E-road bikes?

I came across an advertisement today in our Sunday paper for a local big shed bicycle dealer who is currently selling over 1000 bikes at much reduced prices. The E-bike section caught my eye. In addition to sensible bikes like second hand Flyers at 55% cheaper than the new price and new Kalkhoff Agattu Impulse for ca 1500 Euros, a saving of 600 Euros, there are also E-mountain bikes and E-road bikes for sale. I can just about understand the concept of E-mountain bike. There was an article in "Panorama", the German Alpine Club's magazine last year about a group of more mature cyclists (65+) who cycled one of the Transalp MTB routes and used the extra power to ascend steeper bits on the way. This is not a bad wheeze, especially at my time of life. However a road bike is a fitness machine and to add electrical power to make life easier is a bit like having an escalator to reach a fitness studio on the first floor.

Aldi Süd solar power

Over the last few years Aldi Süd, the German discounter, has installed solar photo-voltaic collectors on the roofs of one thousand of its German stores and logistic centres. The electricity collected is mainly used to power the stores, depots and offices. A little however is used at fifty stores in South and West Germany to power charging stations for cars and e-bikes, so while cyclists and motorists are visiting the store they can top their batteries free of charge. Not a bad idea and it would be good if other stores and shopping centres could do the same.

Wertheim, A new town joins the Romantic Road Part II

We wrote a couple of weeks ago that a new town, Wertheim, has joined the Romantic Road. The last time I enquired there is no Romantic Road signposting for cyclists between Würzburg and Wertheim. The starting  point of the route is at present  and remains Würzburg. However if one wishes to cycle to Wertheim, then leave Würzburg on the Aalbach Radroute (Cycle Route) to Bettingen and then follow the signposted River Main Cycle Path on the left bank to Wertheim. After visiting Wertheim just follow the Tauber Valley Cycle Route to Tauberbischofsheim.

Bicycle transfer on Majorca

We received the following email from Mallorcan company. We thought the information might be of interest to cyclists planning a visit to Mallorca this winter and spring.

2016 CYCLING SEASON……….Majorca Airport Transfers is a reliable specialist provider of transfers for passengers travelling with bikes, from Palma airport to all locations on Majorca.  Each year our regular cycle training groups and individual customers come to Majorca from all over Europe, North America and Canada for training / competition events in Puerto Pollensa, Alcudia and Paguera.

*********

2016 FAHRRADSAISON..... Majorca Airport Transfers ist ein zuversichtlicher Spezialist für Fahrgäste die mit Fahrrädern in Fahrradtaschen oder in Hartschalenkoffern

reisen.  Wir können Ihnen einen zuversichtlichen Transport vom Flughafen von Palma zu Ihrem Urlaubsziel auf Mallorca anbieten.  

Jedes Jahr und in einem regelmässigen  Zyklus kommen aus ganz Europa , Nordamerika und Kanada Radsportfahrer die hier trainieren oder an Wettkämfen teilnehmen die hier auf der Insel stattfinden und unseren Servíce nutzen.

From our customer reception office in Palma airport arrivals hall, flights are monitored for any delays to ensure transport is always available. Transfers are by quality vehicles (mainly Mercedes) with secure sturdy box trailers for the bikes or minibuses/coaches for passengers and bikes.

We also have a low cost Shuttlebus service. Example. 1 passenger with luggage and 1 bike in bag or hard case just 46 euro return to and from Puerto Pollensa or Alcudia.

Whatever your transfer requirements with bikes please e-mail us for a competitive quotation.   info@majorca-airport-transfers.com

**********

Von unserem Kundenbüro aus, dass sich in der Ankunftshalle vom Flughafen Palma befindet, überprüfen wir Ihre Flüge so das Ihr Transfer auch bei Verzögerungen und Verspätungen gewährleistet werden kann.  Die Transfers werden nur in hochwertigen Fahrzeugen ausgeführt, hauptsächlich Mercedes sowie in Kleinbussen und Bussen für Fahrgäste und Räder, die mit einem sicheren stabilen Trailer extra für Fahrräder mit Sicherheitsboxen ausgestattet sind. 

Wir können unseren Kunden kostengünstige Transfers anbieten Zum Beispiel :  1 Fahrgast mit Gepäck und einer Fahrradtasche oder Hardschalenbox wäre der Preis 46 € für die Hin und Rückfahrt nach Puerto Alcudia oder nach Puerto Pollenca.

Wie auch immer Ihr Transportbedarf mit Fahrrädern ist, um Ihnen ein wettbewerbsfähiges Angebot zu machen, wenden Sie sich bitte per e-mail an uns. admin3@european-airport-transfers.com

EUROPEAN AIRPORT TRANSFERS SL

Majorca Airport Transfers - Menorca Airport Transfers - Ibiza Airport Transfers

Edificio Túcan,

Avda Túcan 33, Esc 3, 2ºD

07400 Port d'Alcudia

Tel:  (0034) 971 549497   Fax:   (0034) 971 549875

Móvil:  (0034) 664 267644

Email: info@european-airport-transfers.com

www.majorca-airport-transfers.com   :   www.palma-airport-transfers.com

www.menorca-airport-transfers.com  :   www.ibiza-airport-transfers.com

De conformidad con la Ley Orgánica 15/1999 de Protección de Datos y su reglamento de desarrollo, le informamos que sus datos personales se incluirán en un fichero responsabilidad de EUROPEAN AIRPORT TRANSFERS SL. con la finalidad de gestionar las comunicaciones necesarias, así como realizar acciones de publicidad y prospección comercial. Usted podrá ejercitar sus derechos de acceso, rectificación, cancelación y oposición, dirigiéndose a la siguiente dirección:

EUROPEAN AIRPORT TRANSFERS SL., Avda Tucán 33, Esc. 3, 2ºD, 07400 Puerto de Alcudia, Illes Baleares.

E-bike hire in Feuchtwangen

Rental- and Service / Prices

E-bikes can be rented from Sporthaus Bräunlein, Marktplatz 11/13. Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9 am to 1 pm and 2 pm to 6:30 pm, Saturdays from 9 am to 2 pm.Information is also available from Tourist Information Feuchtwangen, Marktplatz 1, 91555 Feuchtwangen, T: 09852 90455, www.feuchtwangen.de

Services

• Fahrradhaus Bräunlein
  Marktplatz 11/13
  91555 Feuchtwangen
  Tel.: 09852 616464
• Fahrrad Schmeißer
  Dorfgütingen 21
  91555 Feuchtwangen
  Tel.: 09852 2348

Rates:

One day 20€

Three days 35€

One week 60€

Tour suggestions can be found under:
http://www.romantisches-franken.de/Homepage/Activities/Biking/Bike_trails
 

Bicycle and e-bike hire in Dinkelsbühl

Bicycles and e.bikes can be hired from: Touristik Service, Altrathausplatz 2, 91550 Dinkelsbühl, 

T:09851 902-440

20 ladies, 10 men's und 5 children's three speed bicycles are available to rent, but no helmets.

E-bikes can be hired from the same office:

Rates:

One day 20€

Three days 35€

One week 60€

There is a free charging point in Dinkelsbühl at the Haus der Geschichte, Altrathausplatz 14.

Open Hours: Dinkelsbühl tourist office is open Monday to Friday 10 am to 5 pm, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, May to October

The tourist office has tour suggestions. Check out http://alpregio.outdooractive.com/ar-romant-str-gesel/en/alpregio.jsp#lat=49.06801800732449&lng=10.268096923828125&z=12&mt=0&tab=WelcomeTab

Knooppunts (navigation nodes) on the Rhine Bicycle Route

In August 2014  we wrote that the RadregionRheinland, i.e. the association planning cycle routes and signposting in the area between Bonn and just before Krefeld mainly on the left bank of the Rhine, was bringing in navigation nodes (knooppunt). It has announced in its Christmas 2015 newsletter that the work is completed. The nodes are shown in http://www.radregionrheinland.de/knotenpunktnetz/uebersichtskarte/index.html. The association has issued a map: „Radwandern in der RadRegionRheinland – Mit Knotenpunknetz und ausgewählten Themenrouten“. The map should be available from February 2016 onward from decent book and map shops (ISBN 978-3-87073-756-6). We plan to travel up there sometime this spring to check out the node numbers to incorporate the information in our The Rhine End to End Part II Basel to Rotterdam (eBook) guide available from Amazon and Smashwords.
BTW I hope the success of this system persuades other regions including the area we live in, the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region, to adopt this touring-cyclist-friendly signposting.

'nuff said! Tourist Offices recognise the importance of cycle touring.

A sentence or two I found in Huffington Post recently:

"Cities and states have long urged their residents to ride bicycles, as a healthy form of recreation and as a green alternative to driving. Now they’re recognizing pedal power’s economic potential.
Tourism officials and cycling advocates sometimes refer to tourists on bicycles as “wallets on wheels.”

"That’s because they stay longer in a state and spend more per day than other tourists."

I hope this is displayed in every tourist authority and planning office in the developed world.

Schools and Bicycles in Viernheim Part II

More on bikes in Viernheim…

We wrote to the member of staff who runs the bike team and he summed up the thinking behind the idea better than we could:

"…teenagers onto their bikes instead of watching them wait for their parents to take care of even such simple things in life as going to school.

Viernheim is small enough to make them all go by bike. I hope that once they have tried and realized that it is quicker, more convenient, and most of all it makes you independent from your parents, pupils will continue to enjoy the comforts of a bicycle."


This is an example that others could follow.

Schools and bicycles in Viernheim

A quick tale to cheer the heart, which in times like this, we all need.

Viernheim has an extensive sport park to the west of the town (or city if you're an American). There are two secondary schools, one secular and one Roman Catholic about 2km away north east of the town. The schools have sports lessons at the park that are two teaching periods, i.e. 1h30m long. It is a bit far to walk, so rather than using a bus or Mama-Taxi, the staff at the secular school investigated the option of the kids cycling to the sports park in groups supervised by a member of staff. The schools and the sports park are linked by a cycle paths. The journey would probably take about quarter of hour and allow a sensible period of time for sport training. In addition the children would learn about cycling in the town and recognise the use of the bicycle for short journeys. Many of the children at both schools come by bicycle, but there was a problem with children who lived far away or who came by Mama-Taxi. After making inquiries it was found that about 10 bicycles would cover any deficit amongst the children's bicycles. There then arose two problems:  where to get the bicycles and where to store them. 

• German school budgets are under pressure as are public budgets anywhere. The staff at the school turned to Andreas Hofmann, who runs one of the local bike shops. He chatted up sponsors and manufacturers and came up with trumps with 10  simple robust bicycles for about €2000.
• The staff at the secular school realised that their school did not have storage for all 10 bikes and enquired of the RC school who found they could store 5 bicycles. Both schools now share the use of the bicycles and storage. 

The story with photograph  can be found under http://www.morgenweb.de/region/sudhessen-morgen/viernheim/mit-rad-zum-sportunterricht-1.2525603 (in German).

Wertheim, A new town joins the Romantic Road Part I

Wertheim am Main, lying between Würzburg and Frankfurt am Main, has been attempting to join the select club of members of the Romantic Road for over ten years. It has finally achieved its aims and is now a member. The route of the Romantic Road is now changed. It runs west from Würzburg to Wertheim which lies at the confluence of the Rivers Tauber and Main and then follows the Tauber Valley south towards Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Wertheim itself is an interesting mediaeval town and well worth visiting. What this change means for cyclists is that the cycle route will be extended. I am not too sure how, but there seem to be two options:

• Follow the Main cycleway for about 6 hours downstream towards Frankfurt am Main to Wertheim through Karlstadt, Gemünden and Marktheidenfeld, and then take the ADFC Five Star Tauber Valley Route.
• Climb over the hills between Würzburg and Wertheim which appears to take about three hours. 

Myself I would go for the longer flatter option as the Main Valley is spectacular in this section and it's less work. 

There is, of course, nothing to stop you taking the old route out of Würzburg. It is an interesting series of ups and downs with a former Jewish community house and a pilgrimage chapel on the way. At the moment the weather is inclement and we will wait until the spring to check out the new signposting. We will then write an addendum to the Romantic Road guide.

Bike Hire in SW France

Bike touring in France is getting better year by year and I was interested to come across a bike hire company in Southwestern France. Bike Direct offers a good range of touring bikes, tandems and accessories at reasonable prices (http://bikehiredirect.com). We have cycled in this area and it was very enjoyable.

Bike hire is offered in the Charente (16), Charente Maritime (17), Dordogne (24), Gironde (33), Deux-Sevres (79), Vienne (86), Haute-Vienne (87) and from 2015 in the Vendee (85). - See more at: http://bikehiredirect.com/#sthash.UONMKkxK.dpuf

Bike hire is offered in the Charente (16), Charente Maritime (17), Dordogne (24), Gironde (33), Deux-Sevres (79), Vienne (86), Haute-Vienne (87) and from 2015 in the Vendee (85). - See more at: http://bikehiredirect.com/#sthash.DSE5Dbhi.yvQrfWNi.dpuf

Moselle Valley News

The cycleway along the Moselle Valley near Metz in Lorraine, known by the French as la véloroute "Charles le Téméraire" (V50 Moselle Saone) has been extended to Moulins-lès-Metz. This means it is possible to cycle on quiet roads or cycleways from the French-German-Luxembourg border to Moulins-lès-Metz. After that our feeling is that it is better to cycle up into the hills as described in our book: "The Riesling Route".

Mannheim's battle with the bicycle

To take one of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's epigrams about Cologne slightly out of context, but still on the Rhine: Mannheim, Germany, whose "…pavements are fanged with murderous stones", has problems with bicycles. Agreed the first trip by the hobby horse, the forerunner of the bicycle was made in the city. To this day local school kids follow his route one day of the year and there will be major big time celebrations in 2017 two hundred years after the day when Karl Drais swung his leg over the not very comfortable seat of his invention and propelled it and himself to a pub in Rheinau, at that time a nearby village, now a suburb of Mannheim.
However after that Carl Benz built a cycle car, but still a car and his wife nipped off to Pforzheim in 1886 to come back the next day. The age of idly sitting about during individual travel was upon us. The Daimler company, successor to Carl Benz, still builds buses and lorry engines in Mannheim. The next Mannheim inventor in this area of technology was Heinrich Lanz, initially an importer of American and British farm equipment who developed the Bulldog tractors, propelled by a semi-diesel motor. Mannheim can truly be said to be a pioneer city for individual travel, both motorised and unmotorised.
Is it a bicycle city as is repeatedly declaimed by the city fathers? I doubt it. There are some good cycle paths and there is an active cycling community, but it is still major fight to cut down space on the roads for motorists. Without this there will be no real improvements for cyclists.

Bike repair for schoolchildren

The Heidelberg branch of the ADFC, the German cycling club offers weekly repair sessions every Monday where young people can learn to carry out simple repairs on their bicycles. These free sessions - Schüler-Radwerkstatt on Mondays between 15:00 and 18:00 are led by four youngsters and the training officer of the ADFC Heidelberg.  These sessions give young people the chance to repair their bikes under instruction and thereby learn to carry out simple repairs to their bicycles. It strikes us as a good idea that could be taken up by bike clubs and youth groups elsewhere.

Rhone Cycle Route - Valence

I have written before that the French have discovered the advantages of cycle tourists for the hotel and restaurant trade. We recently stopped overnight near Valence in one of the B&B chain hotels which are normally slightly out of town centres. We decided in the morning to cycle into Valence and took the Rhone Cycle Route. I don't how the rest of the route is, but if this stretch was typical for a conurbation then the French have cracked cycle touring. It was initially on a footpath/cyclepath along the Rhone bank and then followed quiet well signposted roads into the city centre. The town did not seem to be as old as Avignon, Nimes or Orange, but it made for a pleasant morning, swanning round the town on our Bromptons, peering in a number of very odd shops. Napoleon was a member of an artillery unit there before his rise to power. There is a life sized statue of him reading some military tome much favoured by the selfie types to add a little spice to their photographs.

Good clear signposting

Frequent clear information boards

Judith caught me looking over Boney's shoulder.

Cycle touring in Provence around Mont Ventoux

Every time we go to France I notice the growth in cycle routes and cycle touring facilities. Gone are the days when the only technique, which was a good one, for the cycle tourist was to follow the white roads on the Michelin maps. It still is a good way for cyclists to get about, because France is a big largely empty country, but these days there are many cycle circuits and  signposted long distance routes available to the cyclist.
We were in Malaucène recently. This village sits at the start of one of the routes up Mont Ventoux often a make or break climb on the Tour de France.  Its bars, shops and streets are filled with the Lycra® clad. We did, by chance, have our Bromptons with us in the back of the car, but since the hill has been conquered by not just one, but several dozen Bromptoneers

(e.g. http://www.freewheelingfrance.com/where-to-go/cycling-ventoux-brompton.html, 

http://velojanaway.co.uk/velojanaway/bromptoux/mont-ventoux-brompton-queen-stage/), 

and because we were visiting non-cycling friends, we decided not to bother shocking the Lycra®-clad and spent our time travelling about the area, eating large meals, etc. The kind of thing many of us do in France.
As conscientious bloggers we investigated the cycling possibilities of the area in various tourist offices and found piles of pamphlets describing circuits on the south side of Mont Ventoux. These are available in digital form on the Provence Cycling website: (http://www.provence-cycling.co.uk).

A sunny day near Mont Ventoux

Cycling in the Autumn along the Carp Route

There is much to recommend waiting until the shorter days before setting off along the Carp Cycleway: Fewer people, hotels still open and welcoming, autumn colours to see, carp harvesting and the opportunity to eat them.
We first came across the Karpfen Radweg (Carp Cycle Trail) as we were late cycling out of Feuchtwangen to our hotel in the nearby village of Thürnhofen. "It is easy, not steep, avoids the main road and takes you right past your hotel", advised the guy in the tourist office.
Since then we’ve returned many times, to walk or cycle past the many carp lakes dotted around Feuchtwangen and Dinkelsbühl. Carp ponds were a feature of local life as monasteries flourished here some 800 years ago. The monks were required to eat fish on Fridays or during fasting and as the monasteries began so towns and traders followed. It seems carp prefer to live in sluggish or dammed streams, feeding on plants, worms or crustaceans close to the mud floors. After about three years in the ponds they were big enough to harvest, by netting or draining the ponds. In early days, before refrigeration they were only eaten in certain months, after capture and being stored alive in clear running water to cleanse them. Now you can eat them at almost any season, since they can be frozen, though they still taste a bit muddy in our opinion. After the monasteries were secularised by Napoleon, many of the carp ponds probably began to silt up and disappear. However business in carp, a Christmas delicacy in many parts of Europe, now seems to be booming and the Karpfen Radweg extends from Dinkelsbühl to Erlangen some 210 km distant along river valleys and through picturesque villages and towns. En route you will find hotels and guest houses, restaurants and hundreds of carp ponds in the folds of the landscape. The route lies mostly on quiet roads, well signposted and past other cultural landscapes like the Obstwiesen, often ancient apple, pear and plum orchards. Go at the right time and you can gather walnuts too.
This is secret, leisurely Franken, away from the madding hordes in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, across old river bridges over the Altmühl, a Danube tributary and bypassing the towers of Nürnberg. The route could be pleasantly completed in a week, and there are others following on from Nürnberg if you wish. More information is available on the Romantic Franken website: http://www.romantisches-franken.de/. Some of the pages are in German so use a translator app.

Excellent signposting

A mediaeval protein factory

The trees are old and the apples often too sour to eat…

VW and the diesel engine exhaust software fiddle mess

So the big news of this week which has largely pushed the refugees off the pages of the German press is VW's fixing of the software used to control diesel motors, so that under test conditions the car used up to 5% more fuel per mile, but emitted less nitrogen oxide. In normal operation the motor did not meet the values laid down by legislation. VW will in all probability modify the software controlling the motor so that it uses more fuel in future, but emits less nitrogen oxides. This could well mean that VW owners in Britain and elsewhere probably will have to pay 5% more fuel costs and maybe more tax, as the amount of pollution put out by the car often determines the road tax paid by the owner.

To make one thing clear. I am horrified by the actions of VW. I am also amazed. My experience of German engineers after 30 or so years working in German industry has been that they are pernickety in the extreme and thus not always easy to work with, but I have never had any reason to doubt their honesty, at least at work, apart from filling out travel expense forms.

VW diesel car owners are faced with the prospect of ca. 5% higher fuel costs.

If you have a diesel engined car what do do when the costs rise? A few answers:

• Get on your bike. Up to 5 miles distance a bike is as quick as car especially when you don't have to find a parking spot. 
• If the cycling possibilities in your neighbourhood are restricted or even life threatening join an organisation like the CTC in Britain or the League of American Bicyclists in the USA to press for improvements. The day that the CTC or the League has as many members as the motoring organisations is the day when politicians will really sit up and listen.
• Walk. Think about buying a pensioner Ferrari, i.e. a shopping trolley. Use your local shops.
• We do most of our shopping on foot or by bike. We buy less but we still have enough to eat. We throw less stuff away though. 
• If there is any, take public transport. It helps if it is electrically powered like a tram or Bombardier's clever induction charged battery buses. 
• Plan your trips so that you don't need to drive as far.

A cycle museum on the Rhine

The Rheinhessisches Fahrradmuseum, Schloß Ardeck, Schlossgasse 12, 55435 Gau-Algesheim between Mainz and Bingen on the left bank of the Rhine is a small bicycle museum. It is open on public holidays and Sundays between Easter and the second Sunday in October from 11am to 5pm. The website gives details of arranging a tour outside of opening hours. It has four departments: The bicycle in Rhine-Hessen, the bicycle as a means of transport, the bicycle in art and cycle sport. Entrance is free, but there is nothing to stop you giving a donation. http://www.fahrradmuseum-rheinhessen.de/startseite.html in German.
It'll be open this  year in 2015, on 3, 4 and 11 October 2015, so if you are planning a Rhine tour it's worth organising it, so you can visit the Schloß. We don't mention the Schloß and its museum in our two Rhine guides, but I will put them in shortly. The Rhine guides are available as e-books from Smashwords and your local branch of Amazon: “The Rhine End to End part 2: Basel to the North Sea", "Following the Rhine gently upstream Rotterdam to Basel. A Cycle Tourist's Guide".