Introduction

I am typing these words while sitting in Germany, and I am so happy about that. I retired at what turned out to be the start of the covid pandemic, so many plans were put on hold, including bike tours. I’m back on the road at last, and best of all I will get to ride with people I consider friends but have yet to meet in person. I’ll be riding with Suzanne Gibson and husband Janos Kertesz and Susan Carpenter.

If you’ve seen Suzanne’s journal for this tour, you know that with short notice we had to tear up our original plan for a loop ride from Metz, France, down the Mosel to Trier, then up the Saar a ways and back around to Metz. A rain cloud sat over that part of Germany and France for several days last week, leading to lots of flooding. Reports we got were not encouraging about the state of the bike paths along those rivers. So, new plan is a couple of day rides from Metz, then a short loop tour from Metz.

Susan, another retired American, will take a train from Paris, where she is based for several months of the year. Suzanne, a retired New Jersey gal who has lived abroad most of her adult life, and Janos, a retired guy who grew up in Hungary, will drive from where they live near Munich. I will take the train from Ottweiler to Metz.

I have the benefit of a German sister-in-law, Petra, who is willing to loan me her fabulous e-bike. I have been riding recumbents for almost 25 years, so riding Petra’s upright e-bike is going to be an adventure. I bought a beater bike off Craig’s List back in February and rode it most of the time since. I have a bad elbow, and I wasn’t sure how it would hold up to riding upright again. It did all right with Blackie the beater, but it wasn’t always comfortable. I’m happy to say that after some tweaks I think Petra’s bike is going to work out fine.

After my tour with those fine folks, I’m heading to Basel for a few days to hang out with a niece while her partner gets to meet coworkers at the headquarters of her new job. Then, if the old elbow is up to it, my plan is to slowly ride along the Alsace Wine Route before heading back to return the bike to my sister-in-law and head home to California.

Just a heads-up, I don’t expect to be updating this journal regularly until the trip is over.

Here’s Blackie. I call her a beater but she is a really good bike, a Raleigh City commuter. The only issue was the part about using my hands, arms and shoulders in uncomfortable ways. Compared to that, getting my butt accustomed to a saddle again was a piece of cake.

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