Sat: Bremen - Dormund 2:0 Sun: Sunshine and wind

My son Henri and me went to watch the soccer game Bremen vs. Dortmund, the new German champion 2010/11 on Saturday afternoon. After being sick for quite a while and under permanent stress to finalize preparations for the audit of the university on Thursday and Friday, this was the first time on the bike for quite a while.


Saturday was beautiful, almost like a day in summer with temperatures up to 26 degrees Celsius. We watched a good game at the Weser Arena in Bremen with thousands of fans from Dortmund clad in their traditional yellow and black team colors. 

There was even a passenger boat travelling down the river full of Dortmund fans, equipped with flags and a huge replica of the champion trophy (sometimes called the "salad bowl").


Although I need to add that the most happy moment in the game was, when the arena monitor showed that my hometown club of Moenchengladbach won 2:0 as well.

After the game I had time to work on my new Olmo frames. I bought some other beautiful components that I will show later.


The in Sunday I had time to ride my Faggin bike. For the time being this is the only modern bike left until the "Wet White Dream" will arrive from the paint shop. Again, the skies were blue and the sun was shining on Sunday as well. And there was a very strong wind blowing from the South West. I decided to ride in direction South West first, so that I would have an easier ride home later. I took the standard road to Borgfeld and Fischerhude, than made a turn to Sottrum and Ottersberg and continued almost to Rotenburg/Wuemme.  From there I rode South again through Hellwege almost to Verden/Aller, but making a left turn at Voelkensen and riding back in direction Bremen through Langenwedel and Achim.

For some reasons I had a very high heart rate, I was almost constantly above 160 HRM so after two hours I had to take a first break and I noticed that this type of an-aerob riding has taken its toll. The second part was nevertheless faster as I enjoyed the strong tailwind. Another older, but strong rider came from behind and took over but over the course of some km I could chase him down and when I was finally ready to battle it out he took a different turn in direction of Bremen.

After 4:25 hrs of total time, thereof 3:59 riding time and 110 km later I was back home, just in time to take a shower, take a nap for 30 minutes and help my daughter with her homework. When I came home I had a tune in my head: "Now that we found love" from a group called "Third World". The tune popped up in my mind when Runjoo wrote me that she spend her holidays from the construction site in Sudan in Ethiopia, of all places. And somehow I made the connection between Addis Adeba, capitol of Ethiopia and the second Third World album "Journey to Addis" which I bought a long time ago. 


And still, I like the song. This new cover version isn't bad either.


The next two weekends will be much tougher: On Saturday the Bremer Rad Marathon 2011 will be conducted, not a race, perhaps similar to a brevet. Last year I attended as well. I guess I will nevertheless only attend if the weather is good. Another race in the rain as last year is no fun.


And the weekend thereafter I will travel to Berlin to attend the Velothon race 2011. Again, I also attended in 2010. A nice race, not too long (120 km) leading through Berlin and surroundings. Including the Transalp, a lot of goals for the near future.

The Faggin at an old gas stand. Note the containers for the 2-stroke engines 1:25 and 1:50 mix. Haven't seen them for quite a while.

On the journey to Arco.