Archiv der Kategorie: Touren

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Fixierte 71km mit Eis

In Vorbereitung auf den längsten Ausritt auf einem Fixie, den ich nächstes Wochenende plane, bin ich dieses Wochenende den zweitlängsten gefahren. Aus Sicht der nächsten Woche.

Also wenn es noch icht verstanden sein sollte, ich bin noch nie 71 km an einem Stück auf einem Fixie gefahren wie heute. Ich schätze mein Union Fixie sehr, aber irgendwie hatte ich mir das mehr für die Stadt und den Weg zur Arbeit geplant. Radkurier Image und so. Ich, supercool, im Regen mit gelber Ortlieb Bike Messenger Tasche auf dem Rücken an der Weser lang. Alle finden mich toll, denke ich, versuche zu bremsen, habe vergessen, das an meinem Fixie keine Bremsen dran sind und lege mich volle Kanne hin. Direkt an der Weser. Eins zu Null für Nürnberg.

Nein, mein Fixie hat Bremsen und heute habe ich ihm zwei knallneue knallrote Continental GP4000 Reifen spendiert, die die knallschönen Veloflex Master 22ersetzten, die leider auch schon ziemlich hinüber sind. Den roten San Marco Concor Supercorsa Sattel hatte ich auch ganz gut wieder sauber bekommen und so machte ich mich erst einmal uf dem Weg zur Munte. da gab es dann zumindestens einige Fotogelegenheiten. Heute war das Wetter Sahne. Fast schon angenehm war, blauer Himmel mit gemalten Wölkchen und irgendwie lag Fühling, sich frisch verlieben und Eis essen in der Luft. Ich wollte eine meine Standardrunde an den Wümmewiesen bis Ritterhude und dann über Worpswede und Fischerhude nach Borgfeld fahren (die sogenannte Bremer Kulturrunde). Etwa 70 – 75 km lang, je nach Abkürzung und mit drei schweren Bergprüfungen, davon einer der Haut Categorie und zwei der 1.:

  • Autobahnbrücke am Platzhirsch, gefühlte 6m Höhendifferenz, ber leider fast ohne Anlauf von der Munte Seite
  • HC Aufstieg auf den Sandberg bei Worpswede, von Ritterhude/Osterholz kommend, zieht sich elendig lange und
  • Autobahnbrücke am Horner Freibad, fies, da meistens zum Abschluß von Kulturtouren

Für die ganz fiesen Berge in Ritter D’hudez, die mir Muckel einmal zeigte reicht so früh in der Saison die Kraft noch nicht. Die Idee war nicht so schnell zu fahren, also möglichst GA1 (was bei mir 136 – 144BPM entspricht), durchzuhalten und einen möglichst runden Tritt zu bekommen. Das ist nämlich das nervige an Fixies, da muß man immer treten, auch wenn man keine Lust hat. Wenn man das mal vergißt dann haut es einem von hinten die Pedale gegen den Unterschenkel und dann weiß man das wieder für länger.

Also ich fahre eine 52/18 Übersetzung und bei einem 700C Reifen, lege ich dann mit einer Umdrehung der Kurbel etwa 6,1 m zurück. Wenn ich dann genau 71 km gefahren bin, habe ich also genau 11.639 links und rechts getreten – da gibt es keine Pause und kein Pfuschen und kein Pardon.

Ich fuhr also zunächst Richtung Platzhirsch und dann den ersten Anstieg hoch, den man ja wegen vorheriger Überquerung der Straße in leicht genervter Zusatnd bei Null Kilometer/Stunde anfahren muß. Und außerdem war auch nch die Straße voll mit Radfahrer, von denen man nicht wußte ob sie angesichts der massiven Bergwelt vor ihnen schlapp machen und in den Platzhirsch einkehren, oder aber tapfer bis auf den Gipfel fahren. Es klappte aber ganz gut, ich bekam die Kiste bis über 30, hängte die Bremer Contadoren ab und mußte dann noch schneller auf dem Weg runter treten. Der Deich war voll mit Spaziergängern und Radfahrer, aber beim Dammsiel wurden es dann schon deutlich weniger. Jede Menge Rennradfahrer unterwegs, ich kannte aber keinen von denen. Dann bin ich weiter Richtung Ritterhude und Worpswede und wollte einmal ausprobieren ob man durch Moorhausen weiter nach Worpswede fahren kann. Da geht abe rnicht, weil: Dort ein riesengroßer, böser Hund steht der einem klar macht, daß man dort nicht weiterfahren soll und außerdem die Straße dort ohnehin endet. Egal. Die obligatorischen Photos an der SOS Landschaftsstation. Ein Rennradfahrer überholte mich, ich ließ mir das erstens nicht bieten udn zweitens ihn stehen.

Also weiter die K11 nach Worpswede und dann begann schon der schwerste Anstieg auf der heutigen Tour, hinauf zum Col de Sable. Mein Puls lag bei gefühlten 240 (in echt jedoch bei 174) als ich mich aus der aerodynamischen Anfahrtsposition am Ortsschild nach oben schmiß und in einen langen, rhythmischen Wiegetritt überging. Die 30er Geschwindigkeit konnte ich so gerade halten und links und rechts am Wegesrand zischten fast unkenntlich die Gesichter kunstbeflissener Spaziergänger an mir vorbei. Bald hatte ich es geschafft, noch einmal volle Pulle und schon rollte ich wieder auf der anderen Siete runter, bevor der zweite, leichtere Anstieg auf der L153 Richtung Mooringen begann.

Dann gin es wieter über diese total langweiligen, ereignislosen Straßen nach Worpshausen, Heidberg und Fischerhude. Und dort hatte zu meiner großen Freunde und Überraschung das Eiscafe Lindenlaub auf. Brmer, die von Temperaturen um die 9 Grad aus dem Winterschlaf gerissen wurden, rieben sich die Augen und kauften ihren Kindern ein Eis. „Mozartkugel“ war alle, aber Haselnuss und Amarena schmeckten ganz hervorragend, zumal ich deutlich in Gefahr lief auf dem Hungerast nach Hause zu fahren.  Ich hatte zu diesem Zeitpunkt nämlich schon 4 bis 5 Stunden nichts gegessen und von der Wasserflasche alleine bewegen sich die Muskeln auch nicht.

Dann ging es am Wald entlang auf dem üblichen Weg nach Borgfeld. Die Landschaft hatte sich mit Beginn des Frühfrühlings (Spätwinter) seit letzter Woche ganz schön verändert. Das Eis von den Wiesen war fast völlig verschwunden und an einigen Stellen war auch das Wasser wieder komplett abgelaufen. Man vergleiche dies mit letzter Woche, aufgenommen an der Wümme-Wulff-Brücke.

Dann nur noch einige wenige weitere Kilometer bis nach Hause. Aber halt, da ist ja noch der Anstieg am Horner Freibad. Zuviele Radler unterwegs, keine Chance dort zu beschleunigen, sehr bescheidene erformance. Nach 71 km und 2:40 Stunden wieder zurück zu Hause und noch nicht einmal sooooo angetrengt. Es war aber trotzdem anstrengend. Vielleicht verblasst der Grad der Anstrengungen nur deshalb, weil die schwerste Prüfung des Tages noch vor mir lag: Deutsch lernen mit meinem pubertierenden Sohn.

Das Union Fixie fuhr sich gut, mit den Conti Reifen muß ich mir auch keine Sorgen wegen einem Platten machen. Dsa Teil ist estaunlich bequem, der San Marco Sattel ist erträglich und auch der 3ttt Gimondi Lenker, der ja eine Kreuzung zwischen einem normalen Rennradlenker und einem Bahnlenker ist, fährt sich erstaunlich gut. Da Union ist wesentlich bequemer als das Chesini. Ich muß unbedingt herausfinden warum. Es steht also einer 100km Ausfahrt mit dem Teil am nächsten Wochenende nichts im Wege. Wer fährt mit?

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Eingeordnet unter 2012, Bremen, Meine Räder, Mob, Touren, Union

In den Wümmewiesen heute

Die Sonne schien, der Himmel war blau und das im Februar und in Bremen. Also in der Mittagspause raus und in Jeans auf das Fixie und ab in die Wümmewiesen.

Diese Gelegenheiten sind einfach zu selten um sie verstreichen zu lassen. Und die Wümmewiesen in Spätwinter (oder heisst das Frühfrühling?)  gehören zu den sehenswerten Landschaftstechnischen Sehenswürdigkeiten rund um Bremen. Ehrlich gesagt habe ich noch keine anderen entdeckt.

Nur 21 km gefahren, aber auf den Wegen durch die Wiesen die rechts und links geflutet waren war es sehr schön. Das Eis ist nun weg und die ersten Vögel, Enten und Schwäne sind da. eine Krähe durfte da nicht fehlen. Ein paar Spaziergänger mit Ferngläsern.

Mit dem Union Fixie macht es auch nach wie vor sehr viel Spaß. Mizt kaum einem andren rad hatte ich bislang soviel Spaß. Na ja, das Panasonic, das Cannondale, das Cervelo, das blaue Olmo, das Canyon  und ein paar andere waren auch nicht schlecht. Das regelmässige Treten scheint irgendwie sinnvoll zu sein und hilft beim Training.  Sag ich mal.

Am Wochenende habe ich mich schweren Herzens vond em roten Veloflex Hinterradreifen getrennt. VOm Design her sind die Veloflex Master reifen die schönsten die ich kenne. Leider sind sie wahnsinnig schwer aufzuziehen und gehen auch Lichtgeschwindigkeitsschnell kaputt. OK, es ist auch nicht so eine gute Idee 10 km auf einem platten Reifen zu fahren, aber hey, ein Continental Grund Prix 4000 hätte das klaglos überstanden. Jetzt ist erst einmal ein alter und billiger Schwalbe Blizzard aus der Archiv drauf. Bald folgen neue Contis in rot.

Zurück zur Arbeit anch einer Stunde. Frisch weitergewurstelt. Sehr angenehmer Tag.

Tja, keine Schnellspanner eben.

2 Kommentare

Eingeordnet unter 2012, Bremen, Mob, Touren, Union

SOS 74 KM Tour

^

Äh – ist es möglich, dasß ich dieses Jahr noch kaum gefahren bin? OK, zweimal bin ich raus und zurück zur Jacobs Universität, einmal sogar auf dem Union Fixie. Aber sonst?

Der Winter war lang und unangenhem, aber als ich heute morgen aufwachte, und dann nach facebook, ebay, Rennradforum, Kicker, Spiegel Online; Google Reader endlich das Bett verließ und aus dem Fenster schaute, da schaute ich auf einen strahlend blauen Himmel. Auf denselben Himmel schaute vielleicht 300km weiter östlich ein Mann, der eine halbe Stunde später dann nicht mehr Bundespräsident war. Ich habe keine sonderlichen Sympathien für Christian Wulff, aber die Forderungen die heute an Managern und Politikern in leitenden Positionen gestellt werden sind schlecht mit der Transparenz dieser Personen im Zeitalter des Internets zu vereinbaren. Zum Glück habe ich meine Jugend in einer Zeit verbracht, als es noch kein Internet gab. Infolgedessen hatte ich keine Gelegenheit auf Facebook zu postern, dass ich grade Steine auf Polizeiautos warf, oder zu twittern, dass ich total bekifft stundenlang vor einer roten Ampel im Auto gewartet habe, um festzustellen, dass es sich um das rote Licht einer Bar handelte. Und ich konnte auch nicht twittern, dass ein zehnjähriges Mädhcne in unserer Punkband „I’m not able to fuck the table“ singen musste, ohne dass es die Eltern wußten. Nicht, dass ich irgendetwas von dem auch tatsächlich getan hätte. Aber wenn ich es ohnehin verkündet hätte, dann hätte es irgendwann einmal jemand gefunden und dann wäre ich heute nicht da wo ich bin. Das schlimmste an Offenbahrung was ich sonst in meinem Leben tun mußte war ein AIDS Test für die Position des COO bei Tyco in Japan.

In noch extremeren Maße gilt dies vermutlich für die Bundespräsidenten der Vergangenheit: Karl Carstens – war der nicht in der SS? Heinrich Lübke, sagte der nicht u.a. „Sie können sich vorstellen, dass ich kange nicht mehr in einer Schule gewesen bin. Das geistige Niveau ist dann natürlich entsprechend gesunken.“ Wie lange hätten die denn im Amte des Bundespräsidenten überlebt, wenn deren Jugend und Reifung lückenlos im Netz verfügbar wäre? Es häte sich vermutlich nur um Stunden gehandelt.

Ansonsten: Ich tippe einmal auf Gauck, den Kandidaten der Herzen. Oder Otto Rehagel, wenn der ohenhin in Berlin weilen sollte schafft der auch mit 73 Jahren noch zwei Jobs.

Aber all das wusste ich noch nicht, als ich mich auf das Rad schwang. Ich hatte mir für heute das blaue Chesini Gran Premio ausgesucht, das ich angeglich für meinen Sohn gebaut hatte. Zunächst einmal musste ich das Hinterrad austauschen, da ich gestern mal wieder einen Platten habe. DAs nervt aber jetzt ganz gewaltig, Platten am laufenden Band. Keine Ahnung wieviel Schläuche ich schon in dieser Saison verbraucht habe. Außerdem habe ich noch die SKS Race Blades Schutzbleche montiert. Das war ein wenig frimmelig, da unter dem Unterrohr fast kein Platz ist und der Schaltzugegenhalter dort nervt. Und der Geschwindigkeitssensor stört auch ein wenig. Aber dann ging es schon los, erst raus Richtung Uni und dann weiter über den Lehster Deich an der Wümme entlang nach Norden. Der Pulsmesser spinnte mal wieder und fiel dann ganz aus. Aber trotzdem war ich nicht gut in Form, auch wenn es voll gegen den Wind ging. Nach ca 45 Minuten war ich an der Straße nach Ritterhude und bog ab in Richtung Worpswede. Das ging jetzt schon viel besser und zackiger mit dem Wind im Rücken, aber das Chesini ist für den Oberkörper irgendwie unbequem. Ich habe auf der Fahrt x-mal die Position gewechselt, aber es tat immer irgendwo schnell weh. Ich denke ja immer noch, dass der Vorbau zu lang ist und will mir etwas ganz kirzes von Nitto kaufen, aber ich glaube ich sollte erst einmal meine Rahmen vermessen und analysieren um eine endgültige aussage treffen zu können. Ja, aber es kauft sich ja so leicht und schön.

Am SOS Landschaftsnotruf machte ich eine kurze Pause und ein paar Photos. Dann ging es auf der üblichen Runde weiter nach Worspswede, Worpshausen, Quelkorn und Fischerhude. Soweit so gut. Dann gegen den Wind weiter nach Borgfeld. Normalerweise ist diese Runde voll langweilig und ätzend, vor allem das Stück zwischen Heideberg (?) und Quelkorn. Abe rich wollte das einfach einmal fahren um ein Gefühl für die Länge und die Zeit dafür zu bekommen. Es waren auch nicht viele Radfahrer unterwegs – jedenfalls so super Profis so wie ich!

Das letzte Stück nach Borgfeld rein gegen den Wind war schon ein wenig quälend. Aber der Anblick krakellierender Eisflächen rechts und links auf den Wiesen entschädigte ein wenig für die Mühe. Die Borgfelser Wümme Brücke, nunauch bekannt unter dem Namen „Wümme-Wulff-Brücke“ war für den Verkehr offen und konnte ohne Anlegen von Schwimmflügelchen überquert werden. Und es war ja nun auch nicht mehr so weit bis nach Hause. Nach 74 km und 2:44 hr war ich da. Schöner Trip zu Beginn des Jahres. Im Februar.

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Eingeordnet unter 2012, Bremen, Chesini Gran Premio, Touren

Bavarian Adventure

During a business trip in late August I had the chance to visit Munich with my bike and take two days off to explore the Bavarian countryside.

I stayed at a cheap hotel (Best Western) in the vicinity of the main station in Munich. This part of the town is mainly populated by Turks and so it is no wonder that some of the restaurants, shops and hotels are named after famous figures form the Turkish history such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

On the first day I took my bike on a train out to Starnberg lake which is about 30 minutes away from Munich. Bikes don’t need to be packed in bags so it is rather easy and fast to start. The weather was just perfect and I started to ride along the lake. Some of the estates grouped along the shores of the lakes are just spectacular. They look like villas silent movie stars from the Twenties use to live in.

 I just rode aimlessly but fast around. After Starnberg lake I rode on to Tegern lake and then further on to the Schlier lake. In one of the villages I noted a good bicycle shop and I spend some time with the mechanic there to fix my cassette. I had tried to combine some of my Ultegra 6700 and Dura Ace 7900 cassette parts and construct the ultimate 11-28 Durultra cassette but that didn’t worked out at all. So I could ride only in 8 gears with the fastest one being the 14 tooth cog on the rear.
But nevertheless it was a beautiful day and I just rode and rode without any plan or any goal. If a road looked nice or a village hat a nice and interesting name I just went there. For work I have to be so much organized and plan carefully the things ahead but in my private life I prefer a more chaotic approach from time to time. When the sun went down I took a train home to Munich main station. Everything was so easy.

I wondered if I should travel to Sonthofen the second day for a repeat of the first day of the Transalp 2011 race and conquer Oberjoch and Hahntenjoch for a second time. Actually the Hahntenjoch was the first climb in many years that forced me to walk up. But the weather didn’t looked to good and since a long time I wanted to visit one of the most famous sights of Germany : the Neuschwanstein Castle.

So I took a train to Garmisch Partenkirchen, home of the famous winter sport idols Rosi Mittermaier and Christian Neureuther. That day it was cloudy and it threaten to rain. Nevertheless I started to ride in direction of the Austrian border. It was so nice to be back in the mountains and I wholeheartedly enjoyed the climb. But then it started to rain and I was forced to take a break at a bus stop in order to wait until most of the water was released from the clouds before I could continue to ride. An ugly and busy road brought me back to the German border and the town of Füssen. From there it was only a few kilometers to the castle of Neuschwanstein. The site was extremely busy with many, many tourists from all over the world. Actually from the main road up to the castle gate is a very nice climb, lasting for about 2 km and 180 m elevation difference. One has to navigate one way around the tourists which must be similar to the feeling that TdF or Giro rider have when they ride up the last stretches of the Tourmalet, the Galibier, to Alpe d’Huez or the Mortirolo.

The castle itself looks surprisingly new. Which is probably due to the fact that it is pretty new, only erected during the reign of Ludwig II in the late 19th century. Just like Tom collects new bikes and I collect old ones, the hobby of Ludwig II was to built new castles. The money for that expensive hobby was provided courtesy of Prussia or the German Empire which was paid in return for the consent of the Bavarian King to agree to the formation of the German empire under Prussian leadership. Probably people found it rather extravagant and lavish to spend that much money on a singular purpose. The same thing could have been said about the pyramids in Egypt, but history proved the investment of the king right: Today the magic castles of Ludwig II are one of the main tourist attractions of the Bavarian Federal state.

Next to Neuschwanstein castle is another castle built by Ludwig II, the Hohenschwangau castle. Not many tourists go there but It provided the opportunity for another shorter climb so I rode up to the castle gate as well.  

Clearly one can see the point up to which cycles are allowed. The most funny thing I saw was, that there is  street number sign mounted on the castle gate (Alp Street 30) which speaks for the German sense of organisation. Were letters to the king addressed like this?

Mr. Ludwig Wittelsbach
Alp Street 30
Hohenschwangau

After so much sightseeing I was eager to do a little bit more of cycling. I entered the main road in direction North and suddenly I realized that I was on this very famous road that every Japanese with some interest in Germany knows: The famous ROMANTIC KAIDO!

Please note that the name is also written in Japanese on the road sign. Wow, I heard so much about this road but I had never been there and I even had doubts that it would exist in reality. But here I was with my bike and two nice white Swiss DT rims and looked at the beautiful, romantic road and the even more beautiful, not romantic mountains.

After that I road through the countryside of Bavaria and the weather was continuously improving. There were many rolling hills and I really enjoyed this part of the trip. It was so enjoyable that I even forgot to take pictures. The villages along the road had such nice names as „Einöd“, „Lauerbach“ and „Sndgraben“ and not such ugly names as they are common in the North of Germany: „Sauensiek“, „Okel“ or even „Fickmühlen“. This was one of the best rides I had in the last month. As in Japan I ignored a road barrier and rode through a construction site. At one point I realized that I was riding on almost liquid asphalt that has just been poured some hours ago.

After more than 150km riding I arrived back at Starnberg lake and took a train home for the last 30 km through the Munich suburbs. I really should live in the South of Germany.

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Eingeordnet unter 2011, Mob, Touren

Bremen Elevation Profile Part II

My recently posted examples concerning the difference in elevation profiles between a typical tour day in the Alps and in Bremen missed an important detail: weather conditions.

I hope I got it right this time.

I rode to the meeting point HaW aka „little hut at the edge of the forest“ shortly before seven but nobody was there. Checking the forum again it seems that most of the members wanted to ride the following day. Looking out of the office window that doesn’t seem to be a good choice but the weather forecast indicates otherwise. Let’s see.

So I started on my own in direction Dammsiel. With a nice tailwind I made good progress in direction Kuhsiel and I thought I give it a try to ride 2 hours with 30 km/hr plus average. After Kuhsiel I made a right turn and rode down the other side of the Wümme, a road Muckel has shown me some weeks ago. Riding there for 5 km, then making a left turn brings one back to „SOS Landscape“ and the road to Worpswede. I sprinted over the huge hill in Worpswede, completely exhausting myself for approximately 34 seconds, then rode on in direction Worpshausen. Then it started to rain.

Of course I had no rain gear with me but it wasn’t that cold outside so I just went on, but taking a shortcut to Lilienthal and further on to Borgfeld. The road was very wet, it was getting dark and the traffic was rather heavy, so I decided to take the cycling road between Lilienthal and Borgfeld. I had never taken it before; it was OK, but frequent stops at major roads are preventing one from going at a good speed. Then somehow I made a mistake and I found myself on the road leading along the right side of the Wümme. Doesn’t matter I thought, eventually it will hit the road between Lilienthal and Boregfeld and I can cross the river and ride home straight. Unfortunately I was already to the North of that bridge so I continued to ride in the rain back to Melkhus /Dammsiel which was a huge detour. The road was completely deserted, some fishermen and some SUV, but otherwise I could only see people in the framer pubs that are placed at convenient intervals along the road. Long stretches of the roads are plastered with black clay bricks and were looking very slippery. I took extra care not to crash.

Arriving at Dammsiel I took a left turn and continued back along the other side of the Wümme again – the road I had originally taken when riding out in the first place. It almost stopped raining but now it was too late anyway. I was soaked and the known feeling of wet socks in wet shoes was  already there and in full bloom. But again, it wasn’t that bad.

Shortly before arriving at the Kuhsiel my rear tire blew up. This was my first puncture ever with a tubular tire. I had experienced one in Mallorca and I can tell you that this is not a pleasant experience. Even if you are alone and you have no repair kit, no spare tire, no rain gear and no light.

So I continued to ride the last 10 km home on the flat tire with my super-expensive Toppolino carbon  wheels. I ride them because my Ultegra wheels are still only temporarily fixed by Christain Sambi of Ravenna fame and the DT Swiss rear wheel is still with Campa for new spokes after the Berlin Velothon accident. For one reason or the other I have ridden home many bikes and many times with flat tires and it is better if a) the rear tire is flat than the front one and b) since today I know that you can go faster on a flat tubular than on a flat clincher. Perhaps this is just because the carbon wheels are lighter.

Which brings me to another important point: It seems that riding on flat tires for longer distances might damage the wheels. So I took the appropriate precautions which are: Riding home, pretending not to care about the wheels, not to look at them, leave the bike in the garage for a week or so and hope that everything will be all right afterwards.

Yesterdays summary: 80 km on the bike, 45 km thereof in the rain, 10 km thereof with a flat rear tire. Average Speed dropped from 31.1 km/hr to something which is too embarrassing to mention. However, if the weather continues as it is, this might have been a good preparation for the Bremen Challenge race on August 28th.

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Eingeordnet unter 2011, Bremen, Mob, Sex. Lies & Vids, Touren

Trainingscamp Diemitz


For cyclist Diemitz isn’t as popular as Mallorca, the Alps or Southern France when it comes to the selection of training grounds. Nevertheless it has its charm.

First of all, where the hell is Diemitz? As cyclists tend to prefer the mountains as opposed to the sea, Diemitz isn’t necessarily on the radar screen of the cycling world. It isn’t located at the sea either, but in the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (aka Meck-Vorpom) and just in the middle of a huge region of lakes and swamps, connected by canals, know as the Mecklenburger Seenplate (Mecklenburg lake district). The Müritz lake is the biggest one in Germany after the Bodensee in the South, created by the river Rhein. But the lake district is more than the Müritz lake, there is water everywhere. In fact one can travel from Berlin in the South through the lake district to the Baltic Sea by boat through a system of interlocked canals and sluices.

Our friends, having made a fortune in Tokyo, Moscow, Munich and recently in Riyad, bought their summer estate about 9 years ago in the small village of Diemitz. Every August they invite their friends and relatives to stay with them for the weekend or perhaps longer. Our family was there the first time last year and last weekend we drove to Dimietz for the second time – by that it has become something of a regular event in the short history of our family in Germany.

Also, in case you haven’t found out that by yourself or didn’t thought too much about the importance of this, Diemitz is located with the former German Democratic Republic. Having spend most of the last 20 years since the German reunification in Asia, I still have difficulties to cope with the fact that there is only one Germany left. Not that I am against it, but still for me it has been a surprising development and when riding by car to Diemitz I tend to say „We are crossing the border now“ or „Better not to have a car breakdown after Helmstedt (the former border town on the federal highway).“ If you would ask me what came first, German unification  or introduction of the Euro, I would know that the former is a precondition for the later, but I would tend to place them at more or less the same point of time. Completely wrong.

The region has the charm of the former regime. Some villages are rundown, many streets have cobblestone roads and the roads between the small villages are nice looking alleys. The most amazing fact about the lake district is, that nobody is living there. It is, so to say, the exact opposite of Shibuya. There are vast amounts of land dedicated to foresting or to large scale agricultural operations. This is only natural for mountainous areas, but the landscape her is rather flat with rolling hills.

What would be better to ride along in style with a bike that fits the area? So I took my blue Gazelle with me and set off one afternoon to explore the area around Diemitz. I had to wait some days as the weather was terrible. Rain all day long, some of the largest recorded rainfalls in history. Even some roads were closed the the fire fighters were busy pumping water back into the lakes.

With the sun coming out for the first time the roads dried fast and I zoomed through up and down the hills. There are alleys, fields, swamps, lakes and dense Forrest of pine trees. There is a lot of variety and a lot to see. To ride over the cobblestoned sections of the road, mainly within the limits of the villages is a rather painful but authentic experience. Perhaps a modern carbon frame would be more comfortable, but an old steel bike is so much more charming. A good training for the L’eroica next year?

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Eingeordnet unter 2011, Gazelle Champion Mondial, Mob, Touren

Saturday Bremen Tour

Oh, the bikes have been mixed up? Which rider owns which bike?

The Weserexpress Ride today mustered three riders, Tobilive, Shadowman and me.


We left HaW at 14:30 and headed out in direction Fischerhude, Wilstedt and Worpswede. The pace was brisk at the beginning; Shadowman and me were riding GA1, whereas Tobi was already moving up into GA7. The second stretch led us at much slower pace to Burg, the Lessumwehr and from there back along the river Wuemme to the HaW.


Highlights today were:


The high speed team chase between Wilstedt and Worpswede when the three of us rode almost us perfect as HTC Columbia for Mark Cavendish (or Positivo Espresso 2005 in Saiko).


The explosive acceleration of the three of us when a group of non-professional cyclists tried to hang on to us in the mountains (i.e. the bridge over the federal highway before the Platzhirsch). This led ultimately to a snapping chain of one of the amateurs, followed by balls hitting a saddle and cries of pain.


Tobi meeting his dream girl on a Bianchi between Worpswede and the river Wuemme. The Bianchi she rode was an older model. And she as well.


Shadowmen and me finding out that we do not only have very similar family names (the crow and the raven) but also the same profession: civil engineering. This led to long discussions about bid rigging strategies which slowed the pace down. Good for Tobi.


To be repeated.

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Eingeordnet unter 2011, Bremen, Mob, Touren

The Lost Weekend and Transharz V

The Lost Weekend is not only the title of an old Hollywood movie from the Forties that I never saw AND the title of a LP by the Monochrome Set that I never liked (because it was so much inferior to the predecessor „Eligible Bachelors“) but also it wasn’t a weekend that I lost: to be precise,  the last one. In total I rode more than 390 km on my bike.

89KM

Thursday was a national holiday „Ascension Day“ in Germany, also known as „Father’s Day“. A more appropriate name would be „Tube Puncture Day“ or „Father Annihilation Day“, but I come to the point shortly. To understand the full context, I have to  first inform the readers of this international blog that do not know the customs of Northern Germany in detail.  Unlike people from other nations who gather in solid buildings that provide solid shelter, to drink substantial amounts of alcohol, people from Bremen prefer to walk through the countryside and drink beer, in particular during winter time. This custom is known as „Kohlfahrt“ and large amounts of beer are required to endure the view of the rather dull countryside. Consequently, laked amounts of beer need to be transported and that is done by means of hand carts. A typical example of a hand cart is shown below.

The hand cart also functions as some kind of broom wagon in case one or more of the particpants lost their ability to walk during the process of the Kohlfahrt. In that unfortunate but rather common case, they can be stowed in the cart. So whether consumed already or not, the beer doesn’t leave the hand cart for longer periods during the event.
 
During Father’s Day large groups of Bremen’s male population gather with or without hand carts at the embankment of the Wümme river and stroll along as far as they can get (about 37 meters). Unfortunately that was also the road I had selected for my Thursday ride. Within 17 meters riding on the road there my front tire exploded with a loud bang. I do not recall the number of glass shards I had to remove from the Schwalbe Ultremo ZYX tire, but the work was similar to that of a surgeon that removed the shrapnels of a hand grenade from the body of an injured soldier. Moreover the exchange tube that I had so thoughtful packed in my gear was pre-punctured so I rode back on my bike to my home rather slowly.

As it was already late, I didn’t want to exchange the tube again, so I swapped my white Swiss DT front wheel with my high flanged Maillard hubs wheel from the Seventies, a rather odd choice for my modern looking Faggin bike. But which turned out to be fine.

And then I headed out again to the river Wümme, this time joining the embankment further up North hoping to bypass the mobile party. After passing a brawl that ended in some bloody noses, encountering a fair share of broken bottles along the road and seeing many drunks on bikes, with a beer bottle in one hand and a cigarette in the other, I finally arrived at a „normal“ street with „normal“ traffic. But before that I was offered a beating when I called one drunken guy that passed the road without looking an „Asshole“ and two random bystanders took offense as they thought (and liked to thought as well) that I was talking to them. The mood was hot.

From there onwards riding was fun again. I made the usual tour through Wormswede, but I stayed in the 140 HRM range in order to built up some stamina. Unfortunately some fathers do not only think that getting drunk is a good idea, but also believe that driving home afterwards is an even better one. I almost witnessed a traffic accident just in front of me when one car overtook another one on the open road and the overtaken car suddenly decided to make a left turn (we ride on the right side of the road in Germany). Squeaking tires, the smell of burned rubber…but luckily nothing serious happened.

Anyway, that was a good and solid ride.

71 KM

Friday was a normal workday, so the remains of fathers were already removed from the roads when I started to ride around noon. Again the weather was beautiful and warm. This time I rode to Fischerhude first, then to Quellkhorn and in direction Worpswede before I made a left turn in direction Timmersloh. In the meantime I had repair my DT Swiss front wheel and I told Kaipi that I would join his spontaneous Harz Tour the next day. So I took it very easy again and returned via Timmersloh and through the fields and pastures to Fischerhude and Bremen. On one of the small agricultural roads towards Bremen, I encountered the larger version of the „Handwagen“. That is a moving pub pulled by a tractor for those groups that expect that everybody will get drunk and nobody will be left to pull the hand cart. Two girls on horses where riding behind the trailer as well, as they were not able to overtake it.
But at one point, where the road was not fenced off on both sides, they took the opportunity, put spurs to their horses and galloped on the green sidestrip, overtaking trailer and tractor. The earth was shaking under the hooves of their horses. That was really impressive. Again I was home early after a much enjoyable ride.

170 KM

The next day I woke up early and met Kai at Bremen Station to catch the train to Hannover and Goslar at 7:19 AM. Since I haven’t ridden in Japan for quite a while it was the first time that I got up that early for a bike tour. Germany is blessed in summer with daylight until 9:30 PM and later. I had met Kai the first time when we rode the Bremen Bike Marathon 210 km in May this year. He was able to hang out with the lead group until the end while I had to give up after about 130-140 km. He had posted on the clubs forum one day before, looking for riders to join his trip to the „Harz“ and I had spontaneously said yes. Some hours later, when thinking the whole thing over, I realized that a) the Harz inlcudes some mountains and b) that I have sold my Cervelo bike some time ago and that I do only posses the Faggin bike for competitive riding (I have a large amount of bikes for non-competitive riding hidden in my garage as well). The Faggin bike however, has no front derailleur and only one chainring. Needless to say that it is not a compact crank but a standard one equipped with a 52 chain ring. Perfect for Bremen. Not so perfect for mountains. But as I had said yes already and I thought: „Hm, this will get hard but afterwards you can write a lot of nice stories about your stupidity“ I decided to go along and join the Harz tour.

The most famous people I ever met were Günther Netzer (He was sitting in the seat in front of me in a Lufthansa plane) and Calle del Haye, a former soccer player of my home town club. In 1986 I was eating with my friend Peter and his girlfriend Kirsten at a restaurant in Aachen. We were placed with other guests along a long table and they were sitting on the other side of the table. Peter handed my a piece of paper on which he had written:

<—– CALLE DEL HAYE

I have to explain that Peter always made strange jokes, so I thought that would be another one. So after reading the note I said loudly „What’s that fucking shit about this asshole Del Haye (at this time del Haye was playing for Fortuna Düsseldorf. He was the black sheep in a very poor team that was relegated at the end of the season)?“ Peters eyes led me to my direct neighbor on the left. Needless to say, it was Calle del Haye and his wife.

Apart from that I almost met Verona Feldbusch in Japan after she visited the school of my kids.

But this is nothing against the kind of people that Kai was able to met in his life so far. Please have a close look at the below photo that was taken in 1983 during the blockade of the Mutlangen US base during the protests against nuclear weapon armament in Germany. 

Yes, this were the good old times during the cold war, where we had clear ideas who our enemies (US army) and who our friends (US army) were. Here we can see the late 1972 nobel laureate Heinrich Böll on the very left and later German prime minister candidate Oskar Lafontaine in typicial Rodin thinking posture. And guess who that good looking guy in white Addidas sport shorts in the background is? Right, this is Kai with his friends Peter, Andi and Siggi. Wow, that is something.

Kai used to grow up and live in Stuttgart but had moved to Bremen 20 years ago. Within this time period he was able to fairly adapt to the lifestyle and humour of Northern Germany, which provides a shining example of what I am supposed to do.

We jumped on the train that was fairly on time and we were joined by a group of young Nazi skinheads that were probably on their way to a different training camp in the area.(club name: „steel tempest“).

When we arrived in Goslar memories from the cold war popped up in my head again. The area there used to be right on the border to former East Germany. In order to stop a possible rapid advance of Warsaw Pact tanks, the NATO decided in the fifties to built a formidable obstacle along the border line in form of an artificial mountain range that was codenamed „HARZ“, an abbreviation for „Heartland Armed Resistance Zentre“.  This shouldn’t be mixed up with an obstacle against good taste called „Peter Hartz„.

The construction activities continued for almost 40 years. Some of the obstacles were rather small in scale.

But others were rather big, so big that they were called „Großer Brocken“ (eg. „Big Chunk“) and reached 1.140 elevation meters.

Construction activities were stopped in 1990 after German reunification and what remains today of the whole area are the closest „mountains“ to Bremen (only 2 hours or more away) and a population that is mostly drunk and enjoys mining tunnels.

Kai and me rode all days through the Harz. We rode up, he with his compact crank and me with the 52/28 setup. We rode down on long descents, reaching more than 70 km/hr. We rode on roads and we rode on gravel roads. We had some cakes in a cafe and some more food at a gas stand but otherwise we didn’t took any long breaks and rode our bikes. It was very intense. I had about one hour more riding time than Kai at the end of the day as he had to wait fequently on top of the mountains for me to arrive. I didn’t gave up on any climbs but it was hard to turn the crank. So I crunched my way up on the slopes by brute force.

Kai and me in front of the traditional Harz photo spot (since 2011)

In order to spread fear and respect in the Harz area I decided to wear my original Japanese Champion 2008 jersey from the JCRC. At least I was much impressed by myself.
But I doubt that any of the many, many motorbike riders noticed anything. They are so annoying, a real pest.

I tried to expain to Kai that my bike has a gold chain, gold jockey wheels, gold chain ring screws and other gold accessories as a homage to Rene Weller, one of the coolest guys in the universe.

1 Rene Weller, also known as „Handsome Rene“, wasn’t only a very successful boxer, pimp, and con artist. No he was also a fantastic singer almost as good as David Hasselhoff. And he has once said something really cool and intelligent, something that is so beautiful in style that i can only be said in German:

„Ich bin immer oben. Und wenn ich unten bin ist unten oben.“

170 km and more than 2.200 levation meter later we were back in the train to Bremen where we arrived after a long day at 10:30 PM. Out of the 15:30 hrs we had spend more than 5 hours in the train, about 8 hrs on the bike and the rest was breaks and waiting. Proving the weather is good, we will do it again next weekend.

61 KM

On Sunday after receiving Harz V I could hardly move and I wasn’t at all in the mood to ride my bike. However, I had an appointment with my former girlfriend MFG0006. Just like the musical pieces of Johann Sebastian Bach are numbered from BWV0001 to BWV1128 (Bach Works Register) I decided to code former girlfriends by MFG numbers (My Former Girlfriend). As MFG0014 became my wife, the usage of three leading zeros seems to be a bit optimistic. But hey, one has to be prepared for the exciting things that might happen in one’s life. Look at Lemmy from Motorhead for example.

After separating 26 years ago in Düsseldorf, MFG0006, also known as „Jutta“ has decided to settle, among all place, in Bramstedt, which is somewhat close to Bremen. To be precise it is between Bassum and Syke. She had invited my for strawberry tart so I rode the 30 km down to Bramstedt in the heat. It was almost too hot to sit outside.  5 hours later I was on the road again riding home with the additional weight of strawberries in my stomach.
Time for a nice Rollo, I thought. This was really a very intensive weekend that was made possible by my family deciding to stay in Berlin and focus on figure skating. One more time and I shall be on good shape for the Transalp. So watch out for Transharz VI.

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Eingeordnet unter 2011, Bremen, Faggin Toppolino, Mob, Touren

Out with SWB

I had been a while since I have ridden with Bremen’s SWB club.

I started to ride with them last year. Nice guys in principle but not very talkative. Typical North Germans not that fun loving bunch from the lower rhineland to which I belong. But they are fast and always riding in a group with two riders in front and the rest drafting in two lines behind.

Because of the wind direction we rode to Borgfeld and continued to Timmersloh and Wilstedt. Wilstedt has a nice yellow tower in the center that can be seen from far away. First sprint. Then we continued to Vorwerk and took a nice Forest road to Dipshorn and Bucholz before we rode back through Quelkorn and Fischerhude. I didn’t know most of the roads and it is good to know people who can introduce me to roads off the beaten tracks.

I will never figure out all the abbreviations and small roads between Fischerhude and Borgfeld. Today I learned about another one.

These rides are serious. Only two hours long, but without any breaks or any loss in speed, 32 km/hr average. Riding into Vorwerk I was ready to give up, when I had to stay in the draft at 40 km/hr for an extended period of time running at 175 HRM. Only the thought that I need to find my way home alone prevented me from throwing the towel.

At least I had enough power to make the second place at the last hill climb sprint. This is a treacherous slope, leading over the federal highway and adding at least 8 elevation meters. Yes, in Bremen one has to be satisfied with that. Two hours of good training that will keep me fit for the 216 km scheduled for Saturday and the Velothon race in Berlin. I also feel now much more confident to ride in a peloton.

By the way David (L), my uncle told me that we can sleep at his house in Munich the day before the Transalp, no problem. So you stay one night at the hotel and the next with me at my uncles house before we meet Juliane and David and travel to Sonthofen.

It’s getting closer.

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Eingeordnet unter 2011, Bremen, Mob, Touren, Transalp

Sat: Bremen – Dormund 2:0 Sun: Sunshine and wind

My son Henri and me went to watch the soccer game Bremen vs. Dortmund, the new German champion 2010/11 on Saturday afternoon. After being sick for quite a while and under permanent stress to finalize preparations for the audit of the university on Thursday and Friday, this was the first time on the bike for quite a while.


Saturday was beautiful, almost like a day in summer with temperatures up to 26 degrees Celsius. We watched a good game at the Weser Arena in Bremen with thousands of fans from Dortmund clad in their traditional yellow and black team colors. 

There was even a passenger boat travelling down the river full of Dortmund fans, equipped with flags and a huge replica of the champion trophy (sometimes called the „salad bowl“).


Although I need to add that the most happy moment in the game was, when the arena monitor showed that my hometown club of Moenchengladbach won 2:0 as well.



After the game I had time to work on my new Olmo frames. I bought some other beautiful components that I will show later.


The in Sunday I had time to ride my Faggin bike. For the time being this is the only modern bike left until the „Wet White Dream“ will arrive from the paint shop. Again, the skies were blue and the sun was shining on Sunday as well. And there was a very strong wind blowing from the South West. I decided to ride in direction South West first, so that I would have an easier ride home later. I took the standard road to Borgfeld and Fischerhude, than made a turn to Sottrum and Ottersberg and continued almost to Rotenburg/Wuemme.  From there I rode South again through Hellwege almost to Verden/Aller, but making a left turn at Voelkensen and riding back in direction Bremen through Langenwedel and Achim.

For some reasons I had a very high heart rate, I was almost constantly above 160 HRM so after two hours I had to take a first break and I noticed that this type of an-aerob riding has taken its toll. The second part was nevertheless faster as I enjoyed the strong tailwind. Another older, but strong rider came from behind and took over but over the course of some km I could chase him down and when I was finally ready to battle it out he took a different turn in direction of Bremen.

After 4:25 hrs of total time, thereof 3:59 riding time and 110 km later I was back home, just in time to take a shower, take a nap for 30 minutes and help my daughter with her homework. When I came home I had a tune in my head: „Now that we found love“ from a group called „Third World“. The tune popped up in my mind when Runjoo wrote me that she spend her holidays from the construction site in Sudan in Ethiopia, of all places. And somehow I made the connection between Addis Adeba, capitol of Ethiopia and the second Third World album „Journey to Addis“ which I bought a long time ago. 


And still, I like the song. This new cover version isn’t bad either.


The next two weekends will be much tougher: On Saturday the Bremer Rad Marathon 2011 will be conducted, not a race, perhaps similar to a brevet. Last year I attended as well. I guess I will nevertheless only attend if the weather is good. Another race in the rain as last year is no fun.


And the weekend thereafter I will travel to Berlin to attend the Velothon race 2011. Again, I also attended in 2010. A nice race, not too long (120 km) leading through Berlin and surroundings. Including the Transalp, a lot of goals for the near future.

The Faggin at an old gas stand. Note the containers for the 2-stroke engines 1:25 and 1:50 mix. Haven’t seen them for quite a while.

On the journey to Arco. 

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Eingeordnet unter 2011, Bremen, Faggin Toppolino, Mob, Touren