Jim

Jim
Let the Adventure Begin

About Me

Las Vegas, NV, United States
This is my 2008 grand adventure...riding a bicycle with 35 international bikers across Europe, following the Danube River along the Orent Express route through eleven countries. The ride is 4000km over 50 days of which 39 are ride days with camping and 11 are rest days in hotels. Our tour group, TourdAfrique, provides a tour leader that provides directions and transposts our luggage, a mechanic, and a chef who promises gourmet local cuisines. We start out in Paris on June 1 and travel through France to Germany, where we pick up the Danube river. We then follow the Danube through Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. Then we ride cross country through Romania, Bulgaria, and finally Turkey, where we finish in Istanbul on July 20.

Jun 12, 2008

Sigmaringen to Ulm, June 11, Day 11, 107 km





After three days of riding we made it to Ulm, Germany, for a two day hotel stay and a rest day. Last night we had a large thunderstorm at the camp site, so everything was wet when we got up. I am noticing that if we are not vigilant in getting the gear completely dry, you have trouble with mildew. When we got into the hotel I showered and then got the hotel to let me setup my tent in their back yard to dry out.

Today it was overcast, but good riding weather. To navigate, today, I marked some two dozen towns and villages we would bike through. I started out with my group of five friends as we cruised along, taking in the country side, and even stopping for coffee. The bike path is mostly flat and paved, but there are many sections of gravel and surprisingly very steep short climbs…more like mountain biking. On one surprise climb I wasn’t prepared and dropped my chain. Thirty seconds later, my group had made a turn and was out of sight. I made a different turn with another biker and that was the last I saw of my group for the afternoon. That is the way some of the days go. I did have a good visit with Manon, a young Dutch woman living in Sidney, Australia, who is biking to Bejing.

At the hotel we got a bit of bad news…we had our first causality. Marylyn, a Canadian, had run into the back of a biker and fallen. This is a fairly common low speed accident we have to be very careful to avoid. Her bike fell on her and hurt her leg. Luckily, she was in a town and a support vehicle was able to pick her up and take her to a hospital. X-rays reviled she had broken a bone that would have to be operated on and pinned. She and her husband are packing up and flying back to Toronto. We’ll miss them. Our group is now 40 riders of which a third are women.

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