The last ride of 2019

With the weather as good as it was, I decided to get in one last ride this year. Nothing fancy just 40+ km on tarmac.

A road bike handlebar with two winter gloves stuck to the ends and a road in the backgrpund

Strava map of a 45 km ride

It was a good ride and I kept grinning riding along a road between the villages of Franzenheim and Kernscheid — at least on the inside because on the outside my expression was a bit pained from going uphill. I discovered this piece of asphalt a few weeks after my trip to Scotland in 2018 and it reminded me so much of the singletrack roads over there (the only thing missing are the passing places).

a wide field, the slightly cloudy sky in the background and a fallen over tree on the left

I was really lucky because while temperatures for most of the ride were below 0°C, it was dry and I only encountered a few spots of frozen ground.

picture shot diagonally through a bridge in the winter sunlight

And I have to say: I might not enjoy road cycling a lot but one distinct advantage to gravel cycling is not having to clean my bike after the ride.

Alex Hoffmann @mangochutney