#ridemitabstand

Quarantine Diary. Part 3 by Rebecca Kinsella

Welcome to the second wave....of my excellent blog posts! Berlin has started to open up again, resulting in droves of people taking to the streets like it ain’t no thang.It’s very much still a “thang”, but this is not the place for health advice or providing any kind of information  that could be viewed as useful or intelligent. Been sweating a lot around the Berlin/ Brandenburg area over the past few weeks. Mostly to do with bike riding. As some of you may already know- I’m not a regular mom, I’m a cool mom. The Kita has started to screen my calls as a result of an “enthusiastic campaign” on my part to encourage them to take my lovely energetic daughter back,who has so many questions about everything! Questions all day long. Morning - questions. Still morning - more questions, and so on. Between questions and demands, I’ve been taking her out in the Anhänger a lot. There are many benefits to this; it’s difficult to hear her questions when I’m cycling and time spent outdoors with a kid is infinitely better than being trapped indoors with my beautiful “blessing “. She’s a great kid, don’t get me wrong but holy fuck 8 weeks without a Kita would have you attempting a “selbstgemacht” sterilisation in the kitchen as the 9,887th episode of ‘Paw patrol’ plays in the background. Anyway, less about my reproductive decisions and more about biking! I’ve been back to Gorinsee a number of times with the Anhänger, which is a really fun way to make a 40km cycle feel like a 300km uphill ride with flat tires. The cafe  has reopened since Friday so I will return again and bring shame to my family by eating the famous ice cream sundaes until I’m quite ill and need to sit down.I also cycled to Liebnitzsee with aforementioned child and we took our first swim. I was so hot after the cycle there that I jumped straight in, the water was so cold I went into shock and felt like I was simultaneously having a heart attack and breathing malfunction. I waited for the sweet release of death in that cold water , but it wasn’t to be, and actually it was quite nice after a few minutes.

Gorinsee (Again) Myself and Tamara of She 36 fame made this route together on a Sunday afternoon recently. All was good until we arrived and the cold gripped us like a big cold bastard. I resorted to wearing my sweaty base layer as a crap looking hat, and Tamara resorted to two cups of imbiss coffee and swearing like a docker. The ride was redeemed beautifully on the way back though, we cycled through the forest and over some small bridges and it was wonderful. We even took some time out to critically review some of the art installations along the path on the way, ‘Utter rubbish’ and ‘total fucking bullshit hahaha’ were some of the eloquent and considered phrases that summed up our experience of these pieces. Tamara also took some time out to search for some massive sticks for her “asshole cat”. When she jumped off her bike to look for sicks the size of her leg I was ravaged by mosquitoes the size of a fist.

Müggelsee Maria and myself kicked off this ride this is good old fashioned shouting match with a dick head driving a car, he put across his invigorating and well considered argument.....actually no hang on it was so stupid he sounded like he grew up in a dog kennel and huffed the car fumes in his spare time. 

Unmarred by such insolence we pushed on toward our luxurious destination, our ultimate goal was somewhere between enjoying a tranquil lake side moment and smoking loads of delicious cigarettes. We were not disappointed on both accounts. The road to paradise may be paved with pot holes, but enlightenment awaits for those who truly desire it.

Quarantine Diary. Part 1. by Rebecca Kinsella

It's rare that there is a historical event that has such magnitude that absolutely everyone will remember where they were when it happened. That event- The CoVid 19 pandemic....where were you? AT HOME!! Well, at home with the occasional exciting intermission of queuing outside Rewe to gain access.But between palm-sweat-inducing glances at figures and statistics (how can hands that are dryer than sand from all the washing still sweat so much??) we are all figuring out how to pass the time and maintain our sanity. This lapse in time has forced us all to evaluate how we spend our time, which is often more alone than we would like. I haven't got the magical answers but I have got some suggestions, which is almost the same thing. Kind of.

Cycling, for me , has been an absolute saving grace. To me, it is the perfect way to let off steam while being in the world. It’s also a good way to catch some sweet rays while staying away from people and maintaining, say it with me now - social distancing! Plus, cycling is a brilliant way to put some real distance,in a relatively short space of time, between you and your annoying children/ house mates / boyfriend/girlfriend (delete as applicable).With the weather being so great, each day has been an opportunity to get out and see some of the beautiful places that Berlin has to offer. Plus, and this is a real bonus - I have not seen one person taking a shit on the street in front of me on any of my rides so far! Wonderful.

So far I've been on the following journeys: Grundewald/ Havelsee route, this was just as the virus fever was hitting the streets of Berlin. The track around the lake here is really wonderful and the roads that link from Grundewald around Havelsee are smooth AF . Plus there are plenty of cross-ride opportunities throughout Grundewald which allows you to do some cool downhill stuff as parts of the forest are quiet at the moment. You are sheilded from shame if you crash out and end up eating dirt when you fall.

Gorinsee - Another great spot for a romantic cycle alone. I was recently here with Kim from She36, impressing her with how much I can sweat even on a relatively cold day. It's kind of a special ability. We cycled here from Prenzlauer Berg and took the long way around, and stopped for a tea in the café at the lake. Which , FYI does the most amazing looking ice cream sundaes I've ever seen. Those sundaes will meet their maker (me) as soon as all of this blows over.

Tegel See/ Tegel Havel/ Frohnau - Myself and Maria went on a fab cycle around this route on Saturday, while maintaining ABSTAND BITTE!!  Maria was Road Captain-ess for this route and I was happy to let her lead the way, watching her as she whistled people out of the way.  We went around the lake and over some bridges and passed by a woman who was shouting at some jelly sweets that had fallen on the ground. I was sick with jealousy cycling through Frohnau, we passed by houses that were bigger than my whole apartment block. I guess the joke is on those very rich people in those beautiful houses because A) they must take ages to vacuum B) Lying on piles of money every night probably isn't that comfortable anyway.