Munich, the gateway to Africa
Hi BoBbers,
Munich might seem like a strange starting point for a trip through Africa (we jokingly called it “The gateway to Africa”) but there are two main reasons for having it as the launching point for my journey. Firstly, I studied there (for free!) for a couple of years and had a bunch of friends to visit - two of them even came from Prague to see me off! Secondly, Munich was the final destination of my previous motorbike trip from Australia to Germany and I’m starting to see this trip as the second leg in a three-part multi-modal world tour - motorbike, bicycle, foot and hitchhiking. But, one once-in-a-lifetime journey at a time. My goal in Munich was to catch up with friends and to get myself and the bike set up.
The Munich airport is about two hours ride away from the city and I figured it would be nice to start the trip by assembling the bike and riding from the airport - this turned out to be much more difficult than I thought. My first problem was with German bureaucracy. I needed to get rid of my bike box and was pushed from one place to another because nobody wanted to deal with something even slightly out of the ordinary. I genuinely had trouble with disposing of a cardboard box in a bloody airport. One of the guys even suggested that I tear the cardboard up into little pieces and put it in the bin and told me that I didn’t understand German culture (from his accent I think he was polish and from his posture hopelessly integrated). In the end, the lady working at Subway came to the rescue, showing me the elevator to the employee-only disposal area where someone suspiciously asked me what company I worked for before reluctantly showing me the cardboard bin.
The second problem I had was German design. There is a bike path that runs to the airport, but for the life of me, I couldn’t find a way to get to it. The home of Audi, Volkswagen and BMW hadn’t made it easy. After literally walking around the airport for over an hour, I caved and caught the train to the next stop, where the bike path was more accessible.
The third problem I had was Australian laziness. I still didn’t have the correct tools for my pedals so I mounted them finger tight. I figured this would be enough to get me to Munich where I could find the tools and, after the ordeal I went through just to throw away a cardboard box, I didn’t want to ask around the airport for tools. Within a few kilometres I noted a slight wiggle in my right pedal, which quickly got worse - the loose pedal had stripped the aluminium thread of the crank. I was able to ride with one leg back to the train station but it wasn’t going to cover the 25km to Munich. Someone on the train showed me that it’s actually possible to mount the pedals from the back with an allen key - the first of many times that my total ignorance of bike mechanics bit me in the bum.
The next two trains were delayed but finally I made it to Munich city centre. You’re not allowed to take bikes in the u-bahn, so with my newly-tightened pedal I was going to ride the 4km to the airbnb I’d booked with friends. I thought I’d quickly pump up the tyres before riding and, sweating, watched the valve core come out of the tube as I unscrewed the pump. The tube deflated. I tried again. It happened again. Third time’s a charm, right? Apparently not. I only travelled with carry-on luggage and my bike (the rest of my stuff was being brought by a friend later) so I had no tools to tighten the valve core. Sweating in earnest now, I went to the local bike-taxi guys and asked them if they had a pump I could borrow. The only pump they had didn’t have a presta connection. I tried again, this time only gently screwing on the pump. Finally, it worked and I was on the road… for about a minute. The pedal fell out again. I rode the rest of the way to the airbnb with a single pedal. After 40 hours transit, two nights sleeping in planes, two hours walking around Munich airport, two delayed trains and multiple bike breakdowns, I’d finally made it to my airbnb in Munich.
My friend Alex was cycling down from Prague to Munich and the plan was for him to join me for the weekend. I was really glad to have someone to join me for the first few days, but this added a deadline to my time in Munich. Deadlines make me break out in hives but this didn’t seem to bother Alex’s hardened German heart. This made my time there a whirlwind of activity - trying to see everybody while preparing for the trip crossed the boundary from fun town to how-the-fuck-do-I-get-all-this-done land. People smile less there.
I found a new crank for my bike, but it turns out that there are two kinds of connections and the one that I bought was off by 45 degrees. This meant a looong 5km walk (no bikes in the u-bahn, remember) across the city with friends from the airbnb to a friend’s place with bike and luggage in tow, stopping at every bike shop along the way hoping that they would have the correct crank, which is apparently quite rare. Just before my friend’s place, I found a bike shop which had a spare second hand hand one, which the guy gave me for 5 euros in exchange for the one I’d just bought.
I also had to stop by Decathlon for a bunch of gear that I hadn’t prepared for the trip - rain jacket and pants, hiking boots, a sleeping mat (which I’d just forgotten to pack). All of these problems and my clear ignorance of the absolute basics of bike mechanics left me feeling genuinely nervous about the trip. Deep down, I knew that this was the start of a very long journey and one where I had plenty of time to learn - these would definitely not be the last mistakes that I would make along the way. But on the surface I was feeling very nervous - who was I to undertake such a big trip with so little planning? Was I really ready for something so big? How could I be so blasé about something that most people I meet consider so insurmountably difficult? It had been very easy to dismiss the planning and preparation(e.g. doing any repairs and maintenance on BoB) as something that I could do in Europe, that things would work out, that I could plan on the road. The downside of course was that I was going to feel totally incompetent while doing it. (future Jason here - after two months I’m feeling better and more capable now, don’t worry)
So, my time in Munich was done and Alex was ready to go bright and early Saturday morning, bike pants crisp and shining. Two hours later when I’d finished scrambling and last-minute packing we were ready to set off on my first leg - to visit my cousins in Rapperswil, Switzerland.
Some photos:
BoB before unboxing outside the Munich airport.
The lady at subway - literally the only helpful person that I talked to at the airport and my first helper in Munich. She showed me how to find the cardboard bin.
The broken pedal and crank after a few km of riding in Europe.
I think I was a bit ambitious thinking that these shoes would be able to last some time on my journey. My long suffering friends convinced me to throw them away and buy some proper boots.
A pretty photo of the Munich Residenz garden.
My friend Gen, on top of making the theme song for this trip, made me a fantastic send-off present that has now become my sleep shirt. It says “It is a truth universally known that a man in posession of two wheels must be in want of adventure” - a play on the opening line of Pride and Prejudice, which 90% of our friendship is based on. Not sure if you can tell, but this is the morning that I set off and I was very nervous.
