Coast2CoastAndBack

… Whiskey isn’t the only thing Tennessee has to offer

Jun 302011

Last night, we parked our mobil home in the parking lot of the local Walmart in Briston. Like every morning the alarm went off at 4am and we thought about going shopping - afterall, Walmart is open 24/7. However, I had to start out towards Tennesse on time. Surrounded by dense fog, I drove 30 km to Knoxvillle. For a change, I got to ride along the side lane of the highway. After a few hours the sun broke through the clouds and it was very hot. My cycling friends from Miami were quite slow in the beginning but met up with me later on to accompany me for the last 120km. Andrea and Mark appreciated how relatively easy it was to navigate their way through the country today. Kilometer number 230 introduced the Knoxville mountain range to me; our camp site was also situated high in the mountains of Tennessee. We’re all super excited for tomorrow when we ride/drive to the City of Country Music – Nashville! Jack Daniel’s, on the other hand, will not be part of our to-do list…unfortunately

Greetings,

Achim and Team

…nothing has changed

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Jun 292011

Once again, I started right at 5am which wasn’t to hard to do thanks to the “overdose” of the Restorate Fitline product I took the night before. I continued the rollercoast ride I had already encountered the day before – a neverending up and down over a distance of 65 km. After, I had finally reached the end of the mountain range and the rest of the day turned out to be more relaxing despite an average speed of 30 km/h. Which was our luck because it was the only way we could escape the big storm that hit our destination, Bristol-Virginia.

While preparing supper, Andrea noticed an unpleasant odor, you could say stench, near the shower (fortunately, it were NOT my feet that smelled that bad . Since our wastewater tank was overflowing, the water found it’s own way – the wrong way – up. Because we are a great team, we immediately found a solution… Tomorrow I will start out quite early to make my way towards Tennessee… see you soon – let’s see if I find a glass of whiskey in Tennessee

Yours, Achim & team

It’s a beautiful day…or is it?

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Jun 292011

On the evening of 26 June, after 31 hours of my tour, we welcomed visitors from Miami. Stradalli, a Miami-based cycling team has learned of my project and spontaneously took a 20-hour car ride north and now wants to ride with me for 4 days. The leader of the team, Thomas, has a passion for cycling and even owns his own bicycle company. In the morning of 27 June, I started the next planned 257km right on time at 5am. After I had warmed myself up (60km) a few members of the Stradalli team joined me.

The weather was perfect as we biked through the beautiful Virginia countryside. Dreamlike pavement and very considerate drivers accompanied uns. Who wants to enjoy this beautiful landscape, however, will need to get really fit in advance because it’s impossible to conquere these mountains if your condition is not good. It was a steady up and down. Once again, my favourite song by Bon Jovi – “Make a Memory” was playing. It could have been such a beautiful day if the 240th kilometer hadn’t also been a one-of-a-kind mountain. Today’s team – myself, Thomas and PJ, were joined and supported by Markus. These mountains were unbelievable: gradients around 16% over a distance of about 4km. Markus and myself were the only ones who made it up to the summit. Once solely at the summit, I am accompanied by Markus. My cycling friends were “victims” of their “Miami-transition.” With “thick” legs, I rode to my sweet mobile home.

Up-date from Virginia June 26, 6pm

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Jun 282011

Finally I’m on the road! As planned, I left Ground Zero in NYC at 7am on 25 June. Several “fitliners” and New Yorkers cheered as I left New York and went on to New Jersey. The horrible road conditions and heavy traffic exceeded my expectations by far… not in the most positive way. Countless cars and potholes and us, right there in the centre of it all. Only because of the amazing navigations skills of Markus and Andrea, I managed to escape this nightmare. We went on towards Philadelphia where the next surprise awaited us.
While I was sitting on a bench in Havertown PA and waited for my crew, the two of them had to deal with the city trams. I can imagine that there are way better things to do than to manouver your way through the centre of an American metropolis with a 9-meter-long motor home. I was glad to see them arrive unharmed.

In the hope that it might be a little calmer I finally cycled across Pennsylvania and towards Maryland in the upcoming night. I had “good legs” and to make up for the lost time, I turned on my lights and on we went. I spoke with Andrea and Markus, and said … .. if YOU get tired, we can take an half an hour break. Oh my, you can’t image the way they looked at me. With the lights of the mobil home I was able to keep my previous speed going. We even got to meet the local police because we overlooked a stop sign by accident. However, only A&M got to get to know the officer a little better since I really don’t have time for such nonsense

In the course of the day, we crossed the border to Virginia. No one has told me that this state is so mountainous. A constant up and down, slopes up to 20%. Good thing that I’ve “only” traveled about 450miles non-stop up to this point… smile.

After 31 hours (incl. smaller food breaks) and 575miles I’ve finally arrived at a campground in Virginia.
So, that’s it for today, because we really need to sleep - we need to keep going at 5am tomorrow morning …

See you soon
Your Achim

Last preparations in NYC – Only 1 day left!

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Jun 242011

45 hours before the big start my team members, Andrea and Markus, and I visited “our” GYM to join another spin class with Karen, the best instructor of them all!

Today she even played my favourite song “You want to make a memory” by Bon Jovi.

Later, we want to pick up our mobil home which will be our home for the next 80 days.
We will spend the rest of the day shopping and “decorating” the mobil home with stickers of sponsor logos.

As you can see, there’s still lots to do before we take off on Saturday – June 25th at 7am at Zuccoti Park right by Ground Zero. There are a lot of fans who want to be there for the big start and the interest of the media is growing as well. Things are looking good!

More on Saturday,
Greetings from Achim and Team

America – here I come!

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Jun 042011

The clock is ticking……

On June 25th at 7am I will take my greatest challenge ever – the double crossing of the United States of America – 6000km Bike & 5000km Run…Non-Stop…

I do a lot of bike training these days, approximately 120-150km daily. Additionally I run three times a week 15-20km. I will terminate this type of training on June 12th for regeneration prior to the tour. My teammates Andrea & Markus are also looking forward to the beginning of this adventure. I get a lot of questions recently, asking why I take this challenge…..

1…..because nobody ever dared to do it
2…..because I want to show that even someone my age can demonstrate an extraordinary performance, as long as his body is adequately supplied with premium nutrition (Fitline)
3…..I run for the “Flag of Honor”, in order to commemorate the victims of 9/11 ten years ago (see trailer)
and 4: – I love America- I love these people- I love this flag – and I love New York”
Of course I also love my native country Germany.

I am looking forward to my 4th crossing of a continent within 10 years and to the first bike/run double crossing of the US ever.

All right folks, see you at Ground Zero on the 25th of June at 7am – and also at the finish line on 9/11 – hope you’ll all be there together with lots of my german fans

Achim…