When I left off in the last entry I was enjoying a hefeweisen and a pretzel while on the train to my starting point - Strasbourg, France. This town is the home of the International Space University, and the temporary home of my friend Amanda, who just started her year-long masters program there.
I arrived at the train station in Strasbourg at 11:30pm with a large cardboard box with a bike in it, and three other bags, two of which I figured out how to strap to my back. I'll spare the details, but picture me with a decision to make between a 50 yard walk to the taxi stand and a mile walk to an apartment, holding a GPS device, a phone with Google Maps, a bad signal and low battery. Tough call, I know. But I hadn't walked anywhere in few days so I decided to find out how badly I need a lighter road bike and better battery life on my phone. I found Amanda's apartment fine, sorta, and after some Alsacian wine and a few hours of discussing the future of human spaceflight, I was ready for some real sleep.
When I woke from a very comfortable futon, I had a lot to do. Assemble my bike, pack for the road, eat lots of calories, and set off. After a nice breakfast at a french café, Amanda went to school and I started construction. I should have practiced at home just to cut down the amount of time it takes to do it, but everything went together fine. The guys at Webster Bicycle did a good job making sure that a drunk Bavarian couldn't break anything by sitting on the box.
After that I packed up my bags, Amanda came back and made us some pasta - the perfect food to prepare - and I was off! Ok, I still had to overcome the last minute scare of a flat front tire with no way to pump it up, but at 4:15 or so I was really off. Thanks to Amanda for some great Texan hospitality in Strasbourg! She says she wouldn't mind more visitors from the States, so if you're thinking about touring through, consider making the stop in this really neat little French/German town.
The 25 miles I got in today wasn't all in a straight line, but most of it was as I went mostly down a canal with a nice side road on it. A detour onto the dirt road side of the canal slowed me down a bit, and since I had a late start I didn't make it all the way to Freiburg like I wanted to. I got about halfway there to a town called Kappel - but at least I was in Germany and not France like I had been riding most of the day in - would have made for a more challenging exchange at the hotel I'm sure. It was just about sunset when I got here so when I found a place with a room frei, I jumped on it.
The food was great. I had a turkey schnitzel with a curry sauce and homemade pasta. Oh, and fresh Paulaner hefeweisen on draught. After that I went back to the room to wash some of the clothes I had worn and do some communicating with the outside world. My phone only works while I'm holing it high off the floor of my top-level hotel room, so this post and my texts may be a bit delayed. But for now, time to get some rest for a longer day of riding tomorrow!
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