Long ride today, 140Km. Also a fair amount of climbing. Not like Greece but still we felt it. We started the day in a drizzle and right out of the hotel we started climbing. It felt like the hill was nearly vertical and the climb kept going. But eventually we got to the top and then most of the rest of the ride was down hill. Most of the day we traveled next to the river Neckar. It started out fairly small but eventually got so large that there were tourist boats and large barges on the river. I rode most of the day with Michael and Dean and we kept a pretty decent pace. We were the first ones in by at least a half hour. It was a long ride and took us about 7 1/2 hours. Other than being tired I feel pretty good right now even though I didn’t get much sleep last night since my back injury starting really hurting again and kept waking me up.
We are losing another leader today. Sharita fell and injured her back. I don’t know the details but it may have been when she was out posting flags. Each day they mark the route with orange ribbons to help us navigate. When we are only on roads they can do this from their van but when we are on bike trails someone has to ride ahead and put the flags out. I think she had a fall while out doing this. Some of the trails are a challenge. In any case she is leaving the group today to go home and get some treatment.
It turns out that the airplane parts on the steps of the town hall that I mentioned yesterday are for a play. Today is Corpus Christi day which is a holiday in most of Germany. There are plays, church services and parades. Many businesses are closed today. On some of our routes through the small cities we rode where the parades had been and the streets were covered with flower petals.
The route was very pretty today and I have posted a variety of pictures. There were many castles on the hill sides and I posted pictures of a few.
Tomorrow is a rest day here in Heidelberg and then we only have six more days of riding.
