Annapurna & Carstensz Pyramid

Tibet pictures for Jimmy

2011-11-18T23:00:00.000+01:00

I'm posting the following pictures on request of a friend of mine who is considering a trip to Tibet. (Jimmy, enjoy and go to Tibet before the rest of the Tibetans' national identity has been erased. It's an awesome and challenging place to travel by bicycle!)

Buddhists circling the Jokhang in Lhasa

Potala Palace - until the flight of the recent Dalai Lama to India the seat of the religious leaders of Tibet

Inside a monastery

Camping with Cho Oyu (8.201m/26.900ft.) in the far distance.

The world's highest monastery at Everest Base Camp (~5.300m/17.390ft.)

Everest

Everest during sunset

Tibet has some of the most desolate landscapes I have ever ridden in.

Test of stamina: Winds and sandstorms were constant companions.

Looking back to the Himalayan Range. We camped on the meadows that night. The picture is deceiving - the place was unbelievably cold and windy.
Because of the below-zero temperatures during the night, the water in this river was in a weird slurry-ish aggregate state. Washing you face with this in the morning made it feel like a peeling.

The last pass (~5100m/16.730ft.) before what is often referred to as the longest downhill in the world. From this point you drop almost 4000m/13.125ft. into the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal.

Czech National Single Speed Championships

2011-11-02T20:22:00.000+01:00

Nearly a week after the race here are some pictures of our latest little cycling adventure.
Last Friday, Carsten and I took a day off to participate in the Czech National Single Speed Championships which were held at Singltrek pod Smrkem.
The location itself would've been reason enough for the 2+ hour drive to Czech Republic. Though, as it turned out, the race wasn't just set at an awesome location but was also organized by someone with a deep love of the sport.
The venue, Cory, an American, and his Czech wife's organization of the event, as well as a good-spirited group of fellow cyclists all turned it into a memorable day.

I managed to snatch the women's title from the Czech. Zdeněk, the Czech male winner, was unbelievably fast. Again, congratulations on the win, Zdeněk.

As one of the prizes, Zdeněk and I both got our very own "Champion" jackets with personalized embroidery. Thanks to Cory and his wife for putting so much effort and love for detail into the event.

In the competitive men's field, Carsten took an impressive 4th place!

Post-race family portrait

Courtesy of Tomáš we were able to use the newly-built Singltrek Centrum as a base where we all enjoyed some post-race beverages and much-appreciated hot food (it was a sunny but chilly day). It was fun to chill out and chat with some like-minded souls.
Also, it was nice to catch up with Tomáš whom I hadn't seen for quite a while.

Beautiful scenery at the end of a perfect day.

Afghanistan | Wakhan Valley

2011-09-14T21:29:00.000+02:00

Wherever we went, people were really interested in our bikes. I don't think the majority of people living in this valley have ever seen one. I'm not sure if it's true or not but locals told us no one had come here by bike before. In this picture Amreddin does the first bike ride of his life.

While the grown-ups tended the large cows, those little ones got to tend the calves.

The men and kids in the background aren't posing for pictures. Wherever we camped people would gather to just stand there for minutes and stare at us. You could tell from most people's faces that they had rarely or never seen white faces before.
Here we camp near the Pakistani border next to a village elder's house. In the mornings and evenings he'd come out to bring us tea and bread.

view towards Pakistan

traditional plowing

flour mill run by a very sophisticated water system

Hindukush Range (left) and Wakhan Range (right). The Hindukush is one of the most scenic ranges I've seen in my life.

Kids walking and riding to school in the morning.

School in one of the villages.
Only very recently have schools been introduced in this valley. The schools were made possible by the efforts of Greg Mortenson, an American mountaineer who, after he'd been rescued by Pakistani villagers after a failed attempt to climb K2, promised to build schools in the region. He's written Three Cups of Tea about this process - an interesting read with lots of background information on the region.
Earlier this year allegations came up regarding some inconsistencies in the book and the work of his foundation. Whatever the truth may be, I enjoyed the book and saw children, including girls, and even a lot of older people go to school there for the first time.

As the wind usually picked up dramatically in the late afternoon and evening we had to use panniers as wind shields while cooking.

Several river crossings were part of the daily riding routine.

Most settlements consisted of only a few, often windowless, mud buildings, some livestock and small patches of wheat. People there live in a rather hostile environment (sizzling hot in summer, freezing in winter), where any plants only survive because of sophisticated irrigation systems which redirect water from the rivers coming out of the mountains. There's no fertile soil, only rocks and more rocks and the fields yield very little. Since the people depend on living next to rivers, settlements are located on alluvial plains which are prone to floodings and mud/rock slides. Occasionally whole villages get wiped out that way.

Ishkashim | Afghanistan

2011-09-05T21:38:00.001+02:00

Ishkashim main street

Ishkashim | Afghanistan

2011-09-03T22:37:00.001+02:00

At the center of Ishkashim, the Wakhan area's largest village. With tourism in this part of the country basically being non-existent, two white faces, and especially two white faces with bikes, were quite a sensation. Wherever we went we drew a crowd. The words center of attention certainly got a whole new meaning in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan | Wakhan Valley

2011-09-01T22:18:00.002+02:00

With some conferences coming up and all sorts of other work-related tasks, I don't seem to find the time to write any blog posts.

Therefore, I decided to subsequently post some of my favorite pictures of the trip. Some of those will have a caption, some of those won't. It'll all depend ...

For those of you living in the Dresden area interested in the whole story, we'll be doing a slide show at Bike Point on October 21.

Friendly faces and a warm welcome at the Afghan border check post.

#1 mode of transport for the locals

Looking at this Afghan's face evokes a political side note:
Mr. George W., you should have come to Afghanistan to meet its people first-hand before dooming the nation as a whole and before bombing the country into oblivion. Possibly, it would have made you change your mind.

O-See Challenge 2011

2011-08-24T18:51:00.001+02:00

Nachdem die Veranstaltung im letzten Jahr wegen der Flut im Zittauer Raum buchstäblich ins Wasser gefallen war, ging's vergangenen Samstag mit Marit, Stefan und Mandy für mich erstmalig zur O-See Challenge, einem Cross-Triathlon am Olbersdorfer See.

Wer bei diesem Ort an einen Dorfwettkampf denkt, bei dem die Oma des Veranstalters den Kuchen für die 3,7 Teilnehmer bäckt, und nur die vier mittelalten Herren aus der lokalen Spielhölle der Abwechslung halber zum Anfeuern an die Strecke kommen, liegt weit daneben.
Mir bis dato nicht bewusst, gehört Zittau zu den Austragungsorten der XTERRA World Tour und ganz nebenbei wurden an diesem Wochenende in verschiedenen Wertungen allerlei Meisterschaften, wie u. a. die DM und EM im Cross-Triathlon ausgetragen. Am Start standen 24 Nationen, Welt- und Europameister ... und irgendwo dazwischen auch Marit, Mandy, Stefan und ich.

Stefan hatte beschlossen sich der Sache als echter Mann zu stellen, was in diesem Falle bedeutete, allein alle drei Disziplinen in der Hobbykategorie zu bewältigen.
Marit, Mandy und ich wählten die Mädchenvariante - in der örtlichen Fachsprache als Damen-Team-Staffel bezeichnet. Das heißt, jede von uns ging in der Disziplin auf die Strecke, für die sie glaubte mit einigen athletischen Grundvoraussetzungen ausgestattet zu sein.

Team "PGH Farbenfroh" vor dem Start

Allerlei bekannte Größen des Dresdner (Rad-)Sports waren ebenfalls vor Ort.

Seeb und Thomas von der Super-Trialshow zeigten den Anwesenden mal wieder auf beeindruckende Weise Optionen auf, was man mit Körper und Material noch anstellen könnte, wenn man des Triathlons überdrüssig ist.

Die Radstrecke war Dank tagelangen Regens ein Schlammmeer (ja, Neue dt. Rechtschreibung), das es schaffte die EBM-Strecke von vor zwei Wochen noch in den Schatten zu stellen. Sie war streckentechnisch dennoch ein Genuß, sobald man die einführenden Waldautobahn-Kilometer hinter sich gebracht hatte. Und wer hätte gedacht, dass man auf einer Radstrecke an der sächsisch-tschechischen Grenze innerhalb weniger Meter die Möglichkeit hat, u. a. mit einem Neuseeländer und einem Südafrikaner zu plauschen (wie man eben so plauschen kann, wenn man den Hochwald-Anstieg bewältigt).

Hier war es dann auch an der Zeit den Helm vor Stefan zu ziehen, der erwartungsgemäß, trotz 1,1km Schwimmstrecke in den Beinen, an dieser Stelle an mir vorbeizog. Nochmals CHAPEAU dafür!

Marit auf der Zielgeraden zum Sieg des Team "PGH Farbenfroh".

(Beschwerdeklammer auf... Aus gegebenem Anlass ist an dieser Stelle den bei Damenwettkämpfen immer schnell bemühten Annahmen über max. 1-3 allenfalls bedingt talentierten Teilnehmerinnen zu begegnen. Es sei erwähnt, dass in der Meldeliste eine zweistellige Zahl von Damenstaffeln verbucht war, und sich die Männerwelt doch reichlich geschockt zeigte, als die Dame einer Konkurrenzstaffel mit wenigen Sekunden Abstand bereits als 3. aus dem Wasser auftauchte. In Anbetracht der Gespräche mit einigen Personen, speziell Herren, in den letzten Monaten musste dieser Nebensatz einfach mal eingefügt werden. Auch Frauen müssen sich für ihre sportlichen Erfolge gelegentlich ein bisschen anstrengen, liebe Männer! Und das haben wir alle drei getan! ...Beschwerdeklammer zu)

Stefan konnte bereits Bier genießen, bevor unsere Damen-Staffel überhaupt im Ziel war. Glückwunsch zu einem sensationellen 3. Platz für unseren multitalentierten Ausnahmeathleten! Für die Leistung gab's auch gleich einen historisch-regional geprägten Sieger-Blumenkranz. Auf Hawaii mag ein solcher aus Hibiskusblüten bestehen - in Zittau eben aus (roten) Nelken.

Sieger in Familie

Sieger in Familie die Zweite: Stefan mit dem Mann, dem er das Talent vermutlich zu verdanken hat. Papa Lozowik stand an diesem Tag ebenfalls auf dem Treppchen.

Team "PGH Farbenfroh" nach der Siegerehrung.
Auch eine regionale Besonderheit dieser Veranstaltung: für die Damen-Team-Staffeln gab's - anstatt schöner lokal gefertigter Pokale u. a., wie für andere Kategorien - mehrjährig überlagerte Haarpflegeprodukte. Aber nichts für ungut; der Veranstalter leistet ansonsten Großartiges.

Im Fazit eine fetzige Veranstaltung, die neben des großen Rahmens, vor allem auch durch die oben erwähnten Mitstreiter zu dem Erlebnis wurde, das es war. DANKE an Euch und gerne wieder!

Tajikistan, Afghanistan (Part III)

2011-08-10T20:32:00.002+02:00

Khorog to Ishkashim

After a grueling 25 hour drive from Dushanbe we stayed in Khorog, the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Province's capital. We spent the day there stocking up on a few more supplies, planning the next stages of the trip and just relaxing in the yard of the guesthouse.

That day, on our way back from the bazar to the guesthouse, we ran into those two men. They asked us if we would take their photo with them. We started doing a little small talk (in Russian). After a few minutes, Fariduur (left), invited us to his home to have tea with him.
We weren't quite sure if we should accept the invitation. Charlie had told us about the Tajiks' hospitality and how he got invited frequently, so we somehow knew about the custom. Still, when we were asked by Fariduur, going home with a complete stranger felt a bit, well, strange.
There really wasn't the time to discuss this so we just followed him down some back streets up the stairs to his apartment not knowing if we were going to be robbed or were going to have tea with our host.
When we sat down Fariduur's mom and his sister's little daughter walked in the room. This is when I started to relax, knowing that we'd be having tea.
We sat in the family's living room for about two hours chatting about this and that while Fariduur's mom kept bringing in more and more food. It was a fantastic introduction to Tajik (and later Afghan) culture.

Fariduur and his mother

The next morning we started our ride from Khorog to Ishkashim where the border crossing to Afghanistan is located. In this picture Carsten is buying fuel for our camping stove. Outside of large towns fuel is being sold out of old Russian fuel trucks or some type of container by the side of the road. The guy there usually fills the tank by using a bucket and a funnel.

Crossing the bridge leading to the road to Ishkashim

The road to Ishkashim follows the river separating Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Along the road you can still find some remains of the Soviet-Afghan War as well as the Tajik Civil War.

Despite being only a stone's throw away the difference in "development" and infrastructure between the Tajik (left) and Afghan (right) is very striking when you ride along the border. While on the Tajik side there's a relatively wide and mostly paved road, electricity, cars, stone buildings etc., there's only a scary jeep "trail" (I wouldn't call it a road) climbing up and down the mountains, no electricity, mud structures, no cars etc. on the Afghan side.

While riding through a village about 25 km down the road we were invited by the lady on the right. So this was the second invitation within less than 24 hours. It was a lovely family. They fed us so much that we had a hard time getting back on the bike.

Like almost half of all Tajik nationals, the lady's husband works abroad (like most of them he was in Russia) as there are hardly any job opportunities in the Pamirs/Tajikistan. She hadn't seen her husband for four years. Tough life!

Quite a frequent sight in Tajikistan: women cleaning carpets out on the street. This was an indicator that there'd only be a few cars driving by each day.

A little further down the road we ran into this group of border guards. Though basically invisible for foreigners there's a lot of drug trafficking along the border which Tajikistan is - officially - trying to combat. With the economic situation of the country as it is and the (consequential) high level of corruption it's quite obvious, though, that a lot of drugs are being smuggled across this border. There're estimates that up to 75% of Afghanistan's opium production is being brought across the border into Tajikistan. It's also estimated that up to 50% of Tajikistan's cash flow is in some way or the other connected to drug trade.

The original plan was to cover the 110km to Ishkashim in one day but frequent photo stops, lunch with the family etc. had really slowed us down. So when we spotted this lovely campspot by the side of the road we decided to quit for the day.

We continued the ride to Ishkashim the next morning. The scenery was gorgeous.

Boys in a village

Just when we started getting hungry we were invited for tea and bread by this family. Like all the people we had met before some family members had left Tajikistan for work in Russia.

In Ishkashim we were greeted by Lenin.

Riding into Ishkashim we had missed the bridge to Afghanistan so we asked those two guys for directions. It turned out they were two engineers from Dushanbe who'd come to Ishkashim for a job. They invited us into their office for tea and cookies. Again we sat there chatting with them for more than an hour. We had to leave eventually as the Tajik/Afghan border closes at 5 p.m. and we didn't want to wait until the next morning.

EBM Seiffen 2011

2011-08-09T21:48:00.008+02:00

Same procedure as last year... except for the course being even muddier, the weather crappier and me riding the 100km on a singlespeed which was HARD work in these conditions.
Still, after not having ridden for three weeks, I enjoyed being out on the bike with 1.100+ like-minded people, among them a lot of familiar faces from Dresden and beyond.
Since Carsten had caught some kind of disease he opted out of racing and became my very own driver, cheerer and photographer. A big thank you goes out to him for that.
I managed to finish 4th (2nd in my age category) - this probably happened thanks to a number of (pro) women dropping out of the race.

Stefan (center) at the start line. He doesn't seem too excited...

Basti

Henri Lesewitz

Ötzi

Thomas

Lots of crashes on the downhills.

Jens

Myself slowly but safely maneuvering a steep section

Lars

Stefan

Robert

(

Jens

Congratulations to Tino, Mathias and Clemens for finishing third in the 100km team relay.

Carsten

Diddi

Gilbert

Robert

Basti

Again I got some traditional locally-made Christmas decorations during the award ceremony. This local touch is one of the things I really like about the race. It's kind of nice to get the decorations out at Christmas time and remember (and miss) the great times we had on the bike during summer.

Tajikistan, Afghanistan (Part II)

2011-08-04T17:29:00.001+02:00

Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Arrival in Tajikistan's capital at 3.30 a.m. The bikes and gear had all made it without any major damages. In this picture Carsten is assembling the bikes in front of the airport.
Coming out of the airport several taxi drivers offered their service. While most taxi drivers accepted that we don't need a taxi since we had brought bikes, one of them kept harrassing us asking why in the world we don't need a taxi just because we have bikes. It took at least 10 minutes to convince him that as soon as we had assembled the bikes we'd be going by bike instead of by car.
This was the first indicator that in this country bikes were virtually unknown as a means of transport.

One of our travel guides called Dushanbe Central Asia's "best-looking" capital. To be honest, we weren't too impressed and found it difficult to keep ourselves busy for more than half a day. Since it was unbearably hot we really appreciated the multitude of fountains in a city that's surrounded by a desert-like landscape.

Police is omnipresent, still driving old Ladas, always finding a reason to ask for bribes from drivers (what about: your car is dirty) or even pedestrians. They never, though, would direct traffic or do what you'd expect police to do.

The big and colorful bazars were our favorite "sights" in Dushanbe. We mostly lived on watermelon while in the capital.

We stocked up on dried fruits and nuts for our days in the mountains.

The only place we found in Tajikistan/Afghanistan that resembled a bike shop.

The only means of transport to the Pamirs (if, like us, you don't have the time to ride by bike) is by shared jeeps. For a ride you need to show up at a hidden parking lot early in the morning, bargain hard for a reasonable price and then wait for hours in the sun until there're enough people wanting to go to Khorog, the Pamir region's capital.

One of the eight (!!) people we shared the car with. All of the cars are pretty beat up from frequent rides on the potholed (dirt) road to the Pamirs.

After having waited for about 3.5 hours we were ready to go on what was going to be a 25 hour trip.

The bikes were tied on top of the million bags the other passengers had brought along.

We got to take a two hour nap at a police post in the Pamirs at about two in the morning. With eight people in the car it wasn't a very restorative stop.
On the way we had stopped at at least 5-8 police posts. Each time the driver had paid bribes in order to pass.

Sunrise along the Tajik (left)/Afghan (right) border.

Latvia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan - Part I

2011-07-31T14:55:00.003+02:00

For this year's summer vacation we had decided on touring two of the "Stans" - Tajikistan and Afghanistan. It was our friend Charlie, who had named Tajikistan his favorite country on his world cycling trip, who had brought our attention to the region.
The original plan was to ride from Samarkand, Uzbekistan, all along the Pamir Highway (not exactly a highway by European or American standards as at least half of it is a dirt road) through Tajikistan and then finish in Osh, Kyrgyzstan.
According to a number of blogs, in recent years this has become quite a popular route among cyclists, most of whom are on some type of world trip starting in Europe and finishing somewhere in Asia (As it turned out we were almost the only cyclists out there with a job and and an average employee's vacation time. Everyone else's occupation was "dropout/cyclist on a world tour", traveling for at least six months up to several years.).

As following the main road through Tajikistan for about 1.500km without ever wandering off to the roads and trails less traveled didn't really appeal to us, we decided against our original travel plans.

A closer look at maps, some investigation into the political situation and some research into the visa requirements made us decide to spend part of our trip in the Wakhan Corridor, Afghanistan, a stretch of the country north of the Hindu Kush, tugged in between the Pakistani, Chinese and Tajik borders. Also we wanted to ride along one or two of the valleys in southern Tajikistan's Pamirs.
We didn't really do any detailed planning as there is little to non information available on the places we wanted to visit, especially on cycling the Wakhan Corridor. So the plan was not to have a plan and, instead, decide onsight what we want to do and where we want to go.

Not having a detailed itinerary turned out to be a smart decision as, thanks to a cancelled Air Baltic flight, the vacation started with a three day (instead of three hour) stopover in Riga, Latvia. Though the stopover stole from our precious time in the Pamirs, it allowed us to visit a place we otherwise wouldn't have considered as a travel destination. We got to do some sightseeing, spent a day on the Baltic Sea, and the extended stay made the trip to Central Asia a little less stressful.

I'll start part I of the posts with some pictures from Latvia.

local bike shop

The way the market was set up and with a lot of Russian being spoken, Riga's market revealed Latvia's Eastern European/Soviet past. It felt like my days back in Ukraine.

Eastern European cuisine is meat-based, so the meat section was probably the market's biggest section.

Bike path leading to the Baltic Sea outside of Riga

beach cycling among overweight Russians

Jurmala, a "resort town" located at the Baltic Sea, is famous for its old wooden houses, some of which have been restored and are owned by Latvian and Russian nouveau riche.

my favorite

Sightseeing by bike in the center of Riga

FICHKONA 2011 - 630km for a day on the beach

2011-06-29T19:10:00.001+02:00

Last weekend seven of us rode FICHKONA, a lengthwise crossing of the former GDR. The ride begins at the top of the former GDR's highest mountain, Fichtelberg, and takes you all the way to the northernmost tip, Kap Arkona, at the Baltic Sea.
Each year 180 riders get the chance to test their stamina. Slots usually sell out as soon as registration is open. As I had never sat in the saddle for more than about 200km, I had never even considered participating. To me, FICHKONA was one of those events I thought people who do this are insane. I got a chance to reconsider my opinion when, just two weeks before the event, I was offered an open slot from a friend of a friend who had injured himself. Since I only had a day to decide whether I wanted to ride, I just said yes. So this past Saturday here I was at the start line for the longest ride of my life.
On this year's route we covered 630km (~ 395mi.) in a little over 24 hours. It was a well-organized event and our little group had a lot of fun. We all made it to Kap Arkona and got the chance of dipping our feet in the Baltic Sea.
My favorite part about FICHKONA was riding through or passing by places I had been to in the past. This time, though, I hadn't come here for single visits on long drives in a car but I saw all of those places within 24 hours, riding a bicycle. At times this felt a bit surreal.
After all, those 24 hours passed by more quickly than I had expected, and I felt much better during the whole ride than I had anticipated.

Single-digit temperatures and nasty weather at the top of Fichtelberg.

after about 50km

Chemnitz

city center of Potsdam (280km down the road)

Police closed down the whole city center for us - it was awesome not having to stop for a single light.

I used to live down the street with the big tree. It was sweet to ride past this place.

We had a local film team covering the event.

somewhere in Brandenburg during the night

self-portrait at about 6 a.m.

Again escorted by police, we got to ride across Rügendamm Bridge (bridge leading to Rügen Island) which is normally closed for cyclists.

fuelling up for the final 60km

Part of the FICHKONA package was the stay on a campground on Rügen Island

tired

That's what we had come for - the Baltic Sea.

Mit den fantastischen Vier an den Lorenzsteinen

2011-06-10T17:36:00.000+02:00

24 Hours of Finale

2011-05-26T23:30:00.000+02:00

We spent this past weekend in Italy participating in the 24 Hours of Finale. To make this a short introduction, just a brief evaluation of the event: We all agreed that course-wise this was definitely the sweetest 24 hour race there is.
Since pictures tell more than words, I'll make this a (mostly) picture post from here on. Enjoy the ride!

6 people, 6 bikes and all of the equipment and food needed for a long 24 hour weekend DO fit in a VW T5. Getting it all in there, though, was like playing Tetris.

Test-riding the awesome course

Race registration of our 4 person "men's" team (no co-ed category available in Italy)

race goodies

Pre-race picture of our two brave solo riders

Hippe, Axel, Svenner, Anton, Carsten, Anna

For a minute Axel was considering wearing a little costume too.

WATCH YOUR EYES! Adult content.

The best-looking teammates we could have asked for.

Pre-race picture of the Team Huettenbrand cuties.

One of our fellow singlespeeders.

Watching the Le Mans start.

Impressions of the next 1440 minutes

Axel going on his first lap.

Carsten

Axel

Hippe

Anton

Carsten

This team's costume consisted of a huge papermaché menhir.

ride, eat, repeat

Happy Hippe

Carsten

Anton

Carsten

Svenner

Axel (You can tell by his face that it was one heck of a dusty course.)

Helko - very likely the best one-man support crew at the venue.

Riccardo (right) - one of the guys behind the event. A big thank you goes out to all of the people who made the race happen!

Carsten

Massages for our solo rider.

Camping 2ft. away from the course made for some great photo opportunities.

In the morning hours: dirty but happy.

The three of us are done, Carsten is still on his last lap. We missed the award ceremony for our singlespeed category win because they started the ceremony about ten minutes after the race was officially over. At that time most (team) riders were still on their last lap.
Besides winning the singlespeed category (well, as far as we could tell from the result list, we were the only singlespeeders on a 4 person men's team), we finished 5th in the 4 person men's category. We thought that's not too bad for only having one gear and a girl on the team in a quite competitive field.

The toughest of all: Axel finished 9th in the solo category and was the fastest German rider.

Axel's legs after nearly 24 hours in the saddle.

Post race picture of our solo rider #2. Despite getting a couple of hours of sleep during the night, Anton finished in the first half of the field. Well done!

Carsten taking a post-race nap.

Axel is all smiles about his accomplishment.

Enjoying Italian ice cream and the beach.

beach babes (nice shirt and socks, Tino)

The boys being boys.

The morning after

pre-departure breakfast

All packed and ready to go home.

On the road again. Axel still in race mode.

Linkselbische Täler

2011-05-09T19:12:00.000+02:00

Dresden-Prague-Dresden

2011-04-15T22:29:00.003+02:00

A while ago someone in the cycling community had come up with the idea of riding to Prague to enjoy a breakfast in the Czech capital.
Even when you are living comparatively close to the Czech border, like we do, Prague is not normally the destination you'd choose for having breakfast. However, strange ideas need to be put into practice. So this past Saturday off we went to the "Golden City".

Some facts for the record:
// 175km one way // 22 riders // 1 Frank // 1 Volvo // strong tailwind all day on Saturday // 90 chocolate bars // 1 kite //
2 mountain ranges // 4 flats // 100+ hills // strong headwind all day on Sunday // 4.300m of climbing // 1 EPIC RIDE

Trip preparations: creating custom-made finisher medals

A gathering of cyclists at the landmark golden arches on an early Saturday morníng was quite an attraction. While waiting for everyone to get there I made two interesting observations. #1: People actually do have breakfast at MD. (To me that sounded worse than riding to Prague for breakfast.) #2: To my surprise the place had bike racks -- I guess that's a German adaptation at an otherwise all-American franchise.

Support crew: Frank and his beloved "Beauty" aka Volvo.

We definitely weren't pushing it hard: first break at a roadside bakery after about an hour of riding.

group picture at the German-Czech border

it's not about the bike

Bodo taking a nap in the "ready-to-ride" position

roadside entertainment

A perfect spring day and a strong and steady tailwind - what more could we have asked for?

happy to be in Prague

home stretch

room mates

I'm not sure what this was all about

dinner and plenty of pivo for the boys

sightseeing by night

pre-departure picture on Sunday morning (sorry, no pics of the breakfast which we had come to Prague for)

interesting mix of snacks

on our way out of the city

back on German pavement

From where this picture was taken we still had about 30km to go. It was the last picture I took, though, as at this point the unofficial race home started.

It sure was a memorable way of getting breakfast! Thanks boys!

Happy Singletrack Birthday

2011-03-31T22:12:00.002+02:00

How do you like to celebrate your birthday?

As for me, spending the day somewhere in the Himalayas would have been #1 on the ways-to-celebrate wish list. Since I only had one day off, though, I had to decide on another point on the list, which was spending the day in the saddle on a long and rolling stretch of singletrack.

The longest almost continuous stretch of singletrack in our neck of the woods is Singltrek pod Smrkem located across the border in nearby Czech Republic. This is where Carsten and I went for my birthday.

Czech officials are enforcing some very strict riding regulations in public forests. This is forcing Czech mountain bikers to stay on the wider dirt "roads" and making it nearly impossible for them to enjoy any decent singletrack riding. The situation caused Czech riders and members of the Czech Mountainbiking Association (ČeMBA) to look for solutions and start a grassroots trail-building initiative which is building trails with the approval of Czech officials. The trail at Nové Město pod Smrkem was their first finished project.

Thanks to the effort and dedication of Tomáš and Tomáš, a number of other Czech riders and Welsh trail-building pro Daffyd Davis, mountain bikers in the three-corner area of Poland, C. R. and Germany can now officially enjoy some sweet miles of singletrack.

Tomáš and ...

...Tomáš riding on German ground.

Carsten and I riding on Czech ground...

There still was snow on the road leading to the trail head. Fortunately, the trail itself was fine for riding.

We spent the afternoon sightseeing in the border towns of Görlitz and Zgorzelec/Poland.

We ended the day at our favorite little restaurant in Dresden.

Even though I didn't get to go to the Himalayas for my birthday I still a had a perfect day.
Thanks to Carsten for sharing the occasion with me and thanks to Ronny for his willingness to trade his day off.

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-03-12T22:07:00.003+01:00

To all the self proclaimed bike experts and aestheticians out there: no, the pedals don't match the bike and, yes, I mounted nicer looking ones as soon as I had brought the baby back home.

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-03-11T21:59:00.003+01:00

Dhaulagiri, Tukuche, Dhampus Peak

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-03-10T21:53:00.005+01:00

Indian Summer and some real life cowboys in the Wasatch Range

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-03-09T19:01:00.000+01:00

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-03-08T21:15:00.107+01:00

This shot certainly needed to be included in my little gallery of pictures which evoke warm memories of places and people during winter season (yup, it's March and still not really warming up).

The nice guy to my right was given the well-sounding name Raphael Del Roio Liberatore Jr. by his mom, the sweet lady to my left. Raphael and I met on one of my trips to the Himalayas.
Raphael is Brazilian, a very accomplished professor of pediatrics, multiple Ironman finisher and definitely one of the most entertaining people I know. Listening to all his stories and jokes made the sometimes endless hours in the saddle on our ride across the Himalayas go by somewhat faster.
From all the anecdotes he had to tell, I'm certain he's teaching some of the most popular classes in all of Brazil.

Often you'll never see people you've met abroad again. Though in this case, Raphael, accompanied by his mom, came to Berlin just a few months after the trip to Tibet. So it was my pleasure to be their guide during the time of their stay.

Just recently Raphael sent me an email reminding me that I still haven't followed his invitation to visit Brazil. Brazil sounds like a great destination for escaping the next winter blues season ...

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-03-07T21:10:00.003+01:00

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-03-06T23:42:00.002+01:00

Spending an afternoon off from work on the shore of the Black Sea with my friend Natascha

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-03-05T22:34:00.001+01:00

Caribbean

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-03-04T21:29:00.001+01:00

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-03-03T22:23:00.003+01:00

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-03-02T22:19:00.002+01:00

Nilgiri and Tilicho Peak

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-03-01T22:13:00.003+01:00

Enjoying the sunset and some gummi bears towards the end of a very memorable 180 km mountainbike ride

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-02-28T23:10:00.003+01:00

Solomon and Pabi

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-02-27T21:35:00.002+01:00

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-02-26T21:03:00.003+01:00

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-02-25T22:33:00.001+01:00

Jama Masjid

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-02-24T23:31:00.001+01:00

Shanti Stupa | Leh

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-02-23T23:29:00.000+01:00

Phyang Monastery

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-02-22T23:07:00.000+01:00

Grand Raid | Switzerland

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-02-19T22:04:00.003+01:00

Mustang

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-02-18T21:50:00.004+01:00

Hardly any pictures would suit the Winter Blues Gallery better than those bringing back some "warm" memories of all the times I spent with the extended Hanson family at Lake Powell swimming, water skiing, boating, exploring, ... and sweating.

Thanks for all the memorable times to the Hansons who've so kindly welcomed me into their family.

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-02-17T21:31:00.003+01:00

Crossing the Himalayas

The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-02-16T16:34:00.003+01:00

One of my classes in Odessa | Ukraine

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #22

2011-02-15T23:26:00.005+01:00

Andes | Ecuador

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #21

2011-02-14T22:15:00.006+01:00

Namgyal Peak | Ladakh | India

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #20

2011-02-13T22:30:00.005+01:00

South Tyrol | Italy

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #19

2011-02-12T23:22:00.007+01:00

Lhasa | Tibet

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #18

2011-02-11T23:18:00.002+01:00

North Coyote Buttes ("The Wave") | Utah/Arizona | USA

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #18

2011-02-10T23:26:00.002+01:00

La Palma | Canary Islands

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #17

2011-02-09T23:40:00.005+01:00

Inside a church at Wilkowo | Ukraine

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #16

2011-02-08T22:07:00.005+01:00

Höllenhund Talweg | Sächsische Schweiz

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #15

2011-02-07T23:05:00.004+01:00

Delhi | India

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #14

2011-02-06T21:52:00.006+01:00

Zittau | Germany

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #13

2011-02-05T22:28:00.004+01:00

sunrise over Everest and Nuptse | Nepal

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #12

2011-02-04T22:22:00.005+01:00

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #11

2011-02-03T23:02:00.006+01:00

Bonaire | Netherland Antilles | Caribbean

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #10

2011-02-02T21:44:00.008+01:00

Niederjoch Pass/Similaun Hut | Austrian Alps

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #9

2011-02-01T23:57:00.009+01:00

Istanbul | Turkey

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #8

2011-01-31T22:52:00.009+01:00

Pirin Mountains | Bulgaria

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #7

2011-01-30T23:39:00.012+01:00

Indus River | India

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #6

2011-01-29T22:07:00.015+01:00

The unofficial Sabrosa Cycles Team at the end of an epic 3-day ride.

White Rim Trail | Canyonlands N. P. | Utah

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #5

2011-01-28T21:22:00.006+01:00

Odessa | Ukraine

My local honey vendor must have been one of the friedliest people I met during my time working in Odessa. One of the reasons why I was looking forward to my weekly visits to the market was because I knew he'd be there.

He had an impressive variety of honey and other bee products on offer. At the end of my stay I bought several kilos of bee's wax from him to take home. Just recently I used the last supplies for making Christmas candles.

One thing I really loved about Ukraine is that selling and buying local products has always been a normal part of life and isn't something that needs to be rediscovered as it is here these days.

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #4

2011-01-27T21:25:00.044+01:00

Qomolangma | Tibet

This is ...

2011-01-27T17:16:00.000+01:00

... the email (and picture) JRuss sent me after reading my Winter Blues Gallery post:

"I just can't resist sending you these pictures from Christmas Eve. San Jorge sucks in the winter. You have to fill your wet suit with hot water before water skiing. How lame is that?

Sure miss you. Lugs. jruss"

Thanks for being such a compassionate friend!

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #3

2011-01-26T19:33:00.000+01:00

On the evening of stage 1 of Vuelta al Cotopaxi, Ecuador

The Winter Blues Gallery - Light Therapy Session #2

2011-01-25T21:21:00.002+01:00

Light Therapy - The Winter Blues Gallery

2011-01-24T19:24:00.002+01:00

Lots of work as well as the dark and cold season have kept me lately from doing much worth blogging about.

A recent walk down memory lane, browsing through my numerous photo albums, made me decide to turn the blog into a little Winter Blues Gallery for a while.

Until the official start of spring or so I'll be posting pictures of places, people and events that are helping brightening up my days during my least favorite season.

Light Therapy Session 1:

Into the White

2010-12-19T11:15:00.001+01:00

Glühweinrennen, Dresden

2010-12-05T21:12:00.002+01:00

Noch 23x schlafen...

2010-12-01T05:36:00.002+01:00

... und zur Überbrückung der Wartezeit gibt's für das Kind im velophilen Manne eine handgemachte Alternative zu überlagerter Schokolade hinter Papptürchen á 0,59 €/Stück.
--------------------------
Keeping German Christmas traditions alive: bicycle-themed Christmas calendar for Carsten

*****************
Edit: My little calendar is getting quite some attention. It prompted Mr. JRuss to work on his German (see comments) and, among a number of emails I received, my pictures of it made it all the way onto an Asian blog. The guy, called Chiro, had had my pictures on his blog before and we have exchanged some emails. From what I understood Chiro is a bike nerd and a pretty popular blogger over there who's blogging on all things bikes.

Happy Birthday, Delena!

2010-11-03T06:30:00.018+01:00

Thüringer Wald

2010-10-24T18:22:00.001+02:00

Wandern nach DIN - für den deutschen Wanderfreund bleibt in Thüringen nichts dem Zufall überlassen.

Deutschland beweg' dich! Die Nation der Bewegungsmuffel, Übergewichtigen und Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankten nehme sich ein Beispiel an diesem Herren: Als Busfahrer parkt er regelmäßig seinen Bus in der Pause in der Wendeschleife, um dann 300 Hm zum Langertfelsen hinauf zu kurbeln.

Übernachtungsempfehlung: 26 Euro HP, volle Packung Ostalgie inklusive

Letzte Impression aus Thüringen - dem Land der unbegrenzten Möglichkeiten

L.E.

2010-09-18T06:48:00.006+02:00

Eurobike

2010-09-06T22:07:00.371+02:00

For the third year in a row I joined the Bike Point crew on their trip down to Friedrichshafen to attend the ever-growing bike show "Eurobike". While the guys spent 3+ days scouting the bicycle industry's products for 2011, I spent Thursday and Friday helping my friend Konstantin of Revolution Sports trying to convince dealers from all over the world that he's got the products their customers can't live without.
This year Cindy, Stan and Mike of NoTubes; Chris, Steve and Brett of Niner; Tom of NiteRider and Bill and Ellen of American Classic had all come to the show to present their products and meet with distributors and customers. As always it was great catching up with them. I also enjoyed meeting and chatting with people from all over the world who had all come for the same purpose: bikes.

I didn't have much time to wander the show but, still, here are some shots of things that caught my eye.

If you don't know what to do with your cash: What about buying your 5-year-old a custom built titanium frame equipped with all the latest Tune parts? I made Carsten stand behind the bike for size reference.

More titanium to spend your money on: fancy detail on a frame made by Dutch Van Nicholas

Singlespeed (and fixed) will be the way to ride in 2011. Almost every booth presenting bicycles had at least one gearless bike on display.

Passoni's mix of traditional and contemporary materials and equipment

Mr. King's latest work made it on Carsten's wishlist. The frame comes in a variety of great colors which all, of course, match King's parts very nicely. It actually was the first time I thought gray looked sexy on a bike.

Camping next to the venue

Christian hasn't gone through his morning hygiene yet

Wiesi getting ready for another day at the show

Our booth

Tom presenting his light collection

Konstantin and Cindy

Mike, Stan, Robin, Bob and Cindy

In this picture Stan is convincing Bob and Robin that his products are the ultimate means against flats caused by the many goat heads out on Idaho's trails and roads.

Bob owns Purely Custom, to which you can turn to in case you feel like your (custom) bike could use that little "extra custom". As a main business Bob designs and builds all sorts of machinery, including a fitting cycle for Serotta. Hence him and Serotta were sharing a booth.

Speaking of Serotta...

Reunion with Erik of Performance Sports Nutrition from Belgium. Last year his company had a booth across from ours. Not only was their crew hilarious, they also had large supplies of Belgian chocolate, beer and, of course, energy bars which they happily shared with us. They were in our hall again this year, so Cindy and I took a minute to visit with them (and eat another piece of Belgian chocolate).

Yes, Carsten and Stephanie know about this. Another reunion with Anthony from the UK. In 2007 Ant and I rode Lhasa-Kathmandu together. Interestingly, more or less by chance, we ran into each other for the third time since our trip. We last saw him in February when he rocked Old Pueblo.

The Brooks booth

The "rim shots" with the NoTubes crew at the end of the show have become something like a tradition.This year the newly launched Alpha road rim made it in the picture. A few years down the road those annual shots could serve as a nice timeline of Stan's product line.

Ecuador Revisited (Part 6) - Climbing Chimborazo

2010-08-24T20:42:00.052+02:00

Chimborazo volcano (6310m/20.700ft.) is Ecuador's highest mountain and as that it was on our list of places to visit.
We hired a guide and went up to the hut from where we were to climb to the summit.
The conditions when we got there weren't too great. We could hear and see rock falls coming down the face of the mountain we needed to cross during the night/next morning.
But conditions got better towards the evening. Unfortunately Carsten wasn't feeling very well and decided to stay at the hut.
So it was just Eloy, the guide, and me for the next 8 hours or so. We left around midnight. The moon and stars were bright enough for us to go without headlamps most of the time.

A reminder that the climb wasn't going to be a walk in the park.

Measured from the center of the earth Chimborazo is higher than Mt. Everest. For a long time it was believed that Chimborazo is the world's highest mountain.

We saw Cotopaxi sticking out of the clouds in the far distance.

Back at the hut for breakfast around 8 a. m.

Mountaineering in Ecuador is easy. Living the good life back in Banos the same afternoon.

Ecuador Revisited (Part 5) - Banos

2010-08-23T23:25:00.003+02:00

After having spent two weeks in high altitude regions of Ecuador we we continued our trip further down south to the city of Banos (no Spanish spelling options on this computer). As the name suggests the city was named after the hot springs found here. Despite being a pretty touristy place (all the Lonely Planet crowd seems to gather here) we enjoyed Banos with its subtropic climate and the surrounding forests and mountains. It's a nice place to relax after days in the mountains.
Banos also served as a "base camp" for a planned trip to climb Chimborazo.

Banos seen from a viewpoint above the city.

The ladies in the Mercado Central were rehearsing a dance performance for an upcoming festival.

Guinea pigs, anyone?

Christmas trees, anyone?

Hike to a nearby village

Back in the cloud forest (or what little is left of it around Banos)

The locals were test riding the same trail for an upcoming downhill event.

A reminder that the city is situated right below a very active volcano (see picture below). The effects of a major eruption would be devastating as the lava would run down directly towards the city situated in the valley below.

From Banos we rode the Ruta de las Cascadas - a road which leads to the Amazon Basin. It's very scenic with the vegetation changing towards rainforest and numerous waterfalls coming down the mountains.

The Amazon Basin in the far distance

Ecuador Revisited (Part 4) - Volcano Cotopaxi

2010-08-21T06:51:00.004+02:00

The day after the race and after having ridden around the volcano, we wanted to take a closer look at Cotopaxi.

After two days of riding we didn't feel like riding another 2000m (6.600 ft.) uphill so we had a guy with a jeep drive us as far as the dirt road goes up the mountain.

We hid the bikes behind some large rocks before continuing up the mountain on foot.

There's a climbers' hut at about 5000m (16.600ft.) which is the base for people wanting to summit. Due to clouds we weren't able to see much of Cotopaxi. We hiked up to the hut and to the glacier beyond the hut.

Then we had a snowstorm come in which forced us to turn around right away.

Getting the bikes ready for the retreat. The 2000m downhill in the rain and snow was one of the coldest times we've ever spent on a bike.

The rain began to wash away the dirt road which forced us to take a couple of detours

Back down the skies began to clear and for the first time, after having spent a week in the Cotopaxi area, we were able to see the volcano.

Ecuador Revisited (Part 3) - Vuelta al Cotopaxi

2010-08-20T22:36:00.002+02:00

During our time in Ecuador we raced the Vuelta al Cotopaxi, a team two-day stage race around volcano Cotopaxi (5897m/19.350ft.). The most challenging part of the race was riding at an altitude between 3000m-4200m (9.850ft.-13.800ft.). Riders came from all of South America but also from Europe, Canada and the U. S.

Thomas, consider participating - it's an awesome race!

New found friends from Colombia helped us get to the start of the race

The night before the start it had rained all night long

Daniel Espinosa - the man who makes this great race happen each year.

The usual pre-race activities

Pre-race pic with Javier and Juan Carlos from Colombia

At the start line

Behind us at the start line was pro Rebecca Rusch together with her boyfriend Greg. Just last weekend Rebecca not only won the Leadville 100 for the second consecutive year but also set a new womens' course record. Greg is a very accomplished rider as well. Both of them were fun to be around.

The only picture I took of the course. For better impressions by Roberto Espinosa, Daniel's brother, see this.

Camping on a high-altitude plateau at the end of day 1

Rebecca and Greg won stage #1 (and later stage #2)

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Dinner

At the finish line after stage 2

Juan Carlos and Javier

Cotopaxi in the background

More interviews for winners Rebecca and Greg

Award ceremony

Ecuador Revisited Part Two - Quilotoa Loop

2010-08-19T19:01:00.000+02:00

Quilotoa Loop

Quilotoa Loop is a system of paved and dirt roads connecting a number of small villages and towns in the Ecuadorian Andes. One of the highlights of the area is a small village and a crater lake named Quilotoa.

We took the bikes to ride parts of the loop but also to ride along the rim of the former crater and beyond.

Catching the bus along the Panamericana on our way to Quilotoa

At 4000m near the rim of the crater