September 30th
The morning was bitterly cold again and installing the one new spoke that we could was tough with numb fingers. We then tried to tighten some other spokes so that we could roll to the bike shop. In the cold light of day it turned out there was about 5 or 6 broken spokes on the drive side which we can’t change. As we don’t have a tool, despite trying to buy one in every country we’ve biked through so far.
We then set off very slowly on the 6 miles to a bike / workshop we found on Google. The going was very slow and within 1/4 of a mile, the wheel started to rub on the bike frame. We still nursed it along and felt we were getting somewhere by 2 and a half miles, albeit slowly. As 3 miles ticked over I noticed a hell of a lot of rubber chaffing off onto my leg and socks, and we had to stop and inspect.
Inspection over and the verdict was that we had to push it, balanced on two wheels, for the remainder of the journey. At least the sun was shining and we’d managed to pedal it a little. It turned out, unbeknown to us, that we had somehow in that short distance crossed into Switzerland again. As we now had to push the trike over the border back into Germany, where this time they were stopping cars, but not tricycles.
After being a wide, slow, pushing nuisance on the roads, we eventually made it to Rielasingen-Worblingen and the shop “Bike Recycle”. Unfortunately we arrived right at 12, just in time for their 12:00-13:00 daily closed lunch hour. Just as Louis set off to see what bakeries lay nearby, someone came out of the building and saw me standing by the tricycle.
They went back into the building and a few minutes later the owner of the shop came out. He took one look tricycle, decided he loved it and opened up. After chatting it turned out that one of his main passions is getting old bikes and restoring them, which is why the tricycle struck a cord. He gets discarded bikes from the council and re-does them and gives many away to good causes. And his shop was awesome to step into, with bikes hanging all over the ceiling and parts all along the walls.
We explained and showed him the problem and asked for some spokes and the tool if possible. He saw the sorry state the wheel was in and instead gave us a second hand wheel for free. He then gave us a new tyre for a great deal, as we’d ruined the other this morning rubbing it on the frame. He threw in some free second hand rear cassettes incase we needed to change them and we were ready to roll in no time at all. A super friendly and nice guy, who has saved the trike journey. It was looking desperate for a second this morning.
With the tricycle now rolling we headed to the bakery on the corner to have some lunch. With the sun out and 3 courses of items, it ended up being a long leisurely lunch. By 2pm we were packed up and pedalling down the road again. An admittedly late start even by our standards but, with the tricycle now primed and ready, spirits were as high as our sugar levels.
We managed to have two water bottles and 1 flip flop fall off while exiting the city. After these stoppages we were out into the rolling hills and bombing along. The sun was still shining, the morning cold and pushing forgotten and the miles getting ticked off. There was a few hills and gravel sections as we made our way past Stockach and then Sauldorf. We kept the pedal turning and soon we were time trialing into Pfullendorf. With it being late we stocked up on provisions and headed out of the city to find a spot for the night. This turned out to included a steep, cobbled climb through the centre, which was at least nice to warm us up.
We were soon out of the town and into green again. We pulled off into a forest track and found a spot. Just as we’d cooked for the night and about to eat, I stood in a hidden wasps nest and got stung. Luckily the swarm went back to bed without finding us as the culprits.
We ended up ticking off over 40 miles for the day. Which seemed impossible as we were pushing the trike from Switzerland to Germany this morning. The sun was out for most of the day which also was unexpected when we could barely function in this morning’s cold. So all in all a roller coaster of a day but another awesome one. Huge shout out to bike recycle. Here’s to not stepping in the nest tomorrow morning.
Daily stats
68 km. 768 m elevation gain. 4 hr 57 mins moving time.
Cumulative trip stats
1,288 km. 10,746 m elevation gain. 77 hrs 30 mins moving time
