Adventure Talk – Sharing my experiences with you

“Happiness is only real when shared” – there is a lot of truth in this well-known quote from “Into The Wild”. Many adventures are associated with hardships. To speak of real joy during the events is usually not quite accurate. So, it's usually the overall experience in retrospect and the associated increase in experiences that makes you remember the experience as meaningful and positive. For me, of course, there is also the fact that as a photographer I not only want to share my stories about the ultra-distance bikepacking events, but of course I also want to present my photos. The new talk format in Kiel called “Adventure Talk” was of course the perfect occasion. The concept was created by Robin from Café9, also co-founder of the Kiel Dawn Patrol, an established racing bike community. In the audience I was pleased to see some well-known faces from the scene but also many other aspiring athletes. In advance, Marei Moldenhauer talked about her impressive performance at the Transcontinental Race. Overall, a very inspiring and excellently organized evening. I'm already looking forward to a continuation of the series.

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.

Bikepacking Denmark’s west coast to Skagen

If I've learned anything in the past two years, it's that you don't have to go far to experience an adventure. Most of the time you can start right at your own doorstep, with little luggage and without a big budget. Whether it will be an adventure depends much more on your own attitude. 

With the ever-changing travel restrictions, I wanted to make my vacation planning as flexible as possible. Having already ridden across the Danish islands to Copenhagen with my friend Nico in May, I knew that Denmark was the perfect country for bikepacking. This is partly due to the very advanced and consistently good bike infrastructure and partly due to the high density of shelters. These are spread throughout the country and are easy to find via an app. If you can set aside a bit of comfort and enjoy sitting with new people around the campfire, the shelters are the perfect alternative to a tent. Since you only have to take a sleeping mat and a sleeping bag, the total weight is also significantly reduced. Nevertheless, I still had a hammock and a tarp with me, which I ultimately used only once. 

My goal was to ride the entire Danish west coast to the northernmost point of Denmark, Skagen. The surface was mostly easy-to-ride tarmac, but there were some longer gravel sections and a few single trails in between, which in retrospect have not been that much fun to ride with the gravel bike. I only found out later: My route planned in Komoot corresponded in many sections to the "Vestkystruten" (West Coast Route), a well-marked bike path that also ends in Skagen. Overall, I would only make minor changes to my route if I’d ride it again. 

Due to a raywail strike, I actually started the tour at my front door and rode close to the Danish border, from where I then started the initial tour the next day. The first kilometers behind the border flew by. Most of the time I cycled behind the dike and the route is scenically somewhat monotonous. If you want to skip that, I would rather recommend to start the tour in Esbjerg. 

Passig the military training area close to Varde, suddenly the landscape became more scenic. Beautiful heath landscape and pine forests, interspersed with gravel paths provided the most beautiful and diverse part of the first stage. 

In the evening I found a nice shelter directly at Ringkøbing Fjord just before Hvide Sande with a few nice people there. So after 175 km, I called it a day. 

On the second day the wind increased with gusts up to 30 knots. Fortunately, it came directly from behind and pushed me with full force towards the north. 
Shortly after Søndervig, my route then led me over a kilometer-long gravel road with very coarse and loose surface which even with the gravel bike and 40 mm tires made it quite challenging. I passed some other bikers with touring bikes who had quite a hard time. The rest of the day I was more or less on straight tarmac roads, took a ferry at Thyborøn and reached the beautiful Thy National Park with its long dunes, dry forests and moorland. In the evening I found an idyllic shelter not far from the beach. Since it was much too windy for the hammock and the tarp my choice fell again on the shelter.

The next day I reached Klitmøller and Hanstholm, which are very famous spots among surfers. For non-surfers, however, these places have not much to offer besides the beautiful beach. So after a delicious Smørebrød breakfast I kept on riding. I decided to do a little detour to Blubjerg, a limestone cliff from which you have a great view over the coastline. The quite high elevation is by the way a nice distraction from the otherwise rather flat Jutland. Also, the small swerve led me into a relatively short, but quite adventurous intermezzo over some single trails and bridle paths which brought my gravel bike to the limit of „comfortable riding". At the end, however, I hat to grit my teeth and get back on my route. 

With just under 100 km, the last day felt more like a rest day after the rather longer days before. I met Cat again, a Frenchwoman who was riding her bike from France to Sweden for a charity project. So I cycled with her for a few kilometers and she told me about her goal to raise money for a project that tries to prevent domestic violence against children. Since the country serves as a model for good child protection, her destination was Sweden. 

After a few kilometers, however, I have to keep on racing again and reached Skagen in the early afternoon. I was surprised how beautiful the city was, but of course I had to reach my final destination first. It’s a few kilometers outside the city and the last kilometer you have to push your bike through the sandy beach (spoiler alert: it’s not fun). At the end I am nevertheless pleased that I’m with my bike at the northernmost point of Denmark and see where the North Sea and Baltic Sea meet.

On the train ride home the next day it felt quite strange not to pedal anymore, so I already started dreaming about the next bike-packing tour.