Germany

Bits and stories about World Bike for Breath. A Bulletin for sponsors. Volume 1, July 2003
Sent from the Blackberry in England on July 29, 2003

Note: this newletter is a bit short, because typing on the Blackberry is slow.

Hi dear sponsors,
We would like to thank all of you for your many encouraging and supportive emails over the past month. Your faith in our ride for asthma has kept us going despite cycling in intense heat in Italy and Greece, over mountain passes in the Alps, though swarms of bugs that splattered our bodies from head to toe with their carcasses as we pedaled through southern Germany, and through the noise, pollution and traffic of 100 miles of Germany's Ruhrgebeit--the German equivalent of 20 Pittsburgs and Detroits strung together along the Rhine. (Instead of being splattered with bugs we were covered with black soot from factory smokestacks). After intense headwinds in Holland and rain in England we have come to accept that living outdoors on a bike and in a tent, we will always be facing a natural challenge wherever we are. Knowing that you care and are behind us all the way has made all the difference.

When last we wrote we were in Bolzano Italy about to pedal over the Brenner Pass into the Alps of Austria. Here's our route since then:

• Kilometers for asthma: 2949
• Miles for asthma: 1798
• Countries cycled for asthma: Greece, Turkey*, Italy, Austria, Germany, Holland, England
• Newspaper and magazine articles about asthma and WBB published in: U.S., Canada, Italy, Austria, Germany
• Mountain Passes crossed:
  • Brenner Pass (Alps) 4700 feet
  • Fern Pass (Alps) 4200 feet

• From Bolzano Italy over the Brenner Pass to Austria and the cute wooden houses of Tyrol
• Down to Innsbruck and along the mountain peaked Alpine valley of the Inn River to Imst
• Over the Fern Pass and down to Reutte and Fussen Germany where crazy King Ludwig's castle in Neuschwanstein sits perched in the Alps
• North on the German Romantic Road filled with storybook towns to Rothenburg ob der Tauber
• West to Bad Mergentheim and along the Jagd and Neckar Valleys to Heidlberg, an ancient university city
• North along the Rhine River through the castle lined valley between Worms and Koln
• Continued north on the heavily industrial Ruhrgebeit where the air is so filthy after a day of cycling our skin was literally black from soot- and this is after they cleaned up the air!
• West along the Rhine into Holland along windmill scattered dykes to Rotterdam and Delft (which makes the famous blue china) to Hoek van Holland
• Boat from Hoek van Holland to Harwich England
• Train through London (so far all of our ground transportation has been by bike; our goal is to pedal the entire route except through major cities-for the safety of our family) to Oxford England, a university city where we stopped to visit former WBB Chairman of the Board, Debbie Wheeler
• Currently pedaling south along the ancient Druid route to Stonehenge

Updated: July 29, 2003

Thanks to our sponsors!