So we boogied out of Cologne with the worst hangover ever. Not a good idea to learn how hard the kolsh party when you have to have all your shit packed and out the door by 11. We met some people from the hostel that wanted to go out and we did. I figured out why I dont see many people my age out and about, they are all cramped into underground rooms dancing their asses off. I was already drunk when we went out and so I only stayed long enough to drink one then me and the germans from the hostel left but speyers had the disco fever and stayed. So yeah I felt like death when I woke up and was not digging anything about the day, I actually hated everything. We only went 60km then found nice camping along the rhine and we got to see our first real mountains. The next day shit got real.
We got out of the campsite around 11 after a couple cups of coffee on a lawnchair peeping the mountains. We set out for Koblenz which is 60 km away. The riding was a breeze, we thought, just follow the river. When we got to koblenz it turns out that the river split into another fair sized river and of course we followed the wrong one. When we were 30 km down the river we realized something wasn't right, this river is too small. So we figured it out and set out to correct it. The rivers run parallel so it wasn't so bad, we thought. We found a road that connected them and set out for it. Immediately upon inspection of the road we realized we where fucked. Mountains are cool, I love em, just not riding a bike with 70lbs of shit up one. But we did with surprisingly minimal ammount of stopping, I thought speyers was going to die, he didn't, but he did puss out and walk a portion of it. The climb was 4 km and we still encountered some more hills before the downhill. Before we did the epic downhill we enjoyed some coffee and put our helmets on. We get to the road that we are supposed go on to go downhill and there is a cop turning cars away and we thought we were fucked, until we saw him let one pass we went up him and he said it was cool for bikes. Yes a blocked road just for us to haul ass down, it was sweet, and very very scary. Speyers rode his brakes the entire way down and I waited a good while for him at the end. It was so cool, the max speed was 59.5 km. It turns out there was a marathon being run at the end so we busted out the bike stero, it was pretty funny. So we where pretty much dead after all that riding and the only campsites we could find where on the other side of the river and not a bridge or ferry in site and we almost gave up until we saw the glorious sign. Set up camp as it began to drizzle and then the great flood came ALL NIGHT. The bottom of my tent was moist when I woke up and I was not too happy about that. I sat in my tent and enjoyed some coffee so I could be content with laying back down on my sleeping bag then the sun illuminated my tent blue and I felt hope. I got up took a shower and when I got out it was raining again. Fuck, so we chilled and then the sun came out again this time for long enough to dry our tents and our spirits and as soon as we finished packing up it started raining again. This shit contined all day. Not wanting to spend 25 euros on a real rainpancho we bought 2 euro ones that were trashbags with cut outs for arms and a head and looked like kkk robes. We sounded and looked like trash in the wind. We rode until the weather was to fucked and we took a train to Frankfurt which was like 30km away.
Now we are at the 5 elements hostel and it's pretty awesome here. Last night me and a quite eclectic group of people (aussies are my new favorite) just sat in the hostel which had a bar and talked and were entertained by the passer byers. Did I mention the hostel in the heart of red light district. So some of the highlights from the night : A bum walks up to the window and starts pointing at shit on the table and at first I asssume hes talking about the one slice of pizza on the table and I point at it, he shakes his head, then the beer next to it, he shakes his head again, then the unlit candle next to all of it and he gives me the yes nod and I look at everyone with a wtf expression then we look back out the window and the bums buddy holds up a CD player from a car. Then when we were smoking a cigarette outside a group of young kids walk up and the most trashed one grabs one of our beers and takes a sip and we werent too mad because this kid was trashed trashed and then he starts talking shit about the police maybe 30 yards away, then he starts yelling shit about the police and they just sit there, then starts talking shit to me and I almost break my beer glass over his head but he had a way of defusing situations by saying ''oh I was joking, its fun'' Plus he was in a track suit, how can you be mad at someone in a track suit. I wonder if he ever got that ass beating he was looking for? Then this black bum puts on these pink sun glasses and just starts freaking out, it's really hard to describe because I had never seen anything quite like it, but it was definately the hardest I have laughed in the last 2 weeks. Well i'be been here for too long, time to see this city. -Max
Monday, May 31, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
The Tour So Far
Well after about 500km or so, heres the wrap up. Starting in Amsterdam where it seems like everyone and their grandmother rode bikes (seriously I saw an old man with an oxygen tank in his pannier) and it's awesome, everyone on shitty mtn bikes and dutch city bikes everywhere (I only saw about 3 fixed gears and one roadie, it was nice) . It was early and I didn't want to go directly to the campsite so I got some "coffee" rode around and dug the arcitechture. We stayed at a campsite a little bit outside of the city in a place called Zeeburg and it was a cool little place with houseboats, spraypaint and a large d.i.y art house. After waiting quite some time for spyers to arrive he never did so I took a nap then he wakes up later and tells me his hecitic story of how he got there, after stripping his crank putting his pedal on he tried to find a ride to the campsite for 3 or so hours until a helpful local just 'rethreaded' the pedal so if every comes off or loose he's kinda fucked. We left the campsite at 9am and headed to the center and after a nice dutch breakfast which included salami, cheese, bread, heinken and hash we took off for Rotterdam and being ignorant to ways of the road we didn't get a map of holland in the city so when we got outside of the city in the direction we thought Rotterdam was we asked some locals, they laughed at us and said "are you serious, thats an hour and a half car ride" we reassured them we where completely serious, they laughed and pointed us "that way." It was a learning expiereice of a ride we finally got a map after we asked another person for directions and he informed us that we were "stupid" and to stop at a shell and get a map. The biking was unbeilievable, perfect. We had our own bike path pretty much all through holland and clearly marked signs pointing us exactly where we needed to go. We still got lost, alot. It took us 120km or 75 miles and about 20km of that was being lost/going in a giant circle. We finally arrived in Rotterdam and where looking at a map when soon to be friend Yoland asked us where we were heading and she gave us directions but after that asked her if a store was open and she showed us that as well and after getting some beer, cheese, meat, bread (turning out to be our staple food) she invited us to drink some beers at her house around the corner and not getting a shady vibe we kindly accepted and it was really cool to get to hear what real dutch person has to say about life and she had alot to say. She feared the disintigration of her nation and I could relate. It was getting dark so we left and found the campsite after getting lost, again, that seems to be a common theme with us. We stocked up on some "coffee" and hit the road. Every single town in Holland was spelled like someone just mashed their hand on a keboard i.e. jaikgjöioak, see, doesn't that look dutch? But we kept on truckin for the next 5 days. Holland is a very.......unique place. Super flat which I think over time could cause some sort of dimensia. They like miniature things like ponies and windmills. STROOPWAFFELS RULE! The camping is super wack, they bring the indoors to the outdoors. Its really weird, fake flowers outside and old people in R.V's that make you feel like your camping in their front yard. Oh and mother fuckin dutch kinds playing badmitton at 8 in the morning. I just found it's thursday, I thought it was tuesday. We got into germany 2 days ago and the camping got real. First night was an open field with 2 other campers and a beautiful lake with a sand beach, what I wanted the entire time. The next day we where in Duisburg and it was getting late and needed a place to stay so we asked someone, later to be known as Saint Christopher, he showed us a spot on the lake he would camp with his boyhood chums. We thanked him and he was on his way, later in the night after enjoying some "coffee" we hear some rustling in the woods, freaked out at first we see Saint Christopher. He brought us some warm pasta and drinks! It was a blessing. We talked and it was getting dark so he left and we passed out. The next day it started raining after 12km and not having any rain protection we took a train 40km to Cologne and now we are the Black Sheep hostel. Met some really nice friendly people here, they are cooking lentil soup right next to me an someone is eying me for the computer so i'm gonna go.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
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