Neustadt an der Donau

I packed up camp this morning and had a cup of coffee with Simon and Camilla. Then I was off on my own at 8:30 am. The forecast is set for the high 20s so I wanted to beat the heat.

I met a couple from Belgium today. The gentleman, Jens, flagged me down and asked if he could take a picture of me in my ridiculous looking sun gear. This is the first time anyone has done anything other than chuckle at all my sun sleeves. Turns out Jens is a skin cancer survivor and infectious disease researcher who spent his career trying (and largely succeeding) to cure HIV/AIDS. We talked touring bikes, climate, and sun protection gear for a bit then they zoomed off on their kitted out Dutch electric Santos bicycles, which were all I managed to capture from our meeting.

Note the Pinion gearbox with Gates carbon drive

I reached Regensberg where I had planned to stay the night. But it was only 2 pm and the town seemed like more of a tourist stop with prices to match than it did a must-stay destination. So I pedaled on after a quick ride through the town’s medieval bridge and streets.

From Regensberg to Straubing was a challenging ride due to its long straight unshaded dirt roads in the summer heat. But keep going for there is a reward on the horizon.

You’ll eventually reach Walhalla, Germany’s hall of fame. It’s perched high on a hill and well worth leaving your bike behind to go explore. In addition to being an imposing building reminiscent of, if not identical to, the US Supreme Court, its views out into Bavaria are unparalleled anywhere else along the EuroVelo 6.

By the time I reached camp it was 7 pm and I was dehydrated. So I did what any red-blooded touring cyclist would do and ordered a big cold German beer, dehydration be damned.

The campsite attendant responded with a stern “Nein” when I (politely might I add) asked if he spoke English. It wasn’t five minutes later that I heard him having a pleasant conversation in good English with another camper.

This attendant took my food order: “Vegetarier, danka.” My order manifested as a massive tuna fish salad so that’s what I ate, plus an order of fries after my stomach told me the salad wasn’t enough for us.

Then as I ordered my second beer, a Dunkel Weiss, who but Miguel showed up! Soon after, Natan the Swiss showed up too.

Then it was off to the mosquito-infested zeltplatz to set up camp and to sleep.

As I laid in my tent thinking about today’s journey, I was struck by how the people I’d met on this trip—people like Maac, Miguel, Natan, Bharti, Simon, Camila, the others— and I had all hatched our plans independently and yet they conspired to bring us together, sometimes for days at a time, and to take us from strangers to friends.

Off to Ingolstadt — the home of Frankenstein and the signing place of the Reinheitsgebot (Germany’s beer purity law)!

But first, I had to take a hard look at my bicycle. For about the past week I’ve cursed my bike’s little wheels, my legs’ weakness, and the headwinds. This morning after too many cups of coffee it occurred to me that each of these wasn’t really the problem. Instead, I examined my drivetrain. It was filthy. After a week of riding in the mud and rain without fenders, all manner of twigs, mud, and pebbles had lodged themselves in my chain, cogs, and front cassette. Thanks to a sacrificial hotel towel, a 15-minute cleaning session, and a fresh coat of chain grease things went from feeling like I was slogging through mud (which in a way I was) to feeling like I’m riding a motorcycle.

This early afternoon tested me. Confusing signage and construction led me down the wrong way. It was my own stubbornness though that led me to tear a hole in my bib shorts.

What I thought was the correct route spit me out onto a construction zone. The bike path had been torn up so that a new path up along the river could be built. The new path was 20 or so feet up a steep mound of loose rubble and dirt but the path itself appeared rideable if only I could reach it.

Instead of turning around and finding the proper detour I decided the best idea would be to try and roll my fully loaded bike up the steep hill.

No dice.

‘No problem,’ I thought, ‘I’ll just heave my fully loaded steel bicycle up on my back and climb this mountain of loose dirt and rocks.’ Two-thirds of the way up this round mound of loose ground I lost my footing and slipped. Again, instead of stopping and looking for the detour I dug in. I heaved the bike up on my back once more and pushed to the top of the hill.

Mistake.

At the summit, I quickly saw that the new path was blocked off ahead and I’d need to make my way down the hill that I’d just climbed. I realized at this point that my seat post was attached to my bib shorts by way of a nice little hole courtesy of a screw on my lock holster. Such is life.

I was pissed at the world, the EU road maintenance crews, and the route itself. So pissed, in fact, that I neglected to document any of this episode with my camera. But I’ve accepted that my own stubborn reaction, despite being good-spirited—why not climb the mud mountain? It is an accomplishment of a sort—, was the real cause of my anger…and the new hole in my pants.

Now I’ve stopped for lunch — and a beer — in Neuberg.

German apple pie and a hefeweizen are perfect anti-inflammatories for a bruised ego.

After lunch, I met a couple from Poland named Simon and Camilla. We rode together for the rest of the day. Simon is in Ingolstadt frequently for his work with Audi, which is headquartered there so he suggested that we stop at a great ice cream spot in town. I had a scoop of malaga. That’s rum, sweet wine, and raisins.

Then we set our sites on a campsite 30km outside Ingolstadt in Neustadt an der Donau. On the way, we met a French-speaking Swiss named Natan who joined us for the rest of the ride.

Once at the camp (which is nice but costs 13eur!) and after a miscommunication with Simon I ventured into town for dinner. He thought I was going to wait for them to shower and I thought he was telling me not to wait. Oops.

I ordered the goulash, vegetarian strudel, and a kraut salad.

Other than the rip in my bib shorts, today was the perfect ride.

Neustadt on der Danau to Regensberg to Straubing

Donauwörth to Ingolstadt to Neustadt an der Donau