Bike ride opportunities

I am amazed at how popular casual road cycling is in Germany. It seems like I will see at least one cyclist out on the roads every day. Drivers are very courteous to cyclists here. So now my only concern is my inability to communicate if something goes wrong. 

The local cycling clubs often put on weekend "bike tours," like the Giro Hattersheim. These usually have several distance choices, the course will be marked, and there are a few aid stations where you can get snacks and water. Minus the torrential downpour, the Giro Hattersheim was great!

Here is a searchable calendar of events: http://breitensport.rad-net.de/breitensportkalender/ (Make sure you double check the day of the week. My Google Translate was erroneously listing a lot of these rides as being on Thursday.)

If you are looking to do your own thing, the Hesse Bike Route planner is good stuff too: http://www.radroutenplaner.hessen.de/ 

Please take the information in the "bike routes" layer in Google (which is used by MapMyRide and Garmin, among others) with a grain of salt. I once wanted to take a "bicycle friendly road" that turned out to be a badly rutted and muddy two-track. It was almost impassible on my road bike, so there was no way my tri bike would make it. 

On that note, please remember that the bike paths in the fields are also used by tractors. Watch out for big dirt clumps and the occasional slow moving vehicle! 

I love riding my bike here. On a sunny day, when I'm riding past the vineyards and orchards, it is hard to believe I am so lucky!