Bike Trip on the Eurovelo 9

TL;DR - We managed to once again attain bicycles! What better way to celebrate than with a two-week bike trip as a means to get to Vienna for some family time. Three countries, three flat tires, one bike crash, and 530 miles later…we arrived in Vienna.

The photo album of our (mis-)adventures.

While in Berlin last spring we managed to become the proud owners of some used gravel bikes. I found my bike at a springtime bicycle flea market and Tyler got his on the Berlin version of Craigslist. Sadly, I didn’t even have my bike for a full three weeks before the lock was cut and it was stolen while I was at the gym. To which everyone told me, yeah of course…welcome to Berlin. Lucky for me, a friend was selling her gravel bike so I quickly attained another bike (which from then on had to live in the bathroom because I was terrified it would also be stolen.

With bikes in possession we quickly started planning day rides and easy overnight bike trips out of Berlin. In May, we were able to join some friends camping by biking up to the lake they were camping at. Also in May we had our first Berlin visitor!! A good friend from Colorado was in Germany for work and was able to join us in Berlin for a 3-day bike trip. Germany seems to have really impressive bike routes.

In June, we needed a way to get to Vienna and we figured, why not by bike?!? We found the Eurovelo 9 which ran directly into Vienna (Eurovelos are EU designated long distance cycle routes across Europe). Tyler was able to take a two week holiday from work, so we decided to start our trip in Poznan, Poland (which is an easy 3-hour bus or train ride from Berlin) and allowed us the time to bike the 530 miles (with one full rest day). We were delighted to have two friends from Berlin join us for the first few days of our ride while in Poland. As the Merry family says: the more the MERRY-er!!!

Some highlights of our adventures included:

Poland: We spent the first six days biking in Poland. We found it to be a very smiling culture with very friendly people happy to help and patient with language barriers. The food, a lot of perogies, potatoes, and schnitzel seems to agree with Tyler. Though sadly the weather was not ideal for us with a bit of rain and wind. Also, the bike route was mostly a mix of dirt roads (which turned very muddy with the rain) or on streets with other cars (not ideal). Based on this one experience, I am not sure I would recommend Poland for a bike trip.

Czech Republic: The next section of our trip took us across the Jeseníky Mountains and into the Olomouc region of the Czech Republic. Unfortunately, my gps route failed us and I misled us up a ski mountain. We had to manage a bit of hike-a-bike to get ourselves out of the pickle. This is also where our flat tire bad luck began. Though, interestingly, we found bicycling the most joyous in the Czech Republic. The routes were a lot of fun with paved trails, dedicated to bicycling, leading through the woods, along lakes and creeks, and through the countryside as well. We even had a welcome crew join us for our one and only rest day! My brother and his family came up from Vienna to visit and keep us company for a day in the charming town of Horka nad Moravia. Back on the trail, it was in the wine region of southern Moravia (south of Brno) where we had an amazing wine tasting at Vinný sklep Vinařství Zámečník. We enjoyed sampling their sparkling wine, local riesling, and a white blend of grapes from 16 local winemakers. The family charmed us with stories of their winery and cellar.

Austria: Truth be told, we were only biking 1.5 days in Austria before reaching Vienna. In alignment with our past Austrian biking experiences, the infrastructure and biking culture is well-suited for biking holidays. The bike trails and cycle-biways are delightful.

Tyler seemed to manage the daily grind of the riding better than me on this trip. I came into Vienna wiped out and very much in need of rest. Luckily we have two weeks of chill, family time before we head out on our next adventure: returning to Innsbruck for a month of hut hiking and mountain adventures. We’ll get one more 5-day bike trip in southern Germany before returning to Berlin for the end of summer.