Day 5: Cochem – Luxembourg

Today with a birthday boy. Happy Birthday David! Today he got a special decoration for the ride. 😁

As of this afternoon, we’re no longer in Germany, but in Luxemburg. Before we crossed the border, however, a lot more happened of course. The day has started as usual, with a briefing directly before the ride and the group allocation was announced. The groups will be re-shuffled every day. Today, groups set up was depending on each rider’s star sign with a few exceptions to ensure certain team members will be available in both groups. Each group needs a captain, a navigator, medics and windshields (in the first three rows). After that we started the day on our bicycles, a gentle ride along the Mosel river. What a dream. What a picturesque landscape. And a lot of beautiful villages.

Meeting with Jean Asselborn!
Arriving in Luxembourg and meeting Jean Asselborn, former Foreign Minister of Luxembourg and passionate cyclist, was definitely the highlight of the day. The meeting took place in Wasserbillig, right on the Luxembourg-Germany border, already on the Luxembourg side. We were welcomed by the local mayor and accompanied by the local police, who cleared the way for us to reach the meeting point. Of course, a picture at the border was a must.

To our surprise, the municipality (Wasserbillig) enriched our usual buffet with fruit and drinks during the break. That was a very nice gesture, thank you! After a short speech by Mr. Asselborn, during which we also learned some historical facts about this region, the buffet was opened. Thanks to our team member Matthieu for making this meeting possible.

After a long and strenuous day like yesterday, today’s stage was a bit shorter and had fewer climbs. The relaxed start along the Moselle was particularly nice. This allowed us to cover a large portion of today’s planned route fairly quickly. It was quite different yesterday, when we had to tackle several climbs relatively early on. The surprisingly good weather was a key reason for our good progress. In contrast to last year, we’ve had significantly less rain this year. Either way, the mood remains very good. You can see how the team is growing closer and everyone is supporting one another. This is true teamwork. The best, most athletic, and most intensive teamwork course I know. 😁

Surprisingly we meet various other Rynkeby teams from Sweden and Norway. Much more often than last year. Each time, we receive a joyful greeting as we pass by. Or we are cheering the other team which passes by. Each team takes on its own route, unaware of the other teams’ route. This gives this Europe-wide rally a very special character. Firstly, because of the element of surprise, and secondly, because of the increased attention we generate.

Many passersby wave to us from the side of the road, sometimes I get goosebumps. These are simply beautiful and unforgettable moments.

Once again, I would like to praise our service team; they literally spoil us with great snacks and meals. This helps immensely to recharge our batteries for the rest of the journey. They also organise many things in the background. They have quite some efforts to ensure everything runs smoothly. Not all what they are doing is visible however without them we would be able to do this bicycle trip in a way we do. I have the impression that we are a great team, becoming more and more integrated with each day, and that all the many processes are working better and better.

For instance those boxes for the things of daily use. This is definitely a huge improvement unlike a small personal backpack everyone was using last year. They were carried in a van but it took some extra time for everyone to find back the own bag. This way we carry the things we may need during the ride without the need to carry it on the bike and we could find back everything quickly. How lovely.

That saves some extra energy too. And our Service Team provides them during each break. That’s just amazing and worth to be mentioned. I am pretty sure we are going to use these boxes next year again. It may sound like we have to carry a lot of stuff just to make this bicycle ride possible however, we always reduce the stuff to be carried to the maximum that is needed. I saw other teams driving an actual truck to carry all their stuff. Most likely they have not much more to buy on the way. Our team on the other hand is purchasing fresh food almost every day locally.

Personally, I also feel very comfortable in my role as navigator. I quite enjoy taking on a bit (more) responsibility and working with our captain and the other 5 leading riders to ensure a smooth trip. Of course, you can’t plan and anticipate everything, but that’s also a certain appeal.

And there’s one thing to be explained briefly: how we organise ourselves during a bicycle ride to ensure that each of our bicycle rides runs as smoothly as possible. We are using radios, three to four radios per group: the team manager, navigator, medics, and the “taillight” have radios. If needed we discuss decisions briefly, whatever needs to be clarified spontaneously. All in the service of the team. And that works great, too.

Tonight we’re spending the night in Luxemburg. And, as the route dictates, tomorrow we will be traveling through three countries. You can probably already guess how the route might go… 😉

Last but not least: we don’t carry a fresh pair of pants and a jersey for each day. To wash our clothes is just another task and part of the routine to be prepared for the next days… and: all the stays over night, all the food we pay ourselves. No donation will be used for that. Instead, any donation goes directly to the children. And: hotels will be booked by a partner company of Team Rynkeby. Our team does not have much to do with that. However, a night at the Hilton is nice, although the building looks like from the 70s.

Next day, next stage: Luxembourg to Reims on day 6