If they had lawn tractor pulls I’d be impressed....
Nude sunbathing is very legal in Germany, a fact that I can’t say I’ve never enjoyed.
But I didn’t exactly know beforehand that my bicycle path along the Ems River was going run right through a colony of dozens of unashamedly naked German men.
Darn near exclusively men, they were.
Not that there’s anything wrong with dozens of naked German men around a bike path along an old canal, but they do certainly spice up the intro to a column.
And no, I didn’t take any pictures.
I was riding along the river, kinda. I’d heard from family we were visiting in my mother’s hometown, Muenster, about a new bikepath along the river, and I’d set out to follow it.
That was proving difficult.
I’d follow a trail along the river, and then it would veer away from the water into some fields. And then a through a town. And then I’d find a sign that seemed to indicate I was headed in the right direction but it would just lead me to a T in the road, with no further sign to indicate where I should go from there.
I did see a deer once.
At some point I just really kinda gave up on following a particular route and started playing connect the dots with the towns, generally following the basic direction of the river but truthfully just trying to get me home.
It wasn’t such a long ride – just half a day, certainly shorter than the 12+ hours I’d spent riding to the Netherlands and back – but we were still in a heat wave. In a country where not too many folks have air conditioning because they generally just don’t need it, 100 degrees is hot….
So I was drinking a lot of liquids. Plenty of water, juice, beer, soda I know I shouldn’t be drinking…. I literally probably went through a gallon on the ride.
At one point I passed a poster for a tractor pull (photo on the blog: jderrickstar.blogspot.com), hardly the traditional German pastime.
If they had lawn tractor pulls I’d be impressed.
In the end I got back to Muenster just fine. Actually, in some respects I felt better following my rides in Germany than I do during my ones here in the States, where I’m riding along the roads in traffic, constantly looking over my shoulder and giving myself a sore neck. Over there I’m more often along a specifically designated bikepath and don’t have to worry as much.
But oh well. I moved into Chapel Hill this past weekend to start law school in a few weeks, and plan on checking out their cycling scene.
I’ll let you know how it goes….
But I didn’t exactly know beforehand that my bicycle path along the Ems River was going run right through a colony of dozens of unashamedly naked German men.
Darn near exclusively men, they were.
Not that there’s anything wrong with dozens of naked German men around a bike path along an old canal, but they do certainly spice up the intro to a column.
And no, I didn’t take any pictures.
I was riding along the river, kinda. I’d heard from family we were visiting in my mother’s hometown, Muenster, about a new bikepath along the river, and I’d set out to follow it.
That was proving difficult.
I’d follow a trail along the river, and then it would veer away from the water into some fields. And then a through a town. And then I’d find a sign that seemed to indicate I was headed in the right direction but it would just lead me to a T in the road, with no further sign to indicate where I should go from there.
I did see a deer once.
At some point I just really kinda gave up on following a particular route and started playing connect the dots with the towns, generally following the basic direction of the river but truthfully just trying to get me home.
It wasn’t such a long ride – just half a day, certainly shorter than the 12+ hours I’d spent riding to the Netherlands and back – but we were still in a heat wave. In a country where not too many folks have air conditioning because they generally just don’t need it, 100 degrees is hot….
So I was drinking a lot of liquids. Plenty of water, juice, beer, soda I know I shouldn’t be drinking…. I literally probably went through a gallon on the ride.
At one point I passed a poster for a tractor pull (photo on the blog: jderrickstar.blogspot.com), hardly the traditional German pastime.
If they had lawn tractor pulls I’d be impressed.
In the end I got back to Muenster just fine. Actually, in some respects I felt better following my rides in Germany than I do during my ones here in the States, where I’m riding along the roads in traffic, constantly looking over my shoulder and giving myself a sore neck. Over there I’m more often along a specifically designated bikepath and don’t have to worry as much.
But oh well. I moved into Chapel Hill this past weekend to start law school in a few weeks, and plan on checking out their cycling scene.
I’ll let you know how it goes….
posted by John Derrick | 4:20 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home