Taunus Bikepacking No.6

[Verena]

Hi, so I'll start a new thread for this, will do a proper write up of my experience in due course, but in the meantime:

So I decided to scratch on day three and a half, and instead ride down to my parents and spend a few more days with them, rather than just the one at the end I'd originally planned.

I'm feeling absolutely fine and have really really enjoyed myself, so no problem there. Reason I scratched was basically, I only ever had seven days available, and knew it would be a real challenge to complete in that time.
But had somehow kept some rose tinted memories from last time that had perhaps made me forget just how tough this is. Or maybe it was tougher, as in more elevation. Possibly had a slightly higher assessment of my riding fitness than reality, dunno. But then reading the reports, I think it really is a bit of a tough cookie...

Biggest pain the the backside were my perpetual issue with the wretched brakes on my gravel bike ...I may do a separate thread on this just to vent ... meaning that from afternoon of day onwards I was only able descend very very slowly and carefully, and by day two had to walk a few steep descents into villages or down to roads which would have been reckless not to, and some HABs down
what would've been absolutely corkers of fun descents.

Never scratch in the evening, and I was otherwise having a great time, so I decided to just limp on for another day, day three, and see if some miracle or other problem solving magic might happen, but by then I had already thought of a plan B, which was to come off the hills where the track meets the river Rhine, the ride the 100 or so flat kms to my parents (no brakes needed) , stay there then ride back for the finisher party on Saturday night.

I did manage to find a bike shop Tuesday lunchtime and they did a cracking job getting me sorted out, and from then on I was having a whale of a time and able to properly enjoy some amazing rewards for all the long long climbs...

But the thought of some rare mum and dad time had now firmly settled in my mind, I knew the brake issue would be back before long, so I thought, you know what, stop while the going is good and you're smiling, and so I did.

Really enjoyed the ride home, have now managed to obtain some clothes and shoes (I had nothing on me except the filthy stinking things I was wearing, surprised they even let me in the house )

Absolutely the right decision, dad's not doing so well, so I want to appreciate them while I've still got them both.

Anyway, have now read the tracker page a bit more, seeing all the DNFs popping up left right and centre makes me feel like I'm in quite good company there...

I think the daily write ups here https://dotwatcher.cc/race/taunus-bikepacking-2023 are quite interesting reading.

One of the things I have, and am, finding most fascinating at the moment is just how many different aspects and skill sets need to be working hand in hand together to make a success of things like this, way more than just being a good strong rider. Like, there's the choice of bike and equipment obviously, cycling fitness, mechanical skills, all the IT and electronics stuff, preparation on things like bike shops; most of all managing yourself, your time, how hard you push yourself versus running out of energy too soon, building in enough resting and eating so you can repeat day after day, what you eat and drink, managing yourself in the heat, etc.etc. . I was quite struck by one guy posting about scratching on day two, super ride on first day but then he couldn't eat drink and was exhausted on day two.... Made me think, yes it's easy to look in awe at these super cyclists, and here's me Mrs old plod along type, but then I'm really really pleased with how I managed to manage myself this time, basically riding or at least moving dawn to dusk slowly and steadily, keeping hydrated etc., so that I do think in the long run, that approach if kept going could also be what "successful" looks like.

Anyway, gosh this is longer than planned, have a read of the daily reports if you're vaguely interested, I in any case have learned so much again, and have had a brilliant time.

[redefined_cycles]

Well done Verena

I remember the last BB200 I was in and on day 2 started getting brakes that went from bad to worse. Probably leaking calipers and the final 2 steep road descents were walked mainly (or I'd probably have a few teeth missing).

Bet they're Shimano brakes and bet they were screeching like banshees before finally giving up I've recently done a trick that Gian (Alpinum) suggested. Different fluid which has in it's blurb - doesn't bubble past the seals. Seems to be doing amazing so far

[Blackhound]

Sounds like you made some good decisions out there. I fancy that ride but also know the steep up and downs do not suit me.
After the 2009 or 2010 Tour Divide race I read about one rider who was so determined to get from Banff to the US border in two days he was shattered when he got there and retired a couple of days later. I see these people at the front of bikepacking races and cannot understand how they do it. Slow and steady suits some of us better.

[Verena]

Sounds like you made some good decisions out there. I fancy that ride but also know the steep up and downs do not suit me.
After the 2009 or 2010 Tour Divide race I read about one rider who was so determined to get from Banff to the US border in two days he was shattered when he got there and retired a couple of days later. I see these people at the front of bikepacking races and cannot understand how they do it. Slow and steady suits some of us better.

Definitely with you for the slow and steady. If you fancy the Taunus though, go for it, none of the hills are anything crazy, or anything more than what you'd get in the UK, just different country...

[Verena]

So as promised and at long last, a bit of write up with some photos from my trip... I wasn't even sure if I had anything in particular to say, but on looking through my photos again to upload them to flickr so I can post them here, yeah, there's a few little bits of my own story.... I'll have a go.

First off, this still gets me (from a British weather perspective), imagine packing for a whole week of bikepacking, and being able to be so close to 100% confident in the weather staying warm and dry that you really don't pack proper waterproofs. Or in some people's cases, bivvy bag. Or, in other people's cases, sleeping bags.

Add to this not having to worry about drinking water, as there's always a drinking fountain or cemetery with a tap nearby. Same with food, supply stops aplenty, often with not just one supermarket but a choice of three....not to mention beer gardens, bakeries and all sorts of other tempting hostelries never far away.

If that sounds like just a bit too much Type 1 fun, i.e. not worth bothering with, don't be fooled: Taunus Bikepacking is actually a bit of a beast, albeit a friendly one. 1,000 km, 20,000m climbing, on very mixed and ever changing surfaces, and now for the sixth year with temperatures in the thirties, it is definitely a challenge.... It certainly felt harder than I remembered from 4 years ago, maybe its the rose coloured spectacles where I only remembered the fun parts, whether it is actually harder, or something else, who knows. Doesn't matter, it's brilliant.

My adventure started way before the riding, with this being my first time taking my bike abroad in a bike box - very scary, but it actually went absolutely fine.
Talk about the friendly bikepacking community, this absolute legend, never met me before, DSC_1006 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr responded to my enquiry on the riders whatsapp group, by not just storing the bike box in his house, oh no, he also picked me up from the airport, took me to his house, fed me breakfast, helped me put the bike back together and give it a last once over, added a few more bits and bobs to my supplies (glucose powder, salt tablets, a bike lock), then gave me a lift to the start!

Registration and base for the week was at a lovely campsite, and the night before was a sociable affair, with beers, bratwurst and chat, and I mostly ended up chatting with a Belgian who I'd met there 4 years ago and who was also back first time since. Followed by collective bivvy (with cheeky fox checking us out in the night and stealing my neighbours banana), and an amazing breakfast laid on the next morning.

IMG_20230610_164730 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20230610_163118 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20230610_170931 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

DSC_0873 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Briefing by the maestro himself, then group photos- they were particularly pleased about how many women were there, 16 I think compared to 4 last year.

DSC_0899 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

DSC_0915-1 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

DSC_0918 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Some people had had some fun with voile straps, and had bananas and even cucumbers trapped to their bikes. I picked up a banana about an hour into the ride, bit squashed but perfectly edible, and then a cucumber later, which went went with my lunch - thanks chaps

I won't tell you much about the riding, it's the usual thing of up, down, up, down, repeat repeat repeat, you know the drill. Ever changing surface, and never really long stretches of anything, so you have to really keep a close eye on navigation all the time....

The scenery is basically a variation on a theme, see photos below, alternating between lush cool forests, beautiful but often hot open areas of mostly fields of grain, and villages, occasionally larger towns, often pretty, some with castles, most with bakeries.

IMG_20230612_072202 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20230612_092535 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20230611_153707 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20230612_095349 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20230612_100018 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Then there's "trail magic", quite a few places where locals have set up tables outside their houses and provide drinks and snacks, like here:
IMG_20230611_124716 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20230611_124817 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr
(Ok, just realised there's no snacks, drinks, or locals in either of these photos, just Jesko the organiser again, but they were definitely there, promise!

Another genius thing they have there is not just inner tube vending machines, but also farm shop vending machines in many of the smaller villages, selling all sorts from milk to steaks, which certainly the one guy travelling in style and at leisure, riding 100k exactly each day, carrying full cook kit and travelling with his hammock, made good use of.

IMG_20230612_124911 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20230612_125036 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Whilst I'm on the subject of food, REWE supermarkets deservedly enjoy the kind of legendary status among bikepackers there as Spars do here
IMG_20230613_173054 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

One of my hauls with some of my hot weather staples - buttermilk and Rote Gruetze, and, gotta love a chocolate with "sport" in the name
IMG_20230613_173215 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Oh and I also finally managed (can you believe it, never yet managed to find one at the right time) another classic, the pizza, another tick in the box - this one in the middle of a scorcher of a day 3, after managing to get my brakes sorted out.
IMG_20230613_131555 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Sleeping wise, no picture of my first night, it was a very pragmatic find some space between some trees when it got dark slightly off track and where I somehow figured it might be not so wild boarey....slept really rather well, only once woken by some fairly large, clumsy creature crashing through some undergrowth nearby, felt quite pleased with myself to be remaining as calm and collected as I did, then up and off at first light....

The first female to finish had slept in cemeteries every single night - which on reflection is really quite genius. Water to wash with and to top up drinking bottles, hopefully reasonably flat ground with nice grass, and no wild boar!

There's these shelter huts all over the place which many riders slept in ( I didn't fancy that so much, rather stay away from humans...)
IMG_20230613_165027 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

This one comes with its own Kneipp facilities (best google it, it's one of those odd German things...)

IMG_20230612_071912 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

And this one was checkpoint 1, which I slept next to rather than inside, as it was a lovely starry summers night. (Next to a picnic bench to be precise, and I gave myself a right good bump on the head bending down and catching my forehead on the corner...)
IMG_20230613_054355 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20230613_054437 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

I had bumped into Andreas here a couple of times during late afternoon that day, and then again at just after nine at night, so we decided it would be nice to ride together the last bit into the dark and then the checkpoint. There was something oddly comforting about his setup, which was so much more like what you'd see at a BB gathering, as compared to pretty much everyone else in sleek lycra and gravelbikes... Andreas by the way did an impressive job completing the whole thing, sure and steady from a cautious start and then going from strength to strength. He has a left sided weakness from a head injury, so riding with a leg brace and watching his morning routine made me realize how many things we do rely on two working hands, like wrestling a sleep mat back into its stuff sack.
IMG_20230612_213052 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Last sleep spot I've already told you about, here's the photo, doesn't remotely do justice to how "perfect" in all respects it was - apart from the wild boar family snuffling around me
IMG_20230613_221346 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

I've already told you that I scratched on day 4 and why, but before I dropped down to the river Rhine, there was one last beast of a climb, but well worth it as absolutely stunning
IMG_20230614_102304 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Then the scenery changed to vineyards on the slopes flanking the Rhine valley
IMG_20230614_072245 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

IMG_20230614_110508 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

I then had a very very enjoyable ride along the river, past where my dad grew up and my grandmother lived, all the way to my parents house (no not really, I managed to get lost trying to follow the bank of a massive river , ended up somewhere miles away and caught a train)
IMG_20230614_130111 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

Via yet another coffee and ice cream stop, this one being a new favourite, went there again later in the week
IMG_20230617_145005 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

After a couple of lovely days with my folks, I then rode back for the finisher party on the Saturday, this time without getting lost.

And on the Sunday, an old school friend of mine who had been dot watching and was all rather interested in the whole thing, came up to meet me and give me a lift back, but not until after we'd gone for a little spin and a picnic, him with this wooden bike, the 6th one he's built, gradually refining how he's building them - what do you reckon???

IMG_20230618_121614 by Verena Zimmer, on Flickr

[thenorthwind]

Sounds like a great place to ride!

Andreas sounds like he'd fit right in here.

The wooden bike looks beautiful. I'd love to know what it feels like to ride.

Thanks for sharing

[RIP]

Excellent write-up as usual V

Looks all very sociable. I like the little pitstops outside people's houses too.

Cemeteries - yep, bikepackers' friend.

A new thing: forget mug-dangling, you guys are into vegetable and fruit dangling! Cuces, nanas, individual grapes maybe?

[Verena]

O gawd now you're giving me BAM ideas again...

Someone posted a pic of a watermelon they'd bought en route, but then chickened out when I challenged them to show me how they'd fastened that to their bike...

[fatbikephil]

Liking the wooden bike!

[PaulB2]

I wonder how many ring doughnuts I can attach to my bike with a voile strap.

[RIP]

None. They'd all be eaten before you could even set off .

[Verena]

I wonder how many ring doughnuts I can attach to my bike with a voile strap.

Do it do it do it

[Bearlegged]

Someone posted a pic of a watermelon they'd bought en route, but then chickened out when I challenged them to show me how they'd fastened that to their bike...

Spotted on a bikepacking trip through the Alps a few years back:

[gecko76]

Loving the socks, and the wooden bike.

[Verena]

Loving the socks, and the wooden bike.

Ha ha thanks, nice to take a bit of Wales with me...

Yes the wooden bike is a beauty, clever stuff