A 51km ride out through Heidelberg & onto the flat Upper Rhine Valley, across the wide agricultural landscape, including a stretch on the Roman road to the lovely old town of Ladenburg🏺
Could almost have been a Dutch ride 🤪🇳🇱
But still there’s that 100 metre Big Down & Big Up to contend with at either end of the ride 😬✌️
@saarmuller I used my lowest combo (34 front, 32 rear) & was right on the edge at the end, back to our house. And I walked the steepest 50 metres, >15% gradient. Ugh.
Not sure I can gear this bike any lower really – might have to go for a triple and/or mountain bike. And get a lot fitter & lighter.
Finally fitted the new 11-32 cassette & long cage rear derailleur to my bike, hopefully giving me a fighting chance of making it up some of the fiendishly steep hills around our new home 😬✌️
New chain follows tomorrow after degreasing & waxing 🥸
In other news, the FusionDrive of our 2015 family iMac croaked today when upgrading the OS. Have plenty of backups & am trying recovery now, but a whole new machine may be needed 😕
@markmccaughrean I have not cycled in so long I am not sure I remember how. The plan is still to do it this summer... we'll see, it's become a thing. I'm glad it saved you though, I rather like having you in the world.
A snippet from yesterday’s final ride in The Netherlands before heading east – cycling in the golden hour near sunset often brings beautiful views across the expansive landscape 🌞🙂
Thankful that this afternoon’s storm was short & sharp, leaving a crisp clear evening for this evening’s final 37km ride ⛈️🌞👍
Thankful also to the good people of The Netherlands, their fantastic cycling infrastructure, & the often beautiful landscape it crosses 🥰
I’ve ridden >97,000km here in the past 12 years, >3,500 hours in the saddle, & it has been vital to my physical & mental health – dank jullie wel 💪🧠🙇♂️
@derickr My pleasure, Derek. Traversing this landscape has become a hugely significant part of who I am now & I’m so grateful for everyone making cycling so important & pleasant here. I’ll be back, I’m absolutely certain.
@Lizette603_23 Heidelberg – a land of narrow valleys & hills, very lovely for many reasons, but not an ideal cycling landscape. And nowhere has cycling infrastructure like The Netherlands – it’s utterly astonishing by comparison to anywhere else & yet totally quotidian & unremarkable when you’re actually here. Sure, it’s flat, but that’s a tiny part of the equation …
The no-parking areas being imposed on cities by the bike-sharing companies and city councils seem intended to destroy and ridicule the notion that rental e-bikes are a ‘last mile solution.’
I just had to drop a bike 1.8km from my house, after a 7.6km journey home.
Needless to say, countless private cars parked on public pavements in the 1.8km in between.
Another lovely May evening ride, albeit with a brisk northerly wind 💨
Inland to Vogelenzang, including part of the Leidsevaart with its daisies, then back along the coast & past the beaches, then to Noordwijk & its new Ferris wheel, before the riding home through dunes to Wassenaar in the dusk 🎡