Munster (France) to Freiburg (Germany)

June 7th
70km (433m vertical)

First day of cycling with the group. It rained last night but stopped as we got up, although it was overcast all day. I got up at 6:20am, which was about average for the group. Breakfast was porridge at 7:15am and we started cycling around 7:45am.

My “day bag” was really full this morning. I should have packed better...or just less. Some of the stuff might fit in my “permanent bag”, which we can only access on rest days. Since tomorrow is a rest day, I can play around with it tonight.

After several long wet days, everyone else was happy for a dry short ride today and their first hotel stay since Paris. I rode with Al and the only other people under 40 – Nicole, Manon and Graham. They are three friends from Australia that are also doing the full trip to Beijing. Very friendly and chatty. Good that we all get along, because we'll see a lot of each other over the next 6 months.

The ride itself was nothing special. The roads were pretty busy and the weather was pretty dull. We rode across the Rhine and into Germany with little fanfare. No border crossing. No passport check. Only one small, very plain looking sign.

I noticed a slow leak in one of my tires, so I changed the tube at the side of the road. My first flat in several years, if you can believe it. Small piece of glass in the tire. Then Manon got a flat and broke the valve on her new tube, so she had to replace the tube twice. Three tube changes in 70km seemed a bit excessive.

Our hotel tonight is nice. Everyone has left their bikes in the parking garage, and set up their tents there too to dry. After showers we'll head into town for dinner.