THIS RUT WE CALL 2021

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Well, 2021 hasn't quite turned out to be the shining city on a hill we all expected. So far, being in Germany, it's pretty much sucked. Arguably more than 2020, which is not a good thing if you think back. But for us over here, we're going into Month 5 of a nationwide lockdown (with different levels of implementation across the country), and the third wave has not shown any signs of slowing down yet.

Thanks to some discussion with my buddy, I'm probably going to be a lot more negative and share a little more than usual with this post. I'm pretty good at highlighting all the good going on and all the cool stuff I get into, but life's not all sunshine and roses as social media and whateverelse always makes it out to be. I'll try to maintain some positivity, but accurately try to portray the qualms and difficulties I'm going through.

To start off, I'll go through the last couple months in condensed form, and picture form.

Synposis of Q1 2021

January

Not sure if it was because of my bed, or because of some extreme laziness during the holiday break, I threw my back out and was in some decent pain for a while. Ended up going to the doctor's and being told I have a "Blockage" (Blockade, auf Deutsch, apparently a legitimate medical term...) in my lower back muscles. Had to do a bunch of PT but got it back to a usable state after a while. Now, as I'm typing this up in quarantine, the pain has found a way back. I think it has to do moreso with a lack of activity/movement than anything else.

After I got my back somewhat squared away, I was able to go snowshoeing a couple of times in the Black Forest! We had a couple weeks of some really great snow in January, and I was able to take advantage of it a couple of times. I LOVE snowshoeing. It's beautiful when everything's covered in snow, it's peaceful and quiet, and it's a wonderful way to get tired and stay active. Wish I would've gone more, but had a wonderful time when I was able to make it work!!!

At some point I ended up making cookies, after wanting to make them for months. They turned out fucking delicious. Dark Chocolate M&Ms (Thanks Peewee!!!), chocolate chunks, and crumbs from some chocolate-mint granola I found over here. Seriously. Unbelievably delicious. I wolfed them all down real quick.

At the eleventh hour I ended up passing the theoretical driver's test so I could keep driving over here. Definitely waited til the last minute, but got it done. Now I need to actually get my truck driver's license, although I have no desire or motivation to. My boss wants me to get it done ASAP, but I'm dragging my feet.

February

Went for a long bike ride around the area with my buddy Christoph on a wet day. It wasn't too rainy, but it'd been pretty wet leading up to it and we got all kinds of muddy. Super cool to see the Rhein at a really high water level.

Weather-wise, February was pretty interesting. We actually got a bit of the Saharan Sand that blew up from Africa here in Karlsruhe. Quite a world away from Africa, but crazy that we got some of the sand from there!

Then, a few days after that, we actually got a few inches of snow here in town. It lasted and hung around for a couple days, so it was nice to have some white in the city, kinda reminded me of Columbus. Especially towards the end when most of it was brown and blegh.

Somehow randomly visited two more Bismarck Towers during some hikes. One on a snowy day, the other on a sunny day and actually pretty close to home. Told Zack about them, and he was pretty pumped.

Ended up finally finishing my latest project, a knife-sharpening bridge. Essentially it's got a spot for your whetstone to fit in and you span it across the sink. That way, you've got a water source and the runoff can go right down the drain. Pretty handy little jig!

March

I ended up breaking my favorite mug. :-( It was sitting on the counter drying. Turning around, I swung my left hand way too wide, it caught the mug, and just slid it right onto the ground. I'm really sad about that mug. And I don't know how, but I told my family about it and Alicia knew exactly where and when we got those mugs. No idea how she's able to keep track of so much history in her head.

More sadness, but Marvin ended up getting donated. My mom was trying to help me sell it, but once she went over to my sister's place to take it for a drive and it wouldn't start. Bummer. A few days later she went back and he wouldn't even turn over. Selling was out of the question now, so he ended up getting donated instead. I was randomly facetiming with them as the tow truck came, and my nephew just twisted the knife as the truck was driving away with a very true statement - "We're never going to see that car again." It hurt.

Over a year into my time over here and I finally went on my first test/business trip. It was to our test track in Southern Germany near Lake Constance, and it was weird. Despite being during the start of the third wave over here, we were in a hotel that was open but with notable restrictions. Definitely not a standard test trip, and it felt really wrong being somewhere away from home with COVID raging all around. Sign of the times - post-work beers in a conference room limited to six people.

I got my FIRST taste of somewhat-real Mexican food over here! Took a long drive, a test trip, and a detour, and a visit to the quasi-embassy, but it happened. FINALLY.

April

April started off pretty well. I went over to Jen and Eli's place for Easter weekend and we gorged on a ton of delicious food, Eli showed me some great mountain bike trails around Stuttgart, and I wiped the floor with their sad faces in Catan a couple of times. That was easily the highlight (black in the first pic, green in the second) :-)

The week after Easter, Eli was over in Wörth for work, so we grabbed lunch that day, and then he came over to my place after work for dinner. I had a ton of leftovers I needed to kill, so I did that, and he ordered some Thai from the place next door. We ate, hung out, talked, and enjoyed the night.

Backpacking in the Pfalz

A couple days after Eli was over, I took a Corona Quick-Test, and with that negative result (YAY!), I met up with some buddies to go backpacking/camping in the Pfalz Forest! I hadn't slept in a tent since I got here, and was wayyyy overdue for some hiking, so this trip timed itself up perfectly! We got everything planned, grabbed all our gear, and hit the road just headed slightly west to the Pfalz Forest (Pfälzischerwald).

It was a pretty unplanned itinerary, but Christoph essentially picked out a parking spot, and we were gonna go at it sporacially for the few days we were gonna be on the trail. As a bit of background, wild camping (backpacking as I know it, sleeping in a tent in the woods) is not legal in Germany. Why? I'll share my subjective and objective ideas why:

• Most forest in Germany are privately-owned, rather than publicly-owned. So what I'm used to, hiking through State and National Parks, or Public Forestland, and camping there, is not the case. Rather, it's like I'm hiking through someone's forested backyard. And that landowner is usually fine with people walking through, but NOT with stopping and camping.
• Europe has way too many people to make this a common activity. Norway, Scotland, such places are sparsely populated, which makes the Allmansrecht and such make sense. But Central Europe is too people-dense, so having to limit this activity makes sense, as too many people would invade nature. The population-density comparison of the EU to the US provides a pretty clear visualization of this point.
• The general public is not responsible, and most especially not nature-conscious. This is not something specific to Germany, but is valid in the US and in most countries/societies. The amount of people that consider nature to be a garbage can is downright disgusting. So, in my opinion, the fewer people in nature, the better.
• Tied to this last point, Germans are too big of partiers to really nature-camp responsibly. My personal opinion, but it'd more than often end up with the former campsite turning into a garbage dump with beer cases and bottles, fire remnants riddled about, probably some fireworks, and who knows what else.

Again, those are all a good bit subjective, but considering the facts, despite how annoying it is, it makes sense that backpacking is illegal here. Despite that, I had two experienced guides to show me the ropes on this thing we're not supposed to do here, and with that, we were off!

It was a quick drive over to the forest from Karlsruhe, and although Christoph took us to the wrong place at first, it was a quick drive to the intended location and soon enough we were strapping our boots on ready to go! But first, what do we need to do? Drink a beer, of course! When in Germany, celebratory beers happen at all stages of the journey. Not just the end.

A beer in us all, we were ready to go. And for the first part, straight up. We did a little warmup to the lookout right above the car to get in the scenery and enjoy the mid-day views.

Although we slogged all the way up to the lookout, we actually wanted to go to the forest on the other side of the road. So we hiked straight back down to the car, crossed the road, then jumped into the woods on the other side of the highway. First part was up, but eventually we made it up the ridge to an area with a sign. The sign said something about how the Pfalz Forest and the region in that corner of France was set apart as special forest land or a nature reserve through a "German French Partnership". Christoph got a good kick out of this that he wouldn't let down the whole trip. Not sure why it was so funny, but it was I guess...

We took the trail and kept on going, eventually finding the downhill slope that rolled us past a few fish farms. Kinda outta nowhere, but there we were with a bunch of trout ponds where people come to fish in a man-made pond for a fish that gets re-stocked likely every few months. Not exactly sportly, but hey, whatever helps people drink beer and 'catch' their dinner I guess.

While there, as one does, Christoph jumped over and talked to the folks there to grab us all a beer. I'm seriously not used to so much beer before and during hiking, but hey, when in Rome. So we snagged our beers and meandered over to the soccer pitch that was right next to the trout farm (and likely untouched for months) to sit down and enjoy the slightly-blue skies with our bottle of carbonation and alcohol.

It was a lovely break to enjoy the delightful day, but soon enough we were back on the trail. It took us to the outskirts of Eußerthal, where we took a left to start heading back uphill. First, we wandered up the road past the other trout farm to find a spot to grab some water. Filtered and cold, we then started heading up the hill. A lot of ups and downs in the day.

The way up was forest road, so we strolled and chatted as we climbed up and up. The road meandered a ways around, and eventually it brought us to a snake in the road. Christoph knew there was a bit of a rock feature there, so we dropped our packs and wandered over. Sure enough, tucked within the trees was a big sandstone outcropping that we got to climb around on. Crazy how it was all covered in trees and sheltered.

From the rock spot it was more uphill to the top of the ridge. We hunted around a bit and eventually came upon a big campsite! Despite the overall law banning backpacking in the country, there are a few (I think 10 in the Pfalz Forest, and 2 in the Black Forest) campsites that are designated for wild-camping. But they must be reserved beforehand, they're only open at certain times during the year, you can only use them if there's a ranger/site-warden present, and a whole other list of massive requirements and restrictions that must be followed to even begin to think about using the facility.

But we made it and hung out before we could setup camp. As it was still pretty early, we didn't want to have our tent up before someone could stroll by and snitch on us or anything. So in the meantime, we made ourselves a fire and got to relaxing. Always the right call.

It took a while, but we eventually had a really good fire going. God I love fires. Nothing like being able to sit back, relax, stare at the flames and coals, and enjoy the great smells and sights that come with being in nature. For dinner that night we went full german, sausage, bread, and mustard. Deeeeeelicious. We all hunted down our desired roasting stick, got to whittling, and then stuck those wieners over the fire to browned perfection. Nom nom nom.

That night, we just putzed around the fire, chatted, drank some whiskey, and enjoyed the evening. The fire was all kinds of warm and wonderful, so we let it go for a good while to enjoy it and the overall atmosphere. Eventually, we spread the coals and let them cool down before heading to the tent to sleep it all off.

I ended up sleeping like shit because it was cold as hell that night, and I somehow didn't prepare well enough for it. I thought I was ready for it, but I definitely wasn't. Eventually we pulled ourselves out of our sleeping bags and tent and luckily enough, the coals were still just warm enough to throw on a pile of needles and leaves to get the fire back up and going! Nothing like a good fire to start off the morning right!

Breakfast was some oatmeal and fruit, but we took our time to slowly get ready and enjoy the start to the day. Having the fire going was really a treat, so we took our time and kept at a leisurely pace and had a great discussion going throughout the morning as we packed ourselves back up and broke camp around midday. Not a bad way to go! More on the discussion to come later...

The start of our hiking for the day was to head back down to Eußerthal, which we did along a forest road to start, and then cut down what appeared to be an old mountain bike trail as a shortcut. Seemed like a pretty decent trail with some small jumps and features amidst the leaves. Hadn't been ridden in a while, but was cool to see and something I'll have to head back to check out.

Eventually we made it to the road and that road took us right back past where we were the day before, past the trout farm/pond. Similar to the day before, we were thirsty and popped into the local Guest House to see if we could scrounge up a few beers. Thankfully, despite the COVID situation, we were able to snag a couple rounds and headed out to the street to drink them off the property. Beautiful day, cold beer, and good company. Helluva recipe.

The proprietor of the establishment we were getting our beers from seemed to be in quite the talkative mood. When we got our first beers we noted we were hiking, and went out to find a place to sit. Well he went out for errands and when he came back he noted how much 'hiking' we were getting done throwing a couple cold ones back. After that, he came out to chat with us as we were sitting around, and seemed to be a really cool guy.

Well, to make a long story short, he started sharing a story about something. I was following along the whole time, but missed one detail which threw me off for the next few minutes. Well, Christoph was on his game and got the whole jist of it. So after the guy walked off, Christoph shared that the part I missed was the dude explaining that he used to (allegedly) be the private chef (Leibkoch) of Fidel Castro. :-O I'd believe it, as the guy seemed to fit that kinda personality. And if he's telling the truth, Fidel's favorite meal...

Eventually, that guy wandered off, we finished our beers, and we were back on the trail. We had to stroll through the village a bit more to find our way to the desired trail, but as we did we got a few good sights of the tiny dorf. Just before we got out of it, we walked past a little plot of land and I was captivated by the bike that was just sitting there, so I took a few pics and Christoph and Mischa cruised on by. Well they didn't get far, as they ended up stopping and chatting with the old Oma who was working the little plot of land!

Apparently they'd talked with her every year over the last few years as they'd wandered through the village, and it was cool to catch up with the old lady. She was planting a few plants and was gracious to stop and chat with us, talking about her life and days of late, getting by through COVID, enjoying the good weather to start her garden, but being fine being at home reading and staying active.

After a while, we bid the Oma adieu and continued on towards the trail and wherever it may lead. Well, it led back up the hill, so we strapped on our climbing boots and slogged our way to the top of the ridge. From there, we had to think about where we wanted to shoot for that night. Eventually we decided on one of the lookouts/huts a ways out, and started heading that direction.

We meandered through the trees and enjoyed the fresh air as the wind picked up and we slowly made our way there. Chatting about many things including beer and such, but we pushed our way to get over to the Jungpfalz-Hütte. We made it, plopped down, enjoyed the view, but realized this wasn't going to be a good place to call it a night. It was a gorgeous place, but too much stuff going on with people and buildings, and finding a good/hidden place to camp wasn't in the cards. We didn't want to keep going, but ended up doing so, over to the next watering hole to try our luck there.

The next spot was only a short jaunt away. It was a nice tiny weather shelter with some outdoor tables and a spring right next to it. Delicious water, and wind-protected, but I thought it was a little too open with no spot to tent up or sleep that wasn't wide out in the open. We hung out for a bit, but eventually Christoph and Mischa either agreed or gave in, and we wandered on to our third attempt for the night.

Soon enough, we'd made it to the local radio antenna, and right next to it was a lookout over Annweiler and a little Schützhütte (weather emergency shelter). Quite the view overlooking the small town, some fields, and a few old castle ruins, and turns out, the shelter had just enough bench space for us to all fit in and not have to build the tent for the night. WIN!

Unfortunately, with the radio tower there, we were worried there might be some security cameras on the premises and that made us a little more uptight about getting in trouble. That plus the clear sign on the shelter saying there's an up to 10,000.00€ fine for starting/having a fire going in the woods, the relaxation for the night wasn't going to be quite as comfy as the previous night. Despite all that, we took over the little hut and got kinda settled in.

I be-bopped around to the lookout a few times, then wandered down the trail to another viewpoint to enjoy the sights. But the rest of the night was just us hanging out, chatting, cooking, and laying low.

The menu for the night, cous-cous with tuna and some veggies. It turned out delicious. Mischa went all out and even brought a bunch of Tandoori spices to go with it, so it tasted quite scrumdillyicious!

At some point before or around dinner I decided to un-Airplane-mode my phone and briefly virtually return to civilization. Amidst a few emails and messages and such I get a heads up from Eli, who was over at my place the Tuesday before we'd started our hike, that he'd just tested positive for COVID. Uh oh.

I hadn't noted any symptoms myself up to that point, but kept it in mind as we kept on going. We continued to hang out that night, then once it got dark we whipped out all our sleeping gear and loaded onto the benches. I tried to get a good picture, but the flash wasn't working. Either way, it was comfy and full of fresh air. Not long thereafter, we all headed down to bed as I gave Christoph a bedtime story about Football or something American I can't quite remember.

That morning I woke up and thankfully got some decent sleep on the bench, but was on the warmer side of the spectrum, as I'd learned from the previous night and the weather was a lot warmer to begin with. But, I could tell I was a little more tired, and kinda feeling a bit of a sore throat. I kept that in mind as we started our day.

All awake, we dragged our feet a bit not wanting to get out of our sleeping bags, but eventually set ourselves up with some gourmet Müsli and fruit and such to start our day off right. The weather wasn't going to be all that great for the day, but the temp was decently warm, it wasn't raining yet, and the rain that was supposed to come was only supposed to drizzle. So we enjoyed our nice breakfast with the grey skies and decent start to the day.

As I was warming and waking up, I could kinda sense a little cold coming on. As you've probably put together, it wasn't going to be just a standard cold, but the no-good dirty rotten pig-stealing great great COVID-19. So far nothing big, just tired and a bit of a sore throat. But regardless, I had to fight through, so I did.

We slowly finished up breakfast, packed our stuff, and started our way back to the car. Due to the fact that we were all carrying a little more than we needed in our packs, we picked the most direct route, which ended up being pretty straightforward along the ridgeline that led straight to the car. How serendipitous!

First stop along the way was back to the water source from the night before to get some of the sweet, sweet clean H2O. Twas truly refreshing and delicious.

The march back to the car went by pretty fast. It actually turned out to be a perfect day of overcast skies and fairly warm weather, so we strolled along at a decent pace enjoying the leaves on the ground and all around. We were getting tired by the end of it, but it was really an enjoyable hike.

Soon enough, we'd traversed the ridge back down to the highway and luckily enough, Rupert was still sitting there! A successful march through the Pfälzischer Wald (Pfalz Forest) had come to a successful end. Unfortunately, we didn't have any beers at the car to celebrate, but we knew where to take care of that! Masks on, we jumped into the car and headed back to Eußerthal.

Why Eußerthal? That's where we'd been through both previous days, right? Correct! Well, in talking with Fidel's personal chef the day before, he mentioned that their guest house opened a little food truck on the property during the weekends to stir up a little business from all the hikers and bikers that passed by. The biggest attraction there was something extremely special and unique to the area - a Saumagen Burger.

Saumagen is one of my favorite regional specialties in Germany. It's specific to the Pfalz, and it's essentially a special meatloaf (oversimplified). A pig liver or stomach is used as the shell, and then you jam ground up meat, potatoes, onions, and who knows what else into it. Normally, you eat it like a slice of meatloaf, but this guy did something delicious and threw it on a bun with some sauerkraut to go with it. HOLY SHIT was it delicious!!!

Beers in hand with this delicacy to excite the tastebuds, we capped off a wonderful trip in the woods! The beer was refreshing, but the Saumagen burger was exquisite. So good I got a second round. And then polished it off with some apple pie. Never a bad day when there's apple pie involved!

After a short chat with the cook guy again, we polished off our delicious vittles, threw our masks back on, and it was time to head back home. I dropped off Christoph and Mischa at their places, and for me, it was time to Quarantine...

Test Time

As I mentioned, earlier that day I could kinda sense a bit of a cold coming on. But, knowing Eli had come down with COVID, and I spent an evening drinking and chatting with him at my place, the incubation time likely matched up pretty well that I was seeing the initial symptoms of being positive with COVID. Not. Cool.

Once home, I poured myself an ice bath (cold water, not man enough to actually throw ice into the tub...) to give my muscles a refresh from the hiking. A heavy pack and not having gone hiking in a long time were pretty evident after our trip.

Then, I cracked open a self-test and waited to see what my fate may be. Damn those little pokey things hurt, but I got it in there nice and good to make sure I got a good reading. Swabbing the liquid and filling in the tray, soon after...

...my fate was sealed.

As an aside here, luckily enough, neither Christoph nor Mischa came down with it. That's great news! But weirdly enough Germany's incompetence was showing again, as I registered both of them as direct contacts, but only Christoph was told to test to verify he didn't get it. How the hell does that make sense? Either way, they're both healthy and doing well!

COVID and Me - Time to Quarantine

I was officially positive with COVID-19, and not super pumped about it. Unfortunately, since I tested positive, I was legally required to get a PCR test to confirm my positive status and whose results would essentially solidify my requirement to quarantine. Double Unfortunately, since this is Germany, and by that time it was Saturday evening, I'd have to wait until Monday for anything to be open to take that next step.

Seriously Germany? Even during a global pandemic, you're gonna close all the medical infrastructure needed to prevent and control the spread of this virus?

Due to my impatience and optimism, I found seemingly the only place in Karlsruhe that did PCR tests on a Sunday. So, after waking up and feeling pretty groggy, I jumped on my bike to at least get some fresh air, and pedaled up to the test site. Well, I should've seen the fact that Google labeled that place as an Ad, because it was a commercial site for travelers and such, not an official test center. I wasn't going to pay the 40€ to get a self-test and then maybe a PCR that was legally required. Fuck that; I got duped. Fuck that place.

Life was on hold until Monday could roll around, which it eventually did. I got up first thing and headed down to the free test center in the center of town. Thankfully I got the opening times mixed up. I thought it opened at 08:30, so I got there around 08:20. But it opened up at 09:00. As I said, good thing though, as the place started to get busy just after I got there.

Germans and queueing don't mix together, but thankfully I was standing in the right spot to get my registration form as soon as they were available, fill it out, and then get sent over to the actual line. I got pissed for a hot second because as I was the next one up someone just walked right up to the door. I piped up and said 'Awwww hell no, there's a line' but the lady said that she had made an appointment and could therefore walk straight up to the door no questions asked. Well ain't that fucking swell...

I was next, popped in, got my brains tickled, then had to kill 15 minutes before the result was available. I technically had a meeting for work at that I could've dialed into, but forgot my headphones, so I decided a walk through the castle park was the perfect way to pass the time. And it was. It was cold out, but nice to get a little movement and fresh air before my impending doom.

My loop took me back to the test center in just about 15 minutes. I had to wait around for a second to get someone's attention, but eventually someone asked my name, went back and flipped through some papers, then told me I had to go back to the door to the test center. Here goes.

I got to be one of those line-cutters and walked right in once the door opened. Then, I got what I knew was coming. I tested positive with the quick test. And because of this, I had to take an immediate PCR test, so the lady grabbed a swab and scratched the back of my throat with it. With their sample in hand, I got some paperwork to see where I could track my test result, and they told me to go home and start quarantining. Which is what I did.

It ended up taking a day or so to come back, but it was officially offical. I'd tested positive and been infected with COVID-19, the British Variant, no less. Damn it.

My verdict in hand, I had to buckle down. Thankfully (and kind of unfortunately) I had my work laptops with me, so I was still connected in with work and was able to focus on that to pass the time. But although that kept me decently busy, I worked on staying occupied to get through this in one piece, mentally and physically.

Health and Symptoms

Overall, COVID wasn't much different for me than an annoying cold. I didn't have anything more than some mild symptoms. The annoying part though, those symptoms were on a rotational basis as to which one would be the promiment one on which day. One day it was a sore throat, one day it was the inability to breathe through my nose, one day it was exhaustion, and it was all on a bit of a cycle.

For about four days I struggled through the thick of it. The worst of it was (as always) the inability to breathe through my nose. It's always so annoying and uncomfortable, and it's amazing how much we take for granted that basic functionality of our bodies/heads!

Around Day 6 I could tell things were getting a little better. Same/similar symptoms, just a lesser form thereof. Lots of mucus buildup, necessary naptime every day, but slowly and surely getting better.

Day 10 was when I was really starting to feel pretty normal. Good sleep, clear head, and just overall feeling pretty normal. Now, writing this on Day 11, I'm feeling pretty good despite still a little sniffle hanging around. But the sun is shining, and THANK GOD I've got a balcony to enjoy it on. Which is exactly what I'm doing to take in some fresh air. :-)

Comfort through the Times - aka Food

The night I took the positive self-test, I treated myself to something that always warms my belly and my heart. A huge batch of Real Chili was just what this non-doctor ordered. Delicious meat, beans, noodles, tons of onions and jalapeños and cheese, with some red-pepper vinaigrette, god damn that shit is delicious.

That is the epitome of comfort food for me. Great spices, warm, memories of football and cold weather, so fantastic. It really hit the spot and put me at ease despite the situation. That, and I made a ton of it, so I was able to enjoy it for the whole week!

Along with that, I made some of our family's tuna salad recipe. Turns out it's pretty easy, and something you can just kinda wing if you don't have everything or smaller amounts of such, which is what I did. But that too is absolutely delicious.

And lest we forget the true hero of any sickness:

Bike Fixup turns to Bike Disaster

With all this time on my hands forced to stay at home, it was about time for the pre-season bike tune-up! So I threw the Tranny on the stand and slowly started tearing her all apart to give it all the once over and fix her up ready to ride for the year.

Parts off, it was time to degrease, wash, clean, and get it all as good as new before bolting it all back together. Being lazy-ish, I only went for the back end (drive train, frame), as the front end was still going well. Good thing I've got a lot of degreaser and a nice bathtub, but surely enough, everything was sparkling clean after a little elbow grease.

When I pulled off the rear wheel, I noticed that the cassette was a little wobbly. That was curious, but I set the wheel aside and worked on everything else. Once I got the frame parts and drive train all cleaned up, I returned to the wheel and was surprised at what I discovered.

The freewheel just pulled right off the wheel, and would've fallen off if I tipped the rim. Well turns out that the axle sleeve had snapped at some point, so the freewhel and cassette was just hanging in there because the axle was screwed to the frame. Damn. That was not what I was expecting, nor what I wanted to see. Especially as it'd likely snapped a while back, and now the hub was covered in a metal dusty/grease film. Time for some cleanup.

Cleaning it all out went by well enough. The hard part was finding a replacement axle sleeve. As EVERYTHING in the world seems to be on backorder right now, unfortunately same for this case. The part only costs around $20, but I had to pay for one from Arizona, which comes with shipping and import fees. So a cheap part turned to a not cheap part. Bummer.

Knowing I wouldn't be able to put the wheel back on for a while, I figured I'd bolt the frame back together to have that ready to go. Easy peasey lemon squeezy. Got that done real quick once and was essentially in wait-mode until the axle got there.

Until I was staring at the bike for some random reason and noticed absolute catastrophe. A crack on the chainstay next to the main pivot. Not sure when/how it developed, but it'd already propogated over halfway through the bar. What. The. FUuuuuuuuu

Well, all that work for nothing. I had to pull it all apart and take a closer look at the actual damage. I was holding out hope that it was ok, but those hopes were quickly dashed once I looked at the crack up close, and discovered an additional one to go with it.

A couple points here:

• To say I was devastated is an understatement. It felt like I'd just lost a good friend and had no way to get them back
• I am REALLY lucky that this hadn't snapped already. As I said, the crack was over halfway through the piece, and it was hanging on for dear life
• I didn't realize how attached I'd be come to my Patrol. This bike had been such a steady, fun, trustworthy, and reliable ride, taking everything I'd thrown at it (up until that crack started...). Seriously, such a great bike

Grieving ongoing, I had to find a solution. Unfortunately, the frame is from 2017, and in bike years, that's ancient. First thing I did was submit a crash claim with Transition (the manufacturer) and emailed them to clarify the situation. Things got clarified on the official route real quick. The German distributor for Transition definitely didn't have any parts. And in talking with someone at HQ in Bellingham, they are also completely out of any parts from that year that could save me. NOOOOOOOOO

Interwebz, here we go. I searched high and low for anything that could help. I didn't want to buy a whole bike for just one part, so despite a few bikes of the same size and year for sale, they were off the table. The only thing that came up through Craigslist, Ebay, PinkBike, and whatever other option that popped up was a broken frame in the UK. It was a different size but the same build year, and the crack on that frame was on a different piece than what I needed, so it seemed viable. Clincher was that Transition said that any bike size of those years (I had a L, the frame on sale was a M) used the same size chainstay, which was the part I needed. Since this frame had an intact chainstay, I could be saved!

I reached out to the guy, and long story short we had a deal. But around that time Transition got back to me with a good deal on a new frame to replace my bike. Now I was torn. Start anew and throw a bunch of money at a new bike? Or fix up my old trusty steed for more riding days? I was torn, and had to reach out to my trusty riding crew back home to see which route to go.

Well, turns out I can do both! I've got the frame on order from the UK, and plan on taking Transition up on their offer on a new frame. Plan is to fix up my current bike so I can get back to riding, but then go demo the new Patrol (bike model) soon and see how it rides. If I like it, new frame will be incoming and I get to build up a new bike! Downside being that I'd sell my current bike to help pay for a new one. That won't be easy, as this ride has been such a great one!

Not gonna lie, it was definite heart break to see the crack in the frame. But after paying more than I should to get a replacement part, she'll be back up and running in no time. That, plus the great customer service of Transition, I've got a plan to get me a New Bike!!! That's exciting, and will be a fun build to go all custom on it just like I did with the Honzo. Boom baby!!!

Commentary aka Real Talk

I originally intended to write out a bunch of comments and details about what's actually going on in my life, what's going through my mind, how I'm enjoying/not enjoying my time over here, and give you all an honest look at what's going on in my life. But in the interest of getting this post done, I'm going to save all of those thoughts for a different post as a way to compartmentalize all of the non-fun stuff into one location. That way, if you don't care to read that, you don't have to! And it'll be all tucked away in a different place you don't have to read. Makes it easier for everyone. I hope.

Up Next

The rest of quarantine will be filled with some more typing/writing, a bit of video games, and soon enough, on Monday, I'll be able to get my second PCR test to hopefully test out of this quarantine! Needless to say, I'm really excited and hoping I can finally walk out into the world again!

After getting out of here, we've got another test trip planned mid-May that might get canceled due to COVID. Wouldn't be surprising if that happened, and it'd probably be the right call considering how high numbers are jumping over here. We'll see how it plays out.

I need to go hiking some more, and I'll likely be using a weekend in May to head down to the Alps somewhere (has to be in Germany, unfortunately) to sleep in my car and go hiking in real mountains. I need that. All of that. Mountains, hiking, a weekend away, fresh mountain air, it sounds so damn nice. And I'm going to get it. Just a matter of how much the COVID restrictions might limit my chances, considering we're still in a nationwide lockdown and as of today they're increasing the severity of restrictions, including curfews all over the place. Fuck.

Not sure when I'm going to get a vaccine chance. People say it'll be June, but I'm skeptical. And pissed, considering if I was home I'd already have my first shot. But I'm in Germany, and this place is anciently slow when it comes to sensible processes. Patience. Not my virtue.

Otherwise, the biggest plan(s) I've got are going to take place in the summer. As it stands now, I'LL BE COMING HOME FOR A VISIT!!! I CANNOT wait. Finally time to see family and friends and have a quick trip to the b-e-a-utiful PNW. So far I'll likely be coming in the end of July, finish a quarantine, then do a mix of work and vacation to see family, finish out Zack's Trans-America bike ride, do some mountain biking with friends, play with my niece and nephew, get some family pictures done, and eat A SHITTON of Mexican food. You have no idea...

Seriously, I'm really looking forward to coming home :-)

Then, depending on how the conversation with my boss goes and what quarantine restrictions look like, as soon as I get back to Europe, I might be packing up Rupert and driving up to Scotland for a few weeks. That is really the first thing I really want to do for travel over here, but I've got a bad feeling it might not happen. Scotland is not allowing tourists right now, and that might not change in the next few months. Then, could depend on how long I've got to quarantine when I land back in Europe. BUT, the dream and idea is there, and I REALLY want to make it happen.

In all, I just need to get the fuck out of here. Go somewhere. Do something. See something. I need to get out and travel and adventure. That absence has become way to present and I need to go somewhere not within a 200-mile radius of my home for once. It's been too much work only and COVID restrictions. God I hope I can GTFO of here soon to go on an adventure.

Thanks for reading everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful day, are staying healthy, finding time to enjoy the springtime, and enjoying each day in whatever way you can!!!

EDIT - Coronavirus Primary Source Journaling

So coming back in here 5 days after finishing this post, I had a conversation with my man Zack over the past weekend. At some point, he went into a description about history and some jargon or such, but essentially compared my notes about my experience testing positive for Coronavirus to being a primary source historical document.

As you can imagine, I was quite flattered by the comparison, as well as the thought of my measly musings being of some historical importance centuries ahead of now. That's likely not to happen. BUT. In the off-chance that my great great grandkids somehow discover this dusty pile of words and are interested about what actually happened, here goes.

Quarantine End?

Sitting on my balcony during the previous weekend wrapping this post up was relaxing. But that weekend and the days beforehand started to get excruciatingly annoying. Not being able to leave the house when the true onset of spring hits is really hard. Finally, great weather, constant sunlight, beautifully fresh air, and I'm limited to my four walls. Thank GOD I had a balcony, as I would've gone made if I didn't have a way to step outside, even though it wasn't off the apartment premises.

Saturday, I woked up and played God of War III (the last of the greek-based games) through to fruition. I gotta admit, I was a little let down from the ending, but the game was good overall. Can't wait to play the newest one coming out sometime within the next year.

Finished up the game around midday, and then was at a loss as to what to do... I've learned I'm getting worse and worse with a clean slate of availability and nothing planned, as I tend towards complete apathy and not doing anything. The point in time where I would've killed to go for a walk to fill the time, I couldn't. And it ate at me.

That day, I filled my time with reddit and food. I ended up making some enchiladas from some random things and it ended up pretty ok. It was canned sauce, but it hit the spot. After that, I bummed around for a bit, and started getting really pissed at the people across the courtyard.

There's a big terrace across the way, and I think it's a commmunal balcony of the building it's attached to. Well, despite this country still riding the uphill wave into the third wave, and restrictions having been increased a day beforehand, what seemed to be every tenant of the building was out there with all of their invited friends for a potluck.

The weather was beautiful, so in a normal situation no one could fault them for the idea. BUT. With the law restricted to a household plus one person (not plus one household), they were filling the balcony with who knows how many people and households. This pissed me off because A) it was clearly breaking the law, and B) they were breaking the law while I was forced and required by law to stay in my apartment. Fuck that noise. If I'm jailed at home by law, you should be able to restrict yourselves to the fucking law and not have a big party. That rubbed me the wrong way and I should've called the cops on them.

After fuming about that for a while and trying to figure out what to do, I then went to bed early. I gotta admit, I'd been getting great nights of sleep throughout the whole quarantine. If only I could translate to the normal part of my life.

Sunday, somehow, I kicked into gear. I woke up, made some breakfast, and took it out on the balcony to eat my cereal mix and listen and watch all the birds chirping and flying around. I did that a lot last summer, and it was a wonderful way to wake up and enjoy the quiet chaos before the world woke up.

From there, a little time online and I suddenly got the spur to start reading 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and take notes during the process to actually internalize whatever I'd learn. So I downloaded it, through it on my kindle, grabbed a pen and paper, and got cozy on the balcony. I'm not a consistent reader, so I was surprised I so quickly jumped into it.

Well, I got a good way through, and learned a good few things before even getting to the seven habits of the book. At that point, put the book down, and did a few organizational things - shower, balance my checkbook, and a few other small things. I was really being productive and feeling good.

The rest of the day was full of love. Was going down for a nap but ended up calling my lovely Mommy to talk with her and see how she's doing. Always good to chat with Mom. :-) Unfortunately, I'd forgot about a plan I'd made a few weeks prior, and jumped over to chat with Katherine and hear how well she's doing in DC! As always, she's making moves and doing great, and it was great to catch up! From there, I got a FaceTime with Alicia and the Boocks and was (as always) happy to chat with them all and see how cute my niece is getting and answering all of my nephews growing questions. Then, shortly after we hung up, my buddy Zack wrote in a fist of fright and needed bike help. He wisened up and checked REI and found what he was looking for right away, but that gave us the excuse to catch up, play some Catan, and have a nice time. Full of social distancing, great updates, amazing and lovely people, and a lot of love.

Monday morning was upon me. PCR test was planned for 11:40, so the full-morning meeting made the time go by. Soon enough, I was taking my first steps out of my apartment in the wonderful sunshine and headed to my appointment! It's amazing how much walking 10 blocks means when you haven't been able to go for a walk in a couple weeks. I stupidly had my normal walking speed (aka fast) and got there in a jiffy. Got up the stairs, sent to the back, the lady swabbed my throat and nose, and that was that. Back outside, and I wisened up and slowed down on the way back to soak in the sunshine. And it was such a true breath of fresh (city) air. But, back to the apartment...

At that point, I had to wait for the results. I had a few meetings in the afternoon, and that helped, but I checked a few times and no results. Made dinner, hung out, and at some point they had some results. I checked.... Fuck. Positive. Again.

Needless to say, I was pretty damn devastated. I was all pumped at being able to get out, leave the house, return to society, and go somewhere else. But positive, I assumed I was in the house for at least another week, if not more. Sad and dejected, I notified a bunch of people about my misfortune, and prepared myself for being further confined to my apartment.

The next day, a Tuesday, I woke up to some work, and did my best to focus and get through it. Eventually, when I had a break, I called the health department to get the low-down on my sentence. After a good 5 minutes of useless automation and terrible customer interface infrastructure, I finally got in touch with a human. I explained to him my situation, and the first thing he asked was, "What was your CT Value?".

I was a bit struck by his question, as I had no idea what he was talking about. For some reason, I looked back on the second PCR test results, and there was a CT with a 34 next to it. Wasn't sure what that was, but I quickly was surprised to hear, "Ah, very good." after informing him of the value.

Naturally, I started asking questions. Well, as it turns out, CT is essentially the calculation of the concentration of Coronavirus in your system. As as I found out from him (which wasn't ANYWHERE ELSE in the documentation that they sent out..............), if you have a CT value of 30 or more, the concentration of COVID is low-enough in your system that you are no longer a spread-risk. Well, wouldn't THAT be something that would be beneficial information to have available, and not just when someone wastes their time to call an archaically funcitioning department to get this very relevant and important piece of information. For fuck's sake...

But. What does that mean? I WAS FREE!!!!!!!! I'd survived (for now) COVID!!! My CT value was notably higher than the threshold, so according to that dude at the Karlsruhe Health Department, I was able to rejoin society!!! Needless to say, my mood spun like a top on realizing this!

Unfortunately, I had meetings the majority of the afternoon. But, now knowing I was free to leave my apartment, a long bike ride was on the docket to celebrate! But first, I whipped up some taco salad for lunch with a delicious Negro Modelo and savored every bite and every drop. Seriously, it was fucking delicious.

Adding to the sudden positivity, I GOT A PACKAGE FROM MOMMY!!!!!!! Thanks to her incredibleness, even DHL's complete incompetence was no match for my Mommy's thoroughness and precision. Documentation was sound and everything was done to perfection and I got some amazing food, gifts, and a box full of love. Always warms my heart... :'-)

I couldn't wait to be done with the day. And as soon as my last meeting was over, I threw on some biking clothes and I was outta there!!! I didn't have a goal for the ride other than finally to get some blood moving, enjoy the ride, get some fresh air and sunlight, and use my muscles. That's exactly what I achieved. I had some Behind the Bastards (GREAT podcast) going the whole time, and really soaked up some sun.

With that, I'd officially survived my COVID Quarantine. It got more and more difficult as the days went by; as my health improved, my desire to be stuck indoors dramatically decreased. But, I stuck to the rules, stayed in my apartment for 16 days straight (going out to the garbage cans once in that span), and even had enough food to get me through the whole time.

Thank you to every single person for the many offers to go grab me groceries, the many offers and opportunities to catch up with folks, and all of the love and support sent from near and far to get me through this.

I was extremely lucky to not have been heavily impacted from my exposure. For me, COVID was the same as an annoying cold, and for that I am EXTREMELY grateful, lucky, and happy. It could have easily been way worse, but I am very happy to have come through it in one piece, and not to have been affected by any of the major, heavy symptoms related to COVID-19.

In summary, here's to being healthy, being lucky to not have any heavy COVID symptoms through the process, and being able to be back in the world.

Original Publish Date: April 23rd, 2021