Report - Rennsteig bicycle path in one day
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Rennsteig bicycle path - in one day
14 June 2012 - the “history of suffering” Tour de Rennsteig behind me. Fun aside - I was well prepared, went optimistically to the start and looked forward to the project for a long time.
My goal, → the Rennsteig bicycle path over the Thuringia montain range with a trekking bike on its entire route in a single day - over 199 km and about 3000 altimeters - from Blankenstein at the River Saale to Hörschel at the River Werra.
What hardly anyone thought possible, I had the project implemented - and was in the end amazed myself to have done it.
The route is the goal …
On the way I was with my well steamed trekking wheel brand “Diamant” with → Speedhub-Rohloff bicycle circuit, with the project of just tires, replacement hoses and the necessary tools, careful nutrition, plenty of water and appropriate clothing.
At night 2:30 clock I started at the Rennsteig start in Blankenstein on the Saale. I crossed the entire Rennsteig about Thuringia montain range with mostly Mountainbike claim on its approx. 200 km long bike route (with total ascents of approximately 3000 height meters). On the same day in the evening, around 22:30, I reached the village Hörschel by the little river Werra. Health care - Everything o.K. - except for heavily bruised hips, broken knees and a tear in the calf from which still my thin blood ran.
At least two dozen times I was just before towel throwing. But I am coined: “Soldiers do not die, they go.” The first six hours of continuous rain at about seven degrees. The second half was “cobblestone” with heavily traveled heights. The real challenge - perseverance. My experience from history formulated somewhat jokingly: “Stay a good man, in order not to experience the hell in the hereafter.” 😉
To make it straight forward: Untrained, I advise against this cycle path to absolve. Various Internet specialist pages on the subject of bicycle travels indicate that this route can also be met by a few trainers in several stages. But this has probably more promotional reasons, but may be so - depending on the angle of view. However, a large part of the way is marked by a constant up and down, steep, long ascents and difficult forest paths.
Anyone who has already won a few hundred heights a day with a bike knows the claim. However, the Rennsteig cycle path has a total climb of almost three thousand meters. The road has always been trodden by miles of forestry machines or straightened in other sections with coarse gravel. Thus, on long sections, there is always a regular balancing act that is time-consuming and effective.
The Prädikat “Bicycle Trail” is probably misleading and should rather get the name “mountain bike test track”.
For almost two years I have trained to meet the requirements of such a route. Every weekend two cycling trips - each driven between thirty and eighty kilometers tight and non-stop - even in winter at minus ten degrees. The way to the finish was somewhat unusual - especially the fact that I owe this life to my life.
How all began …
A few months before my fiftieth, I took the opportunity to think more than usual about the past decades, but also to listen to my body. Actually, I had no reason to complain. Only - I wanted to set myself new targets. At the same time, I noticed that the physical fitness was “on the descending branch”. In my youth in regular performance training, I had worked the following decades, as well as to regenerate myself. The time problem was always the decisive argument to reject a sporting compensation.
So I said to myself, let you check times and start at the same time a regular sporting balance. That was almost two years ago. The result: My new bike showed me just in time under chronic load a burning in the chest area. My housekeeper advised me to become a cardiologist. As a result I took a heart stent 12 months before the Rennsteigtour on vacation, in order to reopen an almost closed heart main coronary vessel.
While the cardiologist pushed the stent into my heart, I wondered about my future, other projects, and the Energy Web. On the second day, I rewound again a thirty-kilometer-kilometer track. I was freed again. On the operating table I decided, among other things, to complete the entire Rennsteigradweg in June 2012 in one day.
And so it went on uphill. But that was not all. 4 months before the Rennsteig-Tour was a heart-follow-up. The doctor was enthusiastic about my above-average good values under the performance ECG. My guardian angel told her, however, to examine something more than just the heart. So, by chance, a drought-drowning was also happening. In my head, the carotid artery was almost completely blocked, and next to it threatened a boisterous aneurysm to burst at any time.
Now it was not a short treatment. On 27 February there was a new, third birthday for me. Three weeks later, my training went on.
But actually the prehistory is not yet at an end. Anyway - my motto: “Curiosity is your guide in the jungle of ignorance.” Experiences, new ideas and ways go hand in hand with those who shape their lives. My basic attitude always - I do not have to prove anything to anyone - only myself.
A quarter of a year later …
... in June 2012 - did I consider everything organizationally? Physically, I feel well prepared. The nights are short. In a pension at the Rennsteig start (or end?) I slept a few hours. Still, it’s still dark when I start. It is around 1:45 in the morning - only 5 degrees and it rains.
Right at the beginning I travel a few kilometers and so must go back to the starting point. Somehow the GPS did not play along. Again at 2:30 a restart.
In the luggage I have a stone from the Saale near Blankenstein. “I want to do it - on this day.” This is the pre-eminent thing that is going on my way all the way from the Saale to the Werra over the Rennsteigöhen.
Oh yes - the prescription of the cardiologist should I adhere - the pulse is not over 160. This monitor my outdoor navi and bike computer. By the way, the Rennsteig runs fifteen kilometers through the Frankenwald in the adjoining federal state.
Between some photos. The planned breaks I have long since no longer respected. Every now and then I think of a short recovery phase - if it fits. Along the way, I find only half a dozen Rennsteig hikers apart from forestry workers. Is the weather or the European Championship match of the Germans the day before?
In the end I find it hard to get down. Falls do not stop - get up, move on. Fortunately, the tires carefully selected in the preparation. They actually held what the manufacturer promised: “Uncladable.” The excitement, cold, exasperation and fatigue are extremely important to me. Cold wetness in the first third made me doubt in the beginning.
In the second part, however, the section between Oberhof and Brotterode over the Inselsberg becomes an unforgettable torture - especially because of the very poor navigability. “Just do not go again,” I think. I will not believe it. A Chinese proverb says: “The way is the goal”. I add, “Beware of the challenge and go your chosen way.”
On the last fifteen kilometers, I can unfold again miraculously power reserves.
Late in the evening around 10:30 pm on the fourteenth of June 2012 after twenty hours of tour I have implemented the project. My daughter knew I could do it. The stone from the Saale lands with a litter in the Werra near Hörschel.
What will be my next goal beyond fifty-two?
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Rennsteig Bicykle Trail - Touring and trekking details, high profile
Links about the Rennsteig cycle path
- www.rennsteig.net/radreisen/rennsteigradweg/
- www.radreise-wiki.de/Rennsteig/
- die Route unter Goggle-Maps
- ADFC-Bericht
- www.frankenwald.bayern-online.de/die-region/aktiv/sport/wandern-wanderwege/rennsteig/
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