Thursday Trounce.......

Well last nights ride turned out to be the usual fair. I figured that since Nicoll was at interbike, that we could have a good recovery ride from Wednesday nights outing....no such luck. Andy, Botsfrord and Steve showed up and Andy suggested the Tanoma loop after I was done pining about how tired I was from Wednesday. So we headed out, me thinking that it was going to be a fairly easy ride.

We had a fairly leisurely ride for the first few miles until we reached the new pavement at the Airport the Steve started to pick up the pace....buckle up. My legs wee feeling a little flat so I migrated to the back til we got onto Hood School Road then it was game on.Everybody seemed to be feeling a little frisky..even Botsford was riding strong. He hasn't been out with us much this year due to some chronic back pain, attributed to a large farm tractor flipping over onto him a few years back. Luckily guy to survive that. He is having surgery sometime this year to try to solve the problem.

Really ended up being a fast ride and I felt pretty good once we got going. Brownie and I are riding on Saturday afternoon....maybe I can talk him into riding easy.


Here is a cool biking story.........

This guy walked into my store a few years back and started to me he wanted to buy a bike and ride across the country. Now this may not seam like and odd statement but you must understand that Joseph, up until this point had only been riding a short time and had done nothing but Rails-to trails. Far be it from me to put the damper on ones dreams, so we talked for a while and I fit him up with a nice Cannondale T2000. He picked up the bike and a few weeks later started on his journey across the Northern part of the country. Long story short he made it with no real issues. He called me a couple times along the way and has doe several trips since. Here is the short version of the latest.....enjoy.

Rich,

Enjoyed your blog. Just thought you might like to know I did a month long tour of central Europe this spring . Did a month in Germany and Switzerland last summer.

Flew to Munich (second year in a row), took train down to Rome to meet up with my little sister, then back to Munich to pick up my bike and head by train to Linz, Austria to rendezvous with a fellow I met 2 years ago in N.Dakota when crossing the USA. We rode down the Danube (Doneau to the Germans) to Vienna, onward downstream to Bratislava, Slovak Republic then headed north east through rural Slovakia along the south side of the small Carpathian Mountains. After Neva Mista (New City I think from Soviet days) we headed north OVER the mountains to the south east corner of the Czech Republic and entered Poland not far from where the Czech/Poland/Hungarian borders come close together.

We were intending to visit the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz and rounded a corner and just stumbled upon the Birkenau complex. Took a 3 1/2 hour guided tour of the camps which left me physically and emotionally exhausted. It is an mind blowing experience. If you get the chance it is a must visit. You see things a bit differently after that experience.

We then cycled 45 km to Krakow, Poland which is a wonderful place with reasonable prices like I imagine Prague 15 years ago. After 2 days in Krakow we headed to Cottbus Germany by train (just over the border from Poland) and headed by bike down to Dresden, After Dresden we headed up the Elbe River to Prague. Well the Elbe does not actually go all the way to Prague but branches off so we actually followed a major tributary to Prague. Stayed a couple of days in Prague then headed cross country toward Germany with a destination of Munich. Made it all the way to Regansburg on the Danube where I cut the trip short and headed home due to illness in the family.

Spent a month and did about 1800 km. Beer in Czech Republic is US dollar 1.15 in restaurants and bars. Great stuff at the right price. Germany, Poland and Austria have great beers but the price is much higher. Slovak beer prices were also cheap but the whole country is pretty poor.

Some fair roads in Slovakia and Poland but no problems. One factor that I had not anticipated was the fact that camping is associated with the Communist era and most in Slovak, Czech Republics and Poland have closed down because everyone now has money and fancy cars to go to far off places ans stay in hotels.

No problem with bike. Need to tear down wheels and check bearings. I have never regretted purchase. Thanks for helping me get the right size. I had the bike parked on the street in Linz, Austria in front of a Internet cafe and a Austrian fellow was admiring it when I emerged from cafe. I did not have panniers mounted since I was all set up at a camp ground. He said he really liked the classic touring style. Interesting because Germans and Austrians all tour (lots of them) on very upright bikes with what I would call butterfly handlebars.

Anyway the Cannondale T2000 has not let me down and other than that first go around with the blown tire (x2) I have had excellent success with the Schwable tires. I like wide and tough touring tires.

Rich, If you ever have anybody ask questions about touring Europe have them contact me. I love to share my experiences.

Best regards,

Joe Trudo

This is comforting.........

Maybe you might want to slip your pilot a coffee next time you fly. Unless these guys are you flight crew then maybe you should just get off.