Today I had a little bikescapade to the famous Hornisgrinde. Hornisgrinde is the name of the tallest mountain in the Northern Black Forest. Hornisgrinde’s height is 1164 metres, shorter than the legendary Schrofenpass that we will cross on the first day of the Alpencross, but still tall enough to present a challenge.
Verena and I took the train (after I cycled to Ettlingen) to Achern, arriving at 9:30 a.m. This means I left my flat at 7:30 a.m.; Adam J. was still awake! In Achern we met Alex and his brother and we started on our ride from a lowly 142 metres above sea level.
I am really unsure of the way that we went, but I know it was not the most direct way. Hornisgrinde has a very noticeable radio tower at its top; this tower was facing my back for some time after we left Achern. We passed through Ulm (Baden) on the way. Around Oberberg Alex and his brother took us up and down a small hill a few times, and through some real mountain biking trails. The trails were a lot of fun, with some nice exposed tree roots, no room to go off the trail, sudden drops and rises–you really had to pay attention.
Sometime around 1:30 p.m. we stopped in Ruhestein to have our lunches. What is really cool about this is that Evan, MK, Zout, and I stopped in the very same place to have lunch when we were driving through the black forest. You can see it in one of the photos I posted to flickr. It was unreal to me that I had bicycled to this location.
I’m not sure what time we reached the summit–probably about an hour after we left. At Hornisgrinde there was a little “coffee and cake” spot so we had a piece of cake and enjoyed our victory. The majority of the work was done and all that was left was getting down.
Remember the real mountain bike trails I mentioned above? They had nothing on some of the trails we took down. We went across these really rocky pathways that were obviously man-made only to make our way to really rocky pathways that were not so artificial. I found the ride really challenging, requiring a great deal of focus. It also stressed my hands–especially the two fingers at the end of my hand that aren’t used for breaking. I used the shock adjustment on the fork to soften the blows, but ended up having to stand to save my butt. But, to save the back end you have to straddle the seat, keeping it between your thighs. Even with all that there were still a couple of scary moments, but we all came out safe.
Sometime after 4 p.m. we hopped on the train back to Karlsruhe, then biked home from the Hauptbahnhof. That part was really great because I had no water remaining and about 40 minutes of riding. I was quick to get some energy and some water when I got home (at 5:45 p.m.) and I noticed that Adam was back online, having slept the whole time I was gone.
It sure has made me really excited for the Alpencross. Italy is also a pretty good incentive. It’s hard to believe that this is less than three weeks away now.