European Tour – Day 3 & 4 (Written by Shani, Charles & Chris)
Written by Shani July 3 – The People Along the Way…
As we ride along, we meet many interesting and amazing people along the way. Perhaps the most memorable is the generosity we have been shown so far on our journey. From our amazing hosts to the people who help us with directions when we are lost, there have been so many people who have helped us. Yesterday, when Gene and I came to a confusing point in our, we stopped to ask a young couple on mopeds for direction. The woman started to explain the route out of town in her limited English, but when words failed her, she and her boy friend escorted us through town on their scooters. Many of us have similar stories to share of kind people giving directions along the way,
As well, a super big shout out to all our generous hosts who have taken such good care of us. From real beds and sheets at the army base in Ede, to the case of beer welcoming us at the football club in Vreden, we have had wonderful hosts so far.
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Written by Charles July 4 – The importance of sweep
On July 2nd I had the privilege of serving as our groups sweep with Johanna. Everyday when we ride out, two people serve as sweep. Their job is to sweep up all the other pods and ensure that nobody gets left behind. This is a very important position, as we don’t want to lose somebody in rural Germany (or rural anywhere else for that matter). That would be bad. Most of the time the sweep usually ends up ahead of one pod or another as someone gets lost or takes a different route (everyone always ends up getting into camp though – at least so far). That is not what happened on my sweep day with Johanna. We took our job with the seriousness of a mortician. Before we left, an anonymous rider attached the sweep flag to my bike and I understood that to be an honour. Throughout the day Johanna and I consistently went out of our way to make sure nobody was left behind. We spent most of the day riding with the pod that included Sabrina, Erin, George, Gala, and Reil. On the way Johanna and I came up with an official sweep song and an official sweep chant to keep the mood light and fluffy (while maintaining our mortician-like seriousness, of course).
As sweep we had the luxury of taking our time. We stopped in a little town to ask for directions and buy a postcard. We also paused for a brief snack over looking a river and when we stopped for lunch and ate a few feet from a couple of cows that were munching on their crude. And we stopped at the border between the Netherlands and Holland. I found it to be rather anticlimactic but fun nonetheless. We got into the soccer club where we were staying at about 7:30, with everybody present and accounted for.
I am now sitting at on a farm outside of Munster getting attacked by the combined forces of mosquitoes and flies. I am going to sign off to put up a better fight.
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Written by Chris July 4 – Hello from Germany
The last few days have been a bit of a blur as most of them have involved 4-6 hours of sleep and 70-110km of riding. Yes, we have finally hit our first couple of big days. The first of the two big days I was part of pod “speed racer” and we literally rocketed off the mileage. Before lunch – which was about the 60km marker for us –we were averaging around 28km an hour. After lunch we took it a litter easier and dropped down to 25km/hr. The net result was that we arrived at our destination around 3:45pm, and had time to go for a swim and a waterslide, get interviewed by a local TV crew, and play soccer against (and beat) some 16 year olds. All before the next group arrived at around 5pm.
Yesterday was a slightly different story however; as I was in pod “scenic route” and while most people did 70km we did 110km. We did get to see some great little towns and ride right next to a bunch of giant windmills which was nice but being a little lost did take it’s toll mentally for a while. At one point we arrived at a roundabout to discover that towns from two of the exit routes we had already visited and they were only 5-10km away and we had been riding for 2 hours. We also learned the bike paths tend to like to meander along the hills and are nowhere near the most direct route. They also sometimes like to turn to dirt roads and bisect farmer’s fields. All and all though we got to our destination and even though we were drenched by a thunderstorm, we had loads of fun and memories from our excursion.
I can’t say enough good things about all of the people and hosts we have encountered so far. They have far surpassed anything we could have asked for in their kindness and rumor and we would not be in as nearly as good of sprits without them. Our hosts have opened up their homes, army barracks, organic farms, and camps, given us free food, beer, and shared stories and conversations that have made our trip so much more special and it is still only days old. The people we have met while riding have been just as helpful and kind. On several occasions they have given us maps they happen to have, or even gone out of their way to escort us to streets to make sure we arrive safely. I think it is very safe to say we would not all be here without them. All of this positive energy really does make the difference when you have a difficult day or have to ride 15km uphill into a head wind.
Today we get our first day off the trip and I think everyone is excited to get to play tourist in Munster for a change. It will also be a nice rest for our bodies and a chance to heal some of the cuts and bruises that are around.
