Grumpy Old Men On Bikes

As you may have guessed, my commitment to blogging is less than total at the moment.  The trip is running very smoothly and, while this is obviously quite desirable in many ways, it isn't the stuff of hilarious blog anecdotes. Anyone reading the above who thought 'that doesn't normally stop him ' can sod off! We have been to Vienna (it meant nothing to me) and Bratislava (nice place - worth a visit......that is just an opinion not a song reference) and are now working our way through Goulash territory.  Last time I was here I was quite rude about the Hungarians ('surely not?' I hear you say) but I think I may have been hasty.  Last night we had an excellent meal in the central square in Gyor while some passably talented musicians tormented various stringed instruments.  The annual wine festival was on so..... when in Rome........well, you know what I mean. We have 1.5 days to run into Budapest before the long drive home.  I have just realis...

Yesterday was a rest day in Austria's 3rd largest city - Linz.  After a bit of bike cleaning and fettling most people went off to do tourist shit.  I lay on my bed and read or watched TV and generally enjoyed not being at the beck and call of 9 people.  To round off a very pleasant day we went to a chinese buffet - possibly my favourite dining option.  The chicken, as always, was rubbery. Today it is back on the road.  We have been past Mauthausen - where the Germans built some lovely 'holiday camps' during WW2.  Speaking of the Germans - our 'how many medals did you win?' game is getting a bit dull now the gap is so huge and we are no longer in Germany.  I am keeping myself busy while waiting for the cyclists by researching a ride in China where the medal question game will be brilliant. We have probably done about 500 miles so far and I reckon that fewer than 50 have been done on roads.  The provision for cyclists is universally ...

We have been on the road for a week now and the sun is still shining!  Because of this I prefer to bask in the sun while checking the inside of my eyelids rather than writing this bollocks, hence the lack of news lately.  So, what has been happening? Our day in the Danube Gorge took an unwelcome turn when one of the bikes suffered a major mechanical in Ingolstadt.  It needed both a part and a tool that we don't carry so we threw it in the back of the van and set off to the bike shop.  Well, I say 'shop' but that is selling it a bit short.  It was so vast that there was a test track INSIDE the building. To give you some idea of the scale I have attached a photo of just the saddle section.  There are similar displays for every part imaginable.  You should have seen the dust cap department!! Our next day ended in Straubing where the 2nd largest beer festival in Germany was under way....or rather it would have ended there if it was possible to...

This week I have been mostly eating schnitzel!   We are now on Day 4 and the sun just shines and shines.  Everyone seems to be having a good time.  Despite the easy terrain they finish late because they spend much of the day stopping for coffee or ice cream, or to visit some spot of tourist interest.  Meanwhile I park up and sit in my special tour leading chair worrying about them.  To the casual observer I may appear to be asleep but that just shows you how good I am at tour leading - one should always appear calm, even under immense pressure. Yesterday we finished in Donauworth, a pretty and wealthy town on the river and tonight  we will be in Kelheim, having taken a short ferry ride through the fabulous Danube Gorge.  However, the last ferry is 6:30 and they all took a one hour coffee stop then went to look at frescoes so they may be facing the road alternate which adds 4 miles and a sodding great hill.  Snigger. The big c...

We have a spiffing new game.  Each morning at breakfast we wander over to any Germans in the room and say 'Good morning, how many medals do you now have?'.  It is clear from the replies that some Germans are not completely over the previous thrasings we dealt out in 66 and 39-45. The weather and riding continue to be horrible - today we again had clear blue skies and temperatures in the high 20's.  The nature of the route means that riders are on dedicated cycle paths for 90% of the time so everyone can gawp at the scenery and take snaps to their hearts content.  As suport driver and bag shifter I have fewer opportinitues for photography and my modest snaps considerably under sell the trip!  On the plus side, I have lots of time for sunbathing and the odd brief eyelid inspection. Sweeping involves cycling very slowly, stopping a lot and eating lots of cakes.  I think Knobby may turn out to be one of the very best we have. We are no...

Last summer I rode the Danube from its source in Donaueschingen to Budapest.  That was a research trip and the fruits of that labour is the first outing with paying customers which started on Saturday. I am ably assited......well, assisted anyway...... by good old Knobby so I suppose this counts as an outing of the Grumpy Old Men.  Therefore it qualifies for a few blog entries. We have just 9 punters, nearly all are known to me and they are a nice bunch so I am looking forward to a nice relaxing holiday ...err...job....yes, definitely job, especially if beloved is reading this! Yesterday was a cracking start with 57 miles from the source and through a deep shady gorge to Sigmaringen.  The sun shone and shone, there wasn't a breath of wind and everyone had a miserable time (still reading Dear?).   We are grappling with the cusine which is, naturally, heavily pork and cabbage based but it is all washed down with splendidly inexpensive beer so wh...