My Kingdom for a Bike

Day 1 - Basel to Ottmarsheim

The fact that I was violently cursing a hunk of metal as I struggled to drag it onto a train had to go down as a major success. I'd found an suitable alternative model of bike and hit what few shops in Munich purported to sell it. And sell it they did, in the wrong size, or with the wrong brakes, or the right size with the right brakes...on the women's model. It was early afternoon by now and shops were starting to close, indeed the one we were in had only 30 minutes until closing. As I despaired at the options I spied from the corner of my eye a bike I had considered at the very start of my spreadsheet marathon. It was the older model and had seen enough test rides to make 'new' a debatable descriptor but it might just do. The price was luficrous, a fact the salesman also recognised by immediately dropping it by 200 euros. A bit more haggling and it had new wheels and security bolts for a final bill that was acceptable in my circumstances. We spent until midnight getting the bike setup and then closed our eyes for a cursory 5 hour sleep until the trip began.
So, yes, putting a 13kg bike plus an attached 20kg of baggage onto a train in Munich was not enlivening my mood. Nor did it enliven it in Stuttgart or Karlsruhe either where we had to change to get down to Basel. We had a last Starbucks in Switzerland to savour the fruits of civilisation before setting out for the mighty Rhine! Riding the bike with all that weight attached was a bit like being on the back of a drunk horse, it would take some handling not to plunge into the river. We crossed the Swiss border into Germany and about a minute later went over the Passerelle des Trois Pays into France.

Three countries in two minutes, a new personal record. The Rhine drifted along beside us as the sun beat down on our backs, only another thousand kilometres to go.

Kilometres traveled: 565
Kilometres rode: 36

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