourist at a location where shopkeepers want tourists to buy something but not to require service.   
                                                              which meant for me ...

   

... off to Crailsheim. Back to Swabia. I rode past the fortification of Rothenburg, enjoyed the arghitecture, noticed they have a criminal history museum (meaning I need to get back there...)

 One maybe portal to be - When I ride I do not have my scanner open. But when I see an old cross like this, I am stopping and opening it. submitting a new portal if that's not there yet.
#thingsyouseeplayingingress I like to share these things.
I would not blog if I didn't like to share ...
Another vanilla-ice-coffee. Another sweet something (nut corner - Nussecke - lots of nuts and sugar and chocolate involved)
My Garmin's battery finally failed. I switched over to Endomondo, a tracking program I use for years already - even before I had a Garmin device.

Also on the way to Crailsheim I found some more hills.
A pair of road cyclists passing me.
Most cyclists say hello - especially when we are single on our merry tours.
I do like this in-between-sporting-people attitude.
It is similar like an between-smurfs attitude.
Similar interests, similar goals. Friendly attitude.

I found a hill with power stations, windmills essentially, old but trusted technics.
And I had a lot of wind on my way - most were headwinds. East wind.
Doesn't matter - nobody chases me - and I have gears.

I found the city of Crailsheim. Not very large, not ugly, not beautiful, two cinemas (which I noticed) and I found a hotel directly at the trainstation.
In the corner of my room I found a collection of empty (what a pity) beer bottles.
Shower, and off for food. Pizza with shrimps.
Cheese. Recarbohydrate. and rehydrate. Thinking about some sharp alcohol but... no. Ingress for the night? why not? Missions nearby? No. So I took good care of the local green, deleted some weeds, replaced by a small green field - and a bit larger one to one back to Schrozberg a town I had visited. And from where I had linked a narrow field to Schwaebisch Hall...
One more link and it would have been a triangle...
too bad.No key.
Crailsheim became blue. More or less.
Then I had to figure out how to get home.
From Rothenburg it would have been a 5+ hours ride with busses, trains, all of it. For Crailsheim it supposedly were three+

 But what a surprise , next morning, I found that also here train had been replaced by bus service. usually those don't take bikes. My more expensive alternative did not have space for a bike. So I decided to hope for a friendly bus driver and just ask. And if he says nom to ride back to Schwaebisch Hall by bike. Another one and a half hours.
But he said yes and so I ended up riding a bus, bike next to me. hacking away all the portals which speedlock let me, and getting out in Hessetal.

Hessetal to Bretten. Train. No problem, just that it was three steep steps up into the wagon again.
And they had a carpet.
Else it was like any other old train.
Bretten to Bruchsal...
Martin picked me up there, and we rode home he on his race bike me on my bee bike.

 This short tour. fewer km than the last. fewer days as well. Actyually too short for "getting into the cycling" but this had been the same at my first paneurope visit to Heilbronn.
And... not European, just inner-German - yet, you would find differences from my area (Baden) to Swabia. I also learned how huge the county of Schwaebisch Hall ist. I literally did not get our of there with a day of cycling.
I also figured I should get used to offline maps - on my way to Crailsheim I took a picture some place, but the map had exited and I could not get it to work. I went by feel for the next few km.
Still all was fun. I have now covered Rothenburg to Paris. Missing now: Rothenburg to Prague.
Gotta learn som Czech....

Now. some more little bricks to my fitness for my next Ironman race. It is coming. It will be coming.
Those long trail sessions really nail training for me. Additionally of course I need speed. But first condition to sit on the bike for all that time.

Heilbronn outbound

First step - Heilbronn to Schwaebisch Hall.

On the road again. Or... on the PanEuropean Bike Trail again.
A lot of this is not roads - this time I had pathways with gravel or even grass. prep for the Czech part, I guess...
Right now - I took a train to Heilbronn. This is pretty much where I ended the second leg. I had ridden from Kronau to Mosbach and from Mosbach to Heilbronn. Staying overnight in Heilbronn, the city with the Bundesgartenschau 2019 and the still largest HCL6 homogenuous field.
Very Swabian. And a good place to run in circles. Ingress taught me decent nav skills. Yet, I rode around Heilbronn about 8km before I found the right exit from the city. This had a few different reasons - for one - I had uploaded the wrong gpx file. But in cities I never rely on those - these usually only give a general direction. The other reason: Bundesgartenschau. The main gardening exhibition of the year 2019 in Germany.
Third...A very Swabian city. Saving money on the topic of putting up decent signage. *this attitude might also show at the railway station where they charge one Euro for a visit to the restroom)
So all three factors cost me an hour before my real start.

    

 So my route took me through Heilbronn hills which are hillier than Kraichgau hills. Steeper. more, longer inclines. but who cares - I am here to cycle. to train.
Of course also to eat. When I eventually saw a bakery - I had been hoping for an ice cream parlor - but when I saw that place, I went in, got some cake and the German variety of iced coffee (coffee, vanilla icecream, cream) And mercilessly deleted it.
This day kind of was tough. I had been cycling but maybe the weather, maybe being a bit tired (even after decent sleep) I did not feel really fit. On the other hand - most of these things happen in the mind. And I re-activated the "every hill a victory" mantra.
And I got rewarded by super beautiful sights along

my route.
Well, I knew the hills were just about to really start and the road took me up to Waldenburg.
That climb was really nasty. Up to about 13%, and a lot of traffic. I took a small break and almost did not find a place to remount my bike. As steep as it was getting on was tough anyways, and I usually swerve a bit in the beginning.
And this hill dragged ... on and on... but eventually there was a reward for the labor.

 A glorious view. I had the whole world on my feet - or so it looked like. Beautiful flowers all over the village.
Old castle remnants.
Even a portal.
So I took a break deleting more of the liquids I had brought along. Eating some dried fruit.
Looking forward to the descent.
And my, was I glad I had my brakes fixed after the tour to Paris.

 

 I followed the signs to Schwaebisch Hall - that was the place I had looked up for staying overnight.
Out in the coutryside signage was sufficient.
The same old oval with the European stars.
In the town I found a hotel, a space for my bke, some food (met a friend there, having dinner, chatting a bit, getting some coffee)
This was a very very exhausting day.
I only had planned two days - after a good night's sleep I got ready for the second.

Back in my hotel. First. take selfie. second wash clothing. third, shower. fourth out for food.