Rough day

The first day of the ride started early. Unfortunately, the lift was still not working so I had to bring everything down 6 flights and assemble it all in the lobby. No problems there. Didn't even slip on the marble floor with my cleats. Could have been an unfortunate end to the trip if I went down hard.

Getting out of Berlin isn't easy. Even at 6:00 am there is some traffic. Then there are all the rivers and canals to consider. East to west isn't possible without considerable tacking. To add to the excitement the GPS gave me problems all day, finally shutting itself down for a siesta 4 hours out of the city.

For those who want to follow along I headed, via an unitentionally circuitous to Pottsdam (I got lost.) From Pottsdam I made it to Grunewald. The folks with money apparently live in Pottsdam. Big houses and visable police. The bike path which passes through the Forrest is wide enough for 3 cars and is as flat as glass.

While trying hard to get lost I found a local tennis club with a stadium named Steffi Graff stadium.

And because there wouldn't be enough miles for the day I found the 'new palace'. OK I could have done with out the new palace, but I couldn't have gotten so completely lost without it. Eventually I got to a autobahn and the signs helped me figure out where I was; probably 35 miles or so to Genthin if I went direct. Turns out there are many farm roads and paths, most of which don't show up on paper maps. Some even have their own signposts.

In Pritzerbe I had a very pleasant surprise when I learned that the river crossing was by ferry. A nice woman and her son were taking a 2 week bicycling vacation. They were heading north to visit her parents, near the Danish border.

It was particularly hot today and I even got rained on for 20 minutes or so.

No real problems, I even figured out how to reboot the GPS. I need to be much more careful about making wrong turns. In a car it's only gas. The distance if I'd have been able to navigate properly would have been 60 mi, but because I wound up doubling back a few times, I probably did 80 or so. I was on the bike for 8.5 hours. Average speed is about 10 due, mostly to the weight of the bike and bags.

It's only 7:00 pm and I'm falling asleep. I'll post more photos tomorrow.