Day 1 starts well

Location: Speyer.
Distance since last post. Approx 30km
Temp. 25 C
Weather. Blue skies!

Awake at 0730 after a really good sleep and a horrible dream that when I got out of my tent I was in an empty campsite…with no bike. Packing up camp took a bit longer then expected mainly due to the dampness of everything and the fact that I usually get up at 0900 and not 0730. I also had to deal with about 10 mosquito bites. Damn they are annoying. On the road at about 0915.

At 10:45 this morning I pulled off the path and set up the solar panel for the first time. I haven’t actually tested it with the frame yet because I only finished building the frame a day before the tour but with a few strips of velcro it folds back on itself nicely and stays well in place. Its a pain to be getting things out of the panniers all the time though.

There are literally hundreds of bikes out today. The route is well ridden and of course, its Sunday. Everyone seems happy and friendly. I chatted to a couple of bikers at a train crossing and then, 30 minutes later they passed me in the opposite direction waving and wishing me a happy journey. That really helps make it more enjoyable.

I’m riding at about 20km/h on the bike which is a steady, but certainly not fast pace. Taking into account stops I think I must average about 15km/h while riding which means 3-3.5hours riding per day. I think that will fit nicely into the plan of a morning and late afternoon ride.

The Q1b is working well here on a table in a biergarten. I was worried about the screen not being bright enough but in there shade there’s no problem.

Now its time to catch up on emails, RSS feeds. See you at the next campsite.