Gixxerman
Guru
- Location
- Market Rasen
Just thought I would take some time to recap my experiences of cycling in Erlangen, Germany.
I had to go to work meetings for 2 days (Tuesday and Wednesday).
The nearest approved hotel I could find was about 3km from the work site. I was intending to walk to work. However, when I was booking the hotel, I noticed that they rented cycles for free, so I planned to cycle to work instead.
Due to flight times, I could not fly out on the day of the meeting, so had to fly out on the Monday (uk bank holiday). As I would be getting to the hotel about 10:00am this would give most of Monday free. So I planned a 30mile ride through the (very large) Tennenlohe forest. I arrived to the sight of a lovely sunny morning and little wind - perfect cycling weather. As I had been up since 02:00am, I had a quick power nap for 2 hours and then went to get the bike out. The first bike I was given had a flat tyre. So I had to go back and get the key to another bike (not the best start). It was a typical town bike, with a step through frame, 3 speed sturmey archer style gears and dynamo lights (see attached photo). It also seemed to only have a front brake (no rear brake lever) - kind of odd I thought, but I could live with it. It was not up to my usual standard of steed, but it was still a bike and that was fine with me. I had to remove the basket off the front to preserve a little pride. So I set off, and almost fell off the first time I stopped as the back wheel locked up for some bizarre reason. After a bit of experimentation the reason was found - if you pedal backwards, the rear brake is applied. Hmmm I thought. This could be interesting. But I soon got used to it and there were no further rear wheel related incidents.
Anyway, the route I had chosen also went close to the work site, so I could do a bit of a reccy to find the route and get an estimate of the travelling time whilst under no time constraints. The route was a gravel track through a park and then through some woods, then a short section of road to the work site. All in all about 15 mins taking it fairly easily. So back to my route, which was a nice circular route of gravel roads / tracks. It was a very enjoyable day, and very nice scenery, in glorious sunshine (see attached photo). I was surprised just how many bikes I saw despite it being a normal working Monday afternoon (note it was not a bank hol in Germany as it was here). So about 3 and a bit hours later I am back at the hotel with a big smile on my face.
As I had some spare time and the sun was still shining and what with me being an engineer, which means that I cannot ignore broken things, I deceided to mend the puncture on the orginal bike. In the garage where they stored the bikes, there were some spares, some pucture repair stuff and a small selection of tools. I couldn't get the back wheel out as I couldn't find any spanners. But the tyre was soon off and the tube out and repaired. Whilst I was waiting to see if the tube stayed up and decided to replace the front brake blocks on my bike as they were so worn that I had run out of adjustment on the cable adjuster. I also lube the chain. The tube stayed up so the tyre was refitted and both bikes were good to go. Only a bike mad engineer would do this :-). When I told the receptionist of my bike fixing spree she was more than a little shocked. She told me that I should have just told her and they would have fixed them. I said it was no problem. I quite enjoy fixing bikes anyhow and she did thank me by giving me free beer for the duration of my stay. Result! :-)
Things that I noticed.
1) The bike was fine despite my initial concerns about its pedigree. The only issue it had was that 2nd gear sometimes did not work. But it wasn't an issue as 3rd gear was not that tall as to make it unridable as there are very few hills in Erlangen.
2) What a lovely way it is to get to / from work by cycling through a forest. Even when it rained on the second morning it was still ok (I had taken the precaution of taking my waterproofs with me). I only wish I could commute ike this to my work over here. Sadly I can't.
3) Just how many people cycle. There are cycles everywhere. The meeting we had is a regular occurance and is held every 6 months over 2 days and includes colleagues from all over Europe. It is tradition that the hosts always treat us to an evening event, which is normally a few beers and a meal. The restaurant we were to meet at was in the city centre about 2.5 miles from my hotel (the others were in hotels that were much closer and so walked). So, as it was such a nice evening, I decided to cycle instead of getting a taxi. I thought that it might be seen as a bit odd to do this (uk thinking). But when I got into the city, there were bikes, bikes and bikes galore. There were bike parks everywhere and they were all full to bursting. There were bikes locked to just about every immovable object there was available. I found a place to lock mine near the restaurant. I later found out that one of my local colleagues had also cycled, so I wasn't alone. I nice meal and 3 weissbiers (hmmmm) later I was cycling back. The lights were not brilliant, but adequate as I was on illuminated purpose made cycle paths most of the time. Which brings me to:-
4) There are purpose built cycle paths in abundance and they are well thought out and smooth surfaced and most are illuminated. Where they were on a road, they are whitelined off like here, but the roads are so much wider so lots of room and no close passes, which brings me to:-
5) Just how cycle friendly everyone was. This includes drivers. There were no close passes. Drivers would wait patiently behind you until it was safe to pass. Not once did any driver show any sort and anger or frustration or lack of patience. I was preasently shocked TBH. One particular incident demonstrates this nicely. I was cycling down a road side cycle lane. A van had pulled out of a side road and was waiting for gap in the traffic to pull out. He had pulled out far enough such that he was blocking the cycle lane. As I approached I started to slow down expecting that I would have to stop. However, the driver saw me approacing, put his hand up in appology and reversed back to clear the route for me to go past. I waved a thank you carried on my merry, but no less stunned way.
If only cycling could be like this over here. Wishful thinking.
I had to go to work meetings for 2 days (Tuesday and Wednesday).
The nearest approved hotel I could find was about 3km from the work site. I was intending to walk to work. However, when I was booking the hotel, I noticed that they rented cycles for free, so I planned to cycle to work instead.
Due to flight times, I could not fly out on the day of the meeting, so had to fly out on the Monday (uk bank holiday). As I would be getting to the hotel about 10:00am this would give most of Monday free. So I planned a 30mile ride through the (very large) Tennenlohe forest. I arrived to the sight of a lovely sunny morning and little wind - perfect cycling weather. As I had been up since 02:00am, I had a quick power nap for 2 hours and then went to get the bike out. The first bike I was given had a flat tyre. So I had to go back and get the key to another bike (not the best start). It was a typical town bike, with a step through frame, 3 speed sturmey archer style gears and dynamo lights (see attached photo). It also seemed to only have a front brake (no rear brake lever) - kind of odd I thought, but I could live with it. It was not up to my usual standard of steed, but it was still a bike and that was fine with me. I had to remove the basket off the front to preserve a little pride. So I set off, and almost fell off the first time I stopped as the back wheel locked up for some bizarre reason. After a bit of experimentation the reason was found - if you pedal backwards, the rear brake is applied. Hmmm I thought. This could be interesting. But I soon got used to it and there were no further rear wheel related incidents.
Anyway, the route I had chosen also went close to the work site, so I could do a bit of a reccy to find the route and get an estimate of the travelling time whilst under no time constraints. The route was a gravel track through a park and then through some woods, then a short section of road to the work site. All in all about 15 mins taking it fairly easily. So back to my route, which was a nice circular route of gravel roads / tracks. It was a very enjoyable day, and very nice scenery, in glorious sunshine (see attached photo). I was surprised just how many bikes I saw despite it being a normal working Monday afternoon (note it was not a bank hol in Germany as it was here). So about 3 and a bit hours later I am back at the hotel with a big smile on my face.
As I had some spare time and the sun was still shining and what with me being an engineer, which means that I cannot ignore broken things, I deceided to mend the puncture on the orginal bike. In the garage where they stored the bikes, there were some spares, some pucture repair stuff and a small selection of tools. I couldn't get the back wheel out as I couldn't find any spanners. But the tyre was soon off and the tube out and repaired. Whilst I was waiting to see if the tube stayed up and decided to replace the front brake blocks on my bike as they were so worn that I had run out of adjustment on the cable adjuster. I also lube the chain. The tube stayed up so the tyre was refitted and both bikes were good to go. Only a bike mad engineer would do this :-). When I told the receptionist of my bike fixing spree she was more than a little shocked. She told me that I should have just told her and they would have fixed them. I said it was no problem. I quite enjoy fixing bikes anyhow and she did thank me by giving me free beer for the duration of my stay. Result! :-)
Things that I noticed.
1) The bike was fine despite my initial concerns about its pedigree. The only issue it had was that 2nd gear sometimes did not work. But it wasn't an issue as 3rd gear was not that tall as to make it unridable as there are very few hills in Erlangen.
2) What a lovely way it is to get to / from work by cycling through a forest. Even when it rained on the second morning it was still ok (I had taken the precaution of taking my waterproofs with me). I only wish I could commute ike this to my work over here. Sadly I can't.
3) Just how many people cycle. There are cycles everywhere. The meeting we had is a regular occurance and is held every 6 months over 2 days and includes colleagues from all over Europe. It is tradition that the hosts always treat us to an evening event, which is normally a few beers and a meal. The restaurant we were to meet at was in the city centre about 2.5 miles from my hotel (the others were in hotels that were much closer and so walked). So, as it was such a nice evening, I decided to cycle instead of getting a taxi. I thought that it might be seen as a bit odd to do this (uk thinking). But when I got into the city, there were bikes, bikes and bikes galore. There were bike parks everywhere and they were all full to bursting. There were bikes locked to just about every immovable object there was available. I found a place to lock mine near the restaurant. I later found out that one of my local colleagues had also cycled, so I wasn't alone. I nice meal and 3 weissbiers (hmmmm) later I was cycling back. The lights were not brilliant, but adequate as I was on illuminated purpose made cycle paths most of the time. Which brings me to:-
4) There are purpose built cycle paths in abundance and they are well thought out and smooth surfaced and most are illuminated. Where they were on a road, they are whitelined off like here, but the roads are so much wider so lots of room and no close passes, which brings me to:-
5) Just how cycle friendly everyone was. This includes drivers. There were no close passes. Drivers would wait patiently behind you until it was safe to pass. Not once did any driver show any sort and anger or frustration or lack of patience. I was preasently shocked TBH. One particular incident demonstrates this nicely. I was cycling down a road side cycle lane. A van had pulled out of a side road and was waiting for gap in the traffic to pull out. He had pulled out far enough such that he was blocking the cycle lane. As I approached I started to slow down expecting that I would have to stop. However, the driver saw me approacing, put his hand up in appology and reversed back to clear the route for me to go past. I waved a thank you carried on my merry, but no less stunned way.
If only cycling could be like this over here. Wishful thinking.
