This post is not about bikes; just about the amazing people I met in Germany and the generosity and kindness of strangers. Read ahead if you need more faith in humanity. There are lots of details that may get boring; I’ve added them so that I’ll remember how and why all of this happened!

While my bike was being worked on I set out on a mission to get some cash to pay the woman that ran my bed and breakfast. She said she couldn’t take credit card and I’d visited all the ATM’s in Albstadt-Tailfingen and none were taking my visa. I was told that Albstadt-Ebingen had a Duetch Bank that may accept my card. I didn’t want to ride any more since it was the day before World Cup and my bike was being worked on by the mechanics. So I came up with the brilliant plan to stand the exit of the venue and ask for a ride from anyone turning right (towards Ebingen), with bikes and a female in the car! The first two didn’t have room. The next was two women in a mini-van. They said yes, I hopped in and they asked if I was in a hurry. I hesitantly said no, they said they needed to go pick up a car on the other side of Tailfingen. One of them had a son that had raced the mountain bike marathon earlier in the day and she stood out there to feed him. We drove out there and picked up her Audi. She said she’d drive me since the girl driving the mini-van didn’t know where the bank was. We had a 15-minute drive and during that time I go to know about her and her family. She has 4 children between the ages of 19-25 and runs a bio-medical diagnostic company. It was a company she and her husband owned together for years until he suddenly passed away 3 years ago. When we pulled up to the bank in Ebingen she came in with me and helped me figure out the ATM. She could see I was trying to withdraw 300 Euros and it wasn’t working. (I won’t go into details, but withdrawing cash in Germany isn’t as simple as the Czech Republic). It was at that point she offered to give me the money. Of course I said she didn’t need to do that and I couldn’t take the money from her. I’d just met her 15 minutes ago; I was just a girl standing on the side of the road asking for a ride. She said she could tell I was trust worthy and she knew where to find me (I was wearing my Jamis vest)! I told her I’d wire the money the second I landed in the USA and she could email me or even email Jamis if she didn’t get the money. And like that, she handed me 300 Euros ($417). I couldn’t even pronounce her name properly! She then said she’d drive me back to Tailfingen because it would be harder to find a ride back (I’d just planned to look for people with bikes again!). She drove me back to the venue, we exchanged all of our necessary information and she was sure to tell me she’d be cheering loudest for me the next day. She did. She and her friends yelled “Go Erica!!!” every time I passed them. I’m absolutely overwhelmed by the kindness of strangers. That woman went FAR above and beyond the necessary kindnesses. She and I are now bonded and will be friends forever! I plan to visit her next year when I race the Albstadt World Cup and I’ve told her she and her children can visit me in Utah anytime! This amazing story continues. I was also looking for a ride from Albsadt to Stuttgart on Sunday evening. I’d been asking every English-speaking group of people I ran into! (The Australians the Israeli team, The Great Britain team, the Orbea guys, the people at my bed and breakfast) and pretty much anyone else I had a conversation with! I got a lead the some of the Cannondale crew may be headed that way. I walked into one of their tents and asked the first person I saw in a Cannondale sweatshirt if I could have a ride to Stuttgart. I didn’t realize it was the Press tent and the person I asked was a Barista that Cannondale had hired to serve coffee to the press people all weekend. Interestingly, they said yes, they may have room with the back of their van and there were 3 seat belts on the front row. I kept asking around because it would squish them but they seemed to be the only ones headed to Stuttgart (they were actually just traveling through to a city an hour beyond). After watching the men race the world cup I went back to my hotel to pack up my bike and other suitcase. This was the next favor I had to ask. I’d been eating breakfast with Dominique, the Austrian woman here training with her horse to become a show horse. She and her husband Wolfgang, were headed out to dinner but said they could give me and all of my bags a ride to the venue (to the baristas). But they had to wait for me to pack my bike. They sat outside and talked to me while I packed. The kindness of strangers. They loaded everything up and drove me to the baristas at Cannondale. I unladed my EVOC bag and other bags and had my fingers crossed that the baristas would have room. I waited for 2 hours for them to be done serving and pack up, but they made it all fit. We hopped in their van and they drove me to Stuttgart. The kindness of strangers. This is where you are introduced to the next family that helped me when they had no obligation to. When the Battens lived in Germany 14 years ago they made friends with the Friebe family in Holzgerlingen (outside of Stuttgart). This is the family we stayed with on Monday after Prague before I set out for Karlsruhe. That night they helped me figure out which trains I needed to take to get to Karlsruhe and buy the tickets online (this took us an hour). They also called my hotel in Albstadt and spoke to them in German to confirm I had a place to stay and that it was close to the venue. They also helped me call (from their phone) my friend in Karslrhue to coordinate my visit). Then they gave me the top floor bedroom and private bathroom while the Battens slept in the motorhome. They fed me breakfast on Tuesday morning then the husband drove me to the train station. Backing up though, we’d talked about buying me a train ticket from Albstadt to Stuttgart. We realized how complicated it would be with my baggage, so they planned to come pick me up. I couldn’t ask for that much from them so that’s when I found the baristas. However, I took them up on the offer to sleep there Sunday night and get a ride to the airport Monday morning. Sunday evening I showed up on their doorstep at 8 PM with the Baristas. We asked where we could get a typical German dinner (it was my last night in the country!) on a Sunday night in Holzgerlingen and would they like to come with us? I wanted to buy dinner for all the people helping me on my travels! We went to dinner and they ordered me a typical German dinner, which was quite yummy! We parted ways with the baristas and when we returned to the house we contemplated the situation I was in the woman that gave me 300 Euros. She wanted me to wire her the money since she didn’t have a paypal account. However, after inquiring a few people I was told it would cost both of us quite a bit of money to wire money from the USA to Germany. That’s when we came up with the plan that I’d pay the Freibe’s via paypal and they’d wire my new friend the money from their German bank. The kindness of strangers. Monday morning they drove me to the airport, a 35-minute drive (with traffic). Needless to say the Friebes have become dear friends as well and I hope to host them or their children in the USA one day. All of that happened within about 30 hours. Needless to say coordinating all of that and racing a World Cup in the middle of all of it was a bit tiring and tenuous at times. Not knowing how you are going to get from A to B to C to D and pay for it can be disconcerting. However, I knew it would all work out and it did. Now I have new friends and have been given the gift of knowing how many incredible people there are in this world.

Looking for a ride

The ride I found- a bike and two females

The woman that gave me the money

The horse riding woman that gave me a ride from my bed and and breakfast

One of the baristas that drove me to Stuttgart