SPEZI 2008 Tour - Day 7 and 8

Camping out next to the Exhibition Hall entrance has it's good and bad points.


My camping spot by the entrance to the hall.

Good side: I got lots of attention. Bad side: I got lots of attention. Out of the 50+ people I chatted with about my LeitraTech, over half of them already knew about me either through the 3 forums I shared a link to this blog with, or by word-of-mouth. Several shook my hand in greeting with phrases like "so I heard you swam here", or "did you enjoy the velomobile baptism?" - referring to my sudden detour into the cold and muddy waters of a canal just north of Oldenburg on Day 3 (see the earlier blog post for that story).

I laughed and joined in on making fun of myself. Conversations quickly moved to "how was the trip?", "how far did you cycle?", "how did your trike hold up to the touring?" and so on, while they looked over the Frankenstein construction methods of my velomobile.

Many seemed quite astonished that even after the crash I continued on. And even more showed surprise that I had been able to cover 700 of the planned 1,200 kilometers - only taking the train between Osnabruck and Koblenz to make up for the lost time repairing the trike.

At one point I abandoned my ride to look upon the creations and contraptions that the SPEZI had to offer.

Along with the Leitra (Denmark) in all it's various colors and configurations (of which my LeitraTech is heavily based on) I also got a first-hand look (and a test drive - thanks Thomas!) of what I'd like to think of as the 'next generation Leitra': the Thunderstorm.

Produced by Steintrikes, the Thunderstorm is a MadMax evo full-suspension trike with a lowered and lengthened Leitra fairing on top. Think "MTV's Pimp My Ride" for velomobiles. The ride was comfortable and fast, and felt much less 'top-heavy' than my LeitraTech or a real Leitra.

Many other velomobiles were on-hand for display and the occassional test ride, including the Cabbike, the old and new Allewder, the Versatile, the Leiba, the PED-3, and many others.

SPEZI Photos are available at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jimm.pratt/SPEZI2008

Photos related to the trip down to Germersheim:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jimm.pratt/TripFromCopenhagenDenmarkToGermersheimGermany

And I don't want to hear about how poor quality the photos are, or that I missed something, or that you hoped I would take more pictures of this-or-that. I cycled to SPEZI because I wanted to. I was not hired as a journalist or photographer. If you don't like it, tough! :)

On Sunday afternoon (Day 8), I cycled up to the Germersheim train station with Thorsten and Thomas (regulars at the Leitra shop). From there we rode to Munich, where I purchased a 'Night Train' ticket.

I arrived home, in Copenhagen, around 10:30AM on Monday.

End of story!

SPEZI 2008 Tour - Day 6

Up before the sun, I hit the road on my last push towards my destination - a 200 km 'sprint' along the Rhein valley. I discovered that the well publicized 'Rhein Radweg' was meant for short, slow, scenic trips between towns along the river, and not for any serious fast touring. It is bumpy, tilted (leaning quite scarily towards the Rhein in some places), and often little more than gravel tracks through wooded areas or along the edge of the river.

So I abandoned the bad conditions and attacked the parallel-running Route 9, primarily meant for autos and trucks. I had seen several cycle tourists and racing bikes using the main road, so I figured to be not only faster, but in good company. Coming out Koblenz, I pedaled through a series of roller coaster hills, cursing the climbs and grinning broadly on the descents. It was about 10 km outside Koblenz when I made my best downhill speed record: 62 kph (38 mph). I was thankful I didn't have the chance to go faster as there was an occasional crosswind coming off of the Rhein river towards the end of the descent, causing me to tap the brakes a few times as the trike was pushed around, nearly into the opposite side of the road.

(I later learned that Carl Georg Rasmussen - the builder of the Leitra-brand velomobiles, who I visit fairly often in Denmark - got a ticket for cycling on what was considered a 'highway' section of Route 9 earlier that same day.)

After that bit of fun, the terrain settled down to a series of gentle climbs and descents. The region afterwards, between Mainz and Lindgenhavn/Mannheim was virtually flat, and I was able to hold a 20-22 kph cruising speed, with little bursts up to 25-27 kph when the wind was at my back.

As the sun began to set, I took my last break, filled my belly with 2 high-energy drink mixes freely given by the cycle folks in Oldenburg. 'Charged up', I attacked the last 35 kilometers, and with a beautifully smooth cycle path with no stop lights, I made a blistering pace of 30-32 kph, occasionally dipping down to 25 kph on some gentle accents. I was determined to make the last leg of my trip as quickly as possible, and damn the consequences!

With my knees and upper thighs fighting for attention with growing spasms of ache and weakness, I rolled into Germersheim shortly after 9pm on Friday. I met up with the builder (Rasmussen) of the *real* Leitra velomobiles (who cheated by riding the train all the way from Copenhagen with one of his creations), chatted with some of the people still setting up for the weekend event, then grabbed a bite to eat at a local Asian restaurant.

Around midnight I pulled up to the entrance of the exhibition hall, built-up a cover hanging off one side of the trike, and crawled inside with my pillow and sleeping bag. I was asleep in minutes.

Next up: the Spezi!

SPEZI 2008 Tour - Day 5

Day 5 found me cranking away at a leisurely 23 km/h along the decent cycle paths leading out of Oldenburg. The plan was to make a long push towards Duisberg (253 km/157 miles), take a break/nap for a few hours, then head on towards Bonn - roughly another 200 km.

Unfortunately, while heading towards my first rest stop, Cloppenburg (about 30 km), I ran the numbers through my head and quickly realized that I was not going to make it to Germersheim by Friday night, and probably not before Saturday night. I had lost too much time with the roll-over into the canal on Tuesday, and having to spend Wednesday repairing the damage.

Not wanting to miss out on half of the 2-day exhibition, I steered towards Osnabruck, a fairly central train crossroad. I purchased a ticket for myself and the trike, got some help getting the trike up to the train tracks by cargo elevator, and off I went towards Koblenz.

I arrived quite late and stopped at a hotel just across from the station, to take advantage of a warm shower and comfortable bed.

SPEZI 2008 Tour - Day 5

Day 5 found me cranking away at a leisurely 23 km/h along the decent cycle paths leading out of Oldenburg. The plan was to make a long push towards Duisberg (253 km/157 miles), take a break/nap for a few hours, then head on towards Bonn - roughly another 200 km.

Unfortunately, while heading towards my first rest stop, Cloppenburg (about 30 km), I ran the numbers through my head and quickly realized that I was not going to make it to Germersheim by Friday night, and probably not before Saturday night. I had lost too much time with the roll-over into the canal on Tuesday, and having to spend Wednesday repairing the damage.

Not wanting to miss out on half of the 2-day exhibition, I steered towards Osnabruck, a fairly central train crossroad. I purchased a ticket for myself and the trike, got some help getting the trike up to the train tracks by cargo elevator, and off I went towards Koblenz.

I arrived quite late and stopped at a hotel just across from the station, to take advantage of a warm shower and comfortable bed.

SPEZI 2008 Tour - Day 4

The day was spent repairing the side windows and replacing the missing glass front windscreen with a plexiglass. Hopefully it won't rain or I'll end up scratching it a lot using the wiper.

Patched up cracks in the body with red duct-tape, and visited my favorite cycle shop in Oldenburg (Die Speiche) to have the complete external transmission replaced- new front crank, new 8-speed cassette in the rear, and a new chain. With this 'upgrade' I hope to get a bit higher speeds to make up for lost time.

And now I am off to bed so that I can get up early and take off around 4-5 AM. I need to make a 3-day trip in 2-days now! :(

SPEZI 2008 Tour - Day 3 (canal splash)

Crossed the Elbe river on the Glückstadt ferry and continued into the night until about 10pm. Feet sore, butt sore, and the trike is probably sore too from the pounding it took from several really bad cycle paths. Otherwise nothing exciting happened.

April 22, 2008 - stage 3. Woke up at 5am, packed up my sleeping things (tent cover, sleeping pad and sleeping bag) and hit the road. Stopped for a leisurely breakfast and was on the road again around 6:30 for the quick (6 hours) ride to Tuesdays stop in my old hometown of Oldenburg.

On the last hour of the run, cruising down a country side road at just over 25 km/h, I saw the road swerve off in a different direction, yet the cycle road continue ahead in the direction I was headed. Normally I try to stick to the better of the two (usually the car road, as it is smoother and therefore faster, which is why velomobiles tend to prefer them over cycle paths), but decided to take the more direct route and the quality of the cycle road looked good.

And then the fun began.

I made a quick, and often practiced, drifting zig-zag that would normally have me changing roads without losing much (if any) speed. As I made the transition from car road to cycle road I noticed (too late) that the two roads were at different heights, the cycle road being a good 8-10 centimeters lower and connected to the car road by a sloping path.

Into the air I went, albeit briefly, landing on two wheels. I reached for the brakes but it was too late. My angle was too steep and I knew I was going over onto my side. I tried steer the trike towards a nearby tree, hoping to bounce off of it and remain upright. I over-shot the tree, fell over, then rolled over one-and-a-half times down the enbankment and into the canal three meters below. Thankfully the water broke my fall. :p

I quickly climbed out of the cockpit as the trike began to sink. Standing up, I grabbed the trike to keep it from falling over, only to find myself sinking into the soft mud on the bottom of the canal. When I stopped sinking at around thigh-height, I began to search around in the water for things that had fallen out of the trikes cargo spaces - not too easy when you need to keep one hand on a 40kg vehicle that is also taking on water.

I heard the deep growl of a diesel engine and shortly the top half of a school bus came into view, going the other way. All I could do was look helplessly, smile, and wave at the few gaping mouths that looked my way. I didn't expect any help there.

Shortly after the bus left, I heard a voice off to my right call out 'You ok? Do you need help?' I replied, 'yes please' and she promised to get someone down to me. About two minutes later, some neighbors from the other direction of the voice appeared on the enbankment and helped out by dragging up anything I tossed out. A man came with a rope and with the aid of another, pulled the trike out, then myself. Almost lost my sweatpants *and* my shoes when they tried to pull me out too quickly from the canal mud!

A little pull here and there, and the trike was rideable again - aside from the extra 3 kilos of mud and water. The neighbors pushed the trike to their driveway as I collected everything I salvaged. With their help, the trike was washed off, and I was able to strip down and wash off the mud before changing into some dry clothing that was packed into the upper side of the trike.

Aside from a missing front wind-screen, a cracked side wind-screen, a broken nose-fairing mount, and some cracks in the fiberglass, the trike held up rather well. I, too, came out lucky with only a scratch on the forehead and a bruise on my left arm.

After some laughing and sighs of relief over a cup of coffee, the neighbors tossed the trike up onto a trailer and drove me the rest of the way to my stopping point in Oldenburg. After a good night's rest I'll tackle the repairs needed, and hopefully be on the road again by Wednesday afternoon.

If I am feeling well rested, I will try a bit longer ride each night to make up for lost time, but I do not expect to get to the Exhibition hall before Saturday. I'm certainly not going to push myself after such an eventful afternoon!

SPEZI 2008 Tour - Day 2

10:40 AM, Monday, 21 April 2008

So far so good! Resting a bit after a big salad and a tall glass of Applejuice in the tourist trap Plön - I'll leave it as an challenge for you to figure out where that is. :)

The internal SRAM 3-speed drive is running without trouble but the trike's external gearing is starting to suffer. I had opted not to change out the eldery 8-speed cassette, and in retrospect it was a bad move. First gear is almost stripped out from jumping over the worn cogs while trying to climb some of the steeper hills. I've had to get out and push twice because the gear would start jumping badly. Second and third gears are starting to jump a little bit too. Hopefully they will last until Oldenburg so that I can have the folks at Die Speiche cycle shop can take a look at it. I'd hate to finish the trip with only 15 of my 24 gears! Especially when I expect the same hilly conditions around Duisberg on day 4.

Knees are a little wobbly due to climbing the endless hills in the area, but atleast I get to enjoy heart-stopping surprise curves on the cycle paths while hitting downhill speeds of 50-60 km/h.

My Danish phone provider (Lebara) appears to have no German counterpart, so I'm cutoff from cell-phone contact. Or maybe I'm just too far off the beaten path to get a good signal. Luckily internet access is cheap and fairly frequent.

Last night was a adventure; got off the Denmark-to-Germany ferry around midnight, and decided to keep going for a while. Around 1:20am I felt tired enough to stop, but was basically in the middle of no-where about 30 km south of Puttgarden, wandering around by cycle light until I found a deserted parking lot. I parked in a lit corner and unrolled my sleeping mat and sleeping bag inside the trike. Bad idea! The trike is not a camper-van by any stretch of the imagination. Really uncomfortable for sleeping, plus my toes nearly froze due to a chilly wind vlowing through the nose air-intake. Will have to think of something different tonight.

100 km to go before my next stop at the ferry in Glückstadt. If I make it within the next 5 hours, I'll be able to cross the Elbe river tonight and go on a little ways before stopping again.

If I get far enough today, I'll have an easy 5-6 hour sprint to Tuesday's stop-over in my previous hometown of Oldenburg. And I'll be able to shower and have a decent bed to sleep in.

Enough babbling - I'm off again!

(no pictures this time- the internet cafe in Plön has the computer under lock-n-key)

SPEZI 2008 Tour - Day 1

Updated breakdown of each stage/day of the trip

(see previous post for more details about the trip)

Ugh...it's Sunday, 5:00AM, and through sleepy eyes I realize that this is the *big* day. Over 1,000 kilometers and six days of cycle-touring heaven and hell await me on the road to Germersheim.

Time to pack up and go! Watch this blog for updates!

SPEZI 2008 Tour Planning

Well, it's been decided: I'm cycling from Copenhagen, Denmark to Germersheim, Germany to attend the SPEZI 2008 'Special Bikes Show' for the April 26-27 weekend. I will be riding in the relative comfort of my 'LeitraTech' (Leitra fairing on an Anthrotech trike - see photo below).



The route is about 1,130 KM (about 700 miles) one way. The cow icon below is a link to the proposed route. There will be some changes, most notably the two big climbs towards the end of the trip should be flattened out with alternate routing that I will do 'on-the-fly'. For example, I may head more west towards Duisburg to avoid the tail end of the Harz Mountains before heading south along the Rhein River to my destination.

Updated breakdown of each stage/day of the trip

I'll be packing lightly: sleeping bag, clothes for 3-4 days, a few liters of water and fruit juices, and a ground-cover/tarp in case I'm camping under the rain if the LeitraTech is not comfy enough for sleeping in. I thought about carrying a tent, but if the weather is the same as last years at this time, It should be quite comfy to sleep outdoors with just a sleeping bag.

I will also carry a 12V/12A motorcycle battery (the heaviest part of my cargo) to power (and recharge) my HTC P3300 Pocket PC, which will provide me with speed and GPS info via it's TomTom Navigation software, as well as double as MP3/Video/Radio player and let me access the Internet via it's wireless ethernet connection. The battery will also power the night-time driving lights and turn signals, which are required by law in most EU countries for fully enclosed velomobiles. Otherwise I would have to cut a hole in the sides so that I can stick my arm out to make turn signals. :-P

Current plan is to head out Sunday morning (April 20) as early as I can, and head for the ferry to Germany, which is about 140 km (about 86 miles) away- a good first day ride to warm me up for the rest of the trip. I'll ride west of Hamburg, stay north of Bremen, and stop on my second day in Oldenburg, my previous hometown. Wednesday, I'll head just west of Osnabruck, then turn west/south-west to Duisburg/Dusseldorf. Thursday should have me on the nice cycle roads along the Rhein River heading south - and upriver - towards Germersheim.

If I keep my average speed above 15 km/hour (above 10 mph) I'll be in Germersheim on Friday afternoon/evening. I've been training in the hilly country west of Copenhagen, so I seem to be able to get an 18-20 km/h average on my trips out to the Leitra shop (1.5 hour ride).

Such long touring is not a problem for me from the mental standpoint, but the last time I did such a marathon tour was in 2003 and only about half the distance (740 km one way, 1,480 km round-trip) in the same amount of time, so the body is a bit older, a bit fatter, and a bit weaker in the knees (I missed out on a lot of Ultimate Frisbee training during the winter). That is why I'm starting out a day or so earlier than planned - the trike could certainly cruise between 30-50 km/h, but the 'engine' (me) can't do that anymore. Thankfully I'll offset my slower cruising speed by being able to 'stay in the saddle' a lot longer each day. I expect to ride about 10-12 hours a day, which includes a short rest-break every 2 hours or so to stretch, eat, go to the toilet, and do a little sightseeing.

The *really* fun bit will be getting back because I'll only have the weekend of the exhibition to recover before retracing my steps back to Denmark. Unless I wimp out and take the train. :P

Several people from around Europe have already expressed an interest in seeing my conversion kit up close, so they will be expecting me at the show this year. It is also rumored that a forum full of German recumbent cyclists/velomobile enthusiasts are waiting to greet me with cameras and measuring devices when I arrive. It appears that I've stirred up an interest in 'home-built' velomobile projects.

Keep an eye on this blog towards the end of the month. I'll be trying to post each day of the trip (or atleast every other day), starting on Sunday the 20th or Monday the 21st. All depends on where and when I get my internet access.