[HWN] Having just completed an evangelical tour of some arctic archipelago,
I boarded the train for Freiburg, Germany.
There a group of bike messengers was to assemble for good times and an alleycat
race, on the weekend before the 1999 Cycle Messenger World Championships in
Zurich, Switzerland.
Some hours from my destination, a gentleman known as Steve from DC entered the train's
bicycle car with a bicycle and a broken BOB Coz trailer.
Sitting as I was right
across a BOB trailer myself, he couldn't help but ask if it belonged to me. I
affirmed his suspicions. I was pleased that the model of trailer I was pulling
was different than his. (Meaning, not one of the breaking ones!) I asked if he was
headed to Freiburg for the big party.
Of course he was.
We got to Freiburg, and as the day was getting on, checked into the first campsite
we could find. It was nice, and just brimming over with German efficiency. We went to
town, met up with the mass of couriers, partied a bit, and went to bed.
The next day we all met up at Per Velo,
the courier company who were sponsoring
all the fun in Freiburg. The first thing that anyone told me about Per Velo
is that they have a pop machine that sells beer. And they sure had a hard time
keeping it stocked with some 50 odd bike messengers in town.
There we registered, paid, and got referred to a nice
camping ground in a sports field outside of town. Only a few people actually
camped there, as couch surfing was orgainized with that good 'ol German efficiency,
and only the hardcore outdoorsy people bothered to camp.
The fun, of course, began right away. As our delightful hosts shuttled all our
crap around in one of thier vans, we were led to a lake outside of town for the
lake jump event.
The lake jump involves riding a bike off a ramp into the lake.
Two little BMX bikes were provided, with inner tubes tied around the handlebars
and frame to keep them afloat.
I don't really know how one wins this event, but
anyone who bothered to try won a big-ass thrill.
You had a very long ride up to the ramp,
so you could get up really good
speed.
The ramp was curved, and to look at it from the side it looked as if
it would throw you straight up in the air and you'd come down on the end of
the ramp.
Clearly, however, people were being thrown way out into the lake,
so it seemed 'safe enough'.
You catch HUGE air.
Occasionally on the beach, someone would appear, covered from head
to toe in mud. Eventually, I asked one of them what was up with the mud?
His face turned all delerious and he said that ah, man, I GOTTA go try the
mud. And there, up over a little hill and under a little industrial conveyer
belt, was the mud.
Imagine if someone had plunked a big wad of
clay down in the black forest with
a swimming pool, in the manner that one makes a sand castle. Then spend a
while hollowing out the middle with water and making it all swimmy. That's
kind of what the mud was like.
The sides had long grooves that acted like
very slippery slides, and the middle was just mud. Thick, warm, smooth,
gooey mud. We all floated about and had massage chains and wondered at
how something so amazing could possible exist.
Next we went over to the other side of the lake for a big
barbecue in the
setting sun. Further plans were made to go carbo loading, as the races were
tomorrow, and that is always good cause for carbo loading. UberChik made about
20 of us 3 servings each of yummy pasta from 20DM worth of groceries, rode
120km to wind down, knit 6 sweaters, and read a good book before going to bed.
