Computer geek (openclipart.org, mlampret, PD)
Last Thursday likely was the last warm end summer day. Today was a cool and rainy day, and I used it to meet a couple of Linux audio developers, old friends of mine, in Renningen. We went there by car, and my friend used a Becker navigation device which provided spoken turn by turn directions. Heck, this device was convenient!
The River Rhine as seen from the port of Lauterbourg
During the last weeks, I collected some extra office hours. Well, the annual release is approaching, and my job requires that I get some stuff managed. Otherwise we’d ship a product our customers would not appreciate.
The weekend will be rainy, and so I wanted to grab some of the last summer sunrails before they are gone. So I just did it and left the office at half past three PM, grabbed the bike and did a nice trip from Karlsruhe to Lauterbourg, Seltz, Plittersdorf and back home. Unfortunately I left the office too late, so the sun was unavailable on the way back. But the rest of the trip was marvellous. There was almost no wind, the air was cool but not cold and the sunrails mirrored by the river Rhine did the rest. The cycleways of the left hand side of the Rhine are great, thanks to the Pamina initiative.
The above image shows the river Rhine near the port of Lauterbourg. The shelter on the other side is a lovely place to enjoy the sunrails. From the shelter to the left, there’s a grit bench. On the right hand side of the Shelter, the Illinger Altrhein is entering the river.
In Munchhausen I crossed the picturesque Delta de la Sauer:
Delta de la Sauer
Delta de la Sauer
Delta de la Sauer
In Seltz I had the chance to test the new ferry. It’s amazing how it crosses the river almost noiseless while you’re not recognizing the motion thanks to the trimaran construction. Even better, its usage is granted free of charge. The more I was surprised that two people are needed to operate it, mainly due to the berthing, which is a rather time consuming process. It’s done by lashing it manually, thus the second employee.
BTW: From today’s point of view, one can barely imagine that and why Germany and France waged so many wars during the last couple of centuries. It’s really good luck to live in times of the European Union.
A nice after work trip. I’ll try to do another one tomorrow if my workload permits, before rain will conquer germany. Here’s the trip:
NAF, not a fungus
During today’s black forest trip I found this tree stub, hosting several inhabitants. I’ll just post the pics, without any further comment:
Tree stub hosting other beings
Incline below Rote Lache
Aeolus did us a favour and brought excellent autumn weather after a rainy week. I decided to climb the Rote Lache pass again, this time from the other side, crossing the hill from the Murg valley to the Oos valley.
Lauter Valley
Today’s mapping trip was a lazy one. First I tried to get to a nice restaurant as fast as possible, as its kitchen closes at 2PM. I needed 90 minutes for about 30 kilometers, including the Rhine ferry in Neuburg. Obviously I was hungry:
First the salad...
...then the meat.
That’s a porc steak, covered by chanterelles. The stuff on the left hand side is Spätzle, a typical food often found in the south-west of germany. Simplified, it consists of the dough of noodles (flour and eggs). Instead of forming and drying the noodles, the dough gets pressed into hot water through a sieve immediately, though. I’m not the biggest fan of wine, but I really like the Gewürztraminer.
I started mapping in Schleithal, where I first added several residential roads. Then I cycled some tracks through the fields. Nearby, a confluence can be found (see the marker). After that I was heading towards Wissembourg, where I also added some residentials. Heck, I thought Wissembourg was completed concerning the residentials, but it wasn’t. Here’s the area:
I enjoyed every single minute of the trip, as it was a cloudy but warm and sunny late summer day. I took the train back home, as I needed some time to get several stuff done – like writing this posting :) .
¹ According to echo $RANDOM
In Wissembourg, I came across a building of Glad, a company which sells firewood. I’m sorry for the bad picture. I just stopped the bike and took the picture ignoring all principles I know of. But anyway, here it is:
Mouse pointer on a wall
What I find amazing is the simple but clear message of the installation: »I sell firewood, and you’ll find information both in french and german languages by visiting my web presence.«. In case your job includes coping with user interface design: Can you remember the last time you found such an intuitive metaphor?
Pamina Ferry »Saletio«
Some 5 years ago the previously installed ferry between Plittersdorf (Germany) and Seltz (France) was rammed by a ship. A repair was considered being too expensive, and as there are two bridges nearby, there was no economical necessity to reinstall a ferry line. Nevertheless, the ferry was important to bring the people of both sides and countries of the Rhine riverbanks together, and it was an important connection for tourists and cyclists. The old ferry, built shortly after the infamous second world war, was brought to the harbour of Lauterbourg. It then sunk and subsequently was scrapped.
5 years later (and 700 years after a ferry line at this location has been mentioned for the very first time) the new ferry, called »Saletio«, is being put into service. This weekend a party is taking place in both Plittersdorf and Seltz to celebrate the reincarnation of the cable ferry. It’s built like a trimaran and consists of aluminium (more information in german language):
Aluminium Trimaran ferry »Saletio«
As before, there is a short bridge on the german, but a rather long bridge on the french side of the Rhine’s riverbanks. To avoid collisions with ships in the future, huge pylons have been rammed into the Rhine above and below the bridges. Here’s the location of the ferry on a map:
I think it is great that is has been resurrected. I guess I’ll use it every now and then on bicycle mapping tours during spring and autumn.
The valley of the Murg above Weisenbach
After a rainy week we got some marvellous sunny weekend days. Yesterday I did some after work mapping in the woods near Neuburg and Hagenbach. Today, I could not resist to abuse the recently purchased bike as a “mountain bike” anew. I chose the Rote Lache pass again as a destination, as I found an alternative route, much better than the one I chose the last time.
After testing the Gudereit LC-R and the across the Black Forest, I know I need some more power for steep inclines. A friend of mine politely checked the gear ratios of his bikes, both with 27 gear derailleurs, a trekking bike and a mountain bike.
The minimum and maximum transmission ratios of the Rohloff Speedhub are 0.279 (1st gear) and 1.467 (14th gear). The chainring of the LC-R counts 44, the pinion 17 teeth, resulting in a ratio of 2.6. This ratio multiplied with the ratio of the chosen gear results in the total ratio.
According to some web resources, the Rohloff also can be used with alternative chainring/pinion ratios like 42/17 (2.47), 32/13 (2.462), 36/15 (2.4) and 38/16 (2.375). The following table lists the ratios of both of my friend’s bikes, the current and the possible LC-R ratios:
| Minimum Ratio (1st gear) |
Maximum Ratio (14th gear) |
Gear Range | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain Bike | 0.65 | 4 | 615% |
| Trekking Bike | 0.68 | 4 | 588% |
| Gudereit LC-R 44/17 | 0.72 | 3.79 | 526% |
| Gudereit LC-R 42/17 | 0.69 | 3.6 | 526% |
| Gudereit LC-R 32/13 | 0.69 | 3.61 | 526% |
| Gudereit LC-R 36/15 | 0.67 | 3.52 | 526% |
| Gudereit LC-R 38/16 | 0.66 | 3.48 | 526% |
The current ratio is not bad per se. Instead it IMO is the optimal solution for the bike’s main purpose – travelling. But as I’m abusing it as a leisure bike in hilly regions, I’ll probably replace the 44 teeth chainring by a 42 teeth chainring, which seems to be a good compromise between power and speed.
For alternative hubs which are neither derailleurs nor Rohloffs, see Pinion and Hettlage (also see the german tongue technology review article at heise online).
Alsacien Villages
After this post I have to prepare tomorrow’s working day, so my holidays are finally over. As anticipated I got some nice late summer days, though the biking season is slowly but steadily fading away. After several trips to the black forest I revived an old hobby of mine which I started three years ago: during the last summer and early autumn days I’m usually mapping the fields and villages of northern Alsace.
Ottenhöfen, Black Forest
Fortunately I had a couple of days off, the gods of weather did a good job and there are still plenty of tracks to be mapped across the Black Forest area. Obviously I try to torture the recently purchased Rohloff Speedhub as much as I can. Today I took the train to Achern (145m), headed towards Ottenhöfen (327m), Ruhestein (915m), Obertal (about 600m) and Baiersbronn (about 500m).
The Ruhestein hill, used for skiing during the winter months
In the late morning hours the temperature in Karlsruhe was about 18°C. Usually the Ruhestein is about 6°C less, but surprisingly its webcam displayed 18° as well, so I immediately grabbed the bike and went to the station, heading towards Baiersbronn, Black Forest (about 500m).
