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Road Reports
Direct from the seat of Tom's bicycle ...
2005
June 24, 2005
-- I made it to Germany safely. The plane stopped for an hour and a half in Iceland and then flew into Frankfurt, Germany. I put the bike back together outside the airport. I got strange looks from passersby as it appeared somewhat like a garage sale with all my camping gear and stuff spread out over the sidewalk. Luckily the police didn't seem too concerned with me. People were very nice giving me directions to the youth hostel in Bad Homborg where I'm staying tonight.
June 25, 2005
-- This morning I pedaled to a bike shop in Bad Homborg to try to get some bike route maps as I was having a heck of a time finding my way around the Frankfurt area. The mechanics all got a kick out of my bike. They commented that they had never seen a bike loaded with that much stuff. Everyone came out and wanted to crowd in for a group photo. Then one of the mechanics worked on my brakes and didn't charge me anything. I ended up sleeping on his couch for the night in a little town 50 miles to the south. He and his wife were great! They even cooked me dinner. Tomorrow I will pedal to Heidelberg to see my Nephew Nick. That is all for now. Everything is going well.
June 26, 2005
-- Today I pedaled on some beautiful bike paths through little German villages to get to Heidelberg. It was great to get out of Frankfurt where I spent the majority of my time lost on the bike and having to ask people for directions. Everyone was helpful, though -- I lost track of how many people helped guide me through the city. There are a lot of people on bikes and an amazing number of them speak English. They went out of their way to help me and I was grateful.
In Heidelberg, I visited my 17-year-old nephew, Nick, from Illinois who is visiting there for seven weeks this summer. It was good to see him. We went out to dinner and he wanted to go to McDonald's, of all places! It was pretty strange eating in a McDonald's in Germany.
June 27, 2005
-- Hello from Rotenberg, Germany. I am staying with my friends Mike and Katja, formerly of Key West. Arrived today from Heidelberg. Things are going well. It has been unusually hot here -- in the 90s -- and I have been fighting the heat and starting to ride some hills on my first couple days back on the road. That is always a little bit of a shock to the system after a layover in flat Key West. But the bike is handling well and my body is adapting quickly. The hills are going to get worse as I start heading toward Austria, then Hungary, over the next few days. I need sleep for tomorrow's radio interview with the BBC Scotland.
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June 28, 2005 -- I got to sleep in a bed last night and got another free meal -- you never pass up a free meal on the road. Seriously, it was good to catch up with my friends that I haven't seen in four years. I did the phone interview on the BBC in Scotland. It went well, but was fairly short. I am spending one more night here getting organized and resting my legs. Then it will be time to start hitting it hard and getting in more miles per day so I can get to the festival in Edinburgh on time.
June 30, 2005 -- Clouds heading in and I am riding in the mountains with a several-mile climb staring me in the face as soon as I leave this town. Made it to a youth hostel in Schwabisch Hall, Germany, yesterday after a 62-mile day of hard climbs on the bike only four days after a long layover in flat Key West. I hope my legs hold out today. Rain is coming over the mountains soon. Gotta go.
July 6, 2005 -- Hello from Austria. I forget the town name. I am near Vienna (or should arrive there day after tomorrow). Behind schedule. But it has been interesting pedaling along the Danube River -- and flat for a change after many tough hills in Germany.
Bad rain yesterday. Camping in the rain was miserable. Rained all night. Tent and everything soaked. Did have electronic stuff and slides in lots of plastic bags and they are O.K. In the morning still raining and had to pack up tent and everything in cold rain with all stuff very heavy.
Should see Zoltan, the bellman from La Concha, in two days in Hungary. Then hightail it north to get to Edinburgh on time.
Tonight I found a pension for 13 Euros and have my own room. Old woman running the place doesn't speak a word of English. Looks like rain again tonight. Glad to be indoors. Still drying stuff out. I am typing this on the screen of an interactive payphone in the town square. Slow and tough to type on this thing.
I'm hanging in there, but have to pick up the pace!
July 8, 2005 -- Hello from Vienna. It is raining hard! I don't think I have enough culture to enjoy this city. The traffic is really bad. Tried to take a train from here to Budapest yesterday and today to see Zoltan. They could get me a ticket, but you have to reserve space for the bike and only two trains a day to Budapest -- all bike spaces already sold for yesterday and today. I can't believe I made it this far and can't get my bike to Budapest. I am out of time. Budapest will have to wait until next time, I am afraid. Time to start heading north in the rain.
July 10, 2005 -- I couldn't be more out in the sticks riding 14% grades on a regular basis up these damn mountains into every little village in the rain and then immediately back down the mountain out of village -- then repeat same process 30 times a day!!
I have had trouble finding phones. I am hanging in there, but tired of rain and cold and wet, heavy camping gear and clothes.
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July 13, 2005 -- Having major problems retrieving e-mail from pay phones here in Poland. Last night it took ten attempts and a lot of money to retrieve messages! I'm hoping the phones in the next towns will be better. In about three days I need to catch a ferry to Sweden from somewhere in Poland. The closest city (three-day's ride) is probably Swinoujscie, Poland. My horrible map shows a ferry leaving from there toward Copenhagen, Denmark. Other options are Gdansk and Gdynia, but they are much farther and I would need to change course soon to get there. Otherwise I will have to head back into Germany to catch something from there. I am out of time and will probably have to blow off Denmark. I feel helpless here with bad phones, no internet access, language barrier, and really bad maps. At least it has stopped raining after six days straight of pouring!
July 14, 2005 -- Earlier today I was in Poland riding up this hill and I saw these two 11- or 12-year-old Polish kids in a field alongside the road. They were digging with shovels and trying to get this wagon loaded with heavy compost out of the mud. They yelled something to me in Polish as I pedaled past on my way up a steep hill. I figured they were just yelling something about the crazy American with so much stuff on his bike. But about two miles down the road I said to myself, "Tom, you idiot, they were probably yelling, 'Hey, mister can you help us -- we're stuck in the mud!'"
I knew they wouldn't speak English and I also didn't want to ride all the way back. I didn't want to get my cycling shoes all muddy as it would make it hard to clip into my pedals. But then I remembered all the people who had helped me when it wasn't remotely their problem or duty to do so. I made myself go back and ride down the hill.
The boys came over and I motioned toward the wagon and then to me. They got it that I had come back to try to help them get it out of the mud. Their eyes got real wide. I grabbed the handle and motioned for them to push the wagon from behind. It took two attempts and every ounce of strength I had -- and their added pushing -- but we got that wagon out of the huge crater it was in. The kids were so happy. I'm pretty sure their dad had sent them out to get it and they would have been in big trouble if they didn't bring it in! They were thrilled, we shook hands, and I left feeling like Superman. It was great.
Some day if they are standing around with their Polish friends and someone is bad-mouthing America they may say, "Hey, we were in big trouble once and this American guy on a bike actually turned around and came back to help us." I'm convinced that in these times with so much bad news and people hating each other (without even knowing each other most of the time) that people traveling and meeting and helping one another, one at a time, is the way to make things better on this planet.
July 17, 2005 --
I made it to Sweden on the ferry and have been riding against a cold wind all day on three hours of very bad sleep on the overnight ferry. A long, frustrating ride against a 40-mph headwind! I am hoping my pocketmail device is still working.
July 19, 2005 -- If it stops raining, Sweden will be OK --
definitely more English speakers, which makes everything easier. It rained all night last night. I was quite fortunate that I didn't end up camping. I stopped at three separate youth hostels in Hellsingborg, Sweden, and they were all full. As it was getting dark, someone told me about an old Swedish woman who had a room for rent sign in front of her house. I rang the bell and she didn't speak a word of English. Somehow I managed to rent the room and get in out of the rain -- although it was raining as I packed up the bike in her back yard this morning -- and it is looks like no end in sight for the rain today along the coast. ... From a phone booth in the rain in Jonsport, Sweden.
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