Bicycling and Barbecue with Neighbors

Today my dad and I we able to go on a bike ride with Juergen's son, Tim. He got bikes rented for us from a local bike shop, and they were really good bikes! (see pictures). Mine is the yellow one and my dad's is the black and red one.

Around noon we headed out from his house, but first we had to stop at the bike shop to get a longer seat post for my dad's bike (we purchased bottles from the shop, too) and we had to stop to get water. THEN began the ride up the Feldberg. At the beginning it wasn't so bad, although I could definitely feel my lack of exercise for the past two weeks and the hikes from the past two days. As the road turned up, it got harder and harder. I was afraid I wouldn't make it to the top because the road just seemed to keep going and going. Finally we did, though! It felt so good to have conquered that since it was my first real climb (no mountains in Kansas!). 

At the restaurant we had drinks and a bite to eat. Then we headed down! It was chilly up top, so we bundled up for the way down. It was really steep at first but it gradually got less steep. The landscapes and little towns we rode through were amazing and it was so nice to ride on downhill/flat for so long. The weather cleared up, too, making it just about perfect.

We realized when we got to Tim's flat that the next train was in about 20 minutes and we needed to get all of our stuff and drive to the train station really fast. It all might have worked out except we kept hitting all the red lights. We didn't make that train, so we had to get on the next one. We arrived home a tiny bit late and everyone was already here for the barbecue. Our friends were worried because we had been unreachable by cell phone during the ride- Tim's battery was dead and we left ours at his flat... oops.

The rest of the evening we spent with the neighbors, eating, drinking, and having a good time.