# Road Riding in Germany (Bayern/Saxony)



## nordy643 (Aug 3, 2012)

Hi,
I am considering a move from California to Germany, particularly either Bayern or Saxony at this point and was wonder if anybody had any input on the quality of road riding in either of those areas or nearby? I particularly enjoy lots of climbing so I was looking to see if anywhere around there had rides with some good climbing.

Here is an idea of a good ride to me:
Bike Ride Profile | 37 miles near Scotts Valley | Times and Records | Strava


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## Rider07 (Feb 25, 2007)

California to Germany? I guess you are looking for a change? I am not so familiar with that area. I lived in Kiel/Rendsburg (up North) area for a few years. It was awesome. There are a lot of what I called "farm" roads. Single lane paved all over the country side. I could ride as long as I wanted and see very few cars. I believe they made these roads so the farmers can move around with there equipment in the very wet conditions. I am sure the weather in the north is wetter than the central area of Germany. It rained a lot and once winter rolled in there was no road riding. I could ramble on forever but some other time. In the end I loved Germany. Everything had a place. Nobody would even think about dropping trash on the ground and the children are polite and educated, just what you would expect. never found much in the way of group rides.


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## nordy643 (Aug 3, 2012)

Rider07 said:


> California to Germany? I guess you are looking for a change? I am not so familiar with that area. I lived in Kiel/Rendsburg (up North) area for a few years. It was awesome. There are a lot of what I called "farm" roads. Single lane paved all over the country side. I could ride as long as I wanted and see very few cars. I believe they made these roads so the farmers can move around with there equipment in the very wet conditions. I am sure the weather in the north is wetter than the central area of Germany. It rained a lot and once winter rolled in there was no road riding. I could ramble on forever but some other time. In the end I loved Germany. Everything had a place. Nobody would even think about dropping trash on the ground and the children are polite and educated, just what you would expect. never found much in the way of group rides.


Thank you for the reply. My fiancee is from the area (I am from CA) and so I wanted to see what the prospects were for similar quality road riding around there. Were the roads very hilly at all/have long, sustained climbs? That is something that I will definitely be looking for as I love to suffer up hills.


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## Jay Strongbow (May 8, 2010)

I've only been to Bavaria as a visitor and didn't ride enough to say I'm greatly qualified to answer but based on what I saw I felt the riding was excellent. FYI my standard of comparison is New England. Just some random observations: Some of the climbing was brutal (in a good way, one particular road in the Berchtesgaden area sticks out in my mind as being steep), the roads in general were narrow and would have been scary to if there was a lot of traffic or big trucks but I didn't encounter much of either so I felt perfectly comfortable, road surface was mostly excellent, car drivers for the most part were polite, I saw a decent amount of roadies so I'd imagine you wouldn't have much trouble finding a group ride if you care about that. 

There are also a lot of excellent scenic dirt paths between towns (I was mostly in the Mittenwald and Garmish areas and ventured down to just over the Austrian border) so if I lived there I think a cross bike would be excellent to have because these paths are to nice to not ride as much as possible. My thinking a cross bike would be good to have is especially based on my having been there just after snow melt when those paths were muddy. Road bike is probably fine mid-summer except for some of the paths that climb/descent where you'd want bigger/softer tires than typical of a road bike.

And not that you asked but I would have to assume the cross country skiing on these paths is amazing in the winter if that interests you. And also, I didn't do any mountain bikeing but based on the number of moutain bikers I saw coming out of the woods in full body armor I'd have to guess there's a lot of opportunity for hard core mountain bikeing as well. Hiking is amazing for the scenary but a little less 'rustic' and back country feeling than I prefer. Stumbing upon a nice resturant in the middle of a supposed back country hike seemed wrong to me but I suppose I could learn to live with that .


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## nordy643 (Aug 3, 2012)

Jay Strongbow said:


> I've only been to Bavaria as a visitor and didn't ride enough to say I'm greatly qualified to answer but based on what I saw I felt the riding was excellent. FYI my standard of comparison is New England. Just some random observations: Some of the climbing was brutal (in a good way, one particular road in the Berchtesgaden area sticks out in my mind as being steep), the roads in general were narrow and would have been scary to if there was a lot of traffic or big trucks but I didn't encounter much of either so I felt perfectly comfortable, road surface was mostly excellent, car drivers for the most part were polite, I saw a decent amount of roadies so I'd imagine you wouldn't have much trouble finding a group ride if you care about that.
> 
> There are also a lot of excellent scenic dirt paths between towns (I was mostly in the Mittenwald and Garmish areas and ventured down to just over the Austrian border) so if I lived there I think a cross bike would be excellent to have because these paths are to nice to not ride as much as possible. My thinking a cross bike would be good to have is especially based on my having been there just after snow melt when those paths were muddy. Road bike is probably fine mid-summer except for some of the paths that climb/descent where you'd want bigger/softer tires than typical of a road bike.
> 
> And not that you asked but I would have to assume the cross country skiing on these paths is amazing in the winter if that interests you. And also, I didn't do any mountain bikeing but based on the number of moutain bikers I saw coming out of the woods in full body armor I'd have to guess there's a lot of opportunity for hard core mountain bikeing as well. Hiking is amazing for the scenary but a little less 'rustic' and back country feeling than I prefer. Stumbing upon a nice resturant in the middle of a supposed back country hike seemed wrong to me but I suppose I could learn to live with that .


Thanks for the reply. Good to hear that the climbing was brutal as being from the Bay Area, there are plenty of brutal climbs here which I particularly enjoy riding. Do you think that when you did ride the roads did you feeling any safer/less safe than you feel riding in New England roads? Also, good notes on the CX bikes and dirt trails between towns - that's pretty cool that those exist. I would definitely look into that as another alternative. And we would probably ski in the winter, so the snow sports aren't a worry (though losing out on being able to ride year-round is quite a downer).


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## Jay Strongbow (May 8, 2010)

nordy643 said:


> Thanks for the reply. Good to hear that the climbing was brutal as being from the Bay Area, there are plenty of brutal climbs here which I particularly enjoy riding. *Do you think that when you did ride the roads did you feeling any safer/less safe than you feel riding in New England roads?* Also, good notes on the CX bikes and dirt trails between towns - that's pretty cool that those exist. I would definitely look into that as another alternative. And we would probably ski in the winter, so the snow sports aren't a worry (though losing out on being able to ride year-round is quite a downer).


About the same feeling.


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## nsfbr (May 23, 2014)

Jay Strongbow said:


> About the same feeling.


When you rode in Bayern was it in/near München? And if so, did you bring or rent? I'm going to be there in October for a week as a conference husband and would love to ride, but bringing my bike is not going to happen. I've been looking for a place or way to rent a road bike there but have not been successful yet. Just to be clear, I've been there several times before, but it was before I rode.


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## Alumini (Jul 14, 2014)

You can go to Quaeldich.de and look for tours in the region you'll be living. For Bayern, for example, go here: Quaeldich.de/Regionen/Bayern then choose the region on right, then click on "Karte" (map) in the main window. It will show you all passes ("Pässe") in that region. Should give you an idea where to start.

Also their "Tourenplaner" (both, online and for download) is a great tool. It is based on GPS data provided by bike riders and contains height data and any noteworthy hill/mountain/pass is included. It is not totally self-explanatory and it's in German, though.

If you open it and click on a region in the map it prompts to load the road net for that area. Zoom to and click in the region you'll be living and confirm with "Ja". Playing around and setting some tours in your region will give you a good idea of the possible rides as you can see heigts and percentages etc. right away. IF you need a quick start, look it up on youtube, there are videos on how to use it. In German too, but easy to follow and good for a quick start because you see what the tutor is doing and what happens in the program.

Depending on where you'll live, it may also be worth driving 1-3 hours to Austria (for example Tirol and surrounding areas) which will offer you lots of the nicest climbs in the Alps.

In case you can read German or your fiancee can help you can check out the following forums (People speak English there, too):

Good forum for bike tours in general, but not a nice GUI: Quaeldich.de Forum
and
Excellent forum for all questions whatsoever: Tour Magazin Forum


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## Jay Strongbow (May 8, 2010)

nsfbr said:


> *When you rode in Bayern was it in/near München?* And if so, did you bring or rent? I'm going to be there in October for a week as a conference husband and would love to ride, but bringing my bike is not going to happen. I've been looking for a place or way to rent a road bike there but have not been successful yet. Just to be clear, I've been there several times before, but it was before I rode.


Not in. 
The nearest was about an hour South.
It's only hour or so by train to Garmish or Mittenwald which are both beautiful and good areas to ride so hoping on the train might be your best bet. There are places to rent bikes in both Garmish and Mittenwald.


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## nsfbr (May 23, 2014)

Jay Strongbow said:


> Not in.
> The nearest was about an hour South.
> It's only hour or so by train to Garmish or Mittenwald which are both beautiful and good areas to ride so hoping on the train might be your best bet. There are places to rent bikes in both Garmish and Mittenwald.


Thanks for the info. I'm a big fan of trains - I usually spend half a day in the main train station in Munich with my cameras, just because, so a train ride to go ride sounds like a whole lot of fun.


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