A week in the office; a week in the woods [9/16-9/24]

I've been happily unemployed and homeless since June... and luckily still have some savings left in the bank account. Floating around amongst a few friends' couches in Denver has been nice but it's getting boring/lazy... Fortunately(?) my old employers needed a substitute dispatcher for 6 days, so I'm back into the workforce as a productive member of society or something like that. I'd be working in the courier office in Boulder, and what better place to live than the National Forest outside of Nederland for the week?

I found a fantastic campsite a few hundred yards off singletrack not far from town and settled in for the week. It's a great life- wake up to the sunrise every morning, ride about 25minutes of trails on my way into town for a coffee at Happy Trails (my fave coffeeshop in the world) and catching the bus down to Boulder for office duties. After work it's back up the canyon on the bus for about an hour of trail riding, returning to camp with the aid of bike lights. The daylight is short nowadays, so my riding is pretty limited but still super fun.

sunrise from camp

September in the Rockies is my favorite time of year here: the air is crisp, the temps moderate, the aspens and oaks burning with vibrant fall colors. Every year I get a spur of motivation to make the most of the last few delicious days in the hills- and living in the midst of it in a tent for a week is just perfect.

my new neighbors

A summery summary

I feel a little self conscious about waxing poetic on the virtues of my trip, of a meandering life on the road, a simple life on the bike, of experiencing foreign countries, etc etc... so I'll keep it to myself. It's been great, and I can't wait to get back on the road. For now, it's back to Colorado for September loveliness and a visit to my family in the midwest come October.

All in all:
90 days
4050mi
75 nights camping
15 nights indoors
6 countries

Cheers to the best summer so far! And here's to more adventures to come.

A solemn goodbye: Iceland redux [9/3-9/4]

Instead of trying to track down a cardboard bike box in Berlin, I opted for wrapping my bike whole in industrial Saran Wrap, along with foam pipe insulation and some bubble wrap padding that I bought at a Bauhaus (German for Home Depot) in the Berlin suburbs. There were several benefits to this approach: I could take the city train to the airport with packing materials in tow; I didn't have the headache of locating a bike box (although it turned out there were several large bike shops near my hostel); and the hope that baggage handlers would be more gentle with a whole bike rather than a cumbersome box.

It worked out just fine and I arrived at the airport in Keflavik where I started this journey 3 months earlier. Cold and very blustery, it was also dark when I arrived around 1am... the first time I'd ever experienced darkness in Iceland. I unwrapped my bike outside the terminal and pedaled away from the airport. It's not everywhere that you can ride literally 2mi from an international airport and pitch your tent on the side of the road, completely legally and without the slightest hassle. Luckily I found some shrubs to block the incessant winds.

the last campsite

My flight to Denver left the following evening, so I killed some time back at the Kaffir coffeeshop where I'd spent my first afternoon in early June. It was a weird feeling to be familiar with an obscure town like Keflavik- comforting, but solemn to know my fantastic 3 month journey was about to end. Coincidentally I ran into a German cyclist who was just beginning his own month long tour of Iceland; we shared coffee and conversation until he set off onto the road and I to the airport.

Some really cook views of southeastern Greenland from the airplane:

Greenland

And seven hours later I was back in the familiar confines of the Denver International Airport as the sun set behind the lovely Rocky Mountains.

Last stop: Berlin [9/1-9/3]

Florian, one of my hostel bunkmates in Prague, suggested a particular hostel in Berlin; he was also en route (via hitch hiking) to the city and would be there around the same time as I would. So I took his suggestion- turns out they were waiting for me...

The Odyssee Hostel

As with most city stops, I had no particular agenda here but did some wandering around each day. With only a couple of days left before returning home, I was feeling a little mopey and more reflective than explorative. Having been effectively leveled during the massive Allied bombing campaigns, it's a much newer and more sprawling city than most others I visited in Europe. As such, it was the gritty street art and Cold War relics that were the most interesting aspects of milling around.

The Berlin Wall

some random unmarked building

gutted commie apartments on the old East side

And eventually it was time to head to the airport. I'd be flying back to Iceland for one final night, then from Iceland to Denver the next afternoon. I'd have been happy to keep up life on the road for a while longer, and had seriously considered extending my trip by a few weeks. But in the end practical life considerations won the debate and I elected to return home as planned. Bummer....

4000 miles later... [Prague > Berlin; 8/29-9/01 - 273mi]

I'd planned to depart Prague a day earlier, but the WiFi at the hostel was being disagreeable so I walked down the street to a cafe to finish catching up on some emails... ordered a beer, then another beer... "It's getting pretty late, why not just stay another night in Prague?"

Beer = laziness.

On my way out of Prague I stopped off to check out the gigantic 75ft tall metronome that overlooks the city. I'm not sure of its exact purpose, but read that it was built upon a spot once occupied by a Stalin monument. A nice quirky public art piece, it lumbers away ticking back and forth endlessly.

Prague Metronome

There is a designated cycling route from Prague to Dresden that I followed for the first couple of days. Lacking a detailed map, I was sort of stuck winding around on the route which is frustratingly rarely a direct or efficient path; low vehicle traffic and very flat, however. I've been looking forward to getting back to mountain biking when I get back to Colorado next week. Little did I know this official route would give me a little taste:

Vlatava River north of Prague

And there aren't many bridges in these parts, but there are numerous small john boats that will take passengers and bikes across the rivers & canals. Unfortunately it was late in the evening when I got to a crossing point and the Privoy was shut down for the night. My alternative route took me over a pipeline bridge. Lugging a touring bike up and down 3 flights of stairs was not the least bit fun.

Eventually I reached the small city of Usti, where I procured better map from the Tourist Info Office and that was the end of following this ridiculous cycling route. Now being on a more direct path of my own chosing, albeit one with a few steep climbs, was significantly less frustrating.

Nearing the Czech / Germany border and still holding 103 Czech korunas (~$5) in my pocket... figured it'd be more fun to spend it than covert it back to Euros. I passed through the border town of Petrovice looking for a suitable place to blow 5bux... and immediately knew I'd found my spot!

This was a restaurant in a decommissioned airliner, super cool. The waitress spoke Czech and German (no English) but I was able to explain my cash situation to her: I had enough for a beer, a traditional Czech noodle soup and a coffee. Perfect for a cool, drizzly evening. Then she said she'd give me the coffee for free so I could order a dessert and suggested the Czech honey cake... oh was it tasty!

After my airline dinner, I continued on and slipped into east Germany under the cover of darkness and fog. Finding a great secluded campsite off in some woods, it proceeded to rain all night long... and most of the next day into Dresden. I have to say that I've been incredibly fortunate regarding weather on this trip- but a soggy cold day is never much fun regardless.

Dresden was a pretty interesting city, and I was surprised to find some historic buildings still standing after the massive Allied bombing campaigns of WWII. However I'd picked up a couple small nails in my rear tire (my mantra from my messenger days: "it's never really a rainy day until you get a flat tire") so I didn't take a whole lot of time to poke around and instead focused on repairing the punctures and finding myself a map to get the rest of the way to Berlin.

Dresden

The weather improved by the late afternoon, and I was treated to a couple of perfect autumn days en route to Berlin: brisk, sunny and breezy. This is not terribly exciting terrain to ride through, but the seasonal shift made it pretty comforting.

I've been nearing 4000 cumulative miles and was excited to clear that hurdle, arbitrary as it may be. Literally 2 blocks after I crossed into the Berlin city limits, my odometer finally clicked over the 4K mark... nice!

The Vegas of Europe [Prague; 8/26-8/28]

thus Way back in the spring when I was 'planning' this trip- and by "planning" I mean just thinking of places I wanted to go and occasionally looking at Googlemaps- a visit to Prague was on the "must do" list. Later on I didn't imagine it would be feasible to get all the way over here, but as it turns out it's right on the way up to Berlin.

Prague is on par with Rome & Florence as one of the most interesting and fun cities I've been to this summer. There's still a bit of a bohemian gypsy vibe here with lots of street musicians. And there's a Vegas vibe as well: distinctly different crowds of daytime tourists and the nightlife clubber set, beer & cocktails for sale at sidewalk vendors, a bit of an 'anything goes' attitude.

After all these tourist laden cities I've visited this summer, I finally talked myself into splurging on a guided walking tour- The Prague Underground- to learn more about the history of this place. It was very informative and worth the $13... I learned that back in the 13th century, tired of frequent flooding from the river, they raised the street level by 3 to 8 meters, burying the first floor of all the houses in the process. This network of basements and tunnels proved handy to the resistance fighters during the Nazi occupation and now provides a perfect home to numerous dive bars and nightclubs. And hence a thriving nightlife scene was unintentionally fostered.

the Prague underground circa yr 1200

 Lunched on a traditional Czech ghoulash soup in a bread bowl w/ a liter of pilsner for $6.

Later in the evening I splurged again ($20) to hear a classical concert at Church St. Giles, a 13th century Romanesque church with a huge pipe organ constructed in 1737. It boasts 3500 reed pipes, 50 ranks and 3 manuals. I have no idea what that means specifically, but I know that being engulfed in the acoustics of that immense cathedral with a bellowing pipe organ was unreal. The program was a sort of 'greatest hits of the Baroque era' and it was great to hear many familiar pieces. The hands down highlight, however, was Bach's Toccata & Fugue in D Minor: the famously ominous organ piece that is familiar as the intro to some funky 70's disco hit.

Church St. Giles

During my wander back to the hostel after the concert, I passed a real-deal absinthe bar... an essentially illegal alcohol in the US because it contains wormwood (an allegedly psychedelic elixir.) I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try an absinthe cafe mocha... in a to-go cup no less. As I said, it's a little 'Vegas' here. It was a little trippy... a fun treat. And then I went to bed at 11:30pm, like the good church-goer that I am.

absinthe mocha frappe... tasted better than it looks here!

 

Autumn in Bohemia [Munich > Prague; 8/22/8/26 - 290mi]

I paid 19euro for my spot in a 6 bed dorm room in a Munich hostel... as luck would have it I ended up having the whole room to myself! What a deal, and another nice night of lounging around in privacy. Munich is certainly not the most interesting city I've been to, but there's some nice Gothic architecture in the center.

Munich

At Julie's insistence I got myself a giant soft pretzel- this one had cream cheese and scallions in the middle. Tasty Bavarian treat!

There's an 'official' marked bike route from Munich to Prague... it primarily follows bike paths and backroads, with the occasional stretch of gravel, dirt, and even bits of singletrack. The signage isn't always the best, though, so I sort of loosely followed the route with some shortcuts and diversions along the way.

mini mini mini mini

I passed through Regensburg, Germany, on my way northeast to Prague. It's listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site... very cool historic city center and (more) Gothic churches. I got a little obsessed about eating a piece of cake- is there really such a thing as 'Bavarian Chocolate Cake' or is this just an american invention?? I found a little sidewalk cafe to see for myself; the cake was quite tasty but not as dark and dense as what we'd call 'Bavarian chocolate.' So the jury's still out.

For each of the last two nights, the sky has been clear when I've gone to sleep and it didn't seem like I needed to bother with pitching my tent. And each night I was awoken around 3am by rain and t-storms; frantically setting the tent in a half-asleep stupor is no fun. From now on, just pitch the tent before sleeping, you lazy moron.

On my way out of the woods I camped in last night I came across a nice ripe blackberry thicket and harvested a whole bag full. Musli & wild fruits!

I crossed the border in the Czech Republic while cycling along a farm road / bike path. Again nothing more than a sign...

if I knew how to say "Welcome to Czech" in Czech, I would write it here

 The route wound through some nice forest preserves and small farming villages before passing through the first bigger town, Domalize. A very distinct change in architecture & culture now that I'm across the border, but plenty of western gluttony...

A highlight of the route was a stop in the city of Pilsen ("Plzen" in Czech,) birthplace of Pilsner-style beer and home of the Pilsner Urquell brewery. I stopped off at the beer garden on the brewery grounds to sample the wares... half a liter only costs about a buck and a quarter!

the 50/50 mix of Pilsner and Dunkl

I've ridden myself right into autumn here in the Bohemian countryside... brisk breezes, occasional drizzle and nighttime t-storms. It feels like a fitting wrap-up to my summer. When I started around Iceland in early June, the farmers there were just plowing over their fields for the spring planting season. In Rome & Florence it was the dead of summer and now I've come to the final harvests and seeding of winter crops. I'd say summer's been alright....

Bohemian autumn

Farewell to the Alps [Innsbruck > Munich; 8/20-8/21 - 95mi]

After nine consecutive days of climbing at least 4500 vertical feet each day, I was still pooped in the morning and in no hurry to get back on the road. So I lingered over a couple Austrian beers in the lounge of my guesthouse and caught up on this here blog... and finally turned the pedals around 5pm.

One last pass to climb up to the border with Germany. The map said it was only something like 940M, but my altimeter watch said I was as high as 1140M... so a little extra climbing snuck in, steep but not too long. Dusk was upon me and I was aiming right into a large t-storm that I watched develop for an hour or so. I still needed to resupply water for the night, so I had to keep moving ahead into the storm. Finally I came to a gas station, topped off my extra bottles and found a nice camp spot in the woods just as the first few drops fell... got set up and enjoyed a very active lightning storm from the dry shelter of my tent.

The next morning I hit the German border... pretty uneventful.

Deutschland

And heading north, I meandered my way right out of the lively Alps for good. Shed the proverbial tear, as all these mountains have really had an impact on me in so many ways. Their sheer beauty, of course, but also the personal challenges and rewards, physically and mentally, of spending so much of my trip in them. The French Alps woke me up to the real fun of laboring over the Cols; the Corsan mountains were like a fantasy world of peaks and beaches; the Dolomites were just visually stunning beyond any mountains I've yet seen; the Austrian Alps were a grand finale to it all. So to spare you the philosophic blather, these mountains changed & shaped my trip for the best... and maybe my life a little too.

goodbye Alps, hello Bavaria

Final hurrah: Austrian Alps via Grossgluckner [Italy > Innsbruck; 8/16-8/19 - 241mi, +15,973ft]

Had a lengthy morning descent through the valley exiting the Dolomites this morning, then an hour or so sipping a coffee while waiting for some rain to subside before setting off north to the Austrian border.... which is conveniently located at the top of Passo Stalle (2052M.)

on the approach to Passo Stalle

So this was a new one: the last 3mi to the top of the pass was literally a one lane road. Autos only have a 15 minute window to enter this section from either direction (ie. here at the bottom from :30 to :45; at the top from :00 to :15.) And for good reason- this section is a relentless 11% grade, with the only 'flat' sections being the apexes of the switchbacks. Tough work, but it had to be done.

The crest of the pass is the border between Italy and Austria, and there is an abandoned army barracks that I suppose was once used to keep an eye on those pesky Italians. Not a bad place to be stationed, though:

And with little fanfare, I was officially into Austria:

Wilkommen!

The next morning I was treated to a 34mi gentle descent into Lienz, losing almost 4500ft along the way. After Lienz was a 'quick' climb up to the Iselsbergpass (1204M) and along the way I was surprised to be passed by a few racers and their support wagons from the Race Around Austria (RAA.) I talked to a few of the crew members, who told me it's 2300km and 30,000M of climbing in 4-5 days. And no more than 90min of sleep per night for their guy!

I asked if he was tired. With a shrug, "eh..." It was a dumb question.

Back down into another valley for a long meandering approach to the heavy artillery: The Grossgluckner Hochalpinestrasse. The Grossgluckner itself is the highest peak in Austria (12,461ft) and this route runs just to the east of it, topping out at 2540M- the most scenic road in all of Austria, so they say. I will not argue- it's amazing.

I got about 2/3rds of the way up the steep section before it got dark. Camped (w/ questionable legality as this is a national park) on a little perch above the road, I was a little startled when I heard voices & music and saw slow moving headlights below. Eventually the late night revelers came into view- another Race Around Austria guy slowly grinding his way up the pass.

Terrific scenery from above treeline, and more lucky cows:

There's sort of two summits with a little dip between them- from the northern crest there is a great view of a string of glaciers (for the time being, anyway.)

Grossgluckner Hochalpinestrasse

I soaked it in for quite a while... this would be my last time on a truly high alpine pass for this trip. There have been some many amazing days riding up high, so many amazing vistas, so many slow ascents at 3-6mph, and so many gravity fueled burners back down.

Up and down, with nice views. I guess that sums it up.

And it was a ripper coming down- several times I caught up to auto congestion and had to pull over to let the long line of cars get far enough ahead that I could open it up. I was not about to ride the brakes down my last 12% winding grades!

Then it was a long, hot afternoon traverse through the quaint Krimml Valley and past Europe's tallest waterfall. It was dusk at this point so I couldn't pause to hike around, although the new-agey brochures promised great healing effects from the ionized mist near the falls. Instead, I healed myself by climbing Gerlospass (1640M) as darkness fell and camped next to a parking area just below the summit. Cooking dinner with the lights of the Krimml Valley villages below and the twinkling stars above was fantastic. And then another RAA racer came by well after dark- I appeared out of the shadows and gave him a cheer, he gave me a wave and "Danke shon!" I wondered if he was confused by all this, or if he thought it was a hallucination.

The next day lost almost 3500ft off the Gerlospass and through the lovely Tirol Valley into Innsbruck, the so-called "Capital of the Alps." It's a really cool historic city and I got a cheap (34euro) private room in a guesthouse that was built in the year 1425! Nearly 600 years of lodgers, staggering to think about. This was my first private room of the entire trip- what a luxury to lay around in my birthday suit watching The Simpsons overdubbed in German. I had not showered since I left Florence 13 days ago and I felt like a cowboy coming in off the dusty trail; and it took 2 showers to get clean....

And boy did I give that sink a workout with all my rank clothes....

The Queen Stage of the Dolomites [Passos Pordoi, Sella and Gardena; 8/15 - 55mi, +5810ft]

There is a central massive uplift in the middle of the Dolomites known as the Sella Gruppe and a road runs a ring around it with four major passes, each just as spectacular as the last. Luckily you never drop all the way down into the valley so it's possible to ride the whole ring in a day. I did 3/4ths of it today and it was, quite literally, perhaps the single most awe inspiring day of cycling in my entire life!

After a nice early morning descent from my camping shack last night I tackled the Passo Pordoi at 2239M on the south side of the Sella Gruppe first. Simply amazing.

A partial drop down and then right back up again to the Passo Sella at 2240M. Words and photos cannot begin to describe the feeling of being surround by such immense vertical peaks climbing into the sky!

Possibly the best coffee view ever at the top of Passo Sella:

Another partial descent, and back up again to my final crest of the day at Passo Gardena (2121M.)

Passo Gardena at 2121M

Today was just so far beyond words that it's not worth even trying! Enough said.