These are the daily ride reports from No. 7 (2024).
Preview: Taunus Bikepacking No. 7
Already in its seventh year, Taunus Bikepacking is one of the longest-standing events in the bikepacking calendar. Still, over all these years, it has managed to remain relatively small-scale and under many people’s radars. While the small scale is absolutely on purpose, it’s definitely on more and more people’s radars lately.
What began as a pretty casual bike ride amongst a handful of friends in 2018 has grown steadily over the years, but the event has stayed true to its relaxed spirit and atmosphere. Don’t let the laid-back, community-driven spirit fool you though: This one-thousand kilometre roller coaster through the Taunus hills is anything but easy. In fact, after finishing it last year during her preparation for the Transcontinental, Marei Moldenhauer called it “at the same time the most beautiful route I have ever ridden and one of the hardest”.
The mixed-surface course is put together with a lot of love and attention to detail, but it’s still brutal and takes a high toll on riders and machines. Typically, only about 50 to 60 percent of riders make it to the finish line. The climbing is relentless. Blown-up knees and sore achilles heels are testament to the demanding nature of the course. Taunus is just a medium mountain range, so we’re not talking about big mountains here. They are really just small hills. But it’s the sheer amount of them, strung together in close succession, that make it incredibly hard to find any kind of rhythm on this track. Couple that with the unpredictable surface changes and you’re in for a memorable ride. Gravel roads, dirt trails, cobblestone alleys, paved country lanes and the occasional section through high grass – there’s a bit of everything.
At times, riders might feel like they are in the middle of nowhere, just to be spat out in a little village with resupply options a few moments later. After all, we’re in the middle of Germany here, so the next shop or at least vending machine is actually never too far away. In that sense, this event is very much suitable for beginner bikepackers, because the safety of civilization is always near. The track manages to make you forget that at times though. You might not meet a single soul in these forests.
On any long bike ride, especially the ones that veer away from the tarmac ever so often, the weather plays an essential role. If it’s hot and dry like it was the last couple of years, it can be challenging to cool down and find enough shade. Even after a hot summer day, the nights can get surprisingly cold and if it does rain, many of the trails turn muddy and slippery fast. The month of June is no stranger to sudden thunderstorms either, so riders will have to come prepared for any eventualities.
Bike choices typically range anywhere between a gravel bike and hard tail MTB, but people have ridden it on cyclocross or even road bikes before. Make sure to check the Bikes of Taunus Bikepacking right here on dotwatcher.cc to see what this year’s riders are bringing.
Talking about riders…
There are 94 registered riders from 18 different nations. 35 of these riders are returning veterans of previous Taunus Bikepacking editions. This means only 59 are Taunus Bikepacking “rookies”. The youngest rider is 19, the oldest is 68 years old. And even though the application ballot was making a point in favouring underrepresented groups, there are still only 16 female riders, which definitely still leaves lots of room to improve for the future.
So, who to watch? All of them, of course! We don’t want to single anyone out. However, this is not supposed to become a super long post and there are some names that experienced dotwatchers might recognize and even expect to see near the top of the leaderboard, so let’s focus on those for now.
Speaking of regular sights at the top of any leaderboard, you cannot look past Robin Gemperle. The Swiss rider is probably best known for giving Christoph Strasser something to worry about during their wild chase across Europe in last year’s Transcontinental Race, where he eventually finished second. However, his palmares includes numerous wins at prestigious races such as Atlas Mountain Race and Hope 1000, too.
Kristian Buljan and Georg Stiebeling are two local heroes. Both already proved more than once how fast they can ride on these Taunus tracks. Kristian came in fastest last year and Georg was second fastest for two years in a row. Both live and train in Taunus and know very well what to expect. Even difficult mechanical problems couldn’t stop them last year. No doubt both will be highly motivated.
Nicole van Batenburg has been at the pointy end of pretty much every event she entered so far, including Paris-Brest-Paris, Desertus Bikus and, most recently, the Race around the Netherlands. While Nicole is definitely capable of finishing at the top of the leaderboard, this is her first long off-road ride and the terrain couldn’t be any more different than in the Netherlands. It will be interesting to see how she handles what the Taunus throws at her.
Hannah Ghazi-Idrissi has quickly made a name for herself in the ultra cycling world with very strong performances at difficult events like Three Peaks Bike Race, The Unknown Race, Seven Serpents and others. Hannah lives in the Austrian alps, but is originally from Taunus, with her family still living in the area.
Benno Möser is still the youngest Taunus Bikepacking finisher to date. After riding the event, he switched sides last year to become a crew member and is now back riding. Christopher Rißmann has recently finished the gruelling Accursed Race. Lars Hundscheid brings experience of some of the hardest off-road events like Atlas Mountain Race or Across the 3. Dimitri Franz is originally an accomplished road racer. Bastian Zwack has a number of ultra race finishes under his belt. Thomas Metz is the only rider left to start every single edition of Taunus Bikepacking since 2018. Fabian Köhler has only missed the start once and never failed to finish. Sara Dicks is just returning from an extensive bike trip across the Balkans. Nathalie Hoogeveen finished the Race around the Netherlands and Bright Midnight. Andreas Hölderle is partially paralyzed and rides a special bike with both brake levers on one side, which doesn’t stop him from taking on his third Taunus Bikepacking. Antti Lihavainen is known for riding to the start from Scandinavia. We could go on and on. The rider list is very diverse and the best stories are yet to be written.
The start is on Sunday June 16th. Riders are leaving the base camp in one minute intervals from 8 in the morning. Nils Laengner and Gosia Michalik will provide the photography, so make sure to follow the Instagram channel.
Day 0: Family Reunion
This year the base camp already opened two days before the start, leaving more time for riders to arrive early, relax at the beautiful base camp and most importantly, connect with each other. With over a third of the field consistint of returning riders from previous editions, it was something like a family reunion. After a night of heavy rain, the clouds parted to let the sunshine through just in time for the Saturday inscription window.
All day there were riders arriving. Volunteers have been busy setting up camp, stamping numbers on rider caps and checking everyone in. Bike checks have been carried out by Moritz from The Inner Cycle bike shop, fixing a lot of last minute problems big and small.
The camp is brimming with excitement. During the day, the riders chat group was flooded with pictures of bikes on trains on their way to Taunus. Some had a real adventure just trying to get to Eppstein. Cap 60 Filip Bieleszuk was particularly unlucky, as not only one, but two of the trains he was meant to take were cancelled, making it a very long day for him. At the time of writing, the crew is still waiting for Filip to arrive, crossing their fingers he makes it before midnight. It will be a short night.
Photography by bite.of.me
Day 1: Trials and Tribulations
The camp was getting alive early Sunday morning. After breakfast and briefing, riders lined up to start their adventure through the Taunus hills, leaving in one minute intervals.
It wasn’t long until the first issues were reported. Cap 43 Maike Schneider suffered shifting issues early on. Cap 88 Thomas Nylen lost his phone, which he only noticed after a local mountain biker retrieved and reunited it with the owner. Some trackers were misbehaving, but the team managed to find the respective riders and fix the issues. At the time of writing, only cap 38 Jan Malek still has a patchy tracker. These mishaps seem minor compared to what cap 60 Filip Bieleszuk is up against. He was the last rider to make it to inscription late at night due to two of his trains being cancelled. Only a few hours after the start, dotwatchers noticed that his dot seemed to go back and forth.
Soon after, a post brought the explanation.
If anybody would be curious what’s happening with my tracker then everything is fine. It’s just that my jockey wheel got broken, I’ve managed to patch it up, then 15km later my hanger got broken and when I’ve replaced it I’ve realized that I’ve left one piece of my chain breaker a few km back.
He is now riding single speed. Not an easy thing to do in such hilly terrain. Filip took a hotel for the night and hopes to get his bike fixed in Wiesbaden tomorrow. There is another rider that is riding singlespeed, but completely voluntarily. Cap 93 David Jason Innes was brave enough to bring only one gear to this rollercoaster of a course. He walked the climb out of camp and he probably will have to walk a lot more climbs on the course, but doesn’t seem to mind too much.
At the front of the field, Robin Gemperle established a healthy lead over the course of the afternoon. He is being chased by many, most closely Tobias Vögtlin, Benno Möser, Kristian Buljan, Nicole van Batenburg and Hannah Ghazi-Idrissi. Progress at the pointy end is astionishingly quick. Nicole and Hannah inspired many dotwatchers today and were cheered especially loudly by the locals. Due to the staggered start, Nicole had started a while before Hannah, but Hannah steadily closed the gap until she finally caught up with Nicole just before Bad Schwalbach, an important resupply point before heading into remote Wisper valley. Both stopped only short. Nicole filled up her water bottles at a local fountain. Bad Schwalbach is a spa town and famous for its springs. Some of them have a rather acquired taste. Meanwhile, Hannah grabbed what she called “the best dinner” at a small kebab store, stored it in her frame bag for later and jumped back on her bike. The two left town only minutes apart.
Just as the sun went down, Robin Gemperle was the first to reach checkpoint 1 at the summit of Kalte Herberge, 278 kilometers from the start.
As the riders laid down to sleep for the night in various places, some positions have been shifting overnight, most noticeably cap 5 Georg Stiebeling who has put in a night shift to get himself up into second place as the morning breaks on day 2. The weather has been taking a turn for the worse though and it’s still many hundreds of kilometers to go.
Four riders abandoned the ride on day 1.
Scratch report
- Cap 94 Bastian Zwack decided to stop due to lack of inspiration
- Cap 42 Nina Jäcker scratches due to health reasons
- Cap 50 Mario Martins has to abandon for personal reasons
- Cap 25 Moritz Schön feels an oncoming cold and takes the sensible decision to stop
Photos by Nils Laengner
Day 2: Mammals and mechanicals
On the morning of day two, riders all over Taunus woke up to pouring rain. Eventually the sun broke back through and then the rest of the day was characterized by constant weather changes. Spells of sunshine interspersed with all kinds of rain between drizzle and sudden heavy downpours kept riders busy putting layers on and off.
Amongst the front runners, cap 5 Georg Stiebeling probably slept the least and made up a lot of ground during the night. The infamous Sauerthal singletrail section through fields of nettles became even more tricky after all the rain. Slippy mud puddles kept everybody on their toes. Georg crashed not once, but twice on this segment. A short while after, his shifter cable snapped, forcing him to detour to a garage where he could get it fixed. After fixing the bike, Georg had to ride back to where he left the track so he could continue his chase.
Georg was not the only rider with mechanical problems. Cap 74 Nicole van Batenburg was spotted climbing the vineyards in the rain with a smile on her face, exclaiming “this is just like Dutch weather”. However, she had to deal with a slipping seat post and a broken tailfin rack, which cost her quite some time. Nicole managed to fix it though. She was later seen at the halfway point of the route and reported feeling fine, so her setbacks were of the mechanical kind only.
Cap 51 Hannah Ghazi-Idrissi spent the night safe and dry in an abandoned elementary school building. She started into the rain. Oblivious to her position, she only seemed to feel a sense of urgency after a friend had made her aware that she was riding in third overall position.
Cap 41 Robin Gemperle spent three hours of the night sleeping underneath a parked trailer to shelter from the rain. He reported seeing a lot of wild life and almost running into a wild boar at one point. Especially the area around Wispertaunus is known to be very alive at night, something our volunteer Malte can only attest to. On a mission driving to the night, he counted 14 deer, 2 raccoons, four foxes and a huge family of wild boar crossing his way.
In other news, cap 29 Rouven Münch’s bike fell over during a break, bending his derailleur hanger and forcing him to look for a bike shop. Cap 15 Marc Schnitzius was seen wearing a jacket as shorts, so he could wash his shorts on a cemetery. Cap 59 Markus Baran‘s original plan was to run a half marathon this weekend after finishing Taunus Bikepacking. That plan is now scrapped. Cap 23 Nicolai Wolf‘s thru-axle loosened on the downhill from CP2, luckily without leading to a crash.
The second day’s list of abandons is a clear sign of what this course does to rider’s bodies.
Scratch report
- Cap 43 Maike Schneider, signs of an oncoming illness
- Cap 17 Andreas Hölderle, knee pain
- Cap 9 Benno Möser, throat pain
- Cap 8 Knut Faust, back pain
- Cap 63 Manuel Schmid, neck pain and headaches
- Cap 64 Bosse Niestlé, saddlesores and mental fatigue
- Cap 34 Dennis Krüger, saddle sores and knee pain
Day 3: All weather
Between getting absolutely drenched in torrential rain and baking in the afternoon sun, day three literally had all the weather in store for our riders.
The leading female rider Hannah Ghazi-Idrissi found another interesting sleeping spot in what seemed to be some kind of public shower.
Kristian Buljan rode through the night without sleeping. In the early morning he caught Georg, who was having a hard time. Not only did his knee hurt, but his phone was damaged from the water that the morning’s heavy thunderstorms brought. He was spotted in Dachsenhausen trying to find a pharmacy.
Meanwhile out front, Robin Gemperle has had more sleep than the two chasers combined. The gap he has at this point is substantial and it’s only starting to grow. This goes to show that being able to function on little sleep is not everything.
And so, just a little while after the sun had set on the third day of Taunus Bikepacking No. 7, Robin Gemperle was the first rider to make it around. It took the Swiss rider 2 days, 13 hours and 26 minutes to complete the course.
Even though the course changes every year and cannot easily be compared with other editions, it’s more than ten hours faster than anyone has ever finished Taunus Bikepacking. In fact, before this edition, it was only Joseph Thomas in 2021 that managed to do in less than three days.
It was certainly not the easiest edition ever, especially with these weather conditions.
At that point, Nicole van Batenburg is chasing Hannah Ghazi-Idrissi. She is determined to catch her, but Nicole’s eyes are giving her some trouble. That night, she finds herself in the middle of a bad storm and shelters in a dairy farm.
Marc Schnitzius washed his shorts on a cemetery, wearing his jacket as pants while doing so. In the evening, he also had to take shelter from the storm, but still got drenched because water flooded his shelter.
The third day’s scratch report is the longest so far.
Scratch report
- Barry McWilliams, health reasons
- Haico Bianchi, fatigue
- Rouven Münch, mechanical
- Carsten Boehm, mechanical
- Cem Giorgio Ucan, achilles heel and wrist pain
- Heike Sturm, fatigue
- Norbert Münch, fatigue
- Romain Corvest, knee pain
- Thomas Metz, broken freehub
- Stefan Baumgärtner, broken freehub
- Markus Baran, technical defect
Day 4: When it rains, it pours
The heavy rain forced many riders to shelter, trying to avoid the worst of it during the night. Some were more lucky than others. Cap 15 Marc’s shelter got flooded during the night and so all his spare clothes are drenched. A small group of riders including cap 16 Miriam Hamscher somehow managed to spend the night in an empty nightclub. It was reported to be nice and dry, though it lacked the advantage of morning daylight, which wakes most riders automatically, so they started the day later than they wanted.
After a bit of sleep in the camp, first finisher Robin was found looking at the map in the morning, commenting on the convoluted nature of the track “It makes you realize just how crazy this is – in a good way.”
Tobias and Kristian battled it out for second place, crossing over Feldberg, the highest point of the course, in the heavy rain. Tobias actually reached the finish line first. However, the time difference from the staggered start meant that Kristian took second place and Tobias took third. Both riders were absolutely drenched and dirty, but happy.
Nicole had a very rough night, was suffering from saddle sores and has problems with her eyesight. Just ahead of Limburg, she finally decided it was all too much and walked to the next train station. She clearly didn’t take this decision easily.
A little bit further ahead, Hannah has slept in a shelter surrounded by little dormice, one of which stole her bread roll. She suffered a dip in morale when the news about Nicole’s scratch reached her. Nicole had been Hannah’s closest chaser. With no urgent reason to push hard, Hannah had to find new motivation to finish this ride. She slowed down somewhat and was spotted in Wetzlar’s old town enjoying some pizza and coffee.
Further back in the field, people were struggling with all kinds of problems. Around the 500 kilometer mark, a dotwatcher has opened their heart and their house for all passing riders, offering food, drink and even warm showers. In Taunus Bikepacking, such acts of kindness are allowed as long as they are unsolicited and open to all riders equally. For some riders that were considering giving up, this was the straw that they needed, giving them just the little boost of motivation to keep on going. Michael Sherman had a hell of a night, riding through the worst of the thunderstorm, with lightning all around him. After falling on a downhill section and injuring both his knees, he made it to the dotwatcher’s refuge at 1.30 am, showered in all his dirty clothes and fell asleep almost instantly.
During the day, many arrived at this point shivering due to the cold rain. All of them were dirty. At the halfway point with still 500 hard and muddy kilometers to go, this is where the mental challenge really begins. Nicole Stuber arrived here very exhausted after a tough and sleepless night at CP2. She used the opportunity for a 20 minute nap before pushing on. Some other riders, such as Dutch couple Nanke and Eelco, took the smart decision to book a hotel room for the following night. Daniel and Fabian are veterans of Taunus Bikepacking and know how to take care of themselves. They spent the previous night in a hotel and seem to be in much better condition compared to most others.
Back in base camp, the afternoon and evening saw the fourth and fifth finishers, Georg Stiebeling and Markus Valentin, enjoying some well deserved rest and recovery. Especially Georg, a veteran of multiple Taunus Bikepacking editions and always found near the front, had a tough ride this year with lots of problems to solve.
As is to be expected in such tough conditions, the scratch report of day 4 is another long one.
Scratch report
- 19 Jeremy Harris, broken tooth
- 20 Jeannette Schönbein, weather-related
- 22 Benedikt Strittmatter, ran out of legs
- 45 Federico Bellomo, unknown reason
- 54 Christopher Rißmann, drenched, exhausted and subsequent lack of motivation
- 68 Ulrike Glaser, weather-related
- 69 Cem Giorgio Ucan, knee pain
- 71 Dimitri Franz, unknown reason
- 73 Lukas Maier, brake defect
- 74 Nicole van Batenburg, saddle sores and eye problems
- 78 Filip Wapelhorst, weather conditions
- 88 Thomas Nylen, broken bottom bracket
Photos by Nils Laengner and bite.of.me
Day 5: Feldberg fever
Großer Feldberg is the highest peak of the Taunus. On Taunus Bikepacking, it is the last serious climb that stands between the riders and the finish line. From the top, it’s – almost – all downhill. So it has been dubbed the inofficial finish line of Taunus Bikepacking. Riders that make it up here usually finish the ride.
More and more riders are doing just that now. And so, the camp is getting livelier by the hour. After the first five finishers were in, the intervals of arrivals kept getting shorter. The long list of arrivals for day 5 was opened by Hannah Ghazi-Idrissi, finishing as sixth overall and fastest female rider. She had to deal with some motivational lows after her closest chaser Nicole scratched yesterday, but pushed through and made it. All she wanted was a shower. Luckily, the base camp at The Eppstein Project provides this luxury.
Janek Schwenker was next, followed by Markus Kraft, Jens Bacher and Marc Schnitzius rounding out the Top Ten. All of them had visibly pushed hard. Many more followed throughout the day and the volunteers had their hands full stamping cards with the prestigious finisher stamp.
For most riders, Taunus Bikepacking is far from over, though. Everybody out on the course is fighting the conditions, mechanicals and themselves. The longer such a ride, the more evident it becomes that it’s not only about pedalling, but just how important problem-solving skills are.
Isabel Hopp laid her bike on the floor for a short toilet break when a car appeared out of nowhere and rode over her back wheel. Somehow she managed to make it to a bike shop for a new derailleur and rode on with a repaired wheel. Vadym Tiroshko took advantage of a village fountain to clean his muddy bike, only to slip and fall into the mud a few kilometers later. Insa Puchert needs to stop frequently because her crank keeps coming loose. She was seen retightening it with the help of a tire lever.
Now that the dust has settled on Robin’s impressive ride, it becomes clear that he has slept more than many at the pointy end of the ride. While some have cut down their sleep time and even rode through some nights, Robin has had a consistent and healthy amount of sleep, enabling him to push hard during the day and always stay in control. Other riders were emptying their reserves so much that they made mistakes and literally dragged themselves across the line in a bad physical state. Overall, they were still not nearly as fast as Robin. We’d like to emphasize this as it addresses one misconception that has plagued long–distance cycling for years: It is NOT merely about who sleeps the least. It’s the one that manages their resources best that will return first. Compared to many others, Robin looked fresh and relaxed at the finish line and he probably had more fun, too.
As riders are now coming closer and closer to the finish line, the scratch report of the day only contains one name.
Scratch report
- 37 Joachim Röhe, knee pain
Day 6: Taunus dreams and nightmares
Some riders checked into the infamously expensive Thermenhotel in Bad Ems for the night, while Manfred Fleck decided the nearby playground was just as comfortable – and free! He was gone early in the morning and back on the road before the townspeople even had a chance to notice him.
Trail magic is a staple of Taunus Bikepacking. Support is only allowed when it’s available to all riders equally. Locals know that and take pride in supporting the riders. After a few days, the field is spread out so far that this becomes difficult, though. And so some locals simply put up boxes with sweets and soft drinks next to a sign saying it’s for the riders. That can go wrong though. In at least one case, local children found the box and had it all for themselves. Hopefully the parents are enjoying their kids on a sugar high.
Elke Gutermann is a Taunus Bikepacking veteran. So she is used to challenges, but somehow today she managed to end up with a huge stick jammed between her spokes, unable to get it out. The stick was so huge that she had to saw it off before being able to remove it. At a later point, she had to backtrack to retrieve her lost glasses.
But Elke wasn’t the only one with problems. Nathalie Hoogeveen was well on her way to become the second female rider to finish, when tragedy struck and her derailleur ripped off merely 70 kilometers from the finish line. Nathalie didn’t give up, but bodged her bike into a single-speed machine and set off to pedal and push it over the hills standing between her and the finish line. Unfortunately she didn’t make it far until her chain snapped. Even after this second setback, she still attempted to find a way to continue and finish.
Rolling down to town and visiting a bike shop, it quickly became clear that nobody could help her, though. And so, with a heavy heart, Nathalie was forced to scratch.
She made it back to camp by train, where she was welcomed by the other riders.
The second checkpoint is located on top of a viewing tower, so riders have to climb a set of stairs to get there. Benedikt Strittmatter had such bad knee pain that he had to climb the whole stairs backwards. Carsten Heinz got there just after a rainshower and his shoes with road cleats turned out not suitable for the wet wooden planks, so he climbed the tower without shoes. Ross Anderson reported sleeping in a graveyard. But it wasn’t as quiet and peaceful as he expected it to be, because the nearby clock tower was ringing every quarter of an hour throughout the night.
In the meantime, the camp is filling up with more and more finishers resting and relaxing ahead of tomorrow evening’s finish party. Among them are Svenja König, Isabel Hopp and Insa Puchert.
Fabian Köhler cemented his reputation as a local legend of Taunus, even though he is from Erfurt. Fabian definitely knows the Taunus better than most locals though, because he now finished a remarkable six editions of Taunus Bikepacking – every single one he started. And he always makes it look easy.
The scratch report of the day is another short one.
Scratch report
- 16 Miriam Hamscher, broken body and bike
- 40 Nathalie Hoogeveen, no derailleur or chain
Day 7: To finish is to win
Saturday night is the finish party of Taunus Bikepacking. For many riders, making it to this party is the ultimate goal.
While many riders out there are fighting to get up Feldberg and to the finish line today, Tom Schumann has other things on his mind. The young local rider already reached the finish line yesterday, after a brutal 28 hour stint riding through the night. He didn’t bother to clean his bike or even take the bags off before lining up for the next race, back up on Feldberg – a local enduro MTB race. He even rocked the t-shirt while a lot of his rivals were wondering what this guy is, or rather was, up to. What a legend.
Sara Dicks woke up early in the morning with a snail crawling across her face. That gave her all the motivation she needed to get up and face the rest of the track. She was chased furiously by Michael Sherman. Michael came close but couldn’t catch her. They were separated by only seven minutes at the finish line.
For many, the top of Großer Feldberg is a place of triumph, but for Eelco Meuter it became a place of tragedy. The Dutch rider ended up with a broken rear wheel, making him possibly the rider scratching with least kilometers to go of all previous Taunus Bikepacking editions. His wife Nanke continued, finishing on her birthday.
The evening saw many more emotional finishes.
And then it was time to celebrate and share stories with each other. It’s been a memorable seventh edition of Taunus Bikepacking. As always, the weather played a big part in how riders experienced the ride. While most previous years had been dry, hot and dusty, this one will go down in history as the muddy edition.
Scratch report
- 67 Eelco Meuter, broken rear wheel