Horb am Neckar
The bike path I shouldn't have taken
A nice backroad climb out of Muhlen, heading for Nagold
The top of the climb out of the Eyach Valley
The road was twisty for a while and then did a 200 M descent at 6%. This must be an extra bad place for motorcyclists since there were several warning signs specifically warning them about it. I didn't see any evidence, other than the warning signs, of motorcycle fatalities on this section, but later on L 463, I passed a elegant wooden cross with the name "Andre" carved on it above the carved and painted image of a high powered motorcycle. Of course bicyclists also die, although I expect at a much lower rate than motorcyclists. In Spain I saw a memorial by the road side made out of a bicycle parts.
The first of several motorcycle warnings on this section of L 440
A 200 M vertical downhill into Balingen
Riding out of Ballingen, heading north
The Eyach river valley north of Bad Imnau
Looking back at the Eyach river valley
Nordstetten
Eutingen
B 463 heading to Nagold and Calw
Wildberg
When I arrived in Magstadt, I went the Italian Ice Cream place where I had stopped last year, and visited with Luiggi, the owner, before finding my way to Heiner and Claudia's house. Then I spent a great, but exhausting, three nights before Heiner and I rode to Ulm.
Heiner had to work Friday morning, so Claudia took me to the bike store in Magstadt where I got new, wider, better, fenders and a new rear tire for my bike. I think the Conti Travel contact is a great touring tire, but Conti's quality control isn't good. My rear tire's sidewall bulge had gotten bigger and the thump while riding it had gotten worse, so I replaced it with a Schwalb Marathon. My fenders weren't really big enough for 700x37 tires, and have been a constant source of annoyance and noise, so I replaced them with 45 mm wide German fenders. The result is a much smoother and quieter bike.
When Heiner got home from work, we had lunch and then he changed my tire while I changed my fenders. Then we rode near Stuttgart. We visited several high points on the north side of Stuttgart including Solitude, where the rulers of this area lived around 1870, and a hill that was built from the WW II rubble of the city. Stuttgart, an important industrial center, was heavily bombed. While most of the hill seems like a normal, if very symmetric hill, the top of the hill is exposed rubble and it is there to keep people from forgetting the real results of war. These two places have great views of the valley where Stuttgart is located. Then we rode to a third high point, the university campus where Heiner's office is located, and I got my first decent internet access since Spain. Finally, we rode back to Magstadt and all four of us went out to dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant.
On Saturday, Heiner and I did a loop through Pforzheim, a town north of Calw on the Nekar river. The loop was 100 km and as hilly as the Blueridge Parkway and as pretty. Most of it was on radwegs along rivers, but the climbs getting between the rivers more than made up for the relatively flat riding along the rivers. On the way back to Magstadt, we stopped in Weil der Stadt at a bike store that was just about to close at 2 PM, and I got two new Sigg water bottles. That night we attended Lisa's Abiball - highschool graduation celebration - in Herrenberger, getting home about 1 AM. The Abiball was a neat cultural experience for me and I got to meet Heiner and Claudia's other children at the celebration. A wonderful visit.