GERMANY, ALL WRAPPED UP

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Well everyone, there's no other way to put this other than life has been kinda rough and extremely dynamic for me over the past couple of years. It's clear to see it's been a good long while since I've done anything here, and because of that this is going to be a lightning fast summary of the last 2+ years, including putting up some things that I'd already written over previous adventures, and highlighting everything else that's happened.

Why the sudden change of heart? Well, at this current moment in time I've got a little time on my hands, as I'm in the midst of a transition from Germany back to the US. It was not an easy choice or process, but everything's underway right now and at the time of typing these words right here, I've only got 38 hours til my flight leaves. Crazy, but I'll fill in what I can.

Starting off with filling in, here's the dump of everything that just got left on the drafting table when my interest/motivation/drive/focus completely disappeared sometime in early 2023...

Recap - Printing the Scraps

I discovered that I'd already had a few things started and completed from way back when. First off were a couple posts that I forgot to upload.

First up was a recap I had down in the Balkans hiking with the fantastic duo of Luke and Jelley and their friend Greer! The Peaks of the Balkans trek was an absolutely gorgeous time down in Montenegro, Albania, and Kosovo, and showed us some incredible scenery, wonderful people, and a gorgeous area of Europe!

After that, I put together a summary of the rest of the end of 2022 in A Whole Lot of Catching Up. Here are some adventures all over the place wandering around Europe. Take a look, but be prepared, it's another one of my famous long ones...

Then, the rest of the scraps that I found were just starts to trips that I had taken and know would've been some insanely long write-ups. First was the time I went A Meandering through Morocco. That was a very interesting trip through Morocco during Ramadan, and my first exposure to Africa! The Polarsteps link has a lot of pictures and some details on that adventure.

Then at this point in the timeline was my last actually published post, A Tumultuous Life Update

One of my most memorable, profound, and incredible trips while living over (t)here (and in life in general, it was absolutely indescribable...) was Road Trippin' through Scandanavia. What an insanely amazing and wonderful and beautiful and incredible this trip was. Five weeks, me and Rupert, visiting and seeing friends along the way, and roadtripping down the coast of Norway. Words can't describe how incredible that trip was and how beautiful that area of the world is. Seriously. I cannot relay this enough. I would go back in a heartbeat and spend even more time there, just continually diving into the incredible nature that incredible country has to offer!!!

I am honestly very regretful and disappointed in myself this trip didn't get a full write-up. It's the longest trip I've ever been on, and easily the most freeing in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I'd absolutely love to do this route again, have a month or two to just roam around Norway and dive back into it. Seriously, incredible.

Then, I had A Busy End to 2023. I only got as far as typing up the beautiful drive down towards the Zugspitze, but there was a LOT more that was involved with that end of 2023.

Recap - End of 2023 to Start of 2025

Buckle up folks and keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle, because this little trip is gonna be fast. I'm pretty much just gonna base this part on the photo albums I have on my computer for the past two years, so here are the highlights.

In August 2023, I went down to the border of Germany and Austria, and summited the Zugspitze. That's the tallest point in Germany. Despite the illegality of wild camping in Central Europe, I took my tent and made a one-nighter out of it. Beautiful weather and a great hike up to the top, and an incredible ride on the insane cable car that goes all the way up to the peak.

September 2023 was full of fun. To start, I flew up to Stockholm for a weekend with my good buddy Eli Hollowell. That's an absolutely awesome city and I had the best seafood risotto of my life there. Then, that next week I drove down to Lyon to go watch New Zealand play in the 2023 Rugby World Cup! Taking advantage of the drive south, after the game I went for a 3-night backpacking trips in the French Alps and had incredible scenery throughout.

In October 2023 I flew with a couple colleagues for a work trip to Istanbul. That was quite the experience culturally, to start in a work context, and then I extended my trip for a couple days to explore around the gateway between Asia and Europe. What an incredible city. Massive, tons to see, and a very unique vibe to it. That was a really enjoyable and beautiful trip.

Finishing up 2023 I started my adventures into the world of 3D-Printing, made a workbench for my 3D Printer, got in a bunch of biking, but then it ended on a quick trip back to the US to help my Mom after some surgery she had. Glad you're doing well Mommy! :-) But this was also a part of time where I was pretty down in the dumps. Most of 2023 was quite difficult for me mentally and emotionally, and towards the end of 2023 is when it really all came to the max.

Well, early on in 2023 is when my relationship with Theresa ended and honestly that, paired with my insane Analysis Paralysis regarding what I should do with my life sent me into a bit of a spiral. It involved some therapy, tons of deep discussions with friends, lots of anxiety, unsureness, self-consciousness, tons of new grey hairs and signs of aging, and in general signs and experiences of struggle trying to figure out what do with my life. Do I stay? Do I go? Where do I fit? What should I do with my life? What do I want to do? Am I cut out for anything? Have I wasted time these last few years?

Those are big and heavy questions to ponder. Some of them were/are warranted, but also some aren't/weren't. That doesn't make it easier, as they were all passing thorugh my mind in the process of trying to decide what to do. Thankfully, I never stopped adventuring, having fun, and meandering around the world through the end of 2023 and all of 2024, but in this process of transition, I am realizing and seeing just how much my deep mood affected me in a consistent manner and going back through pictures over this time frame has made it extremely clear - the last two years really affected me and had me down. But as I said, I still kept my wheels rolling and had some fun in the process.

Looking back, 2024 was really my victory lap and emphasis on the last five years that I'd spent in Germany. At some point the fact that my time in Europe was coming to an end hit pretty hard close to home, so I did all that I could to do everything I wanted to while I was still in Germany. And believe me, that included a lot of fun, exciting, adventurous, and memorable experiences, but there's still an incredibly long list waiting to be tackled that I couldn't get to.

Towards the start of the year, I wrangled a bunch of my buddies together to get out and go see some of the local sports teams. There were a few on my bucket list, so I figured why not do it with some great friends! In total, we got out and saw KSC (soccer), the Mannheim Adler (hockey), Rhein-Necker Löwen (handball), Baden Volleys (volleyball), and maybe something else. I've always been a sports fan, so it was an excellent opportunity to (finally) got to some of the local sports games. Fun times.

In Feb 2024 I was needing a little snow in my life, so I wandered on down to the Alps for a weekend of snowshoeing. It was fan-flipping-tastic, with incredible snow, and great weather throughout! I will say though, that trip has given me the itch to learn how to ski. I'm a big fan of snowshoeing, but seeing the skiers on skins going up and then being able to scream back down, made me wish I wasn't firmly connected to the snow. But hey, doesn't matter how you get out and enjoy it, just so long as you dive into nature! Also had my first actual car accident on the way back. Poor Rupert...

Obviously I was mountain biking throughout and ripped it up with Stefan, Philipp, the Rombachs, and Puschners as much as I could. That holds true for the whole year, but in the interest of brevity, just covering that real quick here.

In early March Luke and Jelley came for a visit!!! They were in Frankfurt getting ready to help put on the Euro 2024 tournament, so shortly after they moved to town they came down to Karlsruhe for the day! We grabbed breakfast and then walked around town most of the day, and it was an awesome chance to cross paths again with these intrepid world travelers!

The end of March was capped off with an incredible weekend with some amazing friends. Andy Maxx had a birthday, but since he lived in Kassel, he invited everyone up to come spend the weekend! A few of us headed up early for some 'working from home' to start the shenanigans early, but what an incredibly fun weekend, and great birthday concept! A little disc golf, a hockey game, some family garden parties, and a grand old time.

Over Easter I (finally) reconnected with my buddy Mike McLaffyTaffy and joined on one of his adventures. He's lived in Germany for the majority of the decade since our CBYX program, and a new goal he's set for himself is to climb all of the highest peaks in each EU country. He's started with a few, but to utilize some of the holidays, we put Easter on the map to head to Hungary and hit their highest point.

A sweet weekend in yet another new country! We met up and centralized in Budapest, and what a beautiful city. Incredible architecture, really interesting history, and tons of food and beer to enjoy (with flavor!!!). We walked all around town throughout the weekend and there are tons of cools nooks and things to explore. One of the days we took the train and the bus a couple hours out of town to go hike up the 'peak' named Kekes and had a great walk to the top. Beautiful, kinda flat, countryside, and a great way to get a little neature in. Overall, awesome trip with a great person, and a great exposure to a unique country!

Truth.

At the end of April, I got my first, but not last, exposure to the wonderful country of Ireland. Jeff Arcuri was in Europe for a few shows, so I found a spot I hadn't been to, booked tickets, and made a nice weekend out of it in Dublin. Yet again, what an incredibly cool town. I had some great weather to enjoy, and explored all around the city, and got in a beautiful hike along the coast before flying out. Jeff was funny, but damn that Guiness tasted great.

A highlight of EVERY one of the past few years has always been in the best month of the year. I and all my Pen15ers pile into a van, drive overnight across France, and make it for the sunrise before a killer beach frisbee weekend. Seriously, and incredible highlight everytime this team comes together. Sadly, 2025 will be absent us at the tourney because we couldn't get enough people ready to play (kids, and responsibilites, sheesh...)

The theme for 2024 was the Olympics, as Paris was hosting. So I whipped something together as part of our spirit packet to give medals to all the MVPs in our games. I was stoked, ready, and holy fuck what a fun time. Petanuqe, Kronenbourg, Durak, Beach Arcade, and shenanigans all around. Always a highlight with that crew. Always. AllePen Zero Points.

Scotland Round 2 - Celtic Boogaloo

I initially thought I could spark notes this trip. Although what's written below follows my trip decently well, this was such an incredible trip with so much to see, explore, adventure, experience, and enjoy. I fucking love Scotland.

Then, going from one crazy awesome thing to the next, in May I played with the Karlsruhe Mixed Masters Ultimate team in the German Championships (we got 3rd or 4th, not bad!), then gathered up three weeks of Vacation and Overtime and packed Rupert up with my camping and biking gear and B-Lined it back up to Scotland. Oh fucking yeah. And to summarize this trip in just a couple of paragraphs is an absolute blasphemous travesty (this one and my trip to Norway. I'm really bummed I didn't have the mental space to truly document those trips. Absolutely amazing, both). But thankfully there's a quasi-attempt at such through my Polarsteps trip - Scotland Round 2 - Celtic Boogaloo.

But seriously, absolutely incredible. The trip started with a lazy day rolling through the hilly regions of Luxembourg and Southeastern Belgium before making it with a ton of luck to the ferry across the Channel. Then a quick night in Dover before heading to the airport...

On a hike along the Cliffs of Dover, I walked down to an old bunker perched in the cliffs and had the spot to myself for a while. Sitting on the stairs heading to the water I was greeted with the most unique, peculiar, and soothing sound of the waves as they flowed out back to the sea, crashing against the rocks on their retreat. Check it out.

Nothing like a great shred visit from my buddies Andy and John!!! They flew over for a week of MTBing through Wales and Scotland, and holy shit did we rip!!! First we headed over to Wales for Dyfi Bike Park. It was wet as shit that day, but we got sloppy and had a killer time. Amazing bike park, and would definitely love to head back in good weather. Only one short day there, then we took a long slow drive up through Wales, into the Lake District, and then crossing into Scotland to head to the glorious Tweed Valley. Holy shit was the riding there incredible.

Golfie, meat pies, broken derailleur hangars, secret cookies, Sweet Sweet Loam, amazing trails, big concrete bunker, perfect day.

Glentrees, spread out, close to town, nice bike park spot, beautiful scenery, good mix of tech and flow, Shuttle like woah.

Thornielee, raw, natural, total slog, steep and crazy, big bouts of rain and rivers for trails.

Unfortunately, those two crazy cats were only there for a week, so after our shredding in Innerleithen was complete, it was off to Edinburgh for a bit of a walkabout, and then they hopped in a train to catch a plane and head back to the US. So fucking stoked to share some Scottish MTBing with some great dudes and can't wait to head back there with them and others again!

Sad to see my buddies fly off, but I still had two weeks to burn and was stoked to see what comes. Week 2 was full of hiking and island hopping. But first, I got my bike a little tuned up for a week on the roof rack, and on my way up north I stopped in outside of Edinburgh to see some old friends from my last trip - the delightful and wonderful duo of Derek and Susan! Absolutely wonderful to see them again and see how they're doing!

Just like my last trip up there, I had yet another little bit of a chaos and planning frustration to get ferries spontaneously organized and dive into the islands, but I headed out to the Isle of Mull and got my exploring on. A smaller, less visited island, but beautiful as hell. The first hike was gorgeous but clouded over, the bike ride around the tiny island of Iona was gorgeous on a perfect day, then that same day jetted down the island for an incredible hike along the coast under the cliff to some cool rock outcroppings. That night was rounded out by dinner on the dock at the start of the hike and watching the world go by, and even a visit by a few seals wandering around the harbor! Oh so relaxing.

Going through my pictures I'm seeing a lot of videos that I took but have never done anything with. Thinking about doing a post with just random videos as I think most of them are still scenes and natural sounds. Could be a pretty relaxing collection.

The next day I wandered through an incredible castle on the east side of the island (and even saw the elder of the family who still lives there!), and then ventured up to the tiny port town of Tobermory. There I jumped on a ferry, but not before my first whiskey tour of the trip (double dip with Tobermory and Ledaig), a chance encounter with an absolutely delightful man talking about our travels in the Himalayas, some deeeelicious fish and chips, overeagernous for a hike attempt as the ferry was coming in, and once again pulling double aces and convincing the ferry guys to squeeze me in as the last car on. Hot damn!!!

Back on the mainland I got in a few more hikes, a stop at the Ardnamurchan distillery, some gloomy weather and some great weather, a night in my tent up on a peak, and some great vibes all around. No joke, free-roaming is my favorite way to travel, and doing that in Scotland is abso-fucking-lutely incredible!!! But after a good week up in the islands area, I dove through Fort William and enjoyed a great stop in that little town, before crossing my way over to the East side of the country and making my way to towards Aboyne and a recommended (and unknown to me) MTB mecca.

All thanks to John busting his derailleur hanger. When we returned his rental bike, I talked to the bike shop guy and his recommendation was to hit up the Royal Deeside. Hot fucking DAYUM was that a good call!!! The first day I rolled out of bed and headed down to Aboyne, looked like some good trails to ride. Damn right they were. All located around a central point and the other side was getting logged. But ripper, ripper, Reaper. Awesome trails, and killer first exposure to the valley! Since I knew I was gonna be in the same area for a couple days, I splurged and got myself a campsite. Biggest bonus of that - night cap at a schnazzy hotel. :-)

Day 2 in the valley had me headed to Banchory. And, as luck would have it I got to join in with a locals ride and meet some dudes from the area including a local bike shop owner! Killer trails, incredible people. We hit up the closer hill first, as most of them had stuff to do for they day, but before they all dipped out, they pointed me to another area to go ride and holy hell what a rip! I took some time to lap a few of the good trails and had an awesome day of riding. After I packed up I headed into town to go meet up with Mike and Lewis from the bike shop. Great and welcoming people, chatted with them for a bit then back to camp for a weird dinner experience, a nightcap, and some sleep.

Day 3 in the valley gave me a different tilt. A bit of an epic tilt, that is. The plan was only to ride two trails straight out of Ballater, and those two trails were long, epic, scenic descents. The morning involved a long pedal up and then descent down Heartbreak Ridge. Moody clouds, smatterings of rain, and what a beautiful view from the top. All followed by a long descent back down to the valley. Luckily enough, two trails turned to four overall, and Heartbreak Ridge had a killer techy crazy trail right near it, so I pedaled up to The Storm and gave that a rip.

After a lunch pitstop in town, it was back on the pedal and time for another long ascent, but up the other side of the valley. It weaved through the forest, past some farms, and then towards the top it opened up to some beautiful rolling hills. Open, gorgeous, and with a bit of an attempt at some sunshine to go with it. Eventually I found the trail to rip down Culblean Hill, and that was quite the movie epic for a trail. Down at the valley, this trail's twin was nearby - Mastermind. By that time I was absolutely beat. But all I'd talked to recommended this one. HOLY SHIT was it incredible!!! I'd go so far to say that it was the best in the valley. Absolutely rollercoaster insanity. If I'd had any more energy I would've pedaled up and ridden it again. But ladies and gents, I was absolutely spent after three unbelievable days of riding.

Sadly, oh so tragically, this signaled the homeward journey for me. I really, REALLY didn't want to leave, but those three weeks went by Blitzschnell... After snagging a shower from that epic day, I hit the road headed south. A stop off near the royal castle in Braemar (I ain't paying to go in there...), grabbed some grub at a local bar, then had an absolutely b-e-a-utiful drive ahead of me. Twilight hit just perfect as I was heading up and then back down the pass. I had to stop a few times to take it all in. Just incredible countryside up there. But the wheels kept turning, and eventually I pulled off to call it a night.

This was the last day of the trip :-( I woke up and had to get Rupert rearranged for the ride home. The sun was shining though, so I could tell that although I was leaving one of my favorite countries on the planet, all would be ok. Through a lot of driving (Scotland down through to France), I got to dabble into the following:

• Beautiful scenery all throughout, especially coming out of the highlands

• A wonderful stop in Pitlochry, getting breakfast, snagging a few bottles of whiskey at Robert's, and...

• A required stop at Mecca and Mecca

• Hadrian's Wall and the gorgeous surrounding countryside

• The sun setting on the United Kingdom

• Another ride in the kick-ass Chunnel

But, with all good trips, it eventually all resulted in me showing up on my doorstep and needing to unpack. That's never an easy process, but a sign of an absolutely incredible adventure.

Recap - Continuing On 2024

Not long after I got back form Scotland (in fact, the very next fucking day), it was off on the road for two weeks for a testing workshop. Off to Klettwitz to FINALLY put my new feature to the test! Love a good testing workshop, and to finally drive my new feature and see how it performed was an absolute blast. It also helped that we got posted up at a really schnazzy hotel on a lake, so that's always nice.

Turns out my developers are rockstars, and the feature did pretty damn well for the first implementation. Can't show anything here because of work. But the testing went great, and even some other stuff during the two weeks kicked ass. Got to watch Germany's Euro Cup initial match with the whole team (and Frank hacked the shitty restaurant's webcams while watching), saw a 24hr Lada race at the test track as we tested on Saturday, went to the village summer dance party and got to enjoy an outdoor rave, and then to top it off I snagged a work car and headed up to the Spreewald for a fantastically gorgeous day of kayaking around a very beautiful biological park.

I got to leave that workshop a day early to get back to Karlsruhe, because after that I was directly off on ANOTHER trip. This time up north to my old stomping grounds - Hamburg! The Euros were in town and I wanted to see a match, so what a perfect reason to head back! I lugged my bike onto an ICE and soon enough I was back in town.

I love Hamburg, and had a killer weekend back in town. A lot packed into a couple days, but here are the highlights:

• Great food and beer. A ton of delicious variety, and decent Mexican food to boot!

• A wicked fun football match and fanfare between Georgia and Czech Republic

• A beautful bit of weather to explore the killer harbor town

• The return journey to Übel und Gefährlich for a full night of techno dance partying in the massive former WWII air raid bunker

• Dancing all night and coming out to the sunrise (THAT was one helluva weird experience), heading straight down to the harber, and enjoying a couple fresh Fischbrötchen down at the harbor market

• Tons of awesome street art

• An impromptu reunion with my delightful former landlady, Elke!!! We went on a little adventure, down to her favorite building in the world (Elbphilharmonie), then off to a cafe on the water to catch up, reminisce, and get caught up from the last years!

• The Germany v. Switzerland public viewing at the Domplatz

• A visit to the ship building and one last pedal through the killer harbor city in the north before heading back home.

Shortly after, or before, or sometime around the trip to Hamburg I welcomed a new baby into the family. No, no kids yet, but adding another two-wheels beast that is essentially a kid to me - NEW BIKE DAY!!! After a long time hemming and hawwing if it was right for me, I took the plunge (and kept to my roughly 2-3 year rhythm of building a new bike) and ordered a plastic frame from China online and slowly built up my own gravel bike!!!

Perfect timing too, because at that point it was just getting to be peak summer and the perfect time for some gravel adventures with the Fahren oder Sterben crew. And that's just what got me in the door. Karlsruhe is such a great location, because it's immediate access to nature, rivers, and close to tons of great places to ride. So that's just what we did! Along with tons of rides around, the annual Tour-de-Not-So-Vogel, and work rides, the coup de grâce was a 120km gravel event with the crew through the Black Forest. Absolutely gorgeous with some great pit stops along the way to enjoy a day on a great bike in a great place with some great people!

The next big trip was another one for the books. Early on a Friday morning I headed up to Frankfurt to jump on a plan with some Pen15 buddies and off we were to Dublin. Daragh was getting hitched, and he invited a big crew of us to come up and celebrate. A wedding? In Ireland? With the Pen15 crew? Who the fuck could say no to that!?!?! Off we were, bright and early.

First stop - the pub. We got off the plane, threw our stuff at the hotel, and headed straight to a pub for breakfast and getting the Guiness flowing. No joke, Guiness tastes so much better in Ireland.

We spent Friday in Dublin, and got into all kinds of shenanigans. No surprise, but 95% of which were Guiness-based. Wandering around town, drinking good beer, eating good food, playing Durak whenever we could, watching the Deutschland Euro Cup match at a rowdy bar, and enjoying the hell out of the time invading the Emerald Isle with Pen15.

Saturday we then jumped on the train and headed out to Mullingar for the wedding. We snagged a big house for all nine of us just out of town, so cabbed it out there and got settled in for a short bit. I got to teach Joh how to iron, and soon enough we were all suited up and headed to the wedding. Since we were out of town, no cabs wanted to come get us, so we had to walk a bit and some of us ended up getting a ride in the back of a construction van. But long story short, we all made it to the wedding ready to celebrate Daragh and Simône! HUGE congratulations to Daragh and Simône! I and we were all so stoked and are so grateful that we could come and share in your incredible weekend!

The Irish and Ireland are fucking awesome. First off, the venue had a bar and whiskey lounge attached to it, so first things first was everyone grabbing a drink. Then, since the wedding was about to start, Daragh flat out told everyone to bring their drinks into the church so we could get things going. But I gotta run down some highlights, what a fun time:

• Watching the hurling match between Limerick and Cork, with a quarter of the wedding for Limerick and a quarter for Cork
• The witty, funny, and awesome officiant
• The Party Pen15 crew and looking damn good in some suits
• The free-flowing Guiness
• Killer dance party
• Sporadic Irish folk songs being played and sung by a whole gaggle of people

For me, maybe the biggest revelation and occupation of the night revolved around two new people in my life. Now my name is Nial, N-I-A-L. I've always been told (Mom...) that it's a Swedish name, but being in Ireland, I was slapped in the face with a "Wrong" the whole time, and that came to a culmination in meeting the Nialls, N-I-A-L-L. For me, this was the first time I can remember meeting someone with my name, and let alone two of them! Things got off to a rough start when I told them that I only had one L in my name, so I was outcast. But somehow got into their good graces, and now I'm part of the gang!!! Nial(l)s Unite!

After the hoot of a party and wedding, we got a bus back to our little villa. I ended up getting not too much sleep, and rather than rolling around in bed, went for a walk around the quaint countryside to get some fresh air. Beautiful little spot where we were staying.

Although the wedding was the day before, the whole party wasn't done just yet. For Day 2 the plan was a barbecue back at the venue. So eventually we all got up, fed, cleaned up, and headed back to what turned out to be a party to rival the actual wedding. Beautiful sunshine and rain, a quaint and beautiful venue, chilling with the Pens, a good ole Polterabend for the Irish to enjoy, getting behind the bar and pouring our own Guinesses, a big 'ole rainbow, some more great spontaneous music, drinking the first sip of a Guiness down to the flat of the G, and another killer night with some incredibly wonderful and friendly people.

That next day was the journey home though. What a fucking awesome party, but as with everything, it eventually came to an end. We had a relaxing morning at the villa before packing up, heading back to the Mullingar train station, and catching a ride back to Dublin. Luckily enough we didn't have to head straight to the airport, so we wandered a bit more around town to enjoy the killer Irish sunlight. But eventually, the plane was calling. The journey to the airport was quick, and soon enough, our Irish Wedding Adventure had come to a conclusion. What a fucking blast.

The rest of Summer was full of fun stuff going on. A frisbee tournament with the Karlsruhe 2nd Mixed Team in Marburg, a Work trip to Pferdsfeld, then came Kraut's bachelor party. I was itching to get tf out of work and jetted as fast as I could to meet up with the crew. Right before I got to the big house I saw a car parked and a bunch of dudes on a log pissing. You know it, that was the Brothers Kraut already a few beers deep and ready for the weekend. I snagged Kraut and we headed to our massive place to party it up.

A weekend full of shenanigans to celebrate the incredible, wonderful, and crazy Kraut Krautmann. And we had a helluva place to do it. A big old farmhouse deep in the Black Forest, all to ourselves to have some fun. Nothing but drinking games, lots of food, a series of Kraut Challenges, a walk around the woods with Flunkyball and shenanigans, and hooliganry left and right. I even had the chance to teach these kids how to play Sproutball (my FAVORITE!!! SO much fun). Killer time with some great people to celebrate and absolutely incredible human being.

Not long after the bachelor party came the wedding between Lena and Kraut! I was very honored to be invited and join in their celebration and what a day! German weddings are notably different than what we have in the US, and it started out with everyone going to city hall to see them sign the wedding papers. That was followed by a champagne reception at a park, then the party moved to our sport club's grounds for the rest of the night. No better way or place to celebrate two incredible people!

The next trip up was to get back on the Madonna and head down to the Alps. My teacher friends get nothing but time in the summer, so I have to do all I can to squeeze in some time and meet them in the incredible places they get to ride for a couple months straight. This venture took me down to Alpe d'Huez to meet up and shred with my Fahred oder Sterben crew. Needless to say, I had one killer week ahead of me, so I packed Rupert up quick, jetted on down to the Alps, and was ready to shred.

The first three days of the trip I got to shred with my F.o.S crew and it was awesome. Crazy beautiful place in Alpe d'Huez and we had a great time with our nice little home-base camp spot and a five minute pedal to the lift to take us to some beautiful trails and views. We had some good weather, some wet weather, some incredible Affogatos, a really quaint morning stroll to the local bakery, a ride down from the tippy top, and a damn good time with the whole crew.

From there I ventured up the valley with Lisa and Stefan and got some fun adventuring up the valley at an alpine botanical garden and a stroll around Briançon, and then I was off to revisit a place I'd loved and been earning to get back to ever since. Off towards Portes du Soleil and holy shit was I stoked about it.

Holy fuck is Portes du Soleil incredible. Such a massive network of trails over some incredible valleys, and I was stoked to get to shred it again.

Day 1 - Les Lindarets, Avoriaz, Morzine, and a little Chatel. Beautiful weather, some thick mud, sessioning the killer tech line at Morzine, and having constant sunshine to enjoy the incredible MTBing available and at my disposal. I got in as much riding as my body could handle, down the flow, the tech, the jumps, and the everything, and then bunked up at the nearby hostel for a little work and then into town for some good grub.

Day 2 - Les Crosets, Champery, and Chatel. Holy mother of god. What incredible trails. First Les Crosets, aka a dirt rollercoaster. Then Le Coupe du Monde in Champery, with mud so think that my bike couldn't spin its wheels anymore - I was litterally skiing on two wheels the majority of the way down and had to pull off my rear wheel to scrape off the dirt so it could spin freely again. Then Chatel to wrap and rip it up. Absolutely incredible riding day.

Day 3 - Morgins. This place has hung in my mind for years and I was so unbelievably pumped to be back and riding it. Especially La Noir, the black technical trail. It was a quiet day at the park, but I ripped my heart out before having to head out midday for the trip home. But holy shit was the dirt perfect, the trails running great, and my multiple trips down La Noir made my brakes singe against the grass as I got to the bottom out of breath and riding an incredible high. No joke, the first time I came down La Noir was early in the day. I was beat, my hands tired, and out of breath, I got to the road and set my bike down, and my brake rotors hit the grass with a nice hiss from the heat of the rotors touching the dew on the grass. Fucking cool. But I ripped a great few lines and trails there, but ended on a rough note. Second to last run down La Noir and my front wheel slipped. I ended up burying my handlebar grip deep and the other end of my handlebar skewered me right in the thigh. I rode through it, but once I got home I noticed that I really got myself pretty good. Either way - Morgins might be one of my favorite places to ride in the Alps. Incredible, steep, feature-full, and just fucking incredible. But a little over a half-day in Morgins, and unfortunately I had to head back home. What a fucking incredible week of biking on some incredible trails!!!

Pre-Move Trip Home

Soon after my bike week in the Alps, it was off to another adventure. This time a work trip, but back to home. Timely too, as it was only a few months before I was slated to move back to the PNW, so I could utilize the time to get acquainted and start thinking about the blender I was throwing my life into in a move back to the USA.

Had a first in my life on the trip too. The thigh injury I sustained in Portes du Soleil was so bad that I had to do a blood thinner injection on the flight over to the US, because there was a worry that I could get a blood clot in my femoral artery. Thankfully no issues on the flight there or back, but that was quite a weird experience giving myself a thrombosis shot. All is well that ends well.

I got this far on March 24th, right before all my stuff got delivered on March 29th and I started a busy stretch of being gone from home too much...

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...and pick things back on up April 16th after a long day on another work trip out to Madras, OR.

In some ways this trip home felt normal - a trip back to where I'm from. But in a lot of ways, this was eerie, because in a few short months I knew I'd be on a similar trip, but just a one-way direction. But back home to the PNW for some testing and fun times, and hot damn did I fly in on a perfect day.

The first part of the trip was vacation. As soon as I got my rental car I jetted up north to hang out with the family for a few days. As per usual, got to see my Mommy, my older sister and her family, my little sister, and we bopped around. I went on a hike on one day, we went down to Olympia and Boston Harbor another day, and just made a good time of the late summer weather.

Before work got going, I headed down to Portland to dive back into my soon-to-be-home-city-again for some fun with the nature and good people. The first was a great little trip with Drew and McKenna through Forest Park and a perfectly timed day-long adventure. Then a culinary weekend going crazy with some killer Portland cuisine. All wrapped up with a hazy hike near Hood before diving into work.

That week of work was all prep for the upcoming workshop. It went well, and it was great (as always) to reconnect with my good old department. But then for the weekend, I headed down to Bend to jump in with family and go see my cousin get married. Perfect timing. It was typical family craziness, but a great time to see everyone. That wrapped up on Sunday and to cap off the weekend I went for a long hike at Smith Rock.

That week of work was busy, chaotic, stressful, but extremely fun and successful. Although they're now (as of writing) no longer my direct colleagues, what a great group of motivated people. I miss those guys in Germany but thankfully stay in contact and know they're still kicking ass.

Before I flew back, I had another weekend in Portland and hot damn was I EXTREMELY stoked to finally make it to Alex's Crawfish Boil! An incredible dude cooking up some killer food. As always, a trip home full of great people and delicious food, but soon enough I stopped by City State for my pre-departure Breakfast Meatloaf and then was headed back to Germany for the last spurts of my time in Europe.

Unfortunately for a work night this is only as far as I get on April 16th. It's a small glimpse, but a show of why I'm so goddamn slow at getting these things written!

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Picking things back up on a sunny Saturday on April 26th at the cafe a half block away from my place. Shorts, slides, sun, and some coffee to get back at it.

Recap - Summer of 2024

Back in Germany and it still being summer, there was plenty going on to take part in. First off, shortly after landing, was Kraut and Lena's wedding!!! Such incredible people and a whole gaggle of the Karlsruhe world there to celebrate their marriage. A great celebration, party, and all around good time was had at the MTV clubhouse. You know it's a good time when you leave only a couple hours before sunrise and are so drunk you have to walk your bike back home...

With all the good weather and good people, it also included tons of time back on the bike(s). Mountain and Gravel, and all around the area. I've got (now had :-( ) such a great group of riding buddies over there and it's led to some great times on two wheels in the Pfalz, down steep trails, on streets and roads, through the Black Forest, and it all kinda culminated (for this section) in the Panoramagravel, a 120km, 3000hm windy ride through the Black Forest on an absolutely killer day. Fahren oder Sterben - das Leben lang.

Amidst the summer, on a random rainy day, we rolled out the balls and headed to the forest for another rousing round of Boule. The perfect activity to drink, be outside, and have some kind of competition to let the day waste away. (Fast forward, but the gang got me a Boule set and now I gotta find a way and group of people with to play it here in the US!).

One Last Euro-Hurrah

With my clock of time in Europe slowly and ominously ticking down to zero, I had to get in one more big adventure before I packed it all up and completely put a tornado on my life. Fall in Europe, plenty of options to go, but after some decision dilemma, I headed Southeast towards the Balkans. The target? Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia & Herzegovina. All three countries were uncharted for me, and all three with a lot to explore. It was off on the road and running. One Last Euro-Hurrah.

In the interest of attempted brevity, I'll list my week in each of the three countries in bullet form to hopefully just quickly hit the highlights.

Slovenia

• A full dive into the beautiful southeast region of The Alps
• Five days of backpacking in Triglav National Park with way too much gear and perfect weather throughout
• Climbing the highest peak in Slovenia - Triglav! And then the sketchiest ascent and then descent of my life that same day
• Incredibly fun, delicious, artsy, and enjoyable city in Ljubljana!
• The most amazing pistachio croissant I've ever had. So good I went and got a second

And this is as far as I got in this hour or two because as I was looking at pictures nostalgia and memory hit and I got all kinds of sad seeing all the great people I left behind in Germany. Change is not easy, and I seem to find and force big and difficult change on myself all the time.

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Back at it.

Winter and Paris

The Era Ends.........

Let the Commentary Begin...

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Dates Covered in Post: November 13th, 2022 - January 31st, 2025
Original Publish Date: January 31st, 2025