| General | TOUR DIARY
From Larned to Hutchinson
Pawnee County/Staffort County/Reno County
This time I thought I would be really clever and start my journey once again at 8.00am.
So at 8.05am I left my hotel and road up broadway street so that I could collect my post coming from Amy in NY at the postoffice.
After collecting this succsessfully I noticed that I didn´t have any water in my drinking-bottle`s and that I had´nt eaten anything untill then.
By then I had been riding my bike for a few miles and the wind was bashing against my face...
Today it was forseen for me to manage ´57miles to Nickerson, but the roads where damaged where the floods hab been. And I had to turn back. That was how I arrived in Hutchinson and not on Nickerson.
Erin phoned me but the wind was just so loud that I could´nt understand her.
It is quite odd, I´ve started talking to the wind, everytime I moan about it, it gets worse and worse.
Yesterday was unbelievable:I struggled up 250 meters (12 miles from Larned)and thought to myself "thank god, the mountain goes down on the other side" but that did´n´t matter at all,because I had to peddel down as much as up...
Anyway when I finaly arrived in Hutchinson I bought myself a bottle of oil for my bikechain which had been squicking all the way.And then the owner surprisingly gave me the key for the church, and told me that I could sleep here.
Wow , hoe could he have known that that was exactly what I needed!
At this point I would like to greet the Tuesdayschildren and tell them that they give me strength in the battle against the wind!
Till tomorrow.
Pueblo, welcome Starbucks
Brianne and Jeanne, two very nice Starbucks staff-members were the first to greet me in Pueblo.
While drinking hot chocolat they told me that Pueblo was a "working class town", that makes it´s living by steal mining.
Pueblo has got round about 100 000 citizens of which the majority are high mexican.
There are however 50% Italiens, Jugoslavs and a mixture of English and Irish.
The town has got performance artists, great musicals,an art-centre, a university, and a wonderful library, in which I am now sitting and writing this text!
Jeanne mentioned that one could raise children here properly& Brianne seconded this, but added that there weren´t enough activities for the teenaged population,such as dancing-lessons.
Sadly I couldn´t test this as I didn´t have enouh time, but I would have loved freshing up my Tango...
Anyway, tomorrow I will start my trip from the pueblo town-hall, I´ve been told that the Mayor or one of his deputies is going to be there.
I have got more than 50 miles of open road before me and still have´nt decided if I am going to make a stop in Ordway, but I guess so.
By the way: I am sleeping all by my own on a camping-ground,but luckily the staff are as always very kind and helpful, one of them is going to make me a big breakfast tomorrow morning. Sadly I´ve forgotten her name, but I will mention it the next time...
I must hurry,as I have no lights on my bike and it is getting dark.
This reminds me of the time when I was at the Policeacademie and it was part of a test to get through east Germany without getting seen, thiss was done best at night.
But I think the States are a little bigger...
Fairwell from Boulder
I still do not know if I will miss Boulder, I will probably find that out when I am back in Berlin.
But what I do know is, that I will miss the people who I met... "Life consists of meeting people"...
I have listed some of them on my website, but their are still many missing.
For instants the people who I met on the highway(on my journey to key west).
The Americans have all got one thing in common, if you need help, they will help you at once!!!
Now to Boulder the "Bike capital of the States":
Since I have a bicycle, I can get around the city more efficiently,faster and of course easier.
Infact the bike is the second best invention that mankind made.
After 10 minutes of extrem bike riding, through the verious tunnels of Boulder I get to my favourite shop "REI", also known as (Outdoor store).
I´am now living with Matt and Amy Ötting, Matt is an extrem sportsman (how was also once trained by Charlie and Barb)
Matt and I rode our bike to "Jamestown" a wonderful little town, which has the rockies directly next to it.
We managed to get up to a platform, which was round about 400 meters high.
The view was absolutly stunning!
Charlie, my bikementor gave us some very useful rules bike riding and some important information for the tour.
Barb on the other hand was so kind to change my tourplan and them sent it to Stefan my webdesigner.
This payed of, one day later I got greetings from "Rabu" a bar in my hometown.
Oh by the way, in the end I did have to buy myself a new bike.
I bought it in "REI", ít´s a lovely touring bike from an american label called "NOVARA".
So sleeping time...
Now when I close my eyes I can see the wonderful green hills and I can smell the fresh air ans I also hear the birds chirping...
One day with my bikementor Charlie and his wife Barb
Charlie and Barb both ride a tandem and live in Boulder...
ON the 27.04.07 I had my first proper bike lesson.
While we where taking our first laps Charlie told me all about "the bike rules"
1. keep right with bike at all times!
2.do not ride your bike next to others when there are cars coming!
3.drink before you are thirsty and eat before you are hungry!
4.while going up hills you must be slow and while going down hills you must be fast!
The last of course is not a bike rule, but has got somthing to do with physics...
So the conversation helped me a lot, but there was more to come...
After we had ridden for an hour we finaly reached the Rockies and now to my horror I could only see the back-tire of the tandem which was ridden by Charlie (74) and Barbe (72)!
And all that by 80 fahrenheits...
When I had pulled up on them both, there came a schrill comando from Barb, which was "cars back" which in that case mean so much as "stay behind us"
As we nearly came to an end with our first training-unit (40 miles) a few cyclists no not cars over took us and each of them said "bike on your left" of course we alsways answered with "thank-you"...
So that is how it is in the bike capitel of the States.
At this point I would like to thank Marian, who gave me her racing-bike, she is 78 years old and activ in a cyclist organisation.
I also want to thank Shawn and Lee,the founders of "Inter- Cambio"
Dick and Ann Jonson thank -you for your prayers and help.
I would also like to thank De De Curtis and Eric Jonson for their helpwith my project.
Thanks go to my bikementor Charlie and Barb Meredithfor their mighty inset.
As well as to my niece Rebecca Diener Knight , my brother Holger Diener ,without him I would never have managed to raise the money.Without him buying some of my furniture.
Thanks also go to my web-designer Stefan from Berlin and Brenda from Boulder.
Buuuuh now have to go to bed, good night =) |
My name is Robert Diener. I am a German and I live and work in Berlin. I was born on September 1965 in the city Dresden in East Germany. I lived there with my parents, sister and 3 brothers until we moved to East Berlin in 1966. I attended school there from 1972 to 1982. I worked in the building trade for 2 years and I was accepted to the university where I studied Law Enforcement. After I graduated I became a lieutenant in the Police until reunification. The new Germany did not recognize my university programme, which resulted in me losing my position in the Police. I was for a few months unemployed. After that I studied for 2 years at the Police School in Berlin and I became a middle-level Police Officer. I changed my position in September 1997 from normal police work to the State Criminal Office to protect important people as a bodyguard. I also worked for many important people from the United States when they visited Berlin. I held in this position when I met the children of the firefighters and policemen killed 9/11. I saw the faces and eyes of these children, and I felt I wanted to do something for them.
I am going to ride my bike from Pueblo (City Hall) Colorado to New York City to raise money for the children. In September 2006 I took a year sabbatical from my work to realize the GoFor911Kids project.
