le Temps d’un Tour

12 octobre 2009

Biking 500 km : Praha -> München

Posted by thomas under: Non classé .

From Prague to Munich, written by Pierre Champavère.

This article is written english to thank the nice people met in the trip and spoke english with us, specially Anna in Prague and Brandstätter family in Munich.(see them on previous Diaporama).

In Prague, after a necessary shower for Clem and Tom (I‘ll say “boys” in my text, using also “ancestor” when speaking about me), we started with a fine fine dinner prepared by Anna who also invited some nice Czech (pronounced Tchek) friends. We finished by drinking praguian beers in a Czech bar around Anna’s flat. In the morning, a quick tour in the historical city where we only entered (in less than 5 minutes each) 2 baroque churches. A quick picnic along Moldau (Vlatva in Czech) River, before leaving city on a nice flat track (along Vlatva) dedicated to rollers, joggers and bikers. Beautiful sun, pretty lanscapes close from the Vlatva. Track finished somewhere and we had to cross the river on a railway bridge, 15 meters over the River, with no protection, praying that no train arrives crashing us or pushing us into the water !

South Bohemia have a lot of baroque churches with pear-shaped domes, many forests of pines, birch, chestnut trees, and also fir trees (Christmas trees up to 20m) when arriving in the mountains. Roads, never flat, are often lined with fruit trees nobody picks-up. We appreciate speed and rest in descents after hard climbings with our heavy bikes. I was impressed by weight of “boys” bikes, maybe 40-45 kg, compared to my, much too heavy, 25kg’s one.

At first camping installed in forest just before a nice sunset, I understood feeding philosophy of “boys” : “Don’t fear to eat to much : biker will burn all what he eats”. They were happy to have come back to consistent european food. Large plates of spaghettis (with choice of different meat and sauce each day) are the kings of their dinner. EACH day, we also had chips, yoghurts, bread, butter, ham, cheese, jam, beer and/or wine. Some french “saucissons”, Lou Gascoun “pâtés”, cheeses may complete the meal; Champagne one night to celebrate September birthday for Clem and me. Fruits and vegetables were almost reserved to “ancestor”: “boys” were insensitive to my “5 fruits a day” motto. To limit weight on bikes, visits to supermarkets were ritually done at 11:30 and 5:30.

For people interested in “boys’” anatomy, both recovered the weight lost when they were undernourished in the Andes and they are well shaped.

We experienced different weathers possible in autumn : warm sun in Prague, windy sun before Munich, cold foggy rains a morning in the mountains (900m) at the German-Czech border. “Ancestor” survived to cold, thanks to technical bike clothing allowing perspiration to evacuate quickly. Wind was our enemy we fought together (but “ancestor” was often protected by Clem and Tom) . We did a long sprint (conducted by “ancestor”) along the Danube to arrive to a camp-site before night.

We found nice spots for camping and nights in the nature into a tent on a thin mattress after a large nutritionous meal, cooked on and eaten around a camp fire is a marvellous experience. “Boys” adapted their rhythm to ancestor’s one, at campsite for unpacking/packing stuffs, install/uninstall tents and, obviously on the roads.

We finished welcomed at Brandstätter’s in Puccheim (around Muniich, family of Claudia, German correspondent of Aurore (Clem’s sister). Nice dinners with fine cooking, wine, beer, cheese but above, friendship. And involvement in Oktoberfest with celebration of beer : everybody singing following a bavarian band ; very happy and convivial time shared with people of all ages, lot of them wearing traditional bavarian costumes.

Before the trip “ancestor” was threaten to be unable to ride all these km and mountains. But he did it and he’s joyful and can’t know how to thank his son and his nephew about the joy they gave him in this big trip. I’m happy I did 2% of “le tempsd1tour” belonging the top “boys”‘ team. A lot of precious things : time, solidarity, strong efforts, manly friendship, smiles, jokes, laughs, attention, attitudes, discoveries and words shared in the team.

and Big experience for me discovering nature, autumn weathers, and meeting people and cultures. I try to imagine what one year “letempsd1tour” will represent in their lives.

I hope Clem and Tom are not too cold for their final ride in the Alps.

Miscellaneous:

• Special kisses to Isa and Cyrille for my step in Milan and Amorettis appreciated at camp-site
• I’ve got one puncture, “boys” none
• Tyres of Clem’s bike are very tired. Tour needs to finish
• 6 hours a day on a bike saddle is more challenging for a coccyx than 10 on an office chair
• After these 500 km, will they arrive at 24.000 km at end of tour ?
• Clem may be ready to support “Bayern Munich” instead of disappointing GF38 after he saw “Bayern” written everywhere when we arrived in Bavaria
• Reread letempsd1tour tor Clement’s and Thomas’ arrival in Vimines on 17^th October

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