Hello all. I am writing this post from Saarbrucken in Germany. That means we have crossed out of France, so we now have three border crossings down out of seven. It is kind of incredible how quickly we are traveling. The riding for Day 15 was really nice and went really well, for the most part.
We started out around 9:00 after saying our goodbyes to our hosts in Strasbourg. They were really very nice people and provided us with a big breakfast in the morning. The riding out of Strasbourg was interesting. Something must have been going on because there were hundreds of people (mostly women) out riding their bikes all in matching high visibility clothing. After we navigated our way through this horde it was easy riding along canals for the next 25 miles. At the 25 mile mark we exited the canal paths and started to climb into the hills. It was at this point that we found out that we had made a huge mistake... We had left our rain jackets in our hosts' house in Strasbourg. We had another 60 miles to ride still ahead of us and it was sunny and beautiful so we decided there was no way we would turn around to go get them. The weather really was beautiful and the climbs long and gentle. The road we were on climbed into the hills and then ducked through a couple towns.
Eventually, that road ended and we started down a dirt path. The next thing we knew we are doing some easy level mountain biking through mud and water. This stretch of riding was actually a lot of fun, it was slow going, but since neither of us fell it was a lot of fun. At the end of the trail our bikes looked nice and dirty.
We eventually made it to the top of the hills, with some great views, and then started crossing some small rolling hills that were in general losing elevation, so this just meant some fun downhill riding.
At one point it did start to rain, but only a little and after hiding under a tree for a few minutes it passed. We continued making our way down getting closer to where we were meeting one of our hosts (he wanted to meet us outside of Saarbrucken and ride in with us). About 4 miles away though, it started to rain. We were on a small dirt road a quarter mile or so from the last town, so we found a few trees and decided to wait it out again. This time that plan backfired. The light easy raining turned into a massive downpour with thunder and lightning. After we were soaked through and our dirt road had turned into a river we decided to head back to the town we had just passed for real shelter. We found a little roof on the train station (which was closed...) and waited out the rest of the storm. All in all it poured for around an hour. Eventually the rain stopped, we tried to dry ourselves as much as possible and then made our way to where we were meeting the host. We made it and met up and then finished the day with some easy riding along a canal into Saarbrucken (it was like another 25 miles of riding).
Riding back with our host Torsten (in the red jacket)
Once in Saarbrucken, we got to the host's house (met our other host) and showered and sat down to dinner. Our host made Dibbelabbes, which is a traditional Saarland dish very similar to a hash in the States. The meal was delicious and we had a pleasant time sitting and eating with them.
Tomorrow we make our way to Luxembourg City in Luxembourg. It should be a shorter ride, only around 60 miles, but we are exhausted from our ride today so it is to bed. So I say best wishes and until next time.
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