Spring Showers bring May Winds...But We Have Leg Power!
Extended weekend here in Germany meant extra biking. I did an overnight with Mylène in the far west of Brandenburg and back. Mostly for training and also to solidify the fact that her new bike is awesome.
On the way out we were joined by Graham and Krystin and had a good time for the first leg of the ride after a power breakfast made by Krystin at her house.
But we ran into a pretty big head wind (22km/h) and the temperature started falling. After a short break around 60km there was a pretty big rainstorm added on top of all of this. We had originally wanted to make it out to Bernsdorf all together and Mylène and I had planned to camp out near Magdeburg but Krystin and Graham turned back to turn the headwind into a tailwind and Mylène and I pressed on towards Brandenburg. But the darkness of the weather, and simply the cold rain was ultimately too demoralizing and we stopped about 20km later to pitch the tent for the night. We stopped in Briest shortly before to warm up with some nice German potato soup. Then turned off the road and found a cozy lake to camp.
The night could have been better. To keep the description short, Mylène forgot her sleeping bag and we had to share my single mummy sack.
The next day however, was pretty much the opposite. Sunny, warm and with a tailwind. We started out riding towards Rathenow and stopped in a little village to find some bread for breakfast. Then we had to take a ferry across the Havel river to continue.
The rest of the ride was great - beautiful forests, fields and paths that weren't too crowded so we got in a fair amount of drafting. Even carrying my bag and the tent I clocked some sub 10:00 5kms - a testament to the winter training regiment!
Along the way we stopped in Kotzen. But only to take a picture of the sign. It is surprising and funny because Kotzen means "barf."
Childish humor aside, we thoroughly enjoyed this ride and will be doing a lot more very soon.
Day 1:
Day 2:
On the way out we were joined by Graham and Krystin and had a good time for the first leg of the ride after a power breakfast made by Krystin at her house.
But we ran into a pretty big head wind (22km/h) and the temperature started falling. After a short break around 60km there was a pretty big rainstorm added on top of all of this. We had originally wanted to make it out to Bernsdorf all together and Mylène and I had planned to camp out near Magdeburg but Krystin and Graham turned back to turn the headwind into a tailwind and Mylène and I pressed on towards Brandenburg. But the darkness of the weather, and simply the cold rain was ultimately too demoralizing and we stopped about 20km later to pitch the tent for the night. We stopped in Briest shortly before to warm up with some nice German potato soup. Then turned off the road and found a cozy lake to camp.
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| Sure it looks idyllic, but this place was swarming with mosquitoes. Fortunately the tent was quick to set up and we managed to keep it from getting wet inside |
The night could have been better. To keep the description short, Mylène forgot her sleeping bag and we had to share my single mummy sack.
The next day however, was pretty much the opposite. Sunny, warm and with a tailwind. We started out riding towards Rathenow and stopped in a little village to find some bread for breakfast. Then we had to take a ferry across the Havel river to continue.
The rest of the ride was great - beautiful forests, fields and paths that weren't too crowded so we got in a fair amount of drafting. Even carrying my bag and the tent I clocked some sub 10:00 5kms - a testament to the winter training regiment!
Along the way we stopped in Kotzen. But only to take a picture of the sign. It is surprising and funny because Kotzen means "barf."
Day 1:
Day 2:
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