Strasbourg to Munster

May 20, 2011

Rest day... Laundry etc.

May 21, 2011

Today I left Strasbourg. I got a late start but it was a short day as I only had about 55km to cover. 
I took the morning easy, as I said before and went into Strasbourg to buy some maps and breakfast. Unfortunately, the map store suggested in the lonely planet cycling France guide had close. The edition I have is from June 2009 and this is the second time this has happened now; I'm thinking it's not the best time to be in the map business and I don't expect the margins were very big in the first place. 
Anyways, my route took me through the first 20km beside a canal from Strasbourg to Molsheim. Although it was some of the easiest riding I've done yet it was some of the most peaceful being away from roads. 
The route after this point turned south and I hit the head of the Alsatian Wine Route just after the town of Rosheim. Speaking of Rosheim, the cathedral their had a wedding going on so I didn't visit. But outside on an elevated corner of the church there was a lion with his paws on mans shoulders. Apparently, the lion is protecting the man from the temptation of the secular world. 
After Rosheim, I headed into the Mecca or the Vatican City of the Riesling world. I passed vineyard after vineyard between villages and had some beautiful view of the area. My ride was supposed to end in Barr. However, when I showed up to the tourist office I was informed that one campground in town was closed till June and the other was blocked off by road construction till around 8pm that night (it was about 4:30pm at the time. I decided with the help of the lady at the tourist office to head to the nearby town of St. Pierre where I could find camping right away. After about a 15 minute ride I got to St. Pierre, set up, had dinner and passed out early knowing my longer ride tomorrow would come soon enough. 

May 22, 2011

I had about 70km of riding to do today along with a couple side trips so I got up early and hit the road as soon as I could. The best part about the Alsatian Wine Route is that nearly every town is connected by bike routes. This makes the ride so much more peaceful and enjoyable. The only problem is that the bike paths can prove to be very hard to find. I spent probably 15 minutes of my day just trying to find tue best route, but it was worth it. 
To start my day I headed back to the Barr tourist office where my ride was set to start. I rode through many small towns (all ended with a stein or ein) which are no more than a couple kilometers apart. There were lots of degustation (wine tasting) signs out but I decided I should at least wait till noon. 
After stopping for lunch in one of the towns I took a side trip to a chateau. The name right now is escaping my mind and I don't really feel like looking it up. However, like many of the chateaus in the region it was built high up on a hill to protect it from attacks. The ride up was 5km and rose over 550 meters. Although the road only went up, it still was not overly steep and only peaked in grade around 10%. It's still the longest climb I've had to do yet. After I got to the top the panoramas gave great views of the valley below and the small towns scattered about. I walked up to the restored chateau, paid my fee and started a small self guided tour which provided me the gist of the history and uses of the chateau. It would be amazing to see it when it was actually in use. 
After the tour I had a quick snack at the top and prepared for my ride down. The day was close to 30 degrees but the ride down was all shaded and the wind would be cold so I threw on my windbreaker and headed out. The trip down definitely paid off for the work I had to put in to get up there. There were lots of corners and hairpins which kept me on the edge of my seat and no cars came up behind me the whole way down so I was able to utilize the whole half of the road. 
After getting to the bottom I realized that the time I had taken for lunch and the side trip to the chateau had eaten up a good portion of my day and I still had close to 50km to cover. I decided I would stop little and skip another option I was considering seeing that involved seeing some storks... Im not to worried that I missed it. 
My journey took me through more and more towns and vineyards. Some of the towns get similar after a while but they all have some subtle differences that switch them up. At about 4pm I decided it would be pretty bad if I went through all these vineyards and didn't go to a tasting. I stopped in at the first tasting sign I saw and tried several different wines (even some Grand Cru Rieslings which was a treat). I also decided to buy a bottle to enjoy with whatever I was eating at camp that night. The rest of the day cruised by and I entered the Munster Valley at around 6:30pm and was joined by a fairly strong unwelcoming headwind. This slowed down my already tired legs and I finally rolled into camp around 7:30 and got everything set up. I grabbed a quick meal to go and quickly passed out after most the Riesling was gone. After a day of biking my body can't handle much when it comes to liquor. 

May 23, 2011

Today my legs were pretty cooked so I decided to take a rest day before tackling the Grand Ballon which peaks at about 1500 meters (I'm at around 400 meters right now). iI also needed to get some supplies because my some of my day to day stuff was running out. Gonna take it easy, eat well and get ready for my biggest climb yet.