Life is not a Practice

After two days of non cycling exercise, I was out mountain biking again today :-)

Three of us drove to Paintball Valley ( http://www.valleybranchretreat.com/ ) in Brown County. Here there are about 30-40kms of mountain bike trails.

Our American colleagues had lent us their mountain bikes - thanks Mike, thanks Pat.



The three of us set off to the far side of the area - up ridges and down valleys. Good fun.

Right across the other side of the park Wolfgang broke his derailer holder and could no longer ride. I cycled back and got the car which I then drove round to pick him up (after he had waded a river). He took the car to try and get the bike repaired in Columbus while Norbert and I crossed the river and then cycled back through the woods.

We soon got totally lost but we had the owners dog along that knew the way so we followed the dog and eventually got back to camp.
Good fun.

All pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/neill.hogarth/2010Indiana#

After two days of non cycling exercise, I was out mountain biking again today :-)

Three of us drove to Paintball Valley in Brown County. Here there are about 30-40kms of mountain bike trails.

The three of us set off to the far side of the area - up ridges and down valleys. Good fun.

Right across the other side Wolfgang broke his derailer holder and could no longer ride. I cycled back and got the car which I then drove round to pick him up (after he had waded a river). He took the car to get the bike repaired while Norbert and I crossed the river and then cycled back through the woods.

We soon got totally lost but we had a dog along that knew the way so we followed the dog and eventually got back to camp.
Good fun.

All pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/neill.hogarth/2010BrownCounty#

The weather forecast appeared to have lied. It was not raining.
So I set out for a quick hour of race bike. But of course it soon started raining :-) Good that I have such good clothing



Track is at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=jhlzirdtszgkgzqo

Full size picture at http://picasaweb.google.com/neill.hogarth/2010CyclingI#

Out with Jon on our racing bikes.

The weather forecast for the rest of Easter is not so good and we had the whole afternoon so we went for a "decent" ride up in to Tannheimertal and back.

Passed plenty of lifts still in operation with people skiing but the temperature was relatively warm at about 13°C



And I am not afraid of racing bikes any more. Well maybe a little bit when I am slipstreaming Jon at 55kmh :-)

The track (53km with 525m of climbing) is here http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=rneyyhojfarygrwj

and some photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/neill.hogarth/2010CyclingI#

Today was the first "Bike Club" tour but Jon cancelled it because it was cold (and snowed a bit).
Heidi. Max and I went anyway :-)
Jon was correct. It was -0.7°C when we got back but as the saying goes
"there is no bad weather - just bad clothing"



Track is at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=tgqslmzywcxbmajv

Pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/neill.hogarth/2010CyclingI#

Had an hour to spare on a hectic Saturday so took myself and my racing bike off round the Grüntensee. Some bits of uphill were pretty steep for a racing bike (the way up out of Maria Rain for example).



Track at
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=rvahnheywacdvths

Full size picture at http://picasaweb.google.com/neill.hogarth/2010CyclingI#5453330643377311970

All day the sun was shining and I was at work. So I finished early and went out on my racing bike. 35 kilometers in one and a half hours made an average speed of 23 km/h. You really cover ground on a racing bike.



I took a wrong turn on the way back and ended up doing 2 kms on a cart track. That is definitely not what racing bikes are for.

The track is at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=dgkgcybnjmtoeupm

I'm still quite surprised at the number of meters climbed. It always feels flat.

Picture is at http://picasaweb.google.com/neill.hogarth/2010CyclingI#5451897697896624930

First time out on the mountain bike this year.

+11°C and raining. Perfect mountain biking weather. Max and I were out for a gentle ride around the Grüntensee. Too much snow to go off road so we stuck to the roads.



Track is at http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=luokttpiehfdzfxt

Full size picture at http://picasaweb.google.com/neill.hogarth/2010CyclingI#5451085247268731602

It is Saturday and the sun was trying to shine. The temperature was above zero and Jon and I both had time so...

On the racing bikes past Seeg to Hopfen and then on to Füssen. Back through Austria and Pfronten. The photo was taken at the frozen Hopfensee.



The track is at
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=tafktkuunyzqneur

The big version of the above photo is at http://picasaweb.google.com/neill.hogarth/2010CyclingI#5450749099691362658
There you can also see where it was taken. My mobile phone is so clever that it uses the GPS built in to remember where I took the photo.

Just as we crossed back in to Germany Jon said "there is a geocache here!" so quickly did that on the way past.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=51d02b30-9e18-469e-a7fe-7e94b106c8b8

Averaged 25km/h on the whole journey. When you look at the profile you can see why the first half was faster :-) Maximum speed was 54km/h - on those tiny tyres with those useless brakes!

The doctor says I am better after my operation so I went out for a short test ride to check. And yes - everything works. I took it nice and slow up the hills but a racing bike sure moves on the down hills. I averaged 23km/h.



I felt a little less frightened this time out than last time. Must be getting used to the ridiculously thin tyres :-)

The track is at
http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=smovqldclsvoflkg