Holy Gravel — The trinity of doom tracing the Apostels
»Holy Gravel« is a non-commercial Gravel event starting and finishing in Hamburg. It’s known for it’s high percentage of gravel, single trail and sandy sections, leading you through the most beautiful parts of north-eastern Germany. The event offers two routes: a shorter one accounting for 550 km, and a longer 750 km ride. Nils, Gunnar and me had chosen the short one, since we only had three days to finish the track due to family responsibilities. We didn’t really know what to expect, so we were curious and open-minded for a three day adventure with a lot of riding, impressive landscapes and sleeping in a bivy outdoors.
Day 1
Together with approximately 200 riders we started on a Saturday morning. Soon, we left the city traffic of Hamburg and headed towards the suburbs. After the first 30 km riding in a big group with a few traffic jams, we decided to get ahead of the group.
After a short »sprint«, we found ourself alone in the rural area of Herzogtum Lauenburg. From now on, we would very rarely ride on paved roads. The track leads along the many lakes of the area and after about 95 km we arrived in Ratzeburg where we decide to take a longer lunch break for fish and chips.
In the afternoon, we crossed the former border region between West and East Germany, the so called death strip, on sandy single trails.
After a short resupply break in a supermarket, we headed towards the Baltic Sea. The coastline was bathed in beautiful soft sunset light, as we were flying over paved bike lanes towards Boltenhagen, our last stop before the night. On the last kilometers, we were joined by Sebastian Stoll, who also kept us company for a pizza stop. In the restaurant, we also used the bathroom to get off all the dust, sun screen, sweat and all the small flies, we collected over the day.
Riding into the darkness, we soon reached our bivy spot for the night around midnight: a beautiful place right next to the steep coast in a pine forest. We set up the camp, and after 200 km of riding we fell asleep.
Day 2
Our day started quite early. I woke up around 4.15 am even before my alarm went off. It was already surprisingly bright, and I saw that Nils was already up as well. Thus, as the sun was rising we packed our gear and started the second and longest day of our trip.
Before breakfast, we continued on single trails and sandy sections along the coastline towards the city of Wismar.
In Wismar, we finally found a bakery that was already open. After cheese sandwiches and coffee we kept riding towards the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte, a district with a huge network of lakes surrounded by forest. I call it the »Canada of Germany«.
The terrain got more and more difficult to ride on. Sandy trails, bumpy roads and steep ramps were taking us more time than we had expected. Additionally, the dry and hot weather made it even more exhausting. All three of us experienced a few »lows«, which luckily were compensated by our positive and supporting group spirit. With an extra bit of sarcasm and silliness we always got ourself motivated again for the next stretch.
I had very little experience riding sand, especially on a gravel bike. Therefore, I was slightly afraid of riding it with higher speeds. After a few sand sections and falling off the bike twice, I decided to accept my fate and go for it. After this day, I would be better at riding sand and maybe I also liked it a little bit more.
I don’t know how, but with two stops for a swim in the lake and a lot of snack breaks we somehow managed to conquer over 200 km again.
Tired and with pain in the hands and butts we were riding into the sunset. As it got dark, we deiced to call it a day and found a nice bivy spot under some trees next to a field.
Day 3
Again, we started our third and last day quite early. At 4.30 am, my alarm interrupted my deep sleep in the bivy bag. The sun showed up, but only to be covered by clouds shortly afterwards.
After the hot temperatures the days before, the cloudy weather and light drizzle was a welcome change. After breakfast at kilometer 20 and a resupply in the supermarket, we started towards the finale of our trip. The third day had way more tarmac than the days before. After a short sandy root trail next to a channel, we got onto the Elberadweg, a bike route following the dike next to the Elbe river. With an average of 25-30 km/h we got into a different kind of flow. For the first time you could turn off your head and just pedal.
In the afternoon the weather got hot again, and we noticed the fatigue that came from the past days. Still, we kept our pace and enjoyed the highlights along the route.
We passed by the towns of Boizenburg and Lauenburg and the rode across the high riverbank of the Elbe river, leading us to Hamburg.
The last kilometers felt like an eternity, but after 55 hours we finally reached our starting point Hamburg again. Tired but happy, we packed our bikes into the van and headed back home to Kiel with a head full of memories.
