Cycling from Stuttgart to Schloss Solitude

Me and Solomon are going to cycle to Schloss Solitude this Sunday.

Either :

10:00am Feuersee S-Bahn. I'll be cycling from there. It's quite an uphill ride to Vaihingen but not that difficult if you cycle a bit.

Or :

11:00am Vaihingen Schwaben Galerie (the shopping centre on Vaihingen Markt, off Hauptstr.). It's then a pleasant 8km ride to the castle. You can put your bike on the S-Bahn to Vaihingen if you fancied this option but live elsewhere in Stuttgart.

This will be cancelled if the weather looks likely to rain, or just generally miserable, so anyone interested should be prepared to give me their mobile number or ensure they check here and we can arrange a deadline, such as 9am Sunday, where I post to say whether it's going ahead.

However, before I start planning things ... apart from me and Solomon, is anyone interested??

11:00am Vaihingen Schwaben Galerie

What a great ride! I cheated and took the S-Bahn up the mountain, err I mean hill, to Vaihingen and met Solomon. I just couldn't face that steap hill first thing Sunday morning.

Luckily, Solomon had a kiddy seat (complete with kid) on the back of his bike, otherwise he would have literally left me for dust! It's less that 10km on a not too hilly ride from Vaihingen to Schloss Solitude. We hung around, I took photos, and then we cycled down to Stuttgart Nord and back to the centre of town via the zoo and the Schloss garten.

You don't need an expensive bike to do trips like this, and you can let the train take the strain at any point. Next time we might do a longer cycle, packing some food or even a disposable BBQ with us, so we can stop for lunch somewhere peaceful.

So, next time ... come on! You get to explore, and get fit at the same time.

Adrian and I had a very nice ride. As he stated, you don't need an expensive bike to do these trips. Without the upgrades I've made, the bike I rode only cost 200 U.S. dollars. Plus, cycling is a great way to get into shape. At the end of April I weighed 230lbs and now I tip the scales at 195 to 200lbs. The biggest difference between me at 230lbs and me now is that now I ride my bike almost everywhere. I commute to work during the week (about 12 miles round trip), and I usually average a 20-30 mile trip each Saturday or Sunday. With the money that I'm saving on gas by not driving to and from work, I'm building myself a nicer bike. I'd encourage anyone to get out and explore the the trails while they are here in Stuttgart. I know that once I get back to the U.S. it isn't going to be as easy to get around on a bike. Hopefully more people will join adrian and me the next time we plan a bike ride.