BIKING IN EUROPE

European Biking for Americans--II

“My idea of a vacation certainly isn’t sitting on a bicycle all day and peddling miles and miles!” my sister said to me over the phone one day.

            “Well it sure sounds like fun to me. What better way to see a country,” I argued.

While in Belize my roommates and I were talking about some of the trips each of us had taken. One talked about a European bike trip she had taken the previous year. That sure sounded like fun to me, so when I got home I immediately pulled the catalog to see where I could go.

To bike from Munich to Vienna along the Danube River in Germany and Austria sparked my imagination. Over 200,000 people bike from Passau, on the German side of the German-Austria border, to Vienna every year. That is a lot of bikers so I reasoned that the bike trails must be in good condition. Then again 35-40 miles a day on a bike made me hesitate—just a little bit.

            However,  my logical mind reasoned that I walked four miles an hour, surely I could bike twice that fast. Eight miles times five hours equals forty miles. That shouldn’t be too hard—and it wouldn’t even take all day. So much for logical reasoning! Little did I know we’d be stopping for pastries and coffee, to see a church or to visit some other point of interest.

I liked the idea that the bicycles were already in Europe. Three speeds was manageable. Although I had never ridden anything but a single speed bike, I was game. The thought of someone else taking care of any bike problems was a great comfort. No worries about flat tires or broken chains, someone else could fix them.

After moving to the country in Texas 15 years earlier I’d parked my bike under a tree for about two years before giving it away. Our dirt road and then the narrow country road was a hazard to walk and suicide to bike. Years later,during the six weeks home between trips I sold a house and moved from a small town to a larger, but small, city. I did buy a bike with good intentions of getting in shape, but in reality I managed to get about ten miles on the bike before it was time for me to pack and take off. My children thought I had absolutely gone over the edge, but nothing could dampen my excitement. Even the rainy weather most of the time in Europe couldn’t lessen my enthusiasm.

Talk about being innocent and naive! Being strictly a recreational biker, I knew nothing about biking equipment. And to top it all off I was in a group of avid serious bikers. But all turned out well. They were most helpful in educating me on gear as well as sharing a lot of other information. Since I was always the last person in, which meant that I got no rest period, no one ever complained about having to wait for me. I took my time, although steady as she goes, stopped to take pictures and to enjoy the wonderful scenery and quaint villages.

The next year I was much more knowledgeable and better prepared. That year, and the one after, I started off and ended in the middle of the pack.  I had improved with age!