Hamburg-Berlin-Koln-Hamburg 2014

[Bugloss]

Looks like it's going to be a bit wet, wet, wet. So pack your snorkel.

http://metofficenews.wordpress.com/2014/08/06/ex-bertha-more-likely-to-miss-uk/

[fixillated]

Looks like it's going to be a bit wet, wet, wet. So pack your snorkel.

http://metofficenews.wordpress.com/2014/08/06/ex-bertha-more-likely-to-miss-uk/

Humid earlier on Saturday and thunderstorms moving East during the day:
http://www.dwd.de/bvbw/appmanager/bvbw/dwdwwwDesktop?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=dwdwww_start&T3200069671164966398067gsbDocumentPath=Navigation%2FOeffentlichkeit%2FWetter__Warnungen%2FWetter__Deutschland%2FWetter__3Folgetag%2F3Folgetag__spaet__node.html%3F__nnn%3Dtrue
Not too windy except near the thunderstorms and the Harz can get the worst of the storms.

http://www.dwd.de/bvbw/appmanager/bvbw/dwdwwwDesktop?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=dwdwww_start&T3200069671164966398067gsbDocumentPath=Navigation%2FOeffentlichkeit%2FWetter__Warnungen%2FWetter__Deutschland%2FWetter__Aussichten%2FWochenwetter__node.html%3F__nnn%3Dtrue

Showers on Sunday, riders should be safe from the worst thunderstorms in the North and North-East. Wind ranging from SW - SE.  A few showers Monday - Wednesday and localised thunderstorms. Night temperatures above 10C.

[fixillated]

The first rider has arrived in Roesrath   . As has the rain  .

[Auntie Helen]

Well the rain has been here for several hours!

[fixillated]

Well the rain has been here for several hours!

Dry now and a beautiful full moon but still waiting for the second rider.

[fixillated]

Reports of torrential rain near Kreuztal from the second rider.

[Nuncio]

Salvatore's just phoned from a German hospital. He's OK. 

He cycled through last night to try and make the 7:30am cut-off time at the next control.  He arrived a bit late, only to be told that there was a mistake on the card (or routesheet) and that the control closed at 7:30 pm.  He had a few hours sleep but when he woke up he felt he had an irregular heartbeat - racing, then very slow, then back to racing.  He reported this to the controller who offered to take him to the nearest hospital.  I think by the time he got there he felt OK, and they couldn't find anything wrong, but they want him to stay in today and overnight to be safe - not sure if they're going to do any more tests.  So he hopes to be discharged tomorrow and to get a lift to back to the start. 

He'd seen some of the other Brits at the control - Postie, cyclofabrica, Lordy, bugloss - and all were going well.

[Manotea]

Salvatore's just phoned from a German hospital. He's OK. 

That's a line to read and make you exclaim, 'what???'. But he's OK. Very pleased to hear it. Good luck to all the other riders.

[hellymedic]

Relieved Salvatore's OK.
It is possibly wise to check and correct his magnesium levels.
These are not always checked routinely.
Treat empirically with peanut butter sandwiches!

[Canardly]

Good news that Salvatore is fine.

[fixillated]

Sorry not to welcome Salvatore at the Roesrath control but good to hear he's ok.

[tonyh]

Good news that Salvatore is fine.

Yes. Best wishes.

[marcusjb]

Send Salvatore my best wishes as well please Nuncio.

[Nuncio]

I’ve spoken to John again (too early for you best wishes marcus but I'll fix that next time I speak to him).  The nurse told him he should be discharged tomorrow, but the tomorrow was in implied inverted commas.    He’s feeling fine, if a little bored.  He did say he expects to be hooked up to an ECG for most of the day.

He asked me to thank you for your best wishes and to say he’ll consider asking for peanut butter sandwiches.

[Bugloss]

Glad he's feeling ok. I saw him at the 450 control and he said that he'd only had an hour or so of sleep. When I saw him at 750 km he came strolling in at about 9am and said he'd ridden all night.
It had been raining heavily in the evening, but cleared up at about 11pm and then got really windy and the temperature dropped considerably at about 2am.
He'd had a rough old night.

Suns out at the moment at the 1025km control. The cake and coffee are in the traditional Germanic style, mmmmmmm!

Tailwind expected all the way to Hamburg.

[Auntie Helen]

Bugloss having the traditional English breakfast of cake.



Postie, Lordy and Cyclofabrica having some of my English tea.



I'm back from Rösrath now, pretty pooped and with a bad back from lots of standing around and stooping over a couple of hotplates cooking pasta. I left my fleece jacket behind which is a pain but won two additional iPhone cables, one which is a nice pinky-purple to match my velomobile.

[Auntie Helen]

Congratulations to Lordy who has finished!

[Von Broad]

Glad he's feeling ok. I saw him at the 450 control and he said that he'd only had an hour or so of sleep. When I saw him at 750 km he came strolling in at about 9am and said he'd ridden all night.
It had been raining heavily in the evening, but cleared up at about 11pm and then got really windy and the temperature dropped considerably at about 2am.
He'd had a rough old night.

Sounds like a normal day at the office in the life of a Salvatore!
A good dollop of boredom will do him no harm at this point, rest is good.
Glad you're ok John.
All the best.

[Auntie Helen]

I'm not doing this(I just came back from the 1400km BRM in Hungary last week), but my co-organiser that's riding a black Strada velomobile is 104. You've met him on LEL last year.

had a good chat with Gert again this year when he passed through Rösrath on Monday.

[Nuncio]

Congratulations to Lordy who has finished!

Ditto.

And to Cyclofabrica, Postie and Bugloss who finished not long behind him (according to Salvatore who was back at the arrivee yesterday evening, having been discharged.)

[hellymedic]

Great news for all!

[Bugloss]

Well that was a fine outing.

Thanks Helen and Fixillated for the tlc at Roesrath and to Frank for sorting the dodgy front wheel, which has stayed true for another 750 km.

A thoroughly entertaining, slightly hilly route without a dull moment.

Thanks to all at the HBKH.

As of 18:48
There are still two riders out on the road, 11 DNF and 55 finishers.

[Auntie Helen]

it was good to meet the British contingent (obviously it was a shame Salvatore wasn't there). What was surprisingly good was to speak 'proper English' for a bit with people who understood me properly. I love it here in Germany but occasionally it's nice to chat with people who can understand everything I say!

The other helpers found the whole English Tea thing most puzzling.

[Bugloss]

21:00

That's it everyone is home.

[Auntie Helen]

Just had a great chat with Morten the amazingly-tall recumbent biker who has been seeing everyone arriving back after riding it himself (he rang me to thank me for looking after him). Sounds like he really enjoyed the ride again.

I think the guy who arrived at our control 3 minutes before it closed DNFed as he was faffing around talking on the phone for about half an hour after he had prepared to leave. He was Japanese or Chinese (not sure which), I didn't get his name.