Our start took place around 14:30 in Essen. Two photographers of the local press were also there, so our starting time got delayed a bit. The first kilometers were excellent; it was quite cold but sunny and the route was really scenic. For the first day 118 kilometers were planned in theory. After around 40 kilometers we had to give up our escort Holger (on the bicycle) due to pain and technical problems with the bike. Luckily, Matthias agreed to keep riding with us instead of Holger. Of course the repacking cost more time and it was already shortly before 6 p.m. when we rode on. With the sunset it became quite cold, but it was still bearable. When shortly afterwards the daylight was gone completely (from kilometer 60 on), the temperature sank below zero. After we found a formation with a torch powered by a dynamo and a high-quality battery-operated bike light in which we could ride reasonably safely (Jan first in Arne's cone of light followed by Matthias on the bike for safety) we rode kilometer after kilometer. To make matters worse it was also foggy in places. The river couldn't been seen for a long time; only the purling was audible sometimes from the right, sometimes from the left hand side. Drinking and eating got more and more difficult. Any water bottle was frozen after a few minutes. Luckily, there were petrol stations for the food! Of course we got lost a few times. Without much light even a rather well sign-posted cycle way is not always foolproof.
However, worst of all was my mistake towards the end of this stage. I got the name of a friend's home town where we were supposed to stay over night completely wrong! So we rode 10 kilometers too far at 6 degrees below zero (even though on our map the place was correctly signed). The only positive thing out of that was that we knew the first 10 kilometers of the following day. After a couple of frozen pizzas and several liters of liquid we fall into bed dead tired.
Distance 134km
Ascend 495m
Descend 381m
Soft Gravel 10 km
Night Riding 74 km
Extreme Temp 64 km
Time riding 7:45 h
Objective Rating 277 Subjective rating 229 Final rating 506
2/17/2008
331
It began in Neheim again with very cold (2 degrees), but beautiful weather. Planned were 82 km with a lot of difference in altitude up to the spring of the river. After a good breakfast we headed towards Arnsberg. There we had another press conference for almost an hour. All in all the press seemed to be very interested and so some passers-by who read the announcement in the paper wished us luck and fun. After 40 km Holger who drove to Meschede by car surprised us with a provision station, contributing not only calories but also motivation for the upcoming 40 km. In the morning we changed the cranks from 114mm to 125mm which turned out to be absolutely necessary, because we rode consistently uphill. Partly the track shouldn't have been signed as a cycle track. A short-cut lead us over roots, trees and frozen mud; falling off could not have really been avoided there. Slopes with up to 16% made us exasperated, especially when we realised that our hard gained difference in altitude was soon taken with a much too short descent. It was planned to reach the spring in daylight, but the devil had a pact with the tube. Shortly after Ohlsberg I had a puncture. And of course it was the worst place for it: no cyclists, no living area, let alone a petrol station nearby. With a lot of improvisation and teamwork we successed in repairing the "car"- tube... and pumped 0,5 bar into it with a bicycle pump!!! I wanted to ride to the next small town in order to pump the tube to 3 bar again at a petrol station. The next 4 km in the direction of Assinghausen were the most exhausting for me. Like a beginner I wobbled at bendings and simply wished for a working pump. Jan and Matthias rode ahead from this time on. In Assinghausen I missed the petrol station (as it wasn't located along a cycle track!), but luckily I found a family who offered to help out with their air compressor. Thanks to those helping angels I would have been unable to get myself over to the mountain. Jan was around 4 km ahead of me at this time and of course it was already dark. Since I was the only one with the map and light, I was allowed to catch up. After Jan told me on the phone that he was only one kilometer in front of the spring, I expected to meet him at the spring after a few minutes. However, when I arrived at the parking area I could only see Matthias who said that Jan was too fast for him and had lost him. So the two of us rode together through the dark forest with frozen bits and partly snow up to the spring where we met Holger with his car but no Jan. But 5 minutes later he arrived. He missed a sign 400 meters before the spring and ended up riding 1.8 km up the mountain and down again (including falling off). After a total of 217 km (Jan a few more) and a difference in altitude of 1329 meters we could not resist to cool our bare feet in the spring of the Ruhr despite the sub-zero temperatures.
Canada here we come!
Distance 83km
Ascend 834m
Descend 313m
Soft Gravel 17 km
MUni 2 km
Night Riding 10 km
Time riding 5:44 h
Objective Rating 174 Subjective rating 43 Prev Day Carryover 114 Final rating 331