Dan Bumbarger

The path out towards Vellberg was mostly on forest gravel roads... some of them quite muddy, not really ideal for my tires which are really best for dry gravel. Vellberg was very much worth the trip and makes a great cycling destination. At Beilsteinmühle there is a weird little hike-a-bike off to the left of the road that kind of looks like not the right way but turns out it is. The way back was mostly on pavement so goes pretty fast.. I preferred the forest way but this one was nice too. Near Jagstzell Strava had routed me down a "road" that has a river crossing.. theoretically I bet it is crossable when the water is low, but due to recent rains and snow melt there was no way I could get across. If I went again I would route along the Jagst Radweg on the other side of the river as a more rational person would have done. Super fun loop.

Just put on a new cassette, chain, cables, housing and bar tape. Swapped the 11-34 cassette for an 11-40 for some lower climbing gears. Threw on the summer tires. 1100M of climbing allowed me to put the cassette to the test, and it was a big difference.. going to have to adjust it just a bit more, but it was great. Bakery stop in Steinheim.. The Wental was surprisingly icy from the dam until the landhotel, which made for a very tiring and slow going ride through there. Guess I put the summer tires on a bit early. Everything everywhere else was pretty muddy but had a great time!