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2024 Epic Elbe Adventure

agosto - outubro 2024
Our plan for this ride is simple - ride from Hamburg to Vienna, following the Elbe, Vltava and Danube Rivers. The 1400 km ride will take us across Germany, Czechia and Austria. Will our team of 20 geriatric riders make the distance ? Time will tell. Leia mais

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  • The World on Two Wheels2024 Epic Elbe Adventure

    A Cruise on Hamburg Hafen

    1 de setembro de 2024, Alemanha ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    With the late arrival of John Blain at around 10 pm last night, I can now report that our entire team has safely arrived in Hamburg. Since we knew that John was going to be too late to enjoy the meal he had already paid for, it seemed logical to appoint an honorary replacement for him at the meal table.

    It turns out that Sue's husband Peter is currently at the hotel. He will not be riding with us, but wanted to have the opportunity to get to know the weird people his wife will be sharing the next month. In the interests of not wasting the lovely food that had already been prepared for us, I officially asked Peter to act as John's proxy for the evening, Problem solved.

    This morning I did not feel guilty about enjoying breakfast in the hotel. From now on all our breakfasts have already been paid for in advance, so it would be a sin (and downright stupid) not to enjoy the sumptuous breakfast banquet.

    Although I initially did not have any definite plans for the day, somehow I found my feet walking back towards the harbour (hafen). After a few days in this city, I have found myself getting a little more confident about finding my way around with each passing day. Once you start to recognise familiar landmarks, you start to build a mental map of the place.

    So I walked, walked and then walked some more. I soon found myself in the middle of a multitude of sporty looking people, apparently running a marathon. For a microsecond I was tempted to join them, until I realised how stupid an idea that would be. Walking is hard enough.

    After about three and a half km I arrived at the Hafenrundfahrt. This is an unnecessarily long and fancy name for a ferry terminal. I decided that it might be a good idea to take a cruise around the harbour. Several others in our group had already done it and recommended it as a worthwhile thing to do.

    I saw a sign that said something like "tickets", walked in, handed over 33 Euro and walked out with a piece of paper. The girl spoke no English and could not answer any of my questions about how I should go about finding the boat I had just bought a ticket for. The best she could do was point, and say "200 metres".

    She was obviously a bald-faced liar. It was nothing like 200 metres, at least not with the metres I am familiar with. It must have been at least 500 metres, and the ticket instructions showed a departure time of 11.30am. That was about 5 minutes after I bought the ticket.

    As it turned out, I needn't have worried. When I arrived at the boat, I was one of the first on board. It never actually started until it was full of people, well after 12 noon.

    I must admit that the cruise was visually interesting, however I learnt absolutely nothing about the harbor as the non-stop commentary was only in German. The harbor is absolutely huge with massive docks and loading facilities. I was also surprised at the size of the container ships and ocean cruisers that can be accommodated. The Elbe must really be massive at this point.

    After cruising for 2 hours, the sun started to get quite warm, and I was looking forward to getting back onto dry land again. I still had around 4 km to walk back to the hotel, so I was rather spent when I finally arrived back at my room.

    I have made the mental decision that tomorrow I will do almost nothing, apart from sort all the gear that I will need for the bike. The following day is when we begin the long ride to Vienna.    Leia mais

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  • The World on Two Wheels2024 Epic Elbe Adventure

    außenalster

    2 de setembro de 2024, Alemanha ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    There are two large artificial lakes within the city limits of Hamburg, the larger one is called the außenalster. Both of these lakes were formed by the Alster River and now provide a beautiful venue for water sports and outdoor activities.

    Although I did not have any plans for today, once again I found my feet had a mind of their own. I was soon walking along the linear parkland near the hotel and heading towards the lake. It turned out to be a perfect way to spend my last day in Hamburg.

    Once again, the weather was absolutely perfect - sunny with a top temperature of around 25C. This was a huge contrast to the news we have been hearing about the wild weather that has been buffeting the southern states of Australia for the past four days. The weather here could not have been better, and we are all hoping that it will continue for the next 4 weeks.

    Tomorrow we finally get to be acquainted with the bicycles which will be our daily conveyance all the way to Vienna. There is always an air of trepidation when you are waiting to see whether the bikes will be fit for purpose or not.

    This afternoon I went through my luggage, sorting my gear and separating all the items that I will need for the ride. I managed to find everything, except for my cycling gloves. Although I was certain I could remember packing them, they appeared to have just vanished.

    I pulled everything out of my case and started to go through every package, eventually finding that the missing gloves had been packed with my socks. I wonder which moron did that ? Oh, I remember, it was me.    Leia mais

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  • The World on Two Wheels2024 Epic Elbe Adventure

    The Best and Worst of Times

    3 de setembro de 2024, Alemanha ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    The Worst and Best of Times
    To steal a phrase from the immortal Charles Dickens “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. That sums up the last 24 hours pretty accurately.

    Late yesterday afternoon I received the sort of news that no group leader ever wants to hear. One of our group participants – Sue Rose, had suffered a bad fall while exploring Hamburg and had been taken to the emergency hospital by ambulance. Further examination and Xrays showed the she had broken the neck of her femur and would require emergency surgery to repair the break.

    In one moment it meant that her dream of riding the Elbe had been snatched away,

    This was devastating news for Sue, but also for the entire group. After looking forward to the trip for the past year, it was hard to believe that she would not even get to turn the pedals even once.

    This morning the remaining 20 riders checked out of the hotel and met the representatives of Ruckenwind who will be handling the logistics of our mammoth ride. To our rlief the staff were very professional and, when we received the bikes, all agreed that there would be no complaints in that regard. The bikes were brand new quality bikes from Velo de Ville.

    After a protracted time setting the bikes up, packing panniers, etc, we finally got underway at about 10.30am. The first challenge was to navigate out of a major city, safely and without losing any more of our team members.

    After about 30 minutes we finally reached the banks of the Elbe, the mighty river that is to form the theme of most of our ride. We were accompanied by several members of the Ruckenwind team, who made sure that we would be pointed in the right direction, Somewhat confusingly we never followed the track that we had all been given for the first day of the ride. This meant that GPS units were continuously beeping as they had to recalculate the route.

    Following the obligatory group photo shoot, we continued under a hot and cloudless sky. Our destination for the first day was Lauenburg, but it stubbornly refused to get any closer.

     We eventually bounced our way the final km to the hotel over a very uneven cobblestoned road. It had been a challenging first day, but everything feels better after a shower and a good meal.

    No one will have trouble sleeping tonight, that is for sure.

    Pictures to follow    Leia mais

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  • The World on Two Wheels2024 Epic Elbe Adventure

    Into East Germany

    4 de setembro de 2024, Alemanha ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Today's ride took us across the old border into East Germany. Although the old days of the Cold War are long gone, there are still some remnants of those awful times, in the form of lookout towers and checkpoint buildings

    Once again we started with a cool morning, but by midday the sun was HOT. This made the challenge of riding around 60 km much harder than it would have been in cooler conditions.

    Today we broke the group into two smaller groups of 10, and this really made for easier logistics throughout the day. We also stayed close to the recommended route, so there was was far less confusion in knowing which path to follow.

    Most of the afternoon ride was along a concrete path on the top of a levee bank. The path seemed endless and the km passed by oh so slowly in the afternoon heat.

    We stopped for two extended breaks along the way, and these were an essential opportunity to rehydate and cool down a little.

    Our destination was the magical town of Hitzacker, full of quaint half timbered houses. The hotel was at the top of an elevated position, so the ebikes were really appreciated at that point.

    It has been hard to upload images because of the poor Internet speed here.    Leia mais

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  • The World on Two Wheels2024 Epic Elbe Adventure

    The Head Wind from Hell

    5 de setembro de 2024, Alemanha ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    When I was planning this trip, I was assured that the preferred direction was to ride from Hamburg to Vienna. The reason for this recommendation was because "the prevailing winds all come from the west". We were assured that we would be helped on our way by a friendly tail wind. Even the name of the company that is handling all our logistics is Ruckenwind, meaning tailwind.

    We now know that they all lied. For the first few days of our ride there was no wind at all. We would have welcomed a gentle breeze to help cool us down, but we were stuck in some sort of sweltering doldrum. That all changed this morning.

    At first, we were excited to feel the wind on our faces, although it would have been better to feel it on our backsides. We also were all well aware that it was going to be the longest day of the ride so far. At somewhere between 75 and 80 km, that shouldn't have been too hard. It turned out to be brutal.

    The first few km were not so bad, as we had some shade from the sun and protection from the wind. It was only about the 35 km point that the true nature of our terrible adversary became apparent. It was evil, it was unrelenting, it was soul destroying and battery draining.

    I got my first taste of impending disaster when a big blast of hot wind threw my bike to the ground while we were having lunch. That would not normally have been such a disaster, but the rear pannier contained a large glass bottle, containing my water for the day.

    When I stood the bike up again, someone commented that my pannier was leaking. The bottle had shattered, leaving all my gear soaking wet and covered in broken glass. I had to spend some time going through all the contents, removing the glass and drying out my gear. It was a portent of much worse times to come.

    We soon found ourselves back riding on an elevated levee bank, with the demonic wind right in our faces. It went on and on (and on). At times I found that I could hardly make any headway at all. It was horrible. The worst part was the route map showed that we would be riding into this enemy for the next 35 km.

    The only way to have any hope of success was to stop often, and avail ourselves of every drink/ice cream stop along the way. I watched my battery start to drop 30%, 20%, red lights flashing. Somewhere in my body, my own red light was also flashing. Disaster was looming.

    If the wind was not bad enough, our slow progress was hampered even further by a couple of roadblocks on the bike path, meaning a couple of energy sapping deviations.

    About 8 km from our destination the inevitable happened - my battery failed completely. I battled on with only my own willpower to keep me moving. In my head a little voice kept asking "Why do we do this ? Why do we do this?"

    It was at this point that Neill demonstrated kindness by offering to swap his battery (7% remaining) with my depleted battery 0% remaining). Normally I might have declined such an offer, but what the hell, I was too stuffed to be proud. "I'll take it", I said. And I did.

    Somehow our little peloton made it to the hotel in Wittenberge, and we were delighted to find that the hotel was the best we had stayed in so far. It even had a lift!!

    After a long, glorious shower and a short rest, we were all gathered for dinner outside under the stars. It was a great way to relive the day's challenges and congratulate each other on what we had done. For a group of riders, mostly in their 70s and 80s, I think that they should all be rightly proud. It really had been a challenging day. Just as well we are only riding 18 km tomorrow !    Leia mais

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  • The World on Two Wheels2024 Epic Elbe Adventure

    The Easy Day that Wasn't

    6 de setembro de 2024, Alemanha ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Today was meant to be an easy day. In fact it was meant to be the easiest day of the entire Epic Elbe Ride. With a distance to be travelled of a measly 20 km, we all anticipated that we could enjoy a late start and a leisurely ride.

    While the late start was enjoyed, it was then that the hotel informed us of a few small problems with our rooms. This necessitated a few late changes of plans, a trip into town to search the pharmacies and supermarkets, and an actual start after 12 noon.

    Although the day was quite warm, to our relief much of the route was shaded by nearby trees, making the ride pleasant and relatively easy. Rather than following the elevated levee which had left us exposed on the past two days, the trees also gave us blessed relief from the unrelenting wind. The forecast is for another two of these hot days, before the sequence finally comes to an end, with temperatures predicted to drop by around 10C.

    Our destination for the day was the resort town of Bad Wilsnack. The hotel was big, clean and comfortable. It even had a lovely lift. The entire hotel was surrounded by a sprawling treed garden, offering a lovely place to enjoy the afternoon.

    Tomorrow is our first designated rest day. This will give us all a chance to recover our energy, wash our clothes, explore the town on foot, or enjoy a spa or massage. It will also give us an excuse to sleep in a little in the morning.    Leia mais

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  • The World on Two Wheels2024 Epic Elbe Adventure

    Resting in Bad Wilsnack

    7 de setembro de 2024, Alemanha ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    If I have learnt anything at all from our previous 50 overseas adventures, it is how important it is to include regular rest days. It is not easy moving from place to place every day, especially when you are doing it by bicycle. It is even harder when there is a ferocious head wind trying to fight you every inch of the way.

    I think there was a collective sigh of relief at the prospect of facing a new day, with no definite commitments in it. Everybody is free to pursue their own interests, catch up on correspondence and laundry, or just rest.

    Tomorrow we resume the ride along the Elbe, and the weather forecast is for yet another hot day. At least that looks like it will bring an end to the current heatwave. Our route will also begin to veer to the south, meaning that we might also be less impeded by the winds. Time will tell.    Leia mais

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  • The World on Two Wheels2024 Epic Elbe Adventure

    Every Man and His Horse

    8 de setembro de 2024, Alemanha ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    When this trip was originally being put together, we were meant to spend a night in Havelberg. This plan was changed a few months ago, when we were informed that there was going to be a "huge horse event" in Havelberg and all accommodation was booked out.

    Since I had not seen many "huge horses" in my lifetime, I thought that it could actually be quite interesting. I also doubted that it would be possible to book out all the available beds in the town, just because of a visiting large equine. We were to learn otherwise.

    With the prospect of another long and hot day, we left Bad Wilsnack at about 8 am and aimed to complete some distance before the real heat set in. It turned out to be a wise decision. The early morning was delightfully cool and we enjoyed some of the best cycling trails of the trip so far.

    Because it was Sunday morning, everything was deserted. There was not a car or a person in sight, so we had the lovely shaded paths all to ourselves. It was only when we started to near Havelberg that we discovered where all the people had gone.

    The entire town was jammed with visitors, and it appeared that every visitor had come complete with an old caravan. I had never seen so many caravans all crammed together, occupying every square millimetre of available land. There must have been thousands of them. In fact, there were so many caravans and motor homes, it was hard to see the elusive giant horse.

    The central part of the city of Havelberg is situated on an island, surrounded by water (as I guess the majority of islands are). It was a beautiful little city, full of quaint, historic buildings and cobblestoned streets (which were challenging for both both bikes and backsides.

    Luckily we did manage to find a few seats where we were able to rest and enjoy a drink before continuing on our journey. As we made our way along the narrow path out of town, we joined a huge convoy of cars and caravans leaving the event. It took some time before we back on the proverbial road less travelled.

    We had no idea that the event was so huge, but we could now fully understand why the accommodation was non existent. After another stop for lunch, we continued on our way, finally reaching Tangermunde about 3 pm. The computer said we had ridden around 76 km.

    Tomorrow we have the different challenge of a wet and much cooler day. We also have a couple of bikes that need mechanical attention, so that will be something else to contend with.    Leia mais

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  • The World on Two Wheels2024 Epic Elbe Adventure

    The Rains Came

    9 de setembro de 2024, Alemanha ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Magdeburg last hit the world's headlines back in 1650 when the ruling mayor Otto Van Guericke, demonstrated the amazing power of air pressure with his famous experiment. Apparently, nothing of interest has happened here in the last 374 years, that is until the arrival of the Ghostriders sent the place into a real frenzy of activity.

    We awoke this morning to the ominous sound of steady (actually torrential) rain falling. After the string of hot and sunny weather we have had ever since we arrived, it was obvious that something had shifted drastically in the meteorological world.

    Of course it was inevitable that we would get rain at some stage. You cannot ride halfway across Europe and expect it to remain dry all the way through. Fortunately the forecast promised that the rain would stop sometime around noon.

    After breakfast we pulled out the remnants of our bikes from the garage and noted the damage that we have been steadily inflicting on them each day. In the carpark I was met by a young man who introduced himself as the head of the tourism board in Magdeburg. He seemed quite excited to hear that the famous Ghostriders would be riding to his town. The word of our epic ride is starting to spread before us.

    The peloton looked quite a different sight with their motley array of wet weather gear as we rode out of Tangermunde. Although it was still raining steadily, it was not exactly heavy rain, it was just enough to be a nuisance. At least the much cooler air meant that we did not have to swelter in the heat while we rode along. Even at this early stage it is also evident that our riders are steadily getting stronger with each passing day, so 75 km did not seem like such a challenge.

    In spite of the rain, the route was actually a lovely mix of quiet trails, forests, bridges and a succession of beautiful little towns along the way. The steady rain gradually started to make us feel quite cold, so you could imagine our delight when, at somewhere near the 38 km mark, we stumbled onto a perfect location for a rest and something to eat and drink.

    The place was actually quite huge and even had a 10 pin bowling alley!. It was a perfect chance to warm up and enjoy some really nice coffee and cake. By the time we emerged, the rain had stopped. It stayed away for the rest of the day.

    The final few kilometres into Magdeburg were a real delight, with a long tree lined bike path taking us right into the centre of the town. When we arrived at the hotel, it was a surprise to find a couple of girls with a welcome pack for each of our riders. It had been organised by the guy we had met in the carpark at Tangermunde.

    The city itself was also quite a surprise. Not only was it much bigger than I had anticipated, it was also modern, clean and very cosmopolitan. Right next to our hotel was a major pedestrian thoroughfare, with numerous cafes and regular trams rolling past.

    After a shower and change of clothes, I went in search of a cafe where I could have something to eat and drink. After placing my order, I sat outside and watched the people walking by.

    I had not been there long when I was surprised to find a woman taking the seat opposite me. It was a bit of an invasion of my personal space, especially when there were plenty of empty tables.

    I might have tolerated the invasion of privacy, but when she proceeded to light up a cigarette, that was just too much. Feigning a coughing spell, I pointed at her noxious emissions and sent her on her way.

     I am sure we could have enjoyed some extra time in this city, but that is not to be. Tomorrow, we continue on our way to Dessau, the site of our next pitstop, and also the place where our team will be increased by one extra rider as Pam Coburn joins the team.    Leia mais

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  • The World on Two Wheels2024 Epic Elbe Adventure

    What Blows Around, Comes Around

    10 de setembro de 2024, Alemanha ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    None of our team will forget those first few days on the Elbe Bike Path, when we were riding in heatwave conditions and into the mouth of a ferocious headwind. What a difference a few days makes.

    When we headed out of the hotel in Magdeburg this morning, the conditions were as close to perfect as we could ever wish for. Not only was the air sweet and cool, there was also the Holy Grail of cycling - a lovely tail wind.

    After a few initial complications in finding our way out of the city, we were soon coasting along a succession of quiet bike paths. The cycling was effortless and just so much fun.

    Every extended ride has its Queen Stage. This is the day when we cover the longest distance. Depending on which reference we used, today's distance was supposed to be between 70 and 80 km. By the time you add in a few detours and diversions, we had no idea what the final tally would be.

    There is a principal on these rides that, when coffee shops are in such short supply, it is best never to ride past one when you do see it. That is how we found ourselves sitting at a lovely Italian cafe with only 18 km ridden. I decided to order an iced chocolate and cake, mainly because it seemed like a good idea at the time. A few minutes later I was sitting in front of the most decadent chocolate creation I had ever seen. It took all my stamina and discipline to completely consume it.

    After another 30 or so kilometres we found a wonderful cafe, almost hidden from the passing traffic. It had a wonderful, flower lined courtyard that made the place really special. The schnitzel that I ordered was pretty good too. Little did I know at that time, that it would be only meal I would get for the rest of the day.

    The final 10 km into Dessau were along a somewhat neglected bike path, and our initial impressions of the city left a lot to be desired. It certainly was nothing like the beautiful approach into Magdeberg that we had enjoyed so much just 24 hours earlier.

    We followed a rather confusing and circuitous route to the Dormero Hotel, which was to be our home for the next two nights. When I finally managed to find my room, I discovered that none of the lights in the bathroom were working. I had to call for assistance and wait while a man with a hammer and a ladder made a lot of noise and eventually announced that it was fixed.

    I looked forward to a luxurious shower, but found that the soap dispenser was empty. This was not leaving a good first impression at all. But the worst was yet to come.

    We had been told that we were booked in for dinner at 7 pm, however we arrived to find that the restaurant was completely full of raucous Germans, all busily finishing off the remains of the buffet. When I asked the young guy at the desk where we were supposed to eat, he directed us into a seminar room, complete with dirty chairs and tables, and nothing else.

    It got even worse when we went in search of food, There was nothing left. Only cold soup, and a few scraps of salad, No hot food, no dessert, nothing, nada, zilch. I tried to complain to the inept young man at the desk that this was not what we paid for. I would have had a more intelligent conversation talking to a door knob. He just had no idea. Eventually he offered that we could have two free drinks, instead of dinner. Hardly a fair replacement, especially when the guy behind the bar explained that the hotel does not serve ice with any drinks. They must be consumed luke warm.

    Thus we sat on the dirty chairs, looking at the miserable empty space on our plates. In all honesty I had never seen anything like this. It would have been funny if it wasn't so tragic. We were all very hungry after riding 78 km, and this was not how we expected the day to end.

    I thought that maybe I could at least finish my nonexistent meal with a cup of coffee. Guess what ? I was told that the coffee machine had been turned off, and it was still only 7.30pm.

    Faced with impending starvation, a group went out to buy some pizza. They shouldn't have had to, but there was no other option. I took the receipt and handed it to the incompetent behind the desk, and explained that we expected the hotel to pay the bill. He stared at me with an open mouth. I am a patient man, but it does have limits.

    Tomorrow morning I will be speaking to the hotel manager, and maybe I will be able to explain how a decent hotel should be run. This place will certainly stick in our minds for all the wrong reasons. To me it operated like an asylum for the criminally incompetent, rather than anything resembling a quality hotel.    Leia mais

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