Part 81: Sixty-Two

Dear All,

I hereby would like to inform you that today I rode 62km on a bike.

Sincerely,

Douglas

Thats right! Me, whose idea of excersize is seeing how many words I can type in a minute or running to the nearest Maccas to get a cheeseburger quicker, rode a total of 62 kilometers by bike. A real bike, no tricks or gimicks, a real cycling bike. Theres not really much of a blog in this but still - 62 bloody kilometers. I am surprised at myself that I made it.

This morning I woke up bright and early (10.30 or something ridiculous like that) and made my way to the shower and then downstairs to find the family all preparing a big breakfast. I offered to help but by the time I was there it was mainly all done anyway (phew!) so I just had to sit down and enjoy. We were having bread rolls with fruit salads and yogurts and lots of stuff - I even ate the fruit salad, and don't tell anyone, but I enjoyed it too. So breakfast was lovely. We were graced by one of Jettes sisters about half way through and I say 'graced' because she made me coffee. I like coffee. We allsat around and they explained to me that today we were going on a little bike tour around town and happy to be active and spend time with Jette and some her family, I smiled and said 'excellent' At this point though, I didn't know what 'a little bike tour around town' really meant...

We left at 1ish after making packed lunches and rode to a trainstation at a nearby town named Alveslohe. On the way was the worst bit of the day- I was riding along sie Jette chatting away when I heard someone yelling in German. I looked up to see that there was a guy coming on a bike towards me so I slowed down so that I could pull in behind Jette so he could pass only to feel a huge WHACK on my arm and then next thing I knew, I crashed into Jettes bike and then flipped over onto the ground cutting my chin. The bastard punched me whilst we were riding, not lightly either, I have a bruise on my arm and he was a LOT bigger than I am. I got up and yelled expletives when Jettes sister rushed after him cutting him off and started asking him 'wtf, dude?' but he explained that I was deliberately ignoring him and trying to get in his way to attack him and so he tried to brush past me and accident;y bumped me. Probably fortunately, I didn't understand that that was what he was saying becuase if I did, I would have argued there and then that that was NOT the case. Only later when I heard this did I reveal the bruise and explained what actually happened. I was so shocked and annoyed and now I have this stupid cut on my chin and some little cuts on my legs and a bloody bruise on my arm. Bastard.

Anyway, thats about it story-wise. We trained from Alveslohe over to another town named Elmshorn and then from there we bike rode West over to Gluckstadt (what a great name!). The ride was sooo painful in my thighs but it was so scenic and very cool to see this side of Germany. There, we quickly had a coffee and lunch and then toured the town before proceeding to go down alongside the river there and then around back up to Elmshorn station. This took ages and was exhausting but again, the views were incredible. I also started to ride with no hands... I still cant do that very well... but I am learning now! Haha.

Eventually we made it back to the train station, rode back and listened to many drunken boys singing and shouting and then made the journey back home. I think all up it took like 6 hours or something and yea, Jettes dads thingo clocked up 62kms. Win. Then I had MSN time while Jette went somewhere then tea then shower then blog. I am tired.

Cool.