August 10, 2017
Munich
OK, a third day of gloomy weather! And this looked worse than the last two! And cooler. It was only about 60°F when we woke, and this is August! Not unheard of, I guess, but a little unusual. But we are in northern Europe, at about the same latitude as Montreal. But the three of us are from Washington and used to a little more heat in August!
So after a hearty breakfast, and the deeper we get into Germany, the heartier they seem to get, we donned long-sleeved jerseys and/or base layers and saddled up. It was a short ride today, only 27 miles to Munich, but we had to climb out of this lake basin, the Ammersee, cross the rolling hilltops to Starnberg, then descend to Starnbergersee, and finally, climb from that lake and make for Munich. Easy. After all, I had done this before, in 2010.
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But I drafted our route from memory without consulting my maps, so we didn't really follow the same course, just the same direction! Which is fine, as variety is always a good thing. And I certainly do not remember our climb this morning out of Herrsching am Ammersee! Steep! But not so steep that I needed to stop at any point. Those early morning climbs help wake you up as well.
That climb took us to the plateau behind the city and between the two lakes. It was pleasant and mostly rolling hills on quiet roads. There was one section of natural surface that, at one point, required us to walk our bikes. The gravel in that section was deep enough that the possibility of falling was not worth the risk of trying to pedal through it. But it was right before we arrived at a nice road with a parkway-like setting; I'm always good with that! From there, it was pretty smooth sailing into Starnberg.
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Predictably, we had separated, leaving Herrsching am Ammersee. We regrouped in Starnberg and briefly discussed a tour of the waterfront. But it was still overcast and darkening. No raincoats required yet, but it looked threatening, so we pressed on. Only 16 miles to go. And this part of the ride was fairly pleasant, as it also follows a parkway-style road most of the way into the city. The Germans have great bicycle infrastructure, and from my experience, maybe the best in Europe. Not to slight Switzerland, but the Germans have the space to build very thorough networks that are easy to navigate with well-designed connections. The parkway-type road had a very good adjacent bike trail, which we followed out of Starnberg. It eventually gave way, so we rode on the "parkway," which had almost no traffic, as far as Forstenrieder Park, where we decided to ride the natural surface roads and trails it has to offer. Not super fast, but we had become less concerned about rain as we got closer and were now less than 10 miles out.
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Actually, for a brief section, it did get worse than that! But we pushed through on something that was little more than a single-track hiking trail. Eventually the forest gave way to the Munich suburbs, but again, with excellent bicycle infrastructure. We finally arrived at Marienplatz, Munich's main square, and enjoyed the experience. The place was packed! Our hotel, 15 minutes away, required some "not quite backtracking" navigation, which I suspected would be the case, but I thought it best to bring me and the boys into such an impressive place for our arrival!
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And then came the food. Jerry found this great place to eat not far from our hotel.
Today's ride: 27 miles (43 km)
Total: 938 miles (1,510 km)
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