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Ride Report - NIKOLAUS GRAVELRIDE 2020

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15 December 2020

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Ride Report: Nikolaus Gravelride 2020

Posted By Gravel Union On 15 December 2020

It’s almost the end of the year, but there’s always time for Timo Rokitta to squeeze in one last gravel event

At the end of a year when only a few gravel events took place, the organisers of the Nibelungengravelride invited gravellistas to their traditional “Nikolaus Gravelride”. Even though the conditions were not exactly perfect, a small group of weatherproof gravel riders came to the start in Worms.

The CV19 lockdown regulations in Germany only allowed a maximum of five people from two households to meet, so the event was designed with riders heading out in pairs. The route initially headed west on an old railway line. After five kilometers there was a muddy climb to tackle that really tested everyone.

The next challenge was some wet and slippery cobblestones - our secret “Koppenberg”. After conquering the cobbles, the gravellers followed a small stream “Mühlbach” to the beginning of the forest. From here it was now five kilometers constantly up to the picturesque Ungeheuersee. This was followed by another highlight, an extremely narrow trail on the impressive “Kupferfelsen”, which means “copper rock” in English. The subsequent descent over damp roots demanded everything from the riders.

After the ascent to “Altleiningen” Castle, the toughest part of the route was done. The Altleiningen Castle was unfortunately closed and so we headed on again after taking a souvenir photo. The special thing about the castle, which is now a youth hostel, are the windows – there are as many as there are days in the year, i.e. 365.

The next section of trail took us over the remote paths past some old farms. After a rapid descent, another 200 meters in altitude had to be regained up to a model airfield. The final descent made up for the hardships so far. For the last 20 kilometers our route rolled back with a strong tailwind - the perfect way to finish!

After this challenging journey over 80 kilometers with an altitude difference of 1000 meters under very tough conditions, everyone was happy to be healthy again at the finish!

Now we can tick off 2020 and look forward to a new challenge in 2021 - Merry Christmas.

If you would like to ride Timo’s route for yourself, you can check it out here

Timo Rokitta

Timo is an über keen gravel rider based in Germany. He's ridden all over Europe and mixes competing in long distance gravel and bikepacking events, with social gravel rides. He's an event organiser and can be seen riding on either a Moots, an OPEN UP, an Allied Able or a 1970s folding bike converted for gravel use!