The German police were very friendly, one spoke fair English and he understood my problem. They escorted me the mile or two to the first exit, pointed me towards Munich, and left me on my way. The ride to the city was quite nice. bike paths, nice drivers, interesting scenery. I think it even sprinkled rain briefly. I must have been very dehydrated from the flight because by time i got to the city (only 25 miles away) my legs started to cramp quite a lot. It was bad enough that i gave up riding and walked uncomfortably for the last mile or two to the hostel.
Over the next couple days i explored Munich. I got lost and saw some very cool stuff. The USA Gymnastics organization had arranged for buses to transport people from the Munich and Zurich airports to Bregenz, Austria, where we'd be staying for the WG. I figured i'd take advantage of the free ride instead of wasting a day cycling the 115 miles. I rode back to the airport i taking the same roads i had a few days before. funnily enough, they took me to a bike path that led right up to the terminal. No autobahn necessary! When i got to the airport i realized i had NO IDEA who i was looking for, where they'd be, when they were leaving for Bregenz, or if i'd be able to stow my bike. This was a complete breakdown in planning. I must have thought i'd just to get to the airport sometime in the morning and hope the bus hadn't already left? I eventually found the USAG people and they didn't have a problem with the bike.
The next week or so passed pretty uneventfully with regards to the touring. The WG was centered in Dornbirn but there were venues in several other nearby towns; I rode my bike when i could to avoid the crowded trains. The World Gymnaestrada, however, was pretty crazy. A few days after arriving, my brother-in-law, Cash, wasn't feeling well. He thought it was just stress from the traveling but when he went to the hospital it turned out it was appendicitis! This was bad news for him, but it was also bad for our gymnastics group since Cash was integral in almost all of our routines. We could re-choreograph them, but it would take a lot of time and practice. Luckily we met Kevin. He was at the WG with the USAG to help out the USA teams with whatever needed to be done. He was thrilled for the opportunity to perform and amazingly was able to learn Cash's part in all 4 or 5 of the performance pieces.
The final day of the WG felt kind of weird to me. It was the day after the closing ceremonies and everyone was packing up their things to head home, but i still had a 4 or 5 days and was just starting my adventure. I had realized on the trip from the Munich airport to the city that i had way too much gear with me so when it was time to leave i did my best to pawn off as much unnecessary baggage as i could onto some friends that were heading home. Even with getting rid of things my pack was still quite heavy. It was a really strange feeling when the 30-odd people i'd just spent the past week with all got on a bus and disappeared. I was left there with a long way to go and no one to look out for me.
I don't think i had any idea of where i was going until the day before. One of the families on my team was staying a few days later and were going to Lucerne, Switzerland. I guess i figured i'd head there too. As for after Lucerne, all i knew was i needed to be in Munich to catch my plane. It was about 10am when the bus left. I stood there for a minute while the scope of what i was about to do sank in. Then i got on the bike and pedaled towards Switzerland.
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