Biking Towards Stuttgart

August 2, 2009
Jordan and I are sitting at a little outdoor cafe, trying to warm ourselves up with a cappacino. We are in Nurtingen, about 30 clicks southeast of Stuttgart. For the last half hour, we have been riding in a light rain that was refreshing at first, but downright cold as it increased. Now that we are under cover, it is really coming down. We are going to try to wait it out so we can get some more clicks in today.
The last few days have been beautiful, but tiring. We just had a 1.6 click climb at 16% grade. After reviewing our progress since Nurenberg, we decided that we had better bike to a major city and then take the train to Zurich and Lugano. That is why we are headed towards Stuttgart. I hoped to get there tonight, but the rain may interfere with those plans.
This morning's ride took us through similar terrain as yesterday's. We descended into a steep valley that had thick forests on both sides. It reminded me very much of the area around Ohio Pyle, Pennsylvania. One difference is that I could see what looked like marble out-croppings in the valley walls. I could just imagine Hitler's Eagles Nest hideout being in this area!
Jordan is starting to accept the fact that there are hills and that they are out of control, although she did threaten to call Barb and tell her I am trying to kill her little girl.
Note on German Biking: I would rate Germany's bicycle efforts somewhere between France and Belgium. We see more bike trails than we did in France, but they are very haphazard. Not very Germanic at all. Instead of bike lines, there is sometimes a path (about the size of the Olentangy River Trail) on either or both sides of the road. Sometimes there are signs announcing it, and sometimes there are not. Sometimes it is one-way, sometimes both ways. Often it will just stop, and you must get off your bike and wheel it back onto the road. Another confusing item is that many farmers build similar trails between their fields and the roads. These will sometimes turn 90 degrees away from your intended direction before you realize what is going on. Because of all this, we often do not get on what may be good bike paths. A few drivers have yelled at us, probably something along the lines of why the hell aren't you using the bike trail that my taxes have paid for. Overall, it is better biking than the USA, but a far cry from Holland or Belgium.