Today was an exploration day…. after a good breakfast, we decided to head over towards Mainz on the Rhine River then north to Cologne.
And it is a gorgeous day for doing just that! Sunny, blue skies, few high clouds…. like I said, gorgeous!
The trail along the Rhine north of Mainz and west of Wiesbaden is a nice one! It runs along the east bank of the Rhine towards Rüdesheim and Cologne. It looks like a very pleasant ride with great views.
From Mainz all the way to the North Sea in The Netherlands, there is only about an 86 meter difference in elevation (272′), all downhill. And riding on this trail for another 356 miles would get us there! That brings up a question I’ll ask a bit later.
Next stop was Cologne (Köln for you German speakers). I have never been there so this was a great opportunity to visit and see the Cathedral there. 
We saw the Cathedral but we also found the Cologne Wine Week festival grounds. So we HAD to stop and sample the wine a little. A couple of glasses of wine, a bratwurst and we were refreshed and heading back to our hotel. 
(Ok…. a souvenir for Gretchen…. the glasses, not the wine)
Oh, yeah….. the Question! Just about forgot!
So I was thinking about how much fun it might be to ride from the Black Forest in Switzerland all the way to the North Sea in The Netherlands….. going through part of France and Germany, 857 miles give or take a few. It looks like it could be a very doable trip, broken into 2 one week sections. The first half of the ride would be somewhat hillier and shorter while the second would be flatter and longer.
But timing the ride is the question….. Americans tend to only want to be gone 7-10 days on trips. This would take 17-18 days total. So let me ask your opinion….How would you like to do it?
A) Let’s do it all at once!!
B) I can’t take that much time off…
1. I’d do the Switzerland first leg
2. I’d do the Netherlands second leg
C) I’d want to do it but maybe over two years
D) Ride a bike 900 miles? Are you crazy?? I’d ride in the support vehicle and sightsee.
Please leave me a comment and your choice (A, B1, B2, C, D), either here on the blog or as a FB private message. It’s purely non-binding, for my information only as I start the planning process. BUT, if you are interested in something like this, let me know that too and I’ll keep you on the list!