It’s 22:42 and a tad bit later than the first two days when I typed the daily #btg18 recap. Funny that I’m starting that late although I had something in my mind since the early evening. Before we go to the leaders of the pack and the two lunatics (only in the best of all meanings up front) I’d like to tell you about some – at least in a certain way – trail magic. Once again, Zweirad-Center Nerz in Tuttlingen was involved and the story got to me from Norbert Münch. Jaap K-bike had a complete failure of his rear brake that forced him to stop at said bikeshop to get it fixed. Unfortunately, they only stocked Magura and Shimano spare parts, but no SRAM. And this is where the “Wow-Factor” kicks in: After calling SRAM Germany and telling them that there was a rider of the Bikepacking Trans Germany in need, they sent out the needed parts via express to get Jaap K-bike going again as quick as possible. The mechanics at Zweirad-Center Nerz were pretty impressed by that great customer support. I guess this little story tells a lot about the effort of Thomas Borst and Achim Walther. I know that I’m about to make them blush now and they might even be a bit mad at me for this, yet it still needs to be said that they did a lot for advocating bikepacking and the adventure-orientated approach to cycling by putting together the Bikepacking Trans Germany. Thank you both for everything you did!
Now to today’s events. Christian Beyer (I finally know his first name thanks to an email he sent after reaching checkpoint #2 and Ben Steurbaut continue riding at an incredible pace. They are both at km 869 with Christian being slighly ahead of Ben. To put their pace in perspective: After the third day of the race rode already more than half of the total distance. Heads off to these guys, that’s some amazing riding and so very exciting to watch! Who needs the Wold Cup anyway? 😉
So far a total of four riders has reached checkpoint #2: Clem Shovel and Thomas Go-Ride Taut. Bernie is closing in being at km 708, 30 km behind him rides Olaf Haensch.
Keep going everybody, I hope you find or found a nice shelter for tonight!
Sleep well, stay safe and see you again tomorrow, Fabian