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Oh my goodness - what a beautiful church!! :)
2 years agoGood you all get out to ride when it's cold - makes enjoying the warm indoors and hot beverages/soups even better! :)
2 years agoCurious cows! :)
2 years agoThose cows are so cute! :) Like Elsie the Cow. :)
2 years agoLake Constance is lovely!
2 years agoInteresting to see Hops poles!
2 years agoHow creative - with the heart in the firewood stack! :)
2 years agoThe countryside reminds me of the Virginia countryside near here. :)
2 years agoWow, 15% - WHEW!
2 years agoYou all got your work-out on the hills. :)
2 years agoHi Carolyn! Thanks for following along! Glad you enjoyed my journals. Yes, that is a predicament for you to tour on e-bikes in Europe. I think the Grahams found an excellent solution. Buying bikes here and putting them in storage is an investment but seems well worth it - now if they only could get back to Europe! Buying e-bikes and them selling them at the end of the tour might also be worth considerig. As far as taking e-bikes on trains - we avoid it whenever possible. It might be more feasible for younger cyclists but for us stairs and hanging the heavy bikes on hooks is intimidating and only works if there are helpful souls around. That is usually the case but we go through some anxiety pior to a train trip. Fortunately we can take our bikes on our car bike rack. There are also problems involved when driving to your sarting point by car, but more easily managed than trains. From what I have read, folders are just as comfortable as regular bikes, you basically can have the same sitting position and the 20" wheels just need a bit of getting used to. There are many cyclists here on CycleBlaze who do extensive touring on Bike Fridays. They aren't much lighter than regular bikes, though. You might also want to read the most recent journal by "The Grampies" where Steve discusses converting Bike Fridays to e-bikes. It's very interesting. I am afraid I don't really have any good recommendations for bike shops. As elsewhere, in Germany there has been a bicycle boom and we have a hard time getting appointments for service. I can only recommend that you make contact by way of Internet, find a place that speaks English and is willing to help you. I don't know if this was much help. I wish you lots of luck and hope you find a solution that works for you! Suzanne
2 years agoHi Suzanne! Enjoying following your tours, and as many others have commented so envious you have all of Europe at your doorstep.
I also love following the inspirational Anderson's and have been very much enjoying keeping up on their current tour.
My husband & I live in NZ and are biting at the bit to get back to Europe to do some touring. We own e-bikes here and now wouldn't consider anything else. We rented e-bikes in Andalucia and Puglia for some touring but they weren't ideal and ended up having distance anxiety with batteries that were unreliable. Next time we would like to purchase our own bikes, the problem being what to do with them at the end. Tricia Graham had the great idea of using a storage unit as we plan to do this on a regular basis and this still seems to be the best option. I researched taking our own bikes but renting batteries doesn't seem easy, buying new ones is expensive and shipping batteries from here sounds complicated and expensive.
The other thing we struggled with was getting our e-bikes onto trains quickly and then having to heave them into the upright storage positions they have on the trains. How do you manage with that? We are thinking we should perhaps looking at folders that would make it easier to travel with but not sure how comfortable they are for long distance touring.
Do you have any good advise to offer and also bike shops you could recommend. We are thinking we would love to start our tour in Germany and follow a similar itinerary to the Andersons tour.
Kind Regards
Thanks, Nancy! Yes, it is so good to have things close by. We are spoiled.
2 years agoLove the cows, love the views, am a bit envious of those wonderful places to tour so near you. A bonus to have the weather stay fairly good for you tour.
2 years ago
I love going to small concerts in churches like this. :)
2 years ago