I can barely walk after my 13hr ride today. The biggest challenge on the Tour de Hans will be to keep fron destroying my butt. Im an idiot, no idea what I was thinking. Doing 130 miles on smooth roads is one thing but I had forgotten that although German bike paths are excellent, they are often gravel or cobblestone. With my tiny 20″ wheels and the narrow tires I got my butt pulverized and abraded into oblivion. The heavy packs didnt help matters any either.
It was stupid of me to plan on this kind of daily mikeage but hotel reservations are paid for, I do my 120mi a day or waste my pre paid hotels. I always tell people to set aggressive but achievable goals. This trip is at the very limit of my ability, closer to my limit tgan I was planning on.. I am being very, very careful with my nutrition to minimize muscle loss. Even with this extreme level of cardio, I dont expect to have any measurable muscle loss. Protein every 2-3hrs!
The day started out fine, smooth roads, beautiful weather, beautiful scenery, so I was constantly to take photos and gawk Then I looked at trip computer and panic set in, it was 1pm and I still had 75miles to go- excellent planning!! Not!. Then everything started to go wrong. First it started to pour. Then the howling headwind started. But worst of all, those cobbledtone paths! Butt-brutal! Not only that, they cut speed by about 50% and that was not in my schedule. Heres how bad my time estimate was, I was planning on visiting a castle which would have taken 4hrs, even skipping that, I barely made it by dark. The entire 13hrs, I only stopped about 20 minutes, only long enough to buy water.
OK, not everything went wrong. My 10yr old bike Friday held up admirably despite the ultra heavy load and the rough roads. My Bike GPS saved my butt a zillion times. The route was really complicated and I had zero time to waste making wrong turns and scratching my head. I was able to plan the route at home on my computer then upload it to the GPS. Then it was easy to navigate because the route I had pre chosen was highlifhted on the GPS. My camera trapeze worked great! Tge last 7hrs of cycking I didnt have time to stop but I could just shoot video whike biking. Of course, Ill have to do image stabilazation or everyone watching it will barf.
The photo is me in front of the amazing cathedrsl in Cologne. Dont be fooled by the smile, its pasted on! . Worlds record for the most windows, including a really cool and controversial modern art window. Thought it was very appropriate to have my photo taken in front of the controversial window, you can kinda see it. Ive been in europe 6days now and still nobody has given me a shirt, Im waiting folks! Whoever gives a shirt will have my eternal gratitude, it was cold and rainy today. If I had a shirt I *might* have considered wearing it.