June 10, 2023
Day 15 - Neuberg a. d. Donau to….
If you’ll recall, my desire yesterday was to return to Hallbergmoos by the airport today and be done with the touring so I would have a day to prepare to fly back with the bike. Did I make it? Well, you will have to read this post to find out, now won’t you.
I stayed in a somewhat quirky hotel last night. The options the Tourist Info office gave didn’t suit me. One was too expensive and the other wasn’t answering the phone. I found another option online and booked it. I think the owner of it has an interest in modern interior decorating. I’m basing that on the interior decorating and presence of books on a shelf in the breakfast room about interior decorating. The breakfast was on the meager side compared to other places so far. Perhaps there was a wider selection when it opened at 8am, but by the time I got there the options for rolls was sparse and it was mostly heavy breads. The cheese selection was likewise meager. Points for a good fruit salad, but no yogurt, no fresh fruit, and not much else. I had to hope it would be enough to sustain me for the hilly ride towards the airport.
Before I could leave though, I was quizzed by a very keen German man about my bike. The usual questions about whether or not it has a motor, how fast does it go, how slow is it uphill, where did I start my ride, where am I going. I’ve gotten quite good at answering these questions in German, having been asked them on a related basis most every day. Perhaps he will be so intrigued he’ll get himself one of his own….
Leaving Neuberg was actually not as horrid as I feared. Given that I had to go uphill on cobbles to get to Neuberg, I was concerned I would also have to go uphill to leave Neuberg. In reality, the route out heading south was fairly flat for the first 10 miles. I had a combination of wide smooth bike path and well-paved road through the countryside. The first 10 miles saw me averaging nearly 17mph. After several hundred miles of cycling loaded for touring, I was pleased with that.
There were two climbs large enough to register in my gps. One was quite manageable though long, and the other hit 13%. The 13% was unwelcome after such a long tour and involved being tailed for awhile by a very patient farmer and his tractor who politely waved to me once he passed. That was a nice change from the two drivers who rudely honked at me. One of them I honked back at, just in case they wished to communicate by honking.
And now a word about German drivers. I’ve waited until I was safely at the end of the tour to comment on this so as not to cause undue stress to anyone reading the blog whilst I was out on the wilds of German roads. German drivers are jerks. They zoom right up behind you before hitting the brakes, pass when frankly there is not enough space to pass, pull in way too soon, and then floor it leaving you in the dust. While in the US a few drivers will do this, here it is common practice. They treat other cars the same way. This is a country where everyone is used to driving like they’re on a race car track. The one positive thing I can say is they do at least notice that you are there. Your presence offends them, but at least I didn’t feel like I was going to get run over by one because they were busy on their cellphone. While I wouldn’t say i necessarily felt like someone was going to kill me, it was nonetheless stressful riding. Certainly there are quieter roads, but it is nearly impossible to stitch together a route using only those roads that doesn’t eventually lead to either terrible German gravel, or a busy road. So basically, it’s just like being back home, except with more people riding bikes.
Back to the story. By 1pm I was already in Paunzhausen. I stopped by the Rathaus to check on hotel options. My hotel for tomorrow night is fully booked for tonight. I found a reasonably priced hotel 3 miles down the road in Allershausen, but they didn’t answer the phone. I did some more hunting for room options in the budget friendly category, but I wasn’t finding anything. It’s a weekend and I’m looking near the airport. Bad combo. I really wanted to make it all the way back to Hallbergmoos so I could say I had finished the tour. It also seemed just wrong to end the day at 35 miles and at 1pm no less. I finally decided I would splurge and book a room at Hampton Inn in Hallbergmoos. I stayed there once before and fondly recall their generous breakfast buffet. With that squared away, I returned to riding the remaining miles.
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The route as a whole turned out to be much better riding than anticipated. There were two main climbs, but the rest was more rollers. There were some seriously fast stretches as well, the best being a 5 mile split where I averaged 27.5mph. I maxed out somewhere along the way at 42mph, all very respectable for a touring setup.
When I’m riding I think of interesting things to write in this blog, but once the ride is done, I forget what they were. Probably something more happened today, but mostly all I remember is being honked at twice, being passed by a lot of cars, some very nice stretches of bike path, long stretches of very smooth road, some short stretches of very bad road, and arriving at my hotel at 3:40pm. I think this is three days now where I’ve finished the ride early in the day.
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Tomorrow there will be a bit more riding. I might go out for an unloaded ride just because I can. Then the bike goes to the airport in the evening to be prepped for the flight home. I’ll check it in tomorrow night when there are no lines for baggage drop off. Then I can take it easy, sleep a bunch, and fly home. And that will be the end. Sorry the pictures are boring today. I didn’t really see anything interesting. I just rode my bike.
Bonus: on my way to supper I passed through a lovely huge park area in Hallbergmoos and also along the street found the following two gems:
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And lest we forget the massive rear idler, it’s still chewing it’s way through the back of my seat. The chain also likes to come off the idler from time to time when I use the small front chainring. I got to stop along the side of the road during the first climb today to remove the giant idler, reseat the chain, and bolt the idler back in. A real joy. The chain never once came off with the small idler. But not to fear: I’ve been assured this huge idler is making my bike MUCH faster so I’m sure that will make up for the time lost to having to put the chain back on, right?
Today's ride: 54 miles (87 km)
Total: 568 miles (914 km)
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