Bikepacking Trans Germany (BTG): Pt 7

Day 9 Monday

Detlev, Patrick and myself had finished within an hour of each other the previous evening and all camped within a couple of kilometres of each other. My alarm went off at 4am and it was show time. I knew I probably had a two hour head start on Patrick, and if I was lucky an hour or more on Detlev. There was a supermarket in town and I hoped that Detlev would be waiting for it to open and arrive in town around 7am. I only had a couple of snacks left but thought to blast through town early and gamble on finding food later in the morning. Hopefully long gone by the time others were having breakfast.

I rolled into town just after 5am, and to my surprise the bakery was open. Perfect, I settled in for the pleasures of a surprise breakfast and coffee. I had just sat down when I saw Detlev’s helmet bob past the window. “You Bastard!, you should still be sleeping”  I said as he sat down with me. We had a nice chat over breakfast and talked tactics. I mentioned hoping to push to the 2nd ferry before the last one sailed. “There’s a second ferry?”. “Yup, the one with the detour is about 160km and sails until 8pm, the next one is 120km or so after that and sails until 10pm”. I figured if the roads and winds were nice to me, just maybe I could make the almost 280km by 10pm, it was worth a shot anyway. Detlev shook his head, “I’ll be happy if I make 160km today, anything on top of that will be a bonus.”

6am-10 pm=16 hours, I would have to average almost 18km/h to make it. Possible but unlikely. An hour later I put that stupid idea out of my mind.

(and my info was wrong, the second ferry stopped at 9pm).

We rode most of the morning together, passing more bunkers, pushing through more sand. The good news was speedy Patrick would also be slowed down by the sand.

The flat roofs of some of the bunkers(no foto) even had tree’s and bushes growing on them, great camouflage for the now deserted reminder of the cold war.

At the 70km mark we stumbled on a tourist town and the perfect chance for second breakfast. The lady warned me that the big breakfast was BIG, I said yes please….

Detlev left me half way through my breakfast, but as usual I passed him an hour later while he was sleeping. I pushed hard that afternoon into the nasty headwind, there was a small chance that I would make the first ferry and he wouldn’t. I had great legs that afternoon and rode like a man possessed, I figured there was no way Detlev could have kept up. I reached the ferry at 1830. I could relax, there was no way I could make the second ferry before 9pm, It looked like Peter S was just going to make it. I stopped at the restaurant next to the ferry, and hoped Detlev would make the ferry just before it stopped a little over an hour later. Just as I sat down in the restaurant I hadn’t even had time to get my phone out to see where he was them boom, there he was on the other side of the water. “You Bastard, well done mate”.

We spent and hour having dinner together contemplating the next step. We were both tired, and my knee’s had been damn sore all day and the wind was howling in the wrong direction. Patrick wasn’t going to make the 8pm ferry cut off, so it was just us. We could kind of relax. The next ferry was 120km away and the first sailing would be a 6am. 120km in a little over 10 hours seemed almost possible, but the wind was a problem(not to mention the other 1500km in the last 8 days). But if we did make it we could ride the last 25km to the finish before 8 am making it exactly 9 days. Nine days was so much faster than my wildest pre-race expectations. “Fuck my knee’s, I’m going for it”. Detlev was less convinced but planned to ride as far as possible that evening. We agreed that the race between us was pretty much over now(though I doubt it was ever on as far as he was concerned), and that realistically the race should be neutralised after the ferry anyway. We had our gentleman’s agreement. If by some wonder we both made it to the ferry we wouldn’t do anything stupid after that and finish together.

I filled my water bottles, took a handful of painkillers and got down to business. 20 minutes into the ride I had the brainwave to lift my saddle a little to reduce the pressure on my knee’s, worst case scenario I could change the saddle height every hour and move the pain around. This trick did wonders and I was able the fight the wind again, soon after zooming past Detlev.

The rest of the evening is a blur of wind, sore legs and sleep monsters. Around midnight I started falling asleep and zigzagging more than is healthy. I still had 40 or so kilometres to go. It was game over, I had to get some sleep and just maybe I could finish the last stretch in the morning. I didn’t want to waste time with my tent, but it was too windy to just put my sleeping bag down somewhere. Ten minutes later I spotted a picnic bench at a lookout spot. I put the bench on its side as a windbreak and had the best 2.5 hours sleep of my life. Detlev was 12km behind me when I went to sleep but still moving. I’d ridden and walked 245km in the last 20 hours.

At 3am my alarm sounded and I was on the move 10 minutes later. I was far from 100% but it was the last morning, just 65km to go. Of course I could make the first ferry…….The wind was still nasty but the trail was mainly good gravel or asphalt. I arrived at the ferry with 20 minutes to spare.

Detlev had arrived a few minutes earlier (he’d camped 10km after me). Peter S had slept the night in an ant infested bus shelter at the ferry, I was surprised to see him, I’d expected him to catch the last ferry.

“Ah, so close, must feel pretty shitty to loose such a lead because of the stupid ferry?” I asked. “Shit happens, should plan better…” ahh the true spirit of a racer. Peter also made some other remarks and had a cheeky grin that suggested the race was still on for him. “Bugger, there goes our relaxed finish Detlev, how about I hold him and you slash his tires?”

We rode to the first town and had breakfast at the bakery, during breakfast all watching each other wondering who would make the first move. Detlev made it quite clear he had no intention of racing, and told us not to wait for him. I also had no intention of racing but at the same time didn’t want Peter to pull a fast one.

We set off together with about half an hour for the last 12km if we wanted to finish at 8. We pushed the pace, it seemed silly to be doing a sprint finish after 1650km, but we all went for it. At a sandy track Peter blasted out ahead of us gaining 3-400m due to his fatter tires, I thought “here we go, he’s going to grab his chance now.” But at the end of the track he waited for us “More gent than Jack Sparrow after all”  I thought to myself….Just 6km to go.

The tracker page probably looked more like a race than the actual ride because the trackers don’t upload at he same time (they ping every 10 minutes but are not synchronised).

Captain Jack picked the pace up once more. I had a couple of chances to pass him between the twisty bits of the track but didn’t. It wasn’t a race as far as I was concerned but I certainly wasn’t going to let the bastard get away now. A few minutes later during the last 100m sprint to the finish line we closed up and all three of us finished within a meter or two of each other. About as close to a photo finish as you’ll get after 1650km.

The time was 0756 (though my tracker didn’t ping until after 8). Job done! 310km in the last 28 hour with a sprint finish, just bonkers!

Time for beer!

Strangely enough the cafe wasn’t open yet so we just drank Peters gin, then slept on the grass for an hour until we could get beer. The victory beer well worth waiting for.

Thats all folks:

Thanks to the BTG organisers for your time, energy and vision. The Trans Germany route was challenging to the end, and probably vastly underestimated my most.

Thanks to the other riders for your chats, wise lessons and for making me ride further and faster than I ever thought possible.

The aftermath:

I couldn’t really walk that day, or the next. But after two good sleeps my knee’s seemed good again. I guess I got lucky and it was just mainly tired muscles. Now a little more than a week later after much rest I’m still not quite 100% but getting there. I still have restless nights and post trip blues. Though the tingling and numb fingers of my left hand is a little more worrying.

I now understand why ultra endurance racing is so addictive. It has several elements of cycle touring but boiled down to their purest form. Just ride, sleep(optional), eat…Repeat. The extra element of other riders, a race and live tracking help some primal instincts brew to the surface and therefore bring in some adrenaline, endorphins and all the other good stuff. During the race you often feel invincible, to do back to back 200km days mainly off road is incredible and far beyond my own expectations. I can see why people would long to feel that again once back at work.

For me this was my second race, both of which I tackled with different intentions. For the Freedom challenge I achieved my goal of finishing within the 26 day cut off uninjured. For the Trans Germany I achieved my goal of racing and leaving nothing out there to improve upon. Of course it would have been better if I hadn’t had flu in March, or the MTB crash 4 weeks out. But in the end that may have only knocked a couple of hours off my finish time (maybe just making the last ferry). But, who cares, I was as prepared as I could be and within my ability smashed all my own expectations.

Gear:

My bike choice for the BTG was perfect, obviously from time to time I wondered if something lighter or something with suspension might have been a better idea. But a 29er with 2,25″ tires was perfect in my opinion (I suspect many of the gravel bike riders regretted their tire choice, but each to their own). The new Schwalbe Racing Ralph Addix have once again proven that they are shit for touring. In future I’ll either use the older model or the more reliable (and heavier) Maxxis cross marks that I used for the Freedom Challenge.

I still stand by my choice to use a lightweight tent (800g) instead of a much lighter bivvy (1-300g). Better rain and bug protection mean a better sleep in my opinion and with only 4-6 hours sleep a night, quality is important. My 5cm thick mattress was maybe a little overkill at 400g, but again sleep is important to me.

I had a small gas stove and 750ml pot with me incl 400g of gas. Which I didn’t use. It was the right choice to take these, had the weather been different a cup of coffee or soup can save the day.

Power: Though I got by with a battery pack, I did miss the flexibility of my hub dynamo.

Light: Without the dynamo I fell into the trap of using a powerful head torch again. The torch is perfect but should be mounted on the fork or handlebars. If the light is lower you see shadows on the ground from potholes etc much better. High up you just see grey/yellow mush. I should have remembered that from last year….dumbass.

DNF:

For future riders: At the start Tim and I speculated 25-30% attrition rate during the BTG. Now on day 18, 30 have finished and 4-5 are still riding. Thats almost 50% of the 62  starters with a DNF. Admittedly some only planned to ride a week or so. Some scratch due to crashes or illness. Some had mechanical issues and many just ran out of time. It would be easy to underestimate this little 1000mile race across Germany. Don’t!

Will I be racing again?

At the moment I’m leaning towards no, but who knows what the future will bring. The BTG has taken up a lot of my attention the last nine months, and the Freedom challenge did the same last year. Maybe for now I’ll concentrate on something easier and  more short term like a marathon or something :).

That said, I’m already finding my training program for a half marathon in 7 weeks conflicts  too much with my cycling plans….Doh..

Thanks for reading, now get back to work!

Update December 2018:

My name is Shane and I’m an addict, I’m addicted to endurance racing. 🙂

I’ve registered for the Bikingman Oman race in February 2019, and leave permitting The Vosges to Black forrest race in September 2019.