My first bicycle-based trip was back in 2007, when i went to Europe for the World Gymnaestrada (WG) in Dornbirn, Austria. The World Gymnaestrada is a huge gymnastics exhibition that takes place every 4 years. People of all ages come from all over the world to perform for each other. It's a fantastic event and it's always interesting seeing what the other groups have come up with. My sister had been to the two previous events, in Sweden and Portugal, and now that i was out of college she asked me if i wanted to perform with them; it didn't take much to convince me.
When i take a trip like this, with significant travel costs, i like to stay as long as possible so it feels like i'm getting my money's worth. The WG lasts about 7 days, with a day or two before for practice and getting acclimated. My plan was to fly into Munich a few days earlier than the rest of my group and stay for 5 or 6 days afterwards. I'm not sure why i decided to bring a bicycle, though it probably had something to do with my slight fear of trains.
I only had one bike at the time, a Novara Strada, an aluminum framed road bike. While i was already comfortable doing some mid-distance rides of 30 miles or so, i remember taking a couple practice rides with my extra gear weight. Once I rode from my apartment in Adelphi, MD to my parent's house in Monrovia then back home later in the day. At the time I knew nothing about bicycle touring but I was somewhat familiar with hiking and backpacking and had plenty of gear for it. i figured i'd just load up my pack and hop on the bike, no big deal. The test ride to my parent's seemed to go pretty well, though i used a smaller pack and had much less gear with me.
For the real deal i loaded up my large Gregory Palisade backpack with everything i thought i might need. I bought a bicycle bag to transport my bike on the plane. Since I was flying in and out of Munich i planned on storing the bag somewhere in the city, probably at the hostel i was staying at (Jaeger's) so i wouldn't have to haul this large and useless thing around with me. I would have to drag it to and from the airport though.
I flew from Baltimore to Munich, with a couple stops along the way. After I landed I gathered my luggage and exited the airport. Putting the bike together went pretty smoothly and didn't take very long. As i got on the bike i knew basically where i needed to go, South towards Munich. I knew there were bike-friendly roads to the city, but i circled the loop around the airport searching for a safe way to get to them. After twice around i saw no option other than to take the highway to the first exit. I only made it about half a mile before i heard sirens behind me. Apparently you can't bicycle on the autobahn.
Here's a map of the route i think i took (https://goo.gl/maps/gfTwq)
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