No cake or a bath for this ride, only showers afterward.

We casually rode east this sunny, but cool Thursday holiday afternoon to Bernau am Chiemsee to attend a friends “English” party. We barely made it in time to help clean up. Our sense of timing is still in Portugal.

While not up to her usual energy levels, big kudos to Peichi for pedaling through 53 kilometers and over 800 meters of climbing. We were constantly going up or down. A first ride of its kind for Peichi. A favorite of mine.

The ride was very enjoyable with the closeness of the farms and forests at the road’s edge. Additionally, the moderate climbs, smooth roads and off the beaten path quirks has made this route a new favorite of mine.

PS: Yes mom and to the many friends who keep asking, the Portugal and Spain photos will start coming out this weekend.

Tuesday was a national holiday here in Germany. After spending a few hours on the couch typing on the computer, my body told me it’s time to ride.

To Kufstein and back I went. About 79 kilometers, though 77 official since the GPS died short of home.

This is my longest ride yet, since my hip and back problems started up last year. The last 10 kilometers were tough and I stood often to keep the hip pain down.

The downside is that it’s official, I have to replace my FSA carbon handlebars. The earlier back pain relieving stem cracked the handlebar casing. In hitting a couple of bumps at speed, glad it wasn’t the 68 kph downhill part, my bars thunked too loudly, shifted position and the carbon splayed.

I’m glad I rode though, very glad. I feel good.

The sun was shining, birds were chirping and I was feeling overworked.

What better way to feel alive again than to spend time with Peichi, on a casual bike ride with a delicious treat at the end. A pineapple & mascarpone cake from Traunstein in fact.

Kudos to Peichi for riding the 45 kilometers from home to the café essentially straight-through in about 2:20 with a missing front derailleur. Bad to her for calling me a slow poke.

I was going stir crazy at home today. The snow was off the roads and the sun was shining. Just had to get out and ride.

Excluding my walking around Wasserburg, I did 50 kilometers, about 30 miles, in under 2 hours along some very fine, low-traffic, rolling Bavarian hills.

Twas a beautiful riding day!

I was very happy to make it home. My hip stopped hurting at around 10 kilometers in. However, at 45 kilometers, my lower back was getting sore. A long, hot soak and some of Peichi’s fine Taiwanese cooking has me feeling great now.

Route Map

It’s raining this weekend, so I thought to share some photos of last Sunday’s hike near Mt. Heuberg. Thank you to Melissa for inviting Peichi and I along with her wonderful family.

The morning started out quite chilly with a fresh layer of snow at the trailhead on top of perviously melted snow. While on the flats, walking was fine. On the steep though, I was very happy to have finally bought trekking poles. They made a world of difference in climbing up the slick stuff.

The hut at the end of the road, really was one of two options with typical German cakes, beers, stews and sausages. Since the hike up was steep and slick, we took the service road back down to stay on the safe.

Where’s Heuberg?

Hiking Heuberg Photos

Staying in one place is hard on me. I get agitated after a couple of weeks of not going someplace or doing something new, different or out of the norm. Frankly, when I go too long without travel I get grouchy.

Last Friday at 7:30 AM, Peichi and I rode our bikes down to the Rosenheim train station for our 8:02 AM OBB RailJet, direct to Budapest. For the next 7-hours and dozen stops, we railed along Germany, Austria and on into Hungary.

In riding through Hungary outside of Budapest, I was really surprised at how the landscape reminded me of the New Delhi countryside. The land looked used, beaten, and trashed. The shock of the sight really reminded that environmental issues can exist just as strongly here as in other places around the world.

Our train arrived at Budapest Keleti railway station about 3 PM. Since we had spent 7 hours standing or sitting on the train, with only a little break at Wien train station, we walked the 3 kilometers to our hostel in 45 minutes through the local neighborhoods.

Peichi found a great 24€ a night place to stay called 2night Hostel, 200 meters from Nyugati (Western) Train Station at 22 Szt. István krt. Though it’s not in the middle of tourist district, getting there via the metro was very quick and easy to manage.

Friday night, we wandered along the Danube till the sunset and afterward we headed into the evening shopping district for dinner. We splurged on a wonderful contemporary dinner at Cyrano. Our  dishes goat cheese, goose liver paté, vegetable heart and toast were well worth every penny. We’re looking forward to trying other dishes there.

Saturday morning, we headed to the Nyugati metro station to buy the 10-trip metro book for about 8€. There’s 3 subway lines besides buses and trams around Budapest.

Before our first major stop of the day at Great Market Hall, we toured the neighborhoods around it. We really enjoy seeing local neighborhoods and interacting with those living in them.

The Great Market Hall is a beautiful, hundred-plus year old indoor market. There’s many stalls for fruits, vegetables, meats, souvenirs and much more.

Personally, I find starting at the back and work the way forward is the best experience. This way, you come in like a local with the more personal stands and see how the stalls and prices migrate towards the tourist crows as you need the main entrance.

Be sure to check out the fish and pickled vegetables that are downstairs.

Afterward, we walked deeper into District IV to explore further before taking the yellow subway up to City Park. I was surprised at how pleasant, green, friendly and lots to do this park is. There’s 5 museums, a circus, a zoo, an amusement park,  a castle and plenty of romantic spots to share with your loved ones.

As evening came, we walked back to the hostel to rest before heading out to dinner for Indian rote, curry and backlava. The food was the best we’ve had since leaving India. We recommend your eating at Tandoori – Keleti Restaurant.

Sunday morning, we packed our bags, paid cash to checkout of the hostel and then caught the tram over to the east side of Castle Hill. A surprise here was finding that the Mammut malls were open. We mall cruised for a bit before walking up Castle Hill towards Buda Castle.

After passing through the hill-top gate, we followed the western road to the Museum of Music History. There, we toured the 200th anniversary of Franz Liszt’s birth memorial exhibition.

In viewing the exhibit, I felt a new appreciation for Franz Liszt’s passion. He not only wrote his music, but he composed and lived to raise awareness of the things he believed in. He wasn’t about doing his own thing for personal gain, but the betterment of us all.

The museum tour took a little longer than expected and the rest of our Castle Hill visit was quicker, but not without a few pauses to enjoy the scenery.

The return trip to Keleti train station was by bus, which stopped right in front. Talk about front door service.

Our Budapest trip was unforgettable. We’re looking to go back longer and rent a flat to live likes locals while touring one of the many museums a day. If you’re looking for a simple and inexpensive place to stay, we recommend 2night Hostel.

Friday morning, I completed some major web work. Then Friday afternoon, I wrapped up filing and paying my taxes. So much for the planning of taking the whole weekend to do these things. So, as if I had nothing better to do on a Saturday, I rode in the sun, for cake, with the lovely Miss Peichi.

In fact, it was a short 35-kilometer ride, gone medium. It was Peichi’s longest ride yet at 65 kilometers.

In riding from Schloßberg to Windshausen, Germany along the Inn levee hard pack, while nice, left me wanting more visually. Once Peichi and I finished up our Inn side break, we decided to stop rattling our bikes and facing the headwind and moved onto riding a local road. Little did we know, we were only a few hundred meters from Austria.

Those last meters were the end of nice and begun awesome, Austrian style. Smooth roads, calm hill climbs, birds chirping, flowers blooming, freshly manuared fields, paved biking trails, proper signage, more friendly cyclists, end of the headwind, faster pace and most importantly, the sign that we’re almost to Kufstein.

After making it into Kufstein, we road along the Inn a little further, to see what’s there. Our solidly good stop of the day was meeting Waltraud and Johann of Rad n Tat bikeshop. They were very welcoming with glasses of water, information about Kufstein, friendly shopping and places to ride.

While our first recommended choice for lunch, north of town, up a HILL, as the boss said it, turned out to be closed for the season, we were able to find some good Greecian fare for under 20 € including beer at the cinema. There’s a M-Pries market on the ground floor if you want deli instead.

After lunch, we explored the grocery stores for Italian goods and junk food. Finally, the cake, raspberry cream for her and hazelnut & alocohol for me. With the cake safely packed in the panniers, we turned north and for the ride back.

Within a kilometer of being back in Germany, the very straightforward asphalt bike trail became hardpack again. So after some luck, we found a wandering paved bike path that sometimes, paralleled a road.

We’re for adventure

As we had the energy and a half-hour wait, we left Keifersfelden train station and pushed onto Oberaudorf’s. There, we caught the Rosenheim bound train to save us 20 kilometers of evening cycling.

At the end of the day, we were only slightly sore and tired from the 65-kilometers of riding, in under 4 hours with around 400 meters of climbing. We’re looking forward to cycling to Kufstein again, but will stick to the paved bike paths next time.

In the meantime, our next long ride will be to Truanstein next for cake and tea. Want to come along? Write us.

Route Schloßberg-Kufstein

Schloßberg-Kufstein Trip Photos

No time like now
To get up and go
Where doesn’t matter
Just that it’s time to go
–
February 27, 2012 – Time to move, but dang my back says stay put

Last week was spent at T3BOARD12 on Crap Sogn Gion. It was a fantastic week of coding, snowboarding and socializing. While I’m very happy to be home again, I’m already looking forward to Peichi and I going next year.

I’m in Switzerland for T3BOARD12. It’s basically a week of snowboarding, coding, drinking and hanging out after hours with geeks. All said, a near perfect geek vacation.

However, after being cooped up for 4 days at Crap Sogn Goin, I needed a break.

My Wednesday getaway was to buy lunch and olive oil from Coop in Chur while seeing something new. A successfully completed journey.