Baden-Baden to Munich

July 7, 2024

Our last bike and train rides

Today we rode our bikes from Baden-Baden to Karlsruhe and then took two different trains to Munich. The bike ride and weather were great. We left our hotel at 10 am and arrived after a very pleasant ride to Karlsruhe at 12:15 pm. We had covered much of this same territory two and a half months ago at the start of our trip when we rode the train to Karlsruhe from Munich and then rode our bikes to Rastatt. It seems like a long time ago. We feel sad that things are wrapping up.

In Karlsruhe train boarding went smoothly and we were in a bike car with Peter and Angelika, two Germans who were heading home to their village outside Stuttgart after their first two month bike ride. It couldn’t have been more fun. They had toured in Brittany and the Jura and were full of ideas and enthusiasm. Angelika said it was so fun she doubts she will ever do any other kind of vacation. She had a KTM bike similar to mine and Peter had a very fancy e-bike with a lot of special features that Dave gawked over.

Peter and Angelika, fellow cycle tourers.

Our bikes are tanks but they've got nothing on Peter's honkin' brute of a machine! I'm sorry I can't remember the brand name, but it had a Gates belt drive and Rohlof 14 speed hub.

Angelika and Peter, packed up and ready to roll.

The time passed very quickly and then we had a chance to visit some more at the Stuttgart train station since our original transfer time of 15 minutes was extended to an hour due to our final train to Munich being delayed. When our train finally arrived it was a shit show with the bikes. There were about 6 bikes at the track wanting to board and the train was already very crowded. Right away the conductor told us not to stress, there were many people and bikes getting off and the train would not leave until it was all sorted out. That was super nice of him. He made sure we had a reservation for a bike slots however. When he gave us permission to board and we entered the bike car the car was crammed with bikes in a pretty higgly-piggly way. Dave and another conductor managed to get our bikes hooked up and one other guy with a road bike was allowed to board his bike as well. We don’t know what happened to the other three bikes. The other thing Dave noticed was that most of the bikes were larger e-bikes like ours and people had panniers. It’s clearly the bike touring season. Fortunately, Munich was the last stop so we could take our time disembarking without stress.

Dave working with the helpful conductor to get the bikes sorted out.

We were booked for three nights at the Ibis Munich City South. The Novotel, which we like, was already booked. It’s a very expensive time of year here and hotels were very pricey, so even the Ibis is almost 200 euros a night with breakfast. And the room is tiny. As a matter of curiosity, Dave checked on the Novotel; they had a few cancellations but the rooms were 350 euros per night. This is crazy and about twice what we typically pay.

Our ride to the Ibis from the Munich train station was considerably smoother than the same ride we did two years ago, during Oktoberfest at 10 pm at night. it only took about 15 minutes, we checked in, cleaned up and walked out to find dinner on a Sunday night. We had an excellent pizza at a nearby Italian place and marveled at how much we like Munich.

We have three days here to get our bikes serviced and get organized for our return to Bend, Oregon.

Today's ride: 38 km (24 miles)
Total: 2,431 km (1,510 miles)

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Steve Miller/GrampiesCurious about what you will be doing with your bikes. Do you leave them in storage, with a friend, some other option?
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3 months ago

Jill GelineauSteve, we found a small storage unit in Munich (MyPlace on Chiemgaustrasse) where we store our bikes. It’s been great. We were in Munich in the spring of2022 and bought our bikes then, but before we could buy them we had to find a place to store them. I had done some research beforehand so had a handle on the possibilities and it worked out well. We pay for a year in advance because they give a 15 percent discount. It being Germany the storage place have been very clear and easy to work with, which is reassuring. It was the only way we could do this: we feel we can’t handle riding on regular bikes anymore, like we did in the past. Previously I toured on a road bike with S and S couplings and we also travelled with a tandem (also with couplings). But, now I don’t feel confident enough on a regular bike while touring. Dave is much stronger and could probably handle it.
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3 months ago