Euroland Exploration

The Gigathlon camp...

Herr Heinz on the radweg
Landscape of Bodensee

Returned yesterday from a great weekend in die Schweiz with Mr. Heinz. Weather was really good and we took in some great rides and good eats. The Bodensee or Lake Constance for the rest of the world is an amazing region surrounded by the Bad-Wu Allgüa to the North, the Swiss Alps to the South, and the Austrian Alps to the East. The region is very popular for cyclo tourists as numerous pensions(B&Bs) surround the radweg(bike path) that circumnavigates the lake. If you venture off the radweg like we did you are greeted by a pleathora of great options. The region is scattered with shields(bike route signs) and in typical Euro fashion you are really never more than 10km from a village. Friday we took in the radweg along Bodensee to the west of our pension in Steinach. The route was very chill. Later that night we drove down to the start of the Gigathlon in St. Gallen. St. Gallen is an amazingly beautiful city. Beautiful Swiss architecture throughout the Stadt. The race headquarters were at the Universität in St. Gallen. Here is what the base looked like on Friday...all 5500 registered starters. Insane, chaotic, cool, yet highly organized. It made TransGermany look small time and that is saying a lot. Heinz and I took in some recon work. We met Sandra and her team after weaving our way through the minefield that was the living area for the weekend. Not to mess with the craziness of the race, we headed over to a Pizzeria across the street and got some delicious pies. Delicious crispy thin-crust...the way to eat pizza =) I scored some Anti-Doping.CH ink pens from the sponsor area which was pretty much a circus complete with magnetic resonance therapy zone, beanbags, a sponsor sport food shopping bonanza and many fit people.

Saturday was an early start because we wanted to catch the swim stage start which was in in nearby Rorschach. Pretty wild! Glad I was only riding my bike because 3km swimming seemed pretty far...I'm good for body surfing or boogie boarding in the water. After some früstuck at the pension we loaded the bikes and drove to Oberreit. Oberreit is south of St. Gallen along the River Rhein. To the east borders Austria and Lichtenstein. The river winds through the Alps and creates an amazing valley of visual pleasure. And you can rest assured that I took advantage of the opportunity and visited all countries on the 2.5hr ride. First it was Switzerland, then we crossed the Rhein into Lichtenstein. A brief layover and hefty bank deposit later we continued our return journey north along the Rhein radweg in Lichtenstein finally crossing back into Switzerland. In Oberreit, I crossed the bridge to complete the trifecta and landed myself in Austria. Border patrol is rather light you could say. Nonetheless, my list of countries visited continues to rise. In Oberreit, we were able to see Sandra start and former Activity Team rider, Roland, finish up the bike leg. A proper TdF viewing in the pension before a great lakeside dinner with fresh fish from the Bodensee topped off the day.

Another pre-breakfast ride for Heinz and I. Early morning rides are nice because everything is quiet and cool. Mix of the local countryside and the radweg. Sehr schön! We rolled back to Backnang later that morning but stopped outside Murrhardt for some delicious Schwäbian fare at a roadside restaurant. I was thinking Maultaschan but Heinz convinced me the Schnitzel with Kartoffeln Salat, Grün Salat, Spätzle mit Soße, and Halle Löwenbrau was the ticket. He was right.

Leaving shortly to head back to language school. Two weeks of intensive German learning on the way. 4.5hrs a day for two weeks. Should help me or break me. I will probably learn that I have a lot more to learn.

chow,
Matthew
Here is a blender attached to a bike...genius!