June 8, 2024
Day 13 - Halbergmoos to Aichach
Urban #3 gets a new home
Today was the last day of the tour. It was a pretty easy stage. Just ride the 38 miles from the hotel to HoVelo in Aichach to hand the Urban over to its new owner, Robert.
Naturally my day started with breakfast at the hotel and the usual bread, cheese, and vegetables. Oddly enough, I’m actually ready to go home to my normal cereal and yogurt breakfast. In fact, I’m actually quite happy to return to my boring American food. Maybe it was bad luck, but I haven’t been impressed with most of the food this trip with the exception of the breaded mushrooms in Kiefersfelden and the Knödel in Matrei am Brenner. I did not find a good Erdbeerschnitte, but I did enjoy a nice creme cake slice in Sterzing. It was often too cold and wet for gelato sadly.
I needed to be in Aichach by noon to give the Urban a bath and I needed to reach the halfway point in Markt Indersdorf to meet Markus again at 10:30. I’m not a fast touring cyclist, especially when I don’t know the route, but since today was the last ride and I was riding with only my tool kit and water, I could pedal harder. I left the hotel at 9:15 and would have arrived punctually at 10:30 had i not attempted to take a shortcut that got lengthened by a closed side street followed by a couple wrong turns. As it was, I was a full 8 minutes late. We were delayed in departing for some time by a number of curious onlookers which Markus did a wonderful job of regaling with the wonders of Velomobiles. I like seeing the passion of other riders. It’s not just me that loves riding these things.
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We had excellent riding weather with some really nice quiet roads. We did some filming as we rode including Markus with his selfie stick and 360 camera. I do not have a selfie stick. If I did, I would not have brought it because it would be extra weight :) We had some really nice flowing hills too and hit some nice high speeds around 50mph. It was fun to push hard and go extra fast again after pacing myself for two weeks. Markus is a really strong rider and inspired me to go a lot harder too.
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The ride together went quickly, partly because we were riding quickly, and also because we had really nice roller coaster type terrain, and suddenly we were in Aichach at HoVelo. I had expected to arrive late, but actually we were 15 minutes early. In the end it took less time to ride to HoVelo than it does to take the train. 30 minutes less in fact.
Johann got me a bucket so I could wash up the Urban for the new owner. Then we got to hang out and chat while Markus and I ate our sandwiches. A bit later the new owner arrived to take the Urban home with him. He was very excited to get it and I’m very happy to see Urban #3 go to a great new home. As an added surprise, Timon, another local velomobile rider, was in the area and happened to need to drive to Halbergmoos himself. He generously offered to stop by and take me back to my hotel saving me 3 hours of train trips. It was incredibly nice of him and fun to meet another local velomobile rider. We all had fun chatting until it was time to head out.
So that’s the trip. I want to thank Jan and Velomobile World for building a great Urban for me so quickly, Johann at HoVelo for helping me get it ready to go, finding a new home for it after the trip. and all the great tips he shared while we visited, Markus for riding with me in the rain and dark the first night and for inspiring me to pedal faster today and all the fun filming, and Timon for the ride back to my hotel and some very good conversation.
Oh, and it did rain today. Poor Markus got very wet riding home. I got some light rain walking back from dinner. So in total, it rained every day except one. I don’t even remember now which day that was. This ties my record of the second ever tour where it also rained every day except one.
Despite the rain, it was a very nice tour. I enjoyed most of the riding, Brixen to Brenner excepted, thoroughly enjoyed the 102 mile epic day, will have lots of nice memories, and most importantly met some really great people along the way. So, thanks everyone who helped make this a fun two weeks. Now it’s time to head back home to my personal collection of Velomobiles, my cats, and my boring food.
Until next time, and thanks for following along!
Today's ride: 38 miles (61 km)
Total: 744 miles (1,197 km)
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