An offer I couldn’t refuse

On my German vacation last week, my wife’s brother Klaus informed me that I was going mountain biking with him and his brother Winfred. I was immediately both terrified and totally stoked for the challenge. See, the thing is that Klaus and Winfred are both uber-hardmen and it was totally possible that I wouldn’t be able to keep up.  But there was no way I could pass up the opportunity to cycle the great forests of northern Bavaria.  So after getting assurance that we’d go slow and arranging to borrow a bike and gear, I was ready for it.

It was an epic day riding through beautiful German forests.  Seriously the best day I’ve ever had on a mountain bike.  There is no way I could explain how amazing the day was so I’ll cut straight to the photos.

Here I am getting ready to go – first time on a mountain bike in over three years!  The bike was fantastic – fully suspended with disc brakes.  Thanks to Winfred for letting me borrow his bike while he struggled with a rigid frame bike (center).

We cycled through the Bavarian Rhön Mountains.  A largely unpopulated nature park of lush green forests and short, but steep hills to provide the exercise.  Of course, lush green forests are green cause it rains all the time and this day would not disappoint.  Coming from San Diego it was kind of nice having it rain most of the day.  Really different from what I’m used to.

WIth the trees covering overhead, it’s like riding into a hole in the forest.  The trail was wet from the rain and climbing was extra fun with your back tire slipping on rocks, roots, etc.

I was super inspired by this ride – I can’t describe the feeling for bombing down singletrack at 25mph in conditions like this.

And of course, this is Germany which means we stop at a place like below for some mid-ride Apfelstrudel mit Sahne und Eis.  The Germans really know how to suffer in the woods

Yes, it was as good as it looks.

Klaus and Winfred climb the last bit up to where the horse-drawn sleigh picks up commuters on some mornings.  The sleigh runs as part of the local bus system.  I’m not making this up…

After 50 kilometers, we found ourselves at an historic Catholic Monastery that also happens to make some of the best beer in all of Germany.  We told each other that we’d have 1 or 2 beers, but not more than 3 as we had to cycle home still.  I should mention that beer is served in 1 liter stone krugs.

The first one goes down really easy.  The second one starts everyone singing traditional German drinking songs.  I’m not terribly clear on what happens after the third.

With a couple of liters of beer in us we bombed down the last 6km of single track back to home base.  It was so much fun I laughed the whole way down.

Thanks Klaus and Winfred for such a wonderful adventure!  If you guys are ever out in San Diego, we’ll do a ride SoCal style – ending at Pizza Port, of course.

Tagged as: Mountain Biking, Vacation