I skipped off to Heidelberg today, in anticipation of my fork tube service tomorrow morning.
It was another great day on the road.
When I got to Knopftours, there was a few people there already, in various stages of touring. Stefan's daughter let me know what room I could take, and that her father would be home later in the evening.
My clothes were in serious need of detoxifying, so I packed all my clothes up into a big bag and ran off to a a downtown launderette that I had used before. This was at about 18:00. They said they could be finished my clothes before they closed at 21:00, but I told them I didn't mind if they weren't done until Thursday.
As I was leaving the launderette, I decided to head east through downtown Heidelberg instead of going back to Knopftours. Eventually, I found myself on a really great road full of switchbacks and climbs, until I found myself looking down over Heidelberg and perhaps the next few towns further west. There were a few landmarks up there that were reminiscent of medieval times, like stone watch towers and stone bridges. It was a spontaneous but exhilarating little detour, and having gotten a physical introduction to the era, maybe I'm curious about that part of history now.
I realized it was before 21:00 as I rolled back through Heidelberg, so I stopped at the launderette and found my clothes ready to be picked up! It was great to close off that task, and have one less thing to think about on Thursday.
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Being ready to roll before my 09:00 Thursday morning maintenance appointment was a challenge. I'm not a morning person, and this was unreasonable! But I managed to make it out of the gate in time. As I was rolling out, Stefan was just returning from Frankfurt with 4 new riders. He waved me over, and told me that he'd come over to the bike shop in a short while to give me a ride back to home base, which was really great of him.
After dropping the bike off for its fork seals and another oil change, I got the ride back in time for breakfast. I sat down with all the new riders and talk about their plans and my experiences so far. They were all friends, American, and none had ever ridden in Germany. One guy shipped his bike over on an extended vacation, while the other 3 were renting bikes from Stefan for the next few weeks to tour the area. Stefan was going to give them an area tour on the bikes the next morning, then they were off on their way.
The bike was done by 13:30, and Stefan's father gave me a ride back to the shop. The service manager pointed out that one of my fork tubes is chipped and is why my fork seals are getting torn apart. He tried polishing them, but couldn't guarantee how long they'd remain intact. He estimated about €200-300 for a new fork tube. I doubt I'll bother; I'd rather just finish this bike off, then ship my Blackbird over to continue my European explorations in the years to come.
I hung around the base for the rest of the day, chatting and working on the bike.
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