Oder Neisse radweg - II

Going southwards on Oder-Neisse radweg from Frankfurt (oder), I planned to reach Cottbus. The usual wrestling with online maps revealed a rough estimate of ~120 km to reach Cottbus if I were to travel along the radweg to Forst and then hit the motorway. (or atleast normal streets)

The problem this time was finding the trail. I got stuck on the L381 (it had a cycle lane thankfully) but after reaching Lossow where it met with the highway(L112) I had to scamper to find the radweg. It is here that I could quantify the effect strong wind has been having on my trips of late. With no wind in the afternoon, I hit an average 24kmph easily and reached Eisenhuttenstadt.
After reaching Neuzelle, the terrain became hilly(or I should say slopy as the road was still very good). Tall trees with creepers growing along their lengths were to be found along the way.

Somewhere between Eisenhuttenstadt and Guben, I came across this piece of (farm?)land. On closer inspection, the sandy parts seemed like they'd been recently harvested.
Its been a long time I must admit, since I just lay down in the grass in broad daylight.

In Guben, I found this beautiful street. Germany's answer to Japan's sakura?

And finally the object of much shame, disgust, disgrace et al. The plan was to go to Cottbus, (from where I would catch a train back to Frankfurt oder), but it seems the distance mentioned in the maps was erroneous. If I were to take the radweg, Forst would be 40 km and Cottbus a further 25km (this on the highway). On the other hand If I took the normal road to Cottbus, I had option of taking L380(33km) or L112(45km) and I went by road leading out to L380 until I reached this junction.


Speed Limit of 80kmph and hardly any space to dodge. A Car every 5-10 sec at 18:30. Long story short, after about 15 min of trying to find another way around it, I turned tail, rode back to Guben's railway station and took a train back home at 19:44. A ride of 75-80km had never felt so incomplete.

Oder Neisse Radweg

Followed the recipe from last saturday. The target this time - Oder Neisse Cycling trail. Its a cycling way along the river (the small print being for most part which I conveniently didn't notice). Without a map, I ended up in this slush:
Navigating my way through it, I managed to reach this small hillock. A customary hike to the top meant it was already 16:30 and I had to get back to find the route.

The path promised a lot. Far from vehicles zooming past you and threatening to grind you to pieces and a lot of greenery on either side with river in sight for the best part.
However, this dream crashed as soon as I passed Lebus. Here the road was more open and it was mighty tough riding against a stiff breeze blowing at 20-30 km/h.


It got bad enough that I thought of returning from Reitwein, but I'm glad I stuck through till the end.

Only trouble is cold wind that keeps blowing into you numbs your hands completely. I saw a couple of fawns, a deer, and some other animal I couldn't identify and a number of birds. But, by the time I could get the camera out , it would get away. At one point, I tried to unzip my blazer so quickly that I'm sure the fawn ran away just from the sound.
And I did see a couple of hunting wagons parked by the way. My imaginative brain, already on a high due to the breathtaking surroundings began dreaming of getting hit by a stray bullet from these hunters.

Kostrzyn - Check

Trip to poland

A late night on friday and I was thinking that a trip across the country was as probable as the nice lady* at immigration office gift wrapping my visa and coming home to deliver it as a belated valentine's gift. Waking up at 11 and lazily dragging myself off to the gym just reinforced that belief as it was already 3 in the afternoon by the time I'd showered and settled down.
Having cold cereal (brunch? lunch? evening snack? ) gave me a brainwave(Damn! I should've paid heed to this warning)

But off I went taking my cycle along
Make that "when I got onto my bicycle"

I came to the bridge across the stream that people here like to call "river Oder", on the other side of which lay the sister town of Slubice(Poland). Lured by the promise of unspoken riches and unbelievable beauty, I cycled across the bridge and to circle from one end to the other for about an hour when I saw a road leading out.

On cycling a bit further and out of slubice, I found a sign that said
"kunowice :3km
Osno lubuskie :26km."

A 3km stretch didn't seem like much so I went to kunowice. Ofcourse, I had to make sure that I saw the entire town/village/settlement, so I cycled to the place where they have "town ends" sing - A board with a red line striking across the town's name.

There was another sign next to the "town ends" that read "Nowe Biskupice : 4km".
I had to see this. So off I went again, and in the same way the villages of Sullow, Kowalow, Serbow were all graced by my cycle's presence. Having come this far, I also dragged myself off to Osno Lubuskie. By this time it was already 5:30 in the evening and I thought it prudent to head back when the sun is still shining.
Although I didn't take a camera with me I found this picture of town hall in Osno Lubuskie, at the poland tourism center. Hope they don't mind it.


Thus I fell victim to the devious trap of the Poles who put tempting signs that to me read
"Come one, Come all, Next village is only 3 km ahead. Don't miss this opportunity..."

The road map
View Larger Map

Talking shit about a pretty sunset

Oh, noose
Tied myself in, tied myself too tight

Looking kind of anxious in your cross-armed stance
Like a bad tempered prom queen at a homecoming dance
And I claim I'm not excited with my life anymore
So I blame this town, this job, these friends, the truth is it's myself
And I'm trying to understand myself and pinpoint who I am
When I finally get it figured out, I've changed the whole damn plan

Oh, noose
Tied myself in, tied myself too tight
Oh, noose
Tied myself in, tied myself too tight

Talking shit about a pretty sunset
Blanketing opinions that I'll probably regret soon
Changed my mind so much I can't even trust it
My mind changed me so much I can't even trust myself

-Modest Mouse

* My troubles with the hot lady in Immigration/Foreign office here in Frankfurt(oder) who has made me visit the same office 5 times and still not issued the schengen visa required for my real eurotrip are beyond the scope of this study.

Trip to beeskov

Another Saturday and another last minute plan. Thought of going to Beeskow and Mullrose lake and coming back. Google maps solved most of the initial issues and set me rolling on course. It was to be ~80km roundtrip and on a warm Febrauary day(11C) I was on the way without even wearing my windcheater.

All was good until I reached this fork.



With beauty(ies) all around, I was flying in the clouds, hands off my handle and eyes all over the place and suddenly was brought crashing down to reality. Agreed that I was just finishing the first line of "keep your eyes off the road and your hands off the handle", but didn't irony have any other clients today?

That left me lying on the ground face up for a minute before I gathered my senses and looked around for the cycle. Other than a few bends (which i could iron out ) it was ok. And I set off for Mullrose lake.


From here, Beeskow was about 19km. Worst part was nearly 13km of these had to be negotiated on the mini highway.(speed limits of upto 80km/hr)
I had to stick to the right of that white line for this 13 km (including 4km on B168). A stiff breeze of 11m/s(courtesy weather.com) and the mental pressure left me nearly drained. Unfortunately my friend in Beeskow wasn't home, so I just looked around and then started back. A brilliant sunset and (thankfully) an uneventful last leg marked the end of the day. Its only after I come home that I was reminded painfully of my knee.

PS: a big thanks to all those drivers who gave me space to ride back safely.

PPS: and I understand it doesn't suit everyone's taste, so here's my red badge of courage in a separate link

The Narrow way

Following the path as it leads towards the Darkness in the North
Weary strangers' faces show their sympathy
They've seen that hope before
And if you want to stay for a little bit
Rest your aching limbs for a little bit
Before you the night is beckoning
And you know you can't delay
You hear the night birds calling you
But you can't touch the restless sky
Close your aching eyes beyond your name
Mist is swelling, creatures crawling,
Hear the roar get louder in your ears
You know the folly was your own
But the force behind can't conquer all your fears
And if you want to stay for a little bit
Rest your aching limbs for a little bit
Before you the night is beckoning
And you know you can't delay
You hear the night birds calling you
But you can't touch the restless sky
Close your aching eyes beyond your name
Throw your thoughts back many years
To the time when there was life in every morning
Perhaps a day will come
When the nights will be as on that morning
And if you want to stay for a little bit
Rest your aching limbs for a little bit
Before you the night is beckoning
And you know you can't delay
You hear the night birds calling you
But you can't touch the restless sky
Close your aching eyes beyond your name
Rest your weary head, be on your way.

-Pink Floyd

Bicycle diaries

A second trip of 100+ km on my trusty bike(thats bicycle for you) in as many weeks has given me time to be philosophical and reason for my friends to think I have a strong masochistic streak.

Firstly details out of the way - Pearly valley or Muthyala Maduvu can be reached from bangalore in two ways. It is about 45 km from Silk board junction in Bangalore if one takes the hosur road.Go past Electronic city and you'll reach a turning into Annekal. Going past Annekal, there's only one road to follow, until you reach a "Y" junction. Path to the right takes to Pearl Valley and left reconnects to Hosur.

The second way is to go straight up Bannerghatta road past the wildlife sanctuary and there's only one road to follow that leads to Annekal. It looked as if it was going to pour down quite heavily on the morning of this trip and with choices in hand, I was confused between the two ways and ended up going half way along Bannerghatta road and then switching back to CSB. All in all covered ~60km on the way to pearl valley. Had a jolly good time and came back by the second route with the journey taking nearly 6 hrs. I had my share of epiphanies during the course of these two trips, which I thought to record here:

1) Even if you feel that you are under the weather a little, go on right ahead, fortune favours the brave. It might not rain and the clouds might just do you a favour by keeping out the sun.
2) Uphill slopes and downhill slopes are common on the road.
3) Every uphill is followed by a downhill slope.
4) Tougher the "uphill", smoother(and therefore more exhilarating) is the "downhill"
5) A lot of "uphill slopes" that seem daunting at first glance aren't really that difficult to overcome once you start cycling up them.
6) If you are on a nice comfortable downhill slope, remember that the next uphill is just around the corner. So don't sit on your ass but start pedaling little by little if you want to make it up without too much difficulty
7) You can have an all flat road, but it isn't too much fun. The best road is one with a nice combination of uphills followed by downhills (to bring in the exhilaration) followed by quiet flat parts(when you can sit back and relax a little)
8) Winds can heal your exhaustion when downhill, but can hurt you really bad when you are uphill.

Bicycle Race

Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride it where I like

You say black I say white
You say bark I say bite
You say shark I say hey man
Jaws was never my scene
And I dont like star wars
You say rolls I say royce
You say God give me a choice
You say lord I say christ
I dont believe in peter pan
Frankenstein or superman
All I wanna do is

Bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my
Bicycle races are coming your way
So forget all your duties oh yeah!
Fat bottomed girls theyll be riding today
So look out for those beauties oh yeah
On your marks get set go
Bicycle race bicycle race bicycle race
Bicycle bicycle bicyi want to ride my bicycle
Bicycle bicycle bicycle
Bicycle race

-Queen

Motivation....

Comes in different shapes and sizes. Having bunked on friday and used that time to wander around bangalore on my bicycle, I decided I would go ahead and bite the bullet on saturday, i.e do a cycling trip to Nandi hills and back. ( From my house it probably is ~70 km one way).

But slight fever on friday night was going to put an end to this plans it seemed like, Until I remembered my friend Adi whining about how much of a "loser-aaps" it would be that I would make the trip on a cycle whereas they struggled to get there even on their bikes (In their defense, they returned without reaching the hilltop once because of the cold at 4a.m and because they were a 'little' high). Thanks to that statement, which I desperately wanted to prove right :p I started on the trip a little low on endurance scale, but high on spirits.

"It is the first step that is the hardest" they say, so once I left home on my cycle, there wasn't too much danger of me turning back. Long nice drive with only my ipod for company, I made the initial 62 km in 3 hrs and the next 8 km up the hill in one hr. On my way back the first 22 km I could cover in an hour, but the next 40 km on NH-7 left me exhausted and frustated.(Ofcourse the last 10 km within Bangalore left me covered with soot and vehicle exhaust ) A strong wind blowing into you might be all well and nice if you are driving a motor powered vehicle, but on a cycle its a completely different ball game.

The Loneliness of The Long Distance Runner

The tough of the track
With the wind
And the rain that's beating down on
Your back
Your heart's beating loud
And goes on getting louder
And goes on even more 'til the
Sound is ringing in your head
With every step you tread
And every breath you take
Determination
Makes you run never stop
Got to win got to run 'til you drop
Keep the pace hold the race
Your mind is getting clearer
You're over half way there
But the miles they never seem to end
As if you're in a dream
Not getting anywhere
It seems so futile

[Chorus]
Run on and on
Run on and on
The loneliness of the long distance runner

I've got to keep running the course
I've got to keep running and win at
All costs
I've got to keep going be strong
Must be so determined and push myself on

Run over stiles across fields
Turn to look at who's on your heels
Way ahead of the field
The line is getting nearer but do
You want the glory that goes
You reach the final stretch
Ideals are just a trace
You feel like throwing the race
It's all so futile

[Chorus:]

-Iron Maiden