Hattersheim to Markelsheim

Sunday October 31, 2010

My campsite for the night near Hattersheim, on the Main river.

Like I said in the last post, I was keen to get an early start this morning, I wanted to get up early enough to see the sun come up. I knew I had to cover a lot of ground if I were to make it to Vienna in less than five days, so my goal for the day was to crack the 200 km, something I haven't done for quite a while, and not on this trip yet. Actually the only time I can remember doing it was when I rode from Mt Franklin to Cobram in Victoria, Australia, to go fruit-picking. On that occasion, I casually left at 10 am, stopped in at Mum's place in Guilford for a few hours to do some route planning, and didn't get to Cobram until 4 am. It ended up being 280 km, it was a really long haul. And then I only got about 2 hours sleep before I had to get up and pick fruit for the day. But I digress, that's another story.
I figured the sun came up just after 7am, so I set my alarm for 7 am. I knew daylight savings was ending over-night, and I knew you had to change your clock back from 4 am to 3 am overnight, I figured I'd just change my clock in the morning. My iPhone, being the fang-dangle piece of technology that it is, was smart enough to change its clock back an hour automatically, and I hadn't taken this into account, so I woke up an hour later than I wanted to. Becoming aware that every hour could be critical, I was quite disappointed!
I packed up and ate breakfast in just over an hour, which I think could be my record fastest time, then hit the bike path, fully motivated for a massive day.
I continued up the river Main through Frankfurt and a number of other small towns.

A large interchange near Frankfurt Am Main West, Germany.

An interesting piece of art on Mainstraße, in Offenback am Main, Germany.

The terrain was quite flat and the scenery was beautiful with all the autumn trees along the river. And the weather was still mostly sunny and warm, I think I was pretty lucky. I could have ridden through that scenery all day. Come to think of it I did ride through it all day ;)

Standing on the Willigisbrücke, Darmstädter Straße, in Aschaffenburg, Germany.

I'd switched into my efficiency mode, and was only taking short brakes for food or a quick photo, and I was snacking on figs all day as I rode. I timed myself during lunch and limited it to 40 minutes.

Looking over the Main river, Wörth am Main, Bavaria, Germany.

Riding along the bike path up the Main river, past Bürgstadt, Germany.

The Main river, near Freudenberg, Germany.

Near Kreuzwertheim, Germany.

As nightfall arrived, I realised it was Halloween when I saw lots of kids walking around in scary costumes. I stopped in a town for tea, couldn't tell you what it was called. I asked some locals where I could find a restaurant or pizzeria and fortunately they spoke English well enough to direct me to one. The chef didn't speak any English, but I ordered and ate a delicious pizza there for about €7.50, and they charged me €2.30 for a glass of water! Ah well.

A pizza from a restaurant in a town on the river Tauber called Taubersbischofsheim, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

I'd covered 175 km for the day to that point, so I had 25 km to go. I knew if I was to crack 200 km I'd have to do some night-time riding, but this didn't worry me, I really enjoy riding at night.
I kept going and stopped in a town called Bad Mergentheim because I needed to download some more map tiles for the MotionX-GPS. I found some unlocked Wi-Fi without too much trouble and downloaded all the maps I'd need to get to Vienna. Meanwhile some young girls stopped by and said something to me in German. I said that I only spoke English and they exclaimed excitedly "oh I can speak English". They seemed keen to show off that they could actually speak English. We chatted a bit, they told me they'd been "drinking alcohol", which I had already guessed. They were impressed that I was from Australia and that I'd cycled all the way from London. They got my name so that they could add me as a friend on Facebook before they left me to finish downloading maps.
I was feeling remarkably strong and fresh considering how far I'd already ridden that day, and I cracked the 200 km mark. I was surprised how easily I'd done it. I mean it was a long day on the bike, but I was never close to struggle town. I guess I'd mentally prepared for it and my body knew what it had to do, so I had paced myself all day.
The only thing that concerned me was that I suspect my legs might not be so fresh the next day, and I didn't know if I'd be able to cover 200 km again as I knew I needed to do to get to Vienna in time.
After exceeding the 200 km mark, I was on the lookout for spot to camp, and found a spot after a few more kilometres. It wasn't well concealed but I was certainly not being fussy tonight. Like I say, it was all about efficiency today, and I'd achieved my goal so I was satisfied with myself.

My route for the day, Hattersheim to Markelsheim, Germany.

An overview of my route through Europe so far, from France to Germany.

Ride stats:
Distance: 203.04 km
Average: 21.3 km/h
Maximum: 50.1 km/h
Time: 9:29:56
Total ascent: 1080 m
Total descent: 935 m