FINAL TRIP REPORT - 1 - FACTS AND FIGURES
600 km, 5 days, one gear
or
104071 pedal revolutions, 1360 altitude meters, 30 hours in the saddle, 10 liter water, 5 countrys, 5 powerbars, one gear, zero flats, zero mechanicals.
or
104071 pedal revolutions, 1360 altitude meters, 30 hours in the saddle, 10 liter water, 5 countrys, 5 powerbars, one gear, zero flats, zero mechanicals.
DAY FIVE - UPDATE
left canterbury early in bad weather, heading towards Honey Hill. I wanted to avoid going on the main rote A2 until the motorway M20 is running in parrallel from Faversham onwards. traffic was okay, no dual carriageways, no high speed truck passing. nonetheless I bought a reflective vest for increased visibilty and that also made me feel a little safer than on day four. (updated with pictures now). I joined the national cycle route from Erith onwards, going just alongside the Thames. the scenery on the path is very strange, almost hostile since the route mostly runs through deserted industrial sites and rotten harbours. and you loose so much time because it's more like a cyclocross track with potholes, steps, guardrails, gravel...
finally arrived in London, received my honour batch and now I will enjoy the city and spend time with steffi, so there probably won't be any updates until next week.
there's going to be reviews on the gear I used, exact routes I travelled, facts&figures, lessons learned and so on. you don't want to miss that.
thank you all for following my trip and the supportive comments, that really helped my motivation.
DAY FIVE - CANTERBURY TO LONDON
after 7 hours in the saddle I arrived in London today, I'm very exhausted. I will put up more pictures and a detailed description of today's ride tomorrow, so please come back.
meanwhile check yesterday's post for picture update.
DAY FOUR - BRUEGGE TO CANTERBURY
what a day!
took off early in the sunshine, found my route and rode very relaxed towards dunkerque. I wanted to take the ferry at 1400, so I took it easy, made a lot of brakes to enjoy the sunshine and drink coffee verkeerd.
at 2/3 of the way I met a cycle tourist from amsterdam going towards south france. he took the ferry from dunkerque once and told me that the ferry terminal was nearly 25 km from the centre. that totally killed my timing, from there on I really had to push it hard to make the ferry. I flew into dunkerque to get directions but the tourist information was closed and 4 of the 5 locals I asked refused to answer. thank you! I arrived at the ferry terminal at 1330 and the guy at the ticket office said I was too late for security controls, next available ferry would be 1600. I was totall bummed but decided to go to security control anyhow and the lady just waved me through and I could cycle into the belly of the ferry just before they closed it. jippiieee. one nice french made my day, merci!
took a nap on the ferry and enjoyed a break from the hard cycling.
setting foot to english territory, it started to rain, of course!
I planned to take the national cycle route 1 towards Deal, Sandwich into Canterbury.
after carrying my bike up the steps to the white cliffs and pushing it through sand paths, I changed plans and went for the regional cycle route 16.
after pushing my bike up two steep, one mile climbs, I had to change my plans again.
I decided to take the main rout A2 into canterbury, it runs on top of the hills without steep climbs. the big downturn is, that it is a dual carriage way road with cars and hgv's passing you at about 90 km/h, totally insane!
finally arrived in Canterbury safe at my hostel, the Kipps, really nice and cosy place.
took off early in the sunshine, found my route and rode very relaxed towards dunkerque. I wanted to take the ferry at 1400, so I took it easy, made a lot of brakes to enjoy the sunshine and drink coffee verkeerd.
at 2/3 of the way I met a cycle tourist from amsterdam going towards south france. he took the ferry from dunkerque once and told me that the ferry terminal was nearly 25 km from the centre. that totally killed my timing, from there on I really had to push it hard to make the ferry. I flew into dunkerque to get directions but the tourist information was closed and 4 of the 5 locals I asked refused to answer. thank you! I arrived at the ferry terminal at 1330 and the guy at the ticket office said I was too late for security controls, next available ferry would be 1600. I was totall bummed but decided to go to security control anyhow and the lady just waved me through and I could cycle into the belly of the ferry just before they closed it. jippiieee. one nice french made my day, merci!
took a nap on the ferry and enjoyed a break from the hard cycling.
setting foot to english territory, it started to rain, of course!
I planned to take the national cycle route 1 towards Deal, Sandwich into Canterbury.
after carrying my bike up the steps to the white cliffs and pushing it through sand paths, I changed plans and went for the regional cycle route 16.
after pushing my bike up two steep, one mile climbs, I had to change my plans again.
I decided to take the main rout A2 into canterbury, it runs on top of the hills without steep climbs. the big downturn is, that it is a dual carriage way road with cars and hgv's passing you at about 90 km/h, totally insane!
finally arrived in Canterbury safe at my hostel, the Kipps, really nice and cosy place.
DAY THREE - ANTWERP TO BRUGGE
the forecast was bad for today, so I decided to leave Antwerp early. cycled through an old pedestrian tunnel to the other side of the Schelde. found my route leading along canals ,old train rails and through fields to Zelzate. when it started to rain I decided to go straight way to brugge, leaving the touristic fietsroutes and rode along highways and main roads. once again, my equipment held up well, everything in the carradice bag stayed perfectly dry.
hoping for a dry day tomorrow heading towards dunkerque, taking the ferry to dover and riding on to canterbury. check the older posts updated with pictures.
hoping for a dry day tomorrow heading towards dunkerque, taking the ferry to dover and riding on to canterbury. check the older posts updated with pictures.
DAY TWO - UPDATE
when I started in Thorn my left knee started to hurt badly due to the heavy headwind. I decided to change my gear from 45:16 to 45:17, and this really helped me.
so danke edu and muchas gracias pedro for saving my knee...
here is a picture. please also check the older posts as I'll update them with pictures.
so danke edu and muchas gracias pedro for saving my knee...
here is a picture. please also check the older posts as I'll update them with pictures.
DAY TWO - THORN TO ANTWERP
cycling in netherlands and belgium is really awesome. scenery changes between fields, woods, canals, farmhouses. finding your way is easy, but I still managed to get lost once. you rarely see a car but lots of other cyclists, mostly roadies on their carbon machines.
riding into antwerp after 140 km on a saturday was crazy, cobblestone streets mixed with tram rails and cars and pedestrians everywhere. took me one hour to find and get to my b&b.
now I´m going to hunt down some food to fill up the energy tanks for tomorrow when I head to Bruegge.
riding into antwerp after 140 km on a saturday was crazy, cobblestone streets mixed with tram rails and cars and pedestrians everywhere. took me one hour to find and get to my b&b.
now I´m going to hunt down some food to fill up the energy tanks for tomorrow when I head to Bruegge.
DAY ONE - COLOGNE TO THORN
took off in cologne at ten o´clock, weather was really cold but dry.
I didn´t have a map until juelich, where the RUR cycle path starts, so route finding was a little tricky. the cycle path from juelich to roermond has a really nice landscape but probably 80% of the path is gravel road, so that was a pain in the ass for man and machine, but everything held up well.
situation improved when I crossed the border to the netherlands, paths were paved, routes were clear. I went on to Thorn, a very nice little village, with a medieval abbey and stayed the night.
I didn´t have a map until juelich, where the RUR cycle path starts, so route finding was a little tricky. the cycle path from juelich to roermond has a really nice landscape but probably 80% of the path is gravel road, so that was a pain in the ass for man and machine, but everything held up well.
situation improved when I crossed the border to the netherlands, paths were paved, routes were clear. I went on to Thorn, a very nice little village, with a medieval abbey and stayed the night.
READY, SET, GO!
finally, after all this thinking, talking, blogging, planning I'm leaving tomorrow morning. the bag is packed, tyres ar pumped, chain is lubed. I can't wait to get on the bike and start pedaling, I can't wait to see antwerpen, brugge, can't wait to see englands coast from the ferry, canterbury and finally seeing my girl in london.
I'll blog on my way if I find access to the net, so stay tuned!
PICTURE PREVIEW
mainrace quali
sprints quali
footdown
I just returned from berlin, here are some pics from the ecmc 09. great fun, especially at the bike syndikat checkpoint!
¡ MUCHAS GRACIAS !
just received a package from pedros, usa. they supplied some of their fabulous tools for my ride.
the new trixie is an integrated lockring and 15mm axle-nut wrench.
all you need to fix your fixie.
critical mass is a super light multitool.
and some other useful stuff for the trip.
the new trixie is an integrated lockring and 15mm axle-nut wrench.
all you need to fix your fixie.
critical mass is a super light multitool.
and some other useful stuff for the trip.
THE BIKE - UPDATE
with the kind support from bike syndikat my bike is now ready to roll.
changed the flat bars to bullhorns, attached the rack for the carradice bag and put the new tyres on. the schwalbe durano plus are comfy but still fast. the bag changed the balance of the bike a bit but you can still do trackstands and stuff like this. it's harder to do skid-stops due to increased weight on the backwheel, so it's a good decision to have a front brake..
I'll test the setup this and the following week to make sure everything is working.
edit: here are some pictures:
before leaving for the trip I'll be off to berlin for the ecmc'09, so expect to see some pictures next week.
changed the flat bars to bullhorns, attached the rack for the carradice bag and put the new tyres on. the schwalbe durano plus are comfy but still fast. the bag changed the balance of the bike a bit but you can still do trackstands and stuff like this. it's harder to do skid-stops due to increased weight on the backwheel, so it's a good decision to have a front brake..
I'll test the setup this and the following week to make sure everything is working.
edit: here are some pictures:
before leaving for the trip I'll be off to berlin for the ecmc'09, so expect to see some pictures next week.
FIXED CITY
fixed city | Trailer from fixed city on Vimeo.
first documentary on fixed gear riding in germany:
"fixed city | german fixed gear culture captured in 2009
Riding fixed – a phenomenon. A close up in Germany, summer 2009. Switching between velodrome and trafficlights, messengers and fakengers, inspiration and revolution, trickriding and speed addiction, pragmatism and passion, purism and a very own poetry.
Screened August 2009."
more infos here
PREMIERE
here are some pictures I snapped on the first "fahrradfahren" group ride in cologne.
the response was very good, twenty people showed up at the bike syndikat shop to ride 20km along the river rhine. we finished at a basketball court to have some refreshing beers. it was lot's of fun, thank you to everyone who came out.
check this blog regularly to get info on the next ride in june.
HARBOUR, PIRATES AND AND A VISITOR FROM THE NORTH
a good friend of mine from amrum visited cologne over the weekend and we took the chance to ride across town and snap a few pictures. luckily we could get access to an industrial harbour north of cologne to ride between containers and rail cars.
that was a lot of fun, here are some pics. enjoy!
that was a lot of fun, here are some pics. enjoy!
COME OUT AND RIDE
next wednesday there is going to be the first group ride in cologne.
every rider is welcome, fixed or singlespeed, dutch-style bike or montainbike.
meet up at 20.00 at bike syndikat shop, we are leaving at 20.30 sharp for a short and enjoyable ride along the rhine and end up at the suedstadion.
since we are riding into the dawn, please make sure to bring your lights!
you can also find more information here.
so join us for the first group ride in cologne and meet with fellow cyclists
here's the route
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