Yesterday I got my new bike: Ridley X-Trail
Unfortunately the weather was turning bad just exactly this weekend … the first real snow of the season. Well, tough luck… the bike had to be tested..
An “All-Road” or “Cross” bike has to stand that … and so do I…
The weather this weekend was unusually good for November. So we did a first seson-end tour on Saturday and another one on Sunday 🙂
On Saturday one of my favourite “short” tours, via Aidlingen, 7-Tannen, downhill via Holzbronn into the Nagold valley, up the hill at Seitzental … wow, what colors, deep green grass, deep blue sky and yellow/red leaves… still have goose-bumps…. and then the side-way towards the traditional “Wildberg-View”:
With the way back via Sulz, Kuppingen and Gärtringen we went in total 80km.
On Sunday we did another tour: via Herrenberg, Öschelbronn, Bondorf and Ergenzingen into the Eyach valley and then to Haigerloch. From there on some side roads that I remembered in most parts from an RTF earlier this year towards Rottenburg and continues to Tübingen. On a 8th of November with best possible weather, sitting with cakes and coffee in the sun… how could this ever be any better 🙂
With the short return via Bebenhausen to Holzgerlingen the total tour was 102km.
We’ll continue to ride with the Mountainbike, but we’ll see if the weather will bring us another “year-end roadbike tour”…
For me the bike reason goes from October 1st to September 30th. So last Saturday was my last day in Season 2015, and yesterday started the season 2016. So it’s time to summarize the Season 2015.
Already looking forward to the next season and a “golden autumn”, the first Saturday yesterday was nice, but today we have rain.
Link to my biking-page
Our training tours continued informally during the winter, nice but cold. Therefore we already looked forward to tours dressed in “short-short” and we planned great things. We always go after the Easter holidays and due to other private appointments, this years camp ended up being April 18th to May 2nd. Mid April is high-season in Mallorca for bikers … it was quite full. On most smaller roads, that is not a problem, the island is big enough. But some of the “nice places”, obviously are visited by almost everyone, e.g. Randa, Sant Salvador, Orient and the passes in the mountains, Sierra Tramuntana. But we are ourselves part of the biking tourism, i.e. nothing to complain about. And having your cake and cafe con leche in Petra on the central plaza is kind of very nice with 200 other bikers there 😉
The weather was very similar for basically the full two weeks, between 19 and 22°C, sometimes only little, sometimes a bit more wind, but never too strong… ideal for a training camp. We started well, and quite fast. The first two days a bit more flat and high average speed, 82km / 750Hm (Hm=>Meters altitude) / 27,8kmh and 117km / 950Hm / 28,1kmh. On the third day, a bit more intensity with more altitude. I think that worked well, it allows the body to get accustomed, and everybody was able to follow and no muscle aches, all could recover for the next day.
With an exception … I was hit with a cold, starting Monday evening with coughing. On Tuesday morning I felt so bad, that I had to pause for a day. Wednesday was a planned pause-day, which everyone used to recover and I did as well, with a small 45km tour. That went well, on Thursday I was back in game and was not much more impacted for the rest of the training. However I obviously “gave” my cold also to others, Hartmut and Jürgen got sick and Brigitte a little bit during the next days.
On Thursday we continued fully motivated. Already the last three years we wanted to take a bus to Andratx in order to check out the western part and the beginning of the Sierra Tramuntana and the “coastal classic ride”. Never managed to do it … but this year. So we took the organized ride by Hürzeler, which departs at 9am. A small disadvantage for us, because we first have to cycle from Can Picafort to Paya de Muro, and be there at 8:30. So we had only a very rapid and short breakfast and packed some bread for the bus. But in the end, nothing to be nervous about, all went very well. It was not just one bus, they filled two large buses with two large trailers for bikes.
It would have been too early to do the coastal classics already in the first week, so we took the part to Valldemossa and then took the downhill to Palmanyola and continued through the central part of Mallorca. The bus ride has one disadvantage, you lose a lot of time of the day, we could only start at about 10:45 in Andratx, but this is the only way to get there in a sensible manner (riding there is 60-70km…). The route was really nice, so it is definitely worth the trip: the tour: 121km / 1800Hm / 25,1kmh.
In the past years, we did not go to Cap Formentor, because of the bad road condition and the tunnel without any light, just not appealing. But this year: the road is freshly paved and there are reflectors in the tunnel … I was prepared and brought a portable lighting for my bike. So nothing to keep us away, except for some quite steep climbs … but we are here for the training, right? Well, definitely this is one of the nicest little tours and well worth the effort!
As the main tour (“queens stage”) we did in the last years Soller – Ferry – Sa Calobra. This year another variant: we went to Soller, but then took the long climb to Puig Mayor and return via Monastery Lluc. The climb to the Puig is not as spectacular as Calobra (calobra is one of THE best climbs in the world), but quite strenuous and the ride through the mountains via the water reservoirs is really nice.
For those that are good enough, the crossing to Calobra is on the way, and Ralf actually took it, he went down to Calobra and rode up the Calobra pass! Fantastic!!! My legs were definitely not good enough for that. Our tour: 148,2km / 2.100Hm / 24,5kmh. For Ralf, you have to add about 20km and 900Hm altitude.
As resume: A great Training Camp!!! I’m already looking forward to next year 🙂
The totals will be slightly different for the participants, for I missed the Randa tour, Ralf did the extra Calobra pass … but all in all I think this was a very good result:
And for those into Statistic, like me:
For me the bike reason goes from October 1st to September 30th. So yesterday was the last tour of the season, all tours still coming in 2014 will count to the season 2015 as “winter training”.
So what’s the statistic for the year?
Already looking forward to the next season and a “golden autumn”.
Link to my biking-page
The “Schönbuch” is a forest area, under protection, just next to my home-town Holzgerlingen. Of course the pathways in the forest are not paved, so with the road-bike we have to go “around”. Which is a quite nice tour, with some really great views, and can be made between 65km and 80km long.
We’ve done this a few times this year, on different routes, and today was a nice Saturday to repeat another variation. Over the broad B464 “highway”, which is currently quite deserted due to road-constructions which causes most cars to go a long de-tour. Road for the bikes… This time we went to Pfrondorf and down to Kirchentellinsfurth. Quite a few times already we climbed this hill, and are usually a bit exhausted as this is then one of the last climbs of a larger tour. Today downhill… and that is really nice. So we continued via Tübingen towards Entringen.
The colors were really great today. It is still summer, but the sun is not anymore coming straight down, so it seems like the colors are more intensive. The white clouds against the blue sky were fantastic today. And going over hills… you often have fantastic views. First towards the “Schwäbische Alb” and then towards the Schönbuch again, with the town of Entringen. Had to take a picture.
All in all we did a relatively relaxed tour today, 72km and 540m altitude with 26,6 km/h. After a rainy week, we were once again lucky with the Saturday weather. Unfortunately the Sunday forecast is bad, rainy 🙁 .
For a few years already we discuss regularly to run a “mountain training” along the valley of Nagold. Finally yesterday we managed. My legs today tell me, that we completed successfully!
Yes, there are of course several more climbs, but I selected 5 really nice ones and some of the steepest. The first was just to warm up, from Dätzingen towards Calw. But then first bummer, the “Öländerle”, with 15-18% steep sections. But actually quite good to climb, as there are several steep sections followed by slightly less steep parts, followed with another ramp… several times. Reaching Stammheim for a quick flat part, the climb continues towards Holzbronn to complete hill number 2.
First downhill again into the valley, and now up from Seitzental towards Altbulach. This is really nice to go, not quite so steep, I guess up to 12%. Once up, continuing in direction towards Wildberg, there is a fantastic view into the valley and over Wildberg. From here it’s already possible to see hill 4 (although not on the picture).
Downhill to Wildberg we quickly cross the town on the bikeway along the Nagold river… but only shortly, as directly after the town the next hill starts left-hand of the regular bike-path: Hill 4 “Kühlenberg”. This is another bummer, starting with a normal climb, quite suddenly the steepness increases to 18% for several long ramps. Nice!
Reaching Oberjettingen via the farms (the “Höhenhöfe”), we continue down via Emmingen towards Nagold. Here we have earned a break with nice cakes and coffee. No cowards today, we take on the last one, Hill 5: directly out of Nagold we climb up the “Eisbergsteige”. Starting with the end of the houses in Nagold, this climb provides a constant climb of 15-18%… no breaks or relaxing parts. Well, I chose it that way, so no complaining… and we did it 🙂
The pure statistics doesn’t sound spectacular: 110km, approx. 1400-1600m altitude with average speed of 24 km/h, but the number of ultra-steep climbs makes this a really special one. I guess we should be well prepared for the “RTF” in Magstadt next week.
The last 5 days I collected a good number of kilometers on the bike. First on Thursday the evening tour with the “Lauftreff Holzgerlingen” (57,3km) , then on Friday a smaller tour alone, to stay warm… (41km).
On Saturday then the RSG/fratelli tour. This time a ride via Bondorf and returning via Entringen, Mönchberg and Herrenberg up via the “bee path” (80km, Tour at GPSies). Great disappointment in Mönchberg, the spring/fountain is currently “closed” for renovation. No clear, cold spring-water for refreshment in the next several weeks.
On Sunday then the planned RSG club tour into the Black Forrest, to Simmersfeld. Finally we were 5 riders, one missed the start and called us a bit later so we waited for him in Gärtringen (thanks to cell phones). The tour was the “shortest” possible Simmersfeld-tour, but with summer temperatures of up to 35°C, no detours were planned. In Altensteig we had a nice break with cake and coffee. The first time since 3 years I chose Emmingen to climb back up out of the Nagold-valley. This is a nice alternative, in the town Emmingen are a few very steep passages, but after town, the rest is a nice climb and with partial Forrest and shade. So the longest weekend-tour was 120km and 1060m altitude (Tour at GPSies).
For the holiday today (Whit Monday), we chose to do only a smaller tour with about 75km and 630m altitude. In total this week: 372,5 km and 3160m altitude. The first summer weekend nicely used 🙂
Mid of last week, Ralf asked, whether we would start at the “RTF” (organized bike tour) around Stuttgart (“Rund um Stuttgart”). In principal a good idea, but: Start/Finish in Untertürkheim, where we would have to start at the latest at 9:00 … which means we would need to take the train in Böblingen at 8:00. Hmm, that’s pretty early. And then I checked the tour… it goes via Sindelfingen/Ehningen and through Holzgerlingen, my home town!
So why not create a “Around Stuttgart Special” tour and ride the official track, but from “Böblingen to Böblingen”, great idea, right?
Thought, agreed, done: So we started at our club-house at 10:00, through the Aichtal at pretty high speed until Grötzingen where the tour started to go on roads that I didn’t know, as this is not my typical area. But with the RTF signs at every turn, it was easy to follow the roads until Untertürkheim through nice sceneries. Arrived at the start/finish area after about 50km, where we made a short break.
Then we started again and followed a sign “Tour A und B this direction”… OK, so we climbed the Rotenberg which is one of the nice hills in Stuttgart, about 200m altitude, with a great view over Stuttgart. Once being here, this is a view that you must enjoy:
A small issue with that. This was not the official route. We must have missed a turn, so climbing up here was not really intentional. OK, same way back down. Checked the GPS track on the smartphone… shortly after the sign we had missed a turn left. OK, next try. A few kilometers through the vineyards … until the next road crossing. No RTF sign, checking the SmartPhone, we are on the right track. What’s up now? Well, after short thinking it became clear. The official start was planned until 9:00, but we were at the start only at 12:00 as we had left Böblingen only at 10:00. So the organizers had already started to remove the signs. Clearly my fault, bad planning.
So at first, I started to check the Smartphone at every road crossing that was unclear. But that doesn’t work well, you have to stop each time and wait, that is not “road bike” like. But Martin, one of our team, had a bike-GPS mounted and had done this tour already some 8 years ago, and still had the old tour stored. The old tour was a bit different, but at least this would allow us to follow directions without stopping.
For the next few kilometers we first had to find to the right road of the old route and missed a few turns, so we stumbled across some of the outer parts of Stuttgart, until we reached the right track. Around Fellbach and Kornwestheim, the old route used a lot of main roads, so we had quite a lot of traffic. After about 20km we reached “outside Stuttgart” around Münchingen, Hemmingen and Heimerdingen, and things went much better. Very nice scenery again.
Shortly before we reached Magstadt, we followed known roads again, but I was a bit surprised about the road there. I already knew that after many, many years of construction work, the last bit of the new B464 was finished. However there was no side-road, and the B464 is like Autobahn, so we HAD to cycle almost one kilometer on the B464 until we could leave it and enter Magstadt. This is a bit strange. So here we left the official RTF track, as we all started to be a bit tired and wanted to take the shortest route back to Böblingen. After all, here is our home-turf.
Despite the extra-tours in Stuttgart, I think it was a nice tour, the views over Stuttgart on such a nice day were worth it. But next year we either have to prepare better by loading the official GPS track on a bike navigator,… or we don’t do the tour this day again.
Back home, I had 132,2km, 1.340m altitude with an average speed of 23,9km/h recorded. Not bad, I think we’ll all sleep well tonight.
For a number of years I participate in the organized tours of my club RSG and for the last 3-4 years, I organize the tours (RSG-Website, in German). Recently Brigitte who organizes the Holzgerlinger Lauftreff asked me if I could organize the routes for a few bike enthusiasts on Thursdays in the evening. So I volunteered spontaneously.
Last Thursday was the first tour, and I think it went pretty well. Every new group must learn a bit the coordination. We “lost contact” twice, and were a little disorganized to find us again, so finally we arrived back in two groups. Nothing that could not be solved the next time. The speed was a little bit high at times, again communication is something that can be learned 🙂
Although the forecast is really cold, we’ll do the second turn tomorrow. Looking forward to it and hope that people will come again and were not discouraged by the first time.