1. intro
2. week 4
3. the good grind
4. my own way of doing biketouring

I have been at it for some weeks. After arriving in Germany by ferry, I managed to bike along the river dividing Germany and Poland. Now I find myself at the border to Czechia, a new country, and this will actually be my very first overland border crossing. The way of biketouring is dawning on me.

I wake up early morning to rain hitting the outer shell of my tent creating natures very own symphony of sounds. A simple repetitive drumming but yet so captivating in it's own randomness and unpredictability that it captures my attention for hours. It's early morning and it has been raining all night. I took shelter last night at one of the many campsites scattered in multitude across Germany. A recommendation from a fellow biketourer brought me to seek out the long distance cycling path that runs from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Saxon Switzerland in the south spanning hundreds of kilometres of bike path that hugs the river at every possibility. A scenic flat landscape with horses, cows and sheep roaming freely on what seems to be endless pastures. I am now close to the border of Czechia and the sandstone mountains of Saxon Switzerland suddenly shoots up from the ground in an intense and fissured canyon landscape drastically changing the scenery I have been used to for many days.

I am cuddling inside my tent. The warmth and softness of my sleeping bag is holding me in a tight grip. I need to get up and take down camp before the day slips away. My face makes a grumpy and unhappy shape but I quickly wipe it away. My daily morning routine kicks in and I begin the process of packing the sleeping bag, rolling up the sleeping pad, putting on bike clothes, dismantling the tent, eating breakfast and packing the bike for the day's ride. Then I'll do some mileage and set up camp again. Same process every day. While eating my warm oatmeal, taking shelter under a tree trying to avoid the oatmeal being watered down by the rain, it occurs to me that I have created a new daily repetitive grind. Wasn't I meant to escape the boring and mindnumbing daily repetitiveness by leaving homebase? A big happy smile appears in the moment I realize this is “same same but different”. All though this seems like a new repetitive grind, it is everything but that. While on the road the scenery changes and I end up in a new place. Each day is a new chance to meet different people. How can I ever avoid having days filled with new impressions and new challenges. My morning routine acts as an everchanging meditative hour where I prepare for the new and different day ahead and my evening routine acts as a space to digest the day's many impressions.

Leaving home base, biketouring was new to me. I have never done any long distance touring before. Actually I never did any biketouring at all besides taking the fully loaded bike for a few short rides. All I knew was what I have read on biketouring groups on Facebook which gave somewhat of an idea – but not from my own perspective. While munching my oatmeal I also realize I am starting to get an idea of what biketouring means to me and how it is so much more than a repetitive daily grind. And I don't think it will stop there. I will continuously discover new aspect and new facets of touring life as long as I keep pedalling. What an exhilarating realization. I quickly finish my oatmeal, brush my teeth, pack the bike and hit the roads. I am entering Czechia today, heading for Prague where I will stay put for a week to rest and relax taking some well earned time off the bike. Because even tough I like my new daily grind so far I also want to keep a balanced ratio between touring days, where I am on the road, and travel days, where I kick it back in a citi or cozy little village. Biketouring is also about those days where you discover and explore off bike. I want to BE in the places I pass by and visit :)

• blog germany biketouring

PreviousNext

departure day

2021-06-14 | blog

The day of my departure. I am leaving my homebase in Denmark to embark on a journey. I want to explore the world on a bicycle. There is no end-date or end-destination. I want to head in a general eastward direction and avoid trains, buses, ferrie...

meeting the world

2021-09-09 | blog

After doing city exploring in Prague, I head south towards one of the prettiest old towns I've ever seen. This one is named Český Krumlov and I made a short stop here. In a small hidden basement restaurant I found my favourite meal on the trip so...