biking with Bert.

having a group ride fail to materialize is not always a bad thing...
This morning i got up ate a big breakfast and went down to the border to meet other at 11. no one showed up. i called my contact and he was baffled. so at 11 20 i took of solo into the swiss hills once again. after a seemingly random set of turns here and there i found myself climbing a decent hill going up and away from a swiss town. near the top (or thought it was at the time) i saw a guy cruising down. he looked pretty fast so i said screw it and turned around and chased after him. for some reason as i was chasing him down the hill my adrenaline kicked in, why i know now. but at the time it was a bit odd. anyways after i got close again (he stoped for traffic) i noticed he was decked out in Team Phonak gear. of course i just assumed it was a die hard fan like ive seen before. althought he did have the BMC team edition with a super nice power meter and all, but hey a rich fan? but i just rode up and asked if i could ride with him a bit. he looked a bit surprised and said sure why not (all of these events happen in german). so i asked him name and all that introduction stuff (name is Bert) and found out he lives in Kreuzlingen, which is just across the border from konstanz. the conversation then naturally led to me asking him if he does a whole lot of racing. he said yes lots with a bit of an odd look, then since he was wearing Phonak gear i kinda half jokingly asked if he races for Phonak, and to my surprise and utter delight he said yes! also looking baffled. i felt like an idiot. hear i had caught up to a pro and then casual asked him if he raced. i think he thought it was pretty entertaining, or maybe just annoying. either way i was now biking with a professional cyclist. ahahaha and so for the next hour or so i biked around the swiss country side with a guy named Bert who is a pro. he even said my german is good! haha. i asked what races hes done so far this year and he was like oh to many to name so i said paris-roubaix and he said yes, but it did not go incredibly well. i think he hurt his wrist there. i also think he said he does not like that race much. but im not going to say that for sure... i also found out his next race is the tour of Romandie. then we went by a soccer game so i asked if he like soccer and was excited for the world cup like every other European. he said no not really but ill still watch. i thought that was entertaining.
eventually we ended up in kreuzlingen and so i told him good luck and that kinda thing. and then i think perhaps maybe ill see you out biking again. but anyway that was the first hour and 50 of my ride.
oh the whole time we were going around 35 kmh. except on hills. Bert does not like hills...lucky for me. i felt surprsingly good while biking with him. sure my heart rate was a bit high for an OD workout but i figured i could suffer. thankfully he was doing a mildly easy day. i must have caught him after his harder part. again luckily. but i hope he did not mind me going along. i made sure never to go in his draft though always at his side as to not seem as i was just along to say i did it. tried to make it like a normal ride. i also took no pictures as to not impose any more.
berts site
after biking with Bert i had tons of energy so i went back out in the country side and ended up on the same hill i met him on. but this time i kept going up. and up and up it was a delightfully long hill. i did not measure it thought, but i gaurantee i will be back there. so after climbing for a long while i got to the top and came around a corner to see the Bodensee stretched out before me. it was quite a pretty sight. but since i was going downhill at 60 kmh i did not take a picture. ill be back on that hill too. i got to the bottom and went towards Konstanz, but turned around about 15 min later and decided to go around the south west arm of the lake again. ride time was now at around 3 hr 45. and i was out of water. but i just kept going and eventually got to germany. found some nice swiss buildings for mum right before the border.

they all have pictures on them too.

i filled my water bottles up here and then kept on going. i was at about 100 km and had 40 to go till konstanz so i decided to make in 160 or so. a century in miles. at about 120 i could tell i was starting to bonk. the only thing i had eaten was 6 "gel cubes" from Clifbar. (thanks ingrid) and so i looked for a bakery. and just kept going from town to town. never finding an open one. eventually a tired body got me back to konstanz and i ate a bit. dropped my bowl of rice on the floor that i had been looking forward to all day. and went to the grocery store. ate a big dinner and now am finishing this.

so that was my day in the saddle

total ride was 6 hours 13 min. and 162.09 km. not to bad for 5 hours being solo.