Too Tough a Road for the Giant ToughRoad

Daily Stats*

Distance	112.39 km
Time	6:44:18 h
Avg. Speed	16.7 km/h
Max. Speed	40.0 km/h
Avg. Heart Rate	141 bpm
Uphill	1229 m
Downhill	1069 m
Avg. Temperature**	29.0 °C

*measured by Garmin Forerunner 945 & Sigma ROX 4.0
**measured at the lower back

Daybook

The second leg from Hochstadt (Palatinate) to Neunkirchen in Saarland (near Homburg) was supposed to be the first "breaker" — a long distance track with many uphill climbs, and hence sufficient for a real physical fitness test :-)
Before noon, my father and I cycled (!) to his garage where we stabilized a front mount and secured cables with ties. After the bike was all set, I headed off along the vineyards, passing a few villages like Essingen and Nussdorf, and on past Landau in the Palatinate. Decent weather (sunny but not too warm), relatively flat terrain, and only some uneven ground made the first part of the leg pleasant to ride.
Unfortunately (and knowingly), that was about to change, and Klingenmünster was perhaps the turning point. From then on, the terrain became hillier and the riding conditions more unstable (sometimes I cycled on gravel or asphalt forest paths, sometimes on country roads with speed limits of 50+ km/h, and sometimes on unpaved dirt roads), making it virtually impossible to keep up the pace. Shortly after Hauenstein, having cycled about 42 km, I allowed myself a breather in the shade (at around 30°C again). Alongside a tough battle with a horsefly (I won) and a friendly chat with a motorcyclist (who seemed as unclear about the direction), the energy bars, crispbread and Ahoi-Brause did a good job ;-)
Honestly, I knew that a steep climb around Pirmasens (roughly between KM 50 and 60) would follow. But either my navigation device routed me over every hill, or Pirmasens is mostly uphill and downhill. Somehow reminded me of Marseille ...
Having mastered this part, the technically challenging ride via Höheischweiler, Nünschweiler, Falkenbusch, Stambach and Contwig to Zweibrücken came next. Why challenging? Well, there were some shorter uphill and downhill stretches (up to 22 %), but it was the wild and densely scattered gravel that needed some care, and I had to slow down by a lot. My favourite experience: behind Höheischweiler, my navigation device sent me cross-country, the path ended at a fence, and I had to push my 30 kg bike plus luggage about 150 m up the hill again through thick grass in 30°C heat. Sometimes it's actually better to ignore the technology ...
In the final part, about 25 km from Zweibrücken to Neunkirchen, I could really feel the strain in my legs. The more I was happy about the flatter terrain, the more every (and even short) climb hurt. Over fields and villages, I reached the final climb between Wellesweiler and Neunkirchen, and this one should give my post it's title: a rather short, moderately steep path, but very uneven and covered with stones of all sizes. My bike is a Giant ToughRoad, with wieder tires for difficult terrain, but this was actually too tough to ride on. End of the story — I pushed my bike in a zigzag pattern to the next road, which took me directly to my destination. It was just too tough a road for a Giant ToughRoad!

In summary, a pretty diverse, hilly course, sometimes difficult to ride and always seems to have bumps or similar obstacles at the wrong moment (i.e., downhill). Make sure you train before tackling this route (if you have a normal bike)!

Impressions

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