The Dried Tomato Bike Tour

[ewep]

I'm back in the Northern Hemisphere, spring has sprung (kinda) and I got the opportunity to take a few days off.  So I planned to do a bit of a bike tour with my Dried Tomato (the bike is not pink) Canyon.  I did some research and decided to do a 4 day ride.  Day 1 and 2 would be on the "old railway tracks".  The route was converted from the old railway lines used in earlier years (that's in the 20th century).  The nice part of this is that the inclines on the route would be no more than 6-7%.  Day 3 and 4 would be along the Rhine river which is also nice and flat (my dikgat like nie van opdraendes nie!).  

 

The forum software turns some of my pics upside down. I look better that way, but it makes my bike look bleh.

 

Day 1

Dortmund to Wuppertal

56km. And here I thought it was going to be no more than 7%.  My first (and only) klim af en stoot during the whole thing.  The bloody Garmin told me it was 18%.  Net 'n bietjie te veel vir my dik gat!  Most of the ride was on the railway routes which is awesome!  No cars, just easy riding.

 

Start. Time to ride....

The Ruhr river

Some of the cycling roads.

A bit of gravel.  In a forest.  

Some tunnel riding included!

I"m in Wuppertal, with 10km to go to the overnight stop!

Mooie Wuppertal

All smiles na dag 1

Edited May 5 by ewep

[Prince Albert Cycles]

Lekker 

[ewep]

Day 2

Wuppertal - Leverkusen

62km.  So, the bloody Garmin told me "lekker plat dag". MAN, what a load of bull!  The first 20km had more ups than flat! But man is the area beautiful.  This was also the day that I realised that this is not a training ride.  "Fahre langsam".  Up to Wermelskirchen the wind was still having a go (less than day 1!) but after this it was bliss.

 

Plat se gat!

 

 

Nee man, die DRIED TOMATO (dis nie pienk nie!) fiets ry lekker.

 

Stop plekke en eet plekke orals langs die pad.

Laat ek sit.  En die son skyn!

Alweer daai lelike ou.

Hierdie is hoe die fietspaaie lyk.  Die deel word die Balkantrasse Radweg genoem.  Die paaie word onderhou en word gedeel met stappers, rollerblade mense en mense wat draf.  Dit verminder regtig die moontlikheid vir ongelukke (al is Duitsland se kar/fiets interaksies HEELTEMAL ander as SA sin)

Leverkussen.  This place made me miss Potchefstroom!

Criss-cross over a stream

 

Done and dusted (except for the 9km ride to the sleepover)

 

Edited May 5 by ewep

[ewep]

Day 3

Leverkusen - Dusseldorf

35km.  The challenge for today was the check-in time in Dusseldorf was only at 15:00.  So a lot of time with very little riding.  Dankie tog ek het paaie gemis in Dusseldorf (ek verdwaal nie!).  There are ALWAYS roadworks (whether car or bike) in Germany and that made the ride more interesting.  The ride was all along the mighty Ruhr river.  Die ene laat die Oranjerivier na 'n vulletjie lyk!

 

Just standing on the banks gave me a HUGE idea of the power of the currents.

These boats move up and down the Rhine.  I saw a few with Netherland flags as well.

First one!

Edited May 5 by ewep

[ewep]

Day 4

Dusseldorf - Duisburg

40km.  Last day.  Left early (for Germany that is).  Beautiful day again.  I wanted to catch the train back to Dortmund before the rush hour on the public holiday.  I took less pics as well.

Looking back at Dusseldorf.

 

A stop next to the Rhine.

I grew up in Vanderbijlpark so the Steelworks in Duisburg brought a sense of nostalgia.  Reminds me of Iscor when I was a laaitie.

Waiting for the train on Duisburg station

On the train.

 

Back where it started!

Edited May 5 by ewep

[betaboy]

Hey nice1 boet.. listen if you out that way, checkout Unna! Lovely town. I highly recommend it. Keep riding man.👍🏻🤛🏻😎

[ewep]

12 minutes ago, betaboy said:

Hey nice1 boet.. listen if you out that way, checkout Unna! Lovely town. I highly recommend it. Keep riding man.👍🏻🤛🏻😎

Thanks!  Unna is on the riding plan when I'm back again. I have driven through Unna so will add that to the list.

[W@nted]

Awesome, thanks for sharing! How did your pink bike perform?

[mecheng89]

Manon from GCN fame has the same bike and colour. 

[ewep]

52 minutes ago, W@nted said:

Awesome, thanks for sharing! How did your pink bike perform?

The SUNDRIED TOMATO bike was brilliant!  It's bloody comfortable (Canyon's website and size recomendations are SPOT on) and handled the different road surfaces with ease.  I am very impressed that the expected "road buzz" never turned into an issue (maybe because I never went fast or far).

 

Secondly, if I can help, my days of riding mechanical is over.  The AXS is so so awesome.  Click and done.  No feathering, etc.  It just makes riding so comfortable.