Three overnighters in a row was a new experience. Together with Erik who already started his training for silkroadmountainrace we planned two weekends, then he got luckely time for one more 🙂 Also for the third Mathis could join, a friend we got connected last year at tuscany trail and will take part at the Italy Divide this year.
Kaiserslautern – Lindellbrunn – home – 16th/17th feb:
A new startpoint, at the other side of the forest, passing the local soccer stadium we got into the woods. We had more singletrack paths than i expected. Quite hard with 42mm wide tires… The bad thing was that my phone started to die soon in fact of a fucked up battery pack. So i couldn’t make enough pictures of the lovely ride. It was a sunny day and lovely in the sun, but when switched into a valley without sun it was freezing. The puddles were still completely frozen. We managed it to reach the ruin of Lindelbrunn before the sun was completely gone.
The wood we found was not good enough to start a serious camp fire… But, yes there is a but… We had no clouds and it was warm enough that we could enjoy our Eierlikör without getting cold.
The morning we woke up by the sun because it got too hot in the sleeping bag. We had coffee wearing t-shirts. A hiker who soon arrived told us that down in the valley it was 3 degrees below zero. Lucky us! We packed and had a lovely stop at a vinery for food and schorle (google this if you don’t know 😉 ). Great first overnighter for 2019!
Winden/Mannheim – Froensburg – home – 23rd/24th feb:
Luckely Eric’s weekend plans changed that we could start another overnighter. We choosed the Froensburg because we didn’t slept there yet. The ruin is in a valley with woods and no mobile signal. Calm. Erik took the train to Mannheim to have a longer ride, i took the train to Winden to shorten mine 😉 Plan planned to meet at the last supermarket before the castle. It was some colder than the weekend before, sometimes sun which was delicious, in the shadow it got cold. I passed some places i’ve been before, nice ones.
When i arrived at the supermarket it was cloudy and cold, i went for shopping the neccessary diner stuff. Waiting for Erik i decided to start the final k’s to reach the spot before darkness. In fact of missing mobile network i couldn’t reach Erik to tell him my plan, so i dropped a message. My route i choosed with komoot took me a walking path 3 km uphill in the woods. On the peak i could see the Froensburg, just some downhill on a singletrack brought me to the lovely space. Still some light available, success! First i had to carry my bike about 20 steps up a steep wooden stairway. With the loaded bike it was not that easy.
Now i was waiting for Erik, having a beer and enoying the scenery. Then there was noise in the woods as rock falls or maybe a cyclist? I couldn’t see anything. I got a somehow worried if it was Erik? It started getting dark and late… The again some noise in the woods, a bike, soon i could see his helmet and was super happy to see him 🙂 We started to prepare our beds and started a serious camp fire. This time it worked out. We had some drinks, a warming fire and a ready to eat diner.
We slept well and woke up with sun (and some wind), we could dry all our clothed and had coffee with the warming sun. In fact of my always dying phone not too many pictures this time…
In Karlsruhe we stopped at a Biergarten to have Radler as reward for this great weekend!
Karlsruhe – Strassbourg – Schneeberg – Offenburg: 2nd/3rd march:
Tuscany revival weekend! Mathis joined Erik and me for another overnighter, this time in the vosges, 926m altitude, in shelter. I met Mathis in Strassbourg and Erik started in Karlsruhe, training for Kyrgyzstan.
The last supermarket for us was 20k before the spot, we bought some drinks, some bread for diner.
It was super nice to ride with Mathis again, friends since Tuscany Trail in 2018. 15 k before the shelter it started with uphill. Serious. Mathis was able to catch a tractor to pick him up for a while, then started the paths in the woods. We had to cross a bit of snow, my first real contact with snow this winter 😉 we had to climb up to above 900 meters. Shortly before the finish we stopped and took a look for the path, then we heard a ding-dong… And Erik came out of the woods. Hello! We cruised together the last part and happily reached the shelter. Awesome spot!
Too bad that already a couple with dog was there and reserved the spot at the fireplace… We decided to stay upstairs at the sleeping lounge because the dog was not so relaxed. We carried all our luggage upstairs and we set up our camp. We had nice talks, some wine, peeing out of the door upstairs 😀
During the night it got a bit warmer, we slept long and had good coffee, starting to pack, the view in the morning was stunning! After the first trails down i decided to take the road until the next village. The other two were taking the trails. They had to walk up and down for a while 😉
I had to wait for nearly one hour until they arrived, then we had coffee and tarte at a restaurant, super delicious! We rode together to Offenburg, a while beside a canal, a nice ride to Offenburg. Alsace is a great area for cycling! Erik and Mathis are great for cycling and a touring! Till next time!
