Waking up sore and achey but a 6:30am alarm showed that today we meant business. After almost 2 months of cycle paths and flat coastal roads my friend Matt and I, seeking some more challenge and adventure, steered ourselves on to the European Divide Trail. The route which connects the far north and far south of Europe was conjured up to specifically avoid major roads and bikeway, instead opting for the path less travels. The route was tough and the previous days push proved it. Our goal was ~200km a day and the previous day we had only managed 150km. It was 7:30am when we finally had bum on saddle and foot on pedal, clearly our “efficiency” needed work. The plan was simple: as long as the sun was up were riding, stopping a little and as quick as possible for food and water. The cold morning meant jackets were on but it felt good clocking up some early morning kms. A long but probably worth it stop for breakfast gave us time to warm up and prepare for our biggest day of hills. Blame the ever disorganised European supermarkets and our fear of stolen bikes meaning shopping happened one at a time. Though the hills were daunting, especially knowing we we’d be chasing 200+km after yesterdays effort, they excited us and were the challenge we wanted. However, it would be another long stop before we met them. At a stop for a lunch stock up I put some air in my tyre only to notice another screw driver sized hole had appeared (one in the front tyre yesterday caused many delays). It was only a slow leak all morning but as soon as I noticed it the pressure seemed to flood out. Spirits were lifted as Matt had somehow sweet talked the local grocer and offered us free lemonade and shortbread. He also told us of a bike shop not far down the road. In the name of efficiency I tried another plug but dried up sealant rendered this useless. So walk of shame with a deflated tyre to the bike shop it was. The bike shop owner was one of the kindest people we had come across so far. Not only did he putt his work aside to help fix my tyre he also refilled it with sealant and gave me a free packet of sealant refill. He was keen to hear where we’d come from and where we were going and was happy to give advice. All of this and he insisted we didn’t need to pay. One more stop at the servo to get a spare tube, interestingly the bike shop didn’t have any, and then we were finally on our way. We left the town and made our way into the hills. They were steep and long but we were loving it. Perhaps a little too much because it wasn’t long before I slammed my front wheel into a rock on a downhill and what do you know, another flat. Frustrated and hot now, I got to work putting in another tube. The hills continued and the day got hotter but we cracked on. We had distance to make up and so stops were few and far between but still perhaps too long. I blame Aldi’s lack of cold drinks and yet another bike tube stock up. The day again had slipped away but with more flats and more hills the progress felt slow. Although we pretty much rode when we could we had barely done 100km. Luckily me and Matt both knew what we had to do, keep riding. Plus we hadn’t even made it to the Externsteine, a unique rock formation amidst the German hills. The sun slowly slipped behind the hills but we keep pushing because we had more hills ahead and we weren’t stopping anytime soon. The sky lost its orange and we realised we wouldn’t see the rocks in daylight but we were committed to get to them. Relief as we rode towards the dark silhouette of The Externsine. A well earned stop to explore the area and then one final push. It was now 11pm and we had one more hill for the day. We had already been slowly climbing for the past 30 minutes but the tip offered us a brutal 500m at 11% gradient on loose rocks with burning legs. We were both out of the saddle pushing but it was all worth it because 20km of downhill lay ahead. We rolled down half of it as today turned to tomorrow and found camp for the night. The day was hard, hot and long but friendly locals, beautiful scenery and a good mate make it all worth it.