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  • The Final Stretch June 24, 2015
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  • The First 200 Miles June 24, 2015
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  • Sticky Motivation June 24, 2015
  • Be Yourself June 24, 2015
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  • What is this about? June 24, 2015

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  • klaus

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Instagram

🌼 Reflecting on a ride in Chico, CA, a few week 🌼 Reflecting on a ride in Chico, CA, a few weekends ago. 🚴‍♂️ Last visited in 2013 for the #chicowildflowercentury, this time I took on the metric ride in a DIY version.

The journey kicked off with Honey Run Road—a scenic route winding through Butte Creek Canyon, climbing 1,500 feet in under ten miles. 🏞️ The early spring setting was stunning: sunny skies, lush greenery, and the peaceful flow of Butte Creek beside me. As I ascended, the views grew more expansive, though the road was a bit rough around the edges—patchy pavement, faded graffiti, and signs of weathered charm.

Reaching Paradise was bittersweet. 😔 Devastated by the 2018 Camp Fire, the scars were still visible: empty lots, "for sale" signs, and ongoing recovery efforts. Yet amid the remnants, signs of renewal emerged—new beginnings, construction, and a community coming back to life.

The descent into Butte Valley was a breath of fresh air, cruising past vast farmlands under the Chico sun. 🌾 Durham and Dayton marked the homestretch, completing a loop back to Chico.

🌟 Rediscovering old paths, witnessing resilience, and embracing the beauty of Northern California.

PS: If this sounds like fun to you, why not sign up for the @chico.velo Wildflower Century, held this year April 27th - 28th, to support the local communities together with 3,000 other cyclist.
The Middle East, and the Arabian Peninsula, were r The Middle East, and the Arabian Peninsula, were regions I had only heard about in history lessons and news reports. Oman showed up on my radar as a possible cycling destination after @globalcyclingnetwork filmed a few specials from the country and reading up on trip reports from fellow bikepackers. 

A couple of months before the pandemic, I boarded a plane to Muscat and embarked on an 11-day bikepacking journey around the northern part of the country. It took me from the popular area around the capital into the Al Hajar Mountain Range, including the climb up Jebel Shams, with views of the “Grand Canyon of Oman”. Further highlights included the historic city of Nizwa and swimming at Wadi Shab before looping back to the start. 

The harsh desert environment was juxtaposed with the kindness of the local Omani people, who assisted me, more than once, with accommodation and food, and water. Overall it was an eye-opening experience of their culture and this part of the world. 🇴🇲

You can find my blog post about this trip in the “Adventures” section of my site (link in bio).
Just before the pandemic turned our collective wor Just before the pandemic turned our collective worlds upside down, I was able to sneak in one last bikepacking trip to a country I was eager to learn more about: South Africa 🇿🇦. What I knew about it had been limited to my exposure to news broadcasts and history lessons, which made it all the more exciting to see things first-hand. 

I came across the Cross Cape bikepacking route, created from a Western Cape Government initiative, covering 740km (460 miles) from Plettenberg Bay to Stellenbosch, about 45km east of Cape Town. It took me from the moist coastal region to the arid, semi-desert in the Klein Karoo and back to the area around the capital via farmland and vineyards. It presents the rider with incredible diversity in climate and environment.

In addition to enjoying the variety in flora, fauna, and terrain, I also appreciated the kindness of locals, who, after suffering from mechanical issues, gladly gave me a lift to the next town with a bike shop so I could continue my journey.

You can find my blog post about this trip in the “Adventures” section of my site (link in bio).
Four years ago, I had the itch for another bike to Four years ago, I had the itch for another bike touring adventure. After I had cycled across the United States and then re-entered the Silicon Valley workforce, I was looking for a destination that would somewhat take me out of my comfort zone again for a week or so. 
 
I picked the 4 Rivers Path in South Korea, an (almost) continuous bike path from Seoul, the capital, in the northwest, to the port city of Busan in the southeast, at a length of about 630 kilometers (391 miles). 

Since I had never visited Korea before, the experience of cycling through a country very much foreign to me was filled with novelty and excitement. The trip, at the time, turned out to be the perfect mix of getting exposed to a new environment, convenience, and physical challenge.

Today, I am way more drawn to exploring gravel and dirt roads in areas off the beaten path rather than nicely paved and groomed bike paths through predominantly urban areas. However, I still fondly look back at that experience, cycling without traffic across a whole country I had never been to before. 

You can find my blog post about this trip in the “Adventures” section of my site (link in bio).
A few weekends ago, I finally heeded the call of s A few weekends ago, I finally heeded the call of some gravel roads close to home. I headed out for a short two day/one night bikepacking adventure in Marin County, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge and birthplace of mountain biking. I mostly followed the route put together by Marc Gasch of @xpdtn3 as part of his “Weekend in San Francisco” trip - with some unintended hike-a-bike sections and the occasional fence jumping. 

Needless to say, after a year of more or less home confinement, venturing along gravel and dirt roads and being in nature seemingly all by myself, indeed has the power to take one’s mind off things, reset and recharge. 

My blog post about the trip can be found in the “Adventures” section of my site (link in bio).
I returned to the San Francisco Bay Area in early I returned to the San Francisco Bay Area in early February. Much like everyone else, I have been trying to cope with and figure out all the things that have been happening around us since. The shelter-in-place order meant that exploring needed to happen a bit closer to home, so I have been trying to get to know the neighborhood a little bit better. 
The city of Emeryville, wedged between Berkeley and Oakland in the East Bay, is just a few minutes away by bike. Incorporated December 2, 1896, it was home to settlements of the Ohlone Native Americans long before the colonization of the area by Spain. The early 20th century brought rapid expansion and industrial development. After WWII, the city saw a transformation away from inner-city industry to residential and shopping areas and business parks. Additional space for the city to expand was created by partial filling of the bay in the late 1960s. 
From being labeled the "the rottenest city on the Pacific Coast" during prohibition and flourishing of night clubs, lottery dens, bars, and bordellos in the 1920s, the city certainly has come a long way and added a few more interesting historical tidbits along the way. 
Today, companies and organizations such as @pixar, @peetscoffee, @revealnews, @clifbar , and @orukayak have their home in Emeryville.

PS: This mural, depicting the history of the city, hangs on the sidewall of a @panerabread in a shopping plaza on the border between Oakland and Emeryville. It was painted in 2012 by the artist Curtis Parker.
One last thing I wanted to experience before leavi One last thing I wanted to experience before leaving South Africa was seeing some of the animals unique to this area in their habitat. Initially, I had planned to visit Addo Elephant National Park close to Port Elizabeth, however, because of my cycling itinerary, I could not quite fit that in. Which is why I decided to do a game safari from Cape Town at @aquilasafaris, about a two-hour drive from the city.

Safaris in Africa are a bit of a contentious topic, with some operators resorting to dubious practices to increase their profits. This ranges from drugging animals to make them docile and approachable in experiences like “walking with lions” or separating cubs from their mothers to be touched by tourists because they really want that Instagram shot. I tried to do my research, and, at least from what I could gather, Aquila supports ethical animal encounters. 
Being driven around in an open vehicle, seating about twenty people, for two and a half hours was very different from my solo bikepacking trip over the previous ten days. Despite the pampered feeling of it all, seeing lions, rhinos, zebras, and elephants fairly up-close was an unforgettable experience to close out my time in South Africa. 🇿🇦🦁🦏🐘🦓
From the town of Stellenbosch, a university town s From the town of Stellenbosch, a university town surrounded by vineyards, I had to find a way of getting back to my accommodation in Cape Town. Riding towards the city on my own, passing through townships, I feared I could quickly end up at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Through a chain of fortunate events, I got put in touch with Robert, a recent Agricultural Science graduate from Stellenbosch University. An avid cyclist and mountain biker, and with some time on his hands, he kindly offered to give me a ride back to Cape Town in his truck. He had some job interviews in the area line up over the coming days, but expressed interest in working abroad, most likely Europe, for some time in the near future.

On the drive back, he patiently talked to me about all the issues prevalent in South Africa I had questions about. And there are many, as I was able to find out and hear about. Yet, before we said our goodbyes in the city, he wanted me to take away the good things. “This is such a beautiful country and my home. We have to focus on the positives.”
From the top of the pass, I dropped down into the From the top of the pass, I dropped down into the town of Franschhoek (Afrikaans for "French Corner"). Once a sleepy country retreat, the community experienced a boom in the 1990s, with property prices sharply rising. Today the area boasts roughly 50 wineries, numerous top restaurants, as well as well-preserved original Cape Dutch architecture and natural beauty throughout the valley. It very much reminded me of towns in Napa Valley, the San Francisco Bay Area wine region. "Very little was here in the Eighties," James, a local running his own carpentry business, tells me. We started talking after I had stopped for coffee at The Hoek Espresso Bar, along the main street. Growing up here, he remembers playing tennis with friends on the road, so little car traffic was coming through here. "Things opened up after Apartheid ended and really took off in the 2010s." According to him, lots of foreigners started buying up farms in the area, converting them into estates/gated communities. 
He recommended taking a bit of a detour to check out Berg River Dam, another crucial part of the Western Cape Water Supply System. I made my way back to the main road, cycling past countless wineries on my way west. The final physical test was Helshoogte Pass, linking Stellenbosch, my final destination, with the Drakenstein Valley. The grade from the valley side was rather gentle, but I could feel that all the riding over the previous 1.5 weeks had taken its toll. 
The downhill on the other side, topping out at 59km/h (36mph), was the appropriate conclusion to this journey before finally cruising into downtown Stellenbosch. 692 kilometers (430 miles) and nine days of cycling through South Africa's Western Cape. 🇿🇦
The first highlight of the final day of my bikepac The first highlight of the final day of my bikepacking tour through South Africa’s Western Cape was the 7km climb to the summit of Franschhoek Pass at 723m (2372 feet). Turning away from Theewaterskloof Dam, the traffic luckily quieted down on the flat tarmac road leading up to the climb. Past the grass and bushland around me, vistas of the Mont Rochelle Nature Reserve on my right, as well as extensions of the Hottentots Holland Mountains on the left. 
The grade of the climb wasn’t too intimidating, but temperatures in the 30C (86F) range made it tough going in parts. The impressive views served as a welcoming distraction on the way up. 🚵‍♀️
Heading out of Riviersonderend on the N2 highway, Heading out of Riviersonderend on the N2 highway, I turned onto a gravel road fairly soon, riding past dairy farms and fruit orchards. The views of the Langeberg Range were again impressive, and luckily the wind had calmed down from the day before. 
After three hours of riding, I reached the charming town of Greyton, perfect for a coffee stop. The route followed the path of the Sonderend River, which made for mostly pleasant riding without a lot of elevation changes. The only real physical test came early afternoon in the form of Floorshoogte Pass, unfortunately only equipped with a gravel shoulder but luckily without much traffic. 
The enjoyable downhill on the other side took me past Theewaterskloof Dam, the largest dam in the Western Cape Water Supply System and a crucial water source for Cape Town. I ended the day in the town of Villiersdorp in the Cape Overberg Region, an area known for producing apples, grapes, onions, peaches, and apricots.
I woke up early at my guesthouse in Swellendam, we I woke up early at my guesthouse in Swellendam, well-rested and, to my surprise, vastly different weather conditions. While I had suffered through 30C+ (86F) heat the previous day, temperatures had dropped to about 15C (60F) and would not go much higher throughout the day. A rainy morning and wind were precursors of things to come.

With the mountains of the Langeberg Range to my right, I cruised out of town, working against a steady headwind that would be my constant companion for the rest of the day. It was, like the previous morning, a ride over rolling hills, past countless farms, on mostly decent hard-packed gravel roads.

At least at the beginning.

After about 40km (25 miles), I turned south on R317, a tarmac road leading up to Stormsvlei Poort, a mountain pass at a moderate 311m (1020 feet) of elevation. The rain, wind, and the mostly non-considerate motorized traffic made this a rather stressful endeavor, unfortunately.

Instead of continuing towards Riviersonderend—a village name I was never able to pronounce correctly—on the shoulder of the N2 highway, my route called for a turn west on yet another dirt road. I can honestly say that this was the worst road I had cycled on thus far. It was littered with big rocks and potholes, sections filled with sand, and washboarded in irregular intervals. With the headwind kicking up, progress was frustratingly slow. 
About 9km (5.6 miles) outside my destination, I finally connected back to the N2 and arrived in the small town late afternoon. Enough time for a coffee and a pastry at Ou Meul Bakkery before they closed. ☕️
With my tire issues sorted, I was on my way from R With my tire issues sorted, I was on my way from Riversdale to Swellendam, the third oldest town in South Africa. Over rolling hills and past farmland, I made it to Heidelberg, where I stopped for a snack at a bakery and refilled my water bottles. 
The road quite soon changed from tarmac to gravel, and I soon found myself laboring up yet another incline in the midday heat, my Garmin registering a maximum of 38C (100F). A gripping downhill on the other side took me to the town of Suurbrak and into the Overberg District Municipality. From there, it was another 20km ride into Swellendam.

The town has over 50 provincial heritage sights with most of those buildings constructed in Cape Dutch architecture style. What struck me was the much cleaner and more upscale appearance of the town, not unlike popular weekend getaway destinations for the middle and upper-middle class in the San Francisco Bay Area. Upon research, I found of note that the Swellendam Municipality area redeclared itself a Republic in 2011, dedicated to the principles of the New South Africa. This means celebrating rural life, racial harmony, respect for nature and wildlife, and aims to promote sustainability and an "unplugged" way of life for all to enjoy. (Wikipedia)
After the unfortunate tire issues from the previou After the unfortunate tire issues from the previous day, Russell, my host in Van Wyksdorp, had kindly offered to give me a ride to Riversdale, where I hoped the guys at the local bike shop could help me out. “You’re the first guy I have seen who actually has the right equipment for the job,” Quewin, who co-owns @riversdalecycles with his brother Reece, tells me as he takes a look at my setup. From Pretoria originally, Quewin has worked on bikes all his life. Over a traditional South African braai (Afrikaans for “barbecue” or “roast”), one day, they had the idea for their own bike shop. They started in a small space but eventually moved to their current, more prominent location in 2017. 
While most of the people in the area ride mountain bikes, gravel bikes are slowly becoming more popular, he says. Especially the hard-packed and reasonably smooth dirt roads outside of town lend themselves well to those kinds of bikes. 
In the end, I walked out of the store with a new rear tire, now on the @panaracer_world Gravelking SK 700x43c and a bag of biltong (dried, cured meat). Quewin had cut up slices for me from a larger piece of meat they had in the shop. Very South African style, I would say 😉
Russell, from Johannesburg originally, has been in Russell, from Johannesburg originally, has been in Van Wyksdorp for three years. He had worked overseas for many years in countries like Egypt, Iraq, and Canada. After his last job, he came straight out here, a village of roughly 800 people, to buy a farm and say goodbye to the rat race.

Once he had restored the old farm cottages using original building techniques, he started offering those as accommodation. Additionally, both the cottages and the farm are operated using sustainable living principles. Electricity mostly comes from solar power systems, kitchen water is filtered using banana circles, and all cleaning materials used are bio-degradable. No chemical fertilizers or pesticides are used on the farm. “After being here for three years, I don’t think I could live in a big city anymore”, Russell tells me. 
Unable to fix my rear tire issues, I gladly accepted his offer to hitch a ride to my next destination, Riversdale, and pay a visit to the local bike shop.
The ride from Calitzdorp to the small hamlet of Va The ride from Calitzdorp to the small hamlet of Van Wyksdorp was characterized by a rugged climb up to Rooiberg Pass and a series of technical mishaps that I feel embarrassed to mention.

Riding past vineyards and ostrich farms outside Calitzdorp, I soon noticed a loss of air pressure in my rear tire. After pumping it up twice with no visible leaks in the tubeless setup, I had to bite the bullet and continue on with an inner tube. Upon inspection, It seemed that the rim tape had failed to stick and was causing air to leak through the spoke mount points. I continued on with an inner tube, only to get a flat shortly after the summit pass. 
It had gotten unbearably hot, with no shade, let alone a flat surface to inspect the issues. Not sure if the tire patches I had in my pack for months would even stick, I made the decision to keep going on a flat tire. With no cell reception, I wasn’t sure if I would make it out of this desert before nightfall. I frankly was not keen on finding out about what animals were lurking in the area. 
I slid and skidded down the dirt road and then moved along with a combination of walking and rolling down gentle descents. Luckily I managed to find a water source along the way to take care of hydration needs. 
Eventually, I managed to get a hold of Russell, the owner of Watermill Farm Cottages I had made a reservation at. He did not hesitate to offer to pick me up in his pickup truck roughly four miles outside of town. As much as I would have liked to complete the day under my own power, I was glad about getting a lift. Sometimes days really do not pan out as planned.
Trudy and Pieter have been running the Red Door Gu Trudy and Pieter have been running the Red Door Guesthouse for two years. Pieter, who works in construction, had remodeled the over 100-year-old house himself. They are welcoming guests from all over to world to Calitzdorp, famous for its world-class port wines. 🍷 
While the guesthouse is going well, they are trying to give back to the community by running a soup kitchen as well as a “recycling for food program.” “There is a lot of poverty in the area, but in the end, crime is just an opportunity for people to survive,” Trudy tells me.

Them being big into motorcycles, they both used to own Harley Davidsons, which they eventually sold. Trudy’s biggest dream, she confesses, is riding the Route 66 one day. “You gotta come back and stay longer next time,” they tell me before we part ways, and I continue my journey towards Van Wyksdorp the following day.
Leaving Oudtshoorn and heading west, I started to Leaving Oudtshoorn and heading west, I started to feel quite a bit uneasy. By that point, I had heard way too many stories of muggings and robbery, some targeting tourists but also locals. I had to be vigilant at all times and trust my instincts, whether an area and the people in it looked safe or if it was better to get out quickly. I probably erred on the side of caution most of the time, but the last thing I wanted was any of my gear forcibly removed from me. Needless to say, always being on high alert is mentally tiring. 
Passing some tiny settlements and farms outside of town, I found myself climbing into the hills again on a wide dirt road rather soon. The higher I got, the more the vegetation seemed to change again, aided by high amounts of rain the area had seen recently. The higher elevations of the impressive Swartberg Mountain Range were hidden behind a layer of clouds and fog. The weather also served up a mix of dry and drizzle, with temperatures around 28C (83F). The long-awaited descent took me past more farmland and required some stream crossings. I would find out later that those would have been impassable just a few days prior due to rainfall. At last, I made it to the town of Calitzdorp, pop. 4,284, renowned as a center of the port wine industry in South Africa.🍷
The rain and a few other factors forced another da The rain and a few other factors forced another day of rest on me in George before continuing my journey north.

Via Montagu Pass, passed the Old Toll House and over the Outeniqua Mountains, I left the moist and misty coastal region behind and entered the Klein Karoo (Little Karoo). With little traffic and fog covering the upper slopes of the valley, it was a bit eerie cycling up the pass. The exhilarating downhill on the other side proved finally too much for one of the bottle cages I had mounted on the fork. Nothing, however, that a bit of Gorilla Tape couldn’t fix. 😉

The climate and vegetation on the other side couldn’t have been more different than what I had experienced along the coast. Early adventurers and explorers “unanimously denounced it as a frightening place of great heat, great frosts, great floods, and great droughts.” (Wikipedia). On dusty and washboarded dirt roads, I rode over undulating terrain and eventually made it to the town of Oudtshoorn, home to the world's largest ostrich population and several specialized breeding farms in the area.
The Seven Passes Road between George and Knysna co The Seven Passes Road between George and Knysna connects the two towns by, true to its name, seven mountain passes. While this number sounds challenging, the altitudes of the crests are only in the 250 meters (820 feet) range. Accumulated though, this is enough elevation gain for you to feel it in your quads 😉

Like so many mountain roads in South Africa, this, too, was constructed by the road engineer Thomas Charles John Bain. Between 1848 and 1888, he was responsible for planning and building over 900km of roads and mountain passes in South Africa. These projects played a significant part in opening up the vast backcountry to economic development.

Unfortunately the weather also stuck to the forecast with another very wet day, especially in the afternoon. The only positive was a solid tailwind 💨
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