Sunday- Warm Up Ride In France

Sunday we packed up out gear, met our tour guides and departed Basel for a short bus ride into the French countryside, where we were fitted for our bikes, had safety instruction, and went on a 12 mile warm up ride through the vineyards.

Chris's ride was almost over before it began.  Just after mounting her new bike, and taking it down the lane for a spin, she had a mishap on some gravel and hurt her knee and broke the mirror off of the bike!  She refused to be sidelined however, and proceeded with the training ride like a trooper.

We finished our ride in the small village of Ottmarsheim, at an 11th century octagonal church.  The church had a special visitor perched on the top of the roof- an actual live stork- the famous and mythical Alsatian bird of legend. This large bird resembles a white egret, and prefers to make nests atop tall buildings.

After successfully completing our first day ride, we boarded a bus, and were shuttled 20 minutes back across the Rhine River to the Black Forest town of Badenweiler, Germany.  This town is renowned for its thermal spas and old world hotels.  Badenweiler sits on a high hill on the edge of the Black Forest, and looks out over the plain of the Rhine.  Our Hotel zur Sonne featured an old fashioned key system, and no air conditioning. We barely slept a wink!