Dear BTG riders,
today we want to give you some information to help you plan and prepare for the BTG 2019. It is a nice tradition that most participants meet and get to know each other in the afternoon before the race. You remember the question in our registration form? So far, 88% of our participants will be joining our little party on Saturday, July 6th. Last year we met at the “Freibad” (outdoor pool) in Grenzach-Wyhlen. And if nothing comes up, we will meet there again this year. The area of the outdoor pool is ideal for our purposes. We can set up tents there, make a barbeque on the fixed grills and use the showers and toilets. If it rains there is a roofed area. As mentioned in the registration we need to collect a contribution of 10 Euro from each participant for the rent.
If you prefer to spend the night before the race in a real bed, there are also some hotels near the starting point. We can recommend the Hotel Alfa in Birsfelden. Nearby is a youth hostel: http://www.youthhostel.ch/de/hostels/basel-st-alban.
Basel can be easily reached by car, train or even plane. We assume that most people arrive by train. It’s best to book a ticket to the station Badischer Bahnhof (Basel Bad Bf). From there it is only a few kilometers to either the starting point near the hydropower plant Birsfelden or to the Freibad. Because the bicycle spaces in the long-distance trains (Intercity) are subject to reservation, it is advisable to buy the ticket early enough.
On the other hand, getting away from Cape Arkona is not that easy. The train station closest to the Cape is Sagard, a little further then Sassnitz. From there you can take a regional train to Stralsund and from there on to the whole world. The train station of Bergen has many direct connections to all over Germany, some of them with ICE trains, where bicycles need to be disassembled. Experience has shown that in summer it is often not possible to get a bike seat in an Intercity train. On weekends you usually get away only by regional train. If you can estimate your time of arrival, it would be a possibility to book a return ticket in advance (which would be in line with the BTG rules).
Another means of transport you can try is the bus. Bergen is also a stop for the Flixbus (https://www.flixbus.de/fernbus/bergen-auf-ruegen). And finally, if you have not had enough, you can also take the ferry from Sassnitz to Trelleborg and continue your bike ride in southern Sweden. The Copenhagen airport is only one train hour away from Trelleborg.
The GPS track will be released about one month before the start. In addition to the actual track, the GPX file also contains about 250 so-called Points Of Interest (POI). These are mainly shelters, supermarkets and gas stations for re-supply. In southern Germany there are many primitive shelter huts in hiking regions, which were built by regional clubs as weather protection for hikers. There is no host, no service and no fee. On our weekend tours, we often use such shelters for an “Overnighter”. If you behave properly and leave no garbage, an overnight stay is usually tolerated. So while you only need a sleeping bag in the south, there are not so many shelters in the north. Therefore, it is recommended to bring a bivy sack or a small tent. There are also campsites and hotels along the route. We want to leave it up to each participant to find out about these places. At this point the self-support begins. Further information can be found in our route description at
The track was compiled on the computer using “Garmin BaseCamp” and a custom software. The map used is Open MTB Map (https://openmtbmap.org/). These maps are free of charge and work well on Garmin GPS devices. You should get yourself a routeable map of Germany as well as of the border area to the Czech Republic and Poland at an early stage and familiarize yourself with the navigation.
All the best, Thomas & Achim.