Mark Schulte

51 posts published

Rain rain go away, should I start another day?

Coastal Bike Trip

Rain rain go away, should I start another day?

It’s T-1 (day) until the trip starts! And as I sit writing this in a warm hotel room, it’s raining outside, the window is shivering in the windy, and wouldn’t be described as nice. I’m definitely thinking twice about my decision to camp... The drive up

Gearing Up for Biking the Pacific Coast

Coastal Bike Trip

Gearing Up for Biking the Pacific Coast

The days are speeding closer and closer to my bike trip! As a final pre-trip, to make sure all my gear is in working order and I’m in good enough shape to do this, I biked out to “Coast Camp” in Point Reyes. I had a gigantic burrito along

Bucharest in November

Bucharest in November

It's been a fun week since the last post! Lots of food, plenty of work, and sight seeing on the weekend. The weather this trip has been just about perfect for exploring the city. The leaves are changing colors, the sun is out most of the time, and the air

Day 1: Whirlwind Tour of Bucharest

Day 1: Whirlwind Tour of Bucharest

Today was a whirlwind tour of Bucharest. We tried to see the remains of a sorcerer, turned Catholic saint, turned actually not a Catholic saint, but being Sunday, there was Mass and we didn't go. We ended making it to the National History Museum, however, as well as Carol Park

Day 45: Coming Home

Day 45: Coming Home

Today was rather uneventful, so I'll keep this brief. We woke up this morning at 8:30 at Michiel's and Maureen's with Matt saving us for oversleeping in the wonderful bed we had. We had a breakfast of bread, cheese, and juice, said our goodbyes and thank yous, and headed

Day 44: The End is Near

Day 44: The End is Near

Today was the final day on the bikes, and I think we're all ready for it. We woke up to pouring rain, but luckily we were in the hotel and it didn't bother us. We ate breakfast at the hotel and waited in the room for the rain to die

Day 41: Wind

The wind today was unreal. It was consistently 25-35mph with gusts up to 50mph. Unfortunately, there's not protection from the wind here, so most of the day was spent battling through the wind (that was accompanied by pelting rain from time to time) north from Ghent to a town called

Day 38: Maastricht

Day 38: Maastricht

Today was a very relaxed day in Maastricht. We slept in late, toured the city for a little, and then came back to camp to hang out, cook dinner, and go to bed early. To start with, I find the bike paths in the Netherlands amazing. Besides freeways, I have

Day 36: Cheat Day

Day 36: Cheat Day

Today was the first day we deviated from our normal plan and used the train. Turns out the Ardennes have more ups and downs then we expected, and the train was only 2 euros. It doesn't get much cheaper then that. We left the campsite in Luxembourg a little before

Day 32: Moseying along the Moselle

Day 32: Moseying along the Moselle

Disclaimer: I spelled Moselle wrong in yesterday's blog post. It's "Moselle" and not "Mosel." Sorry! First, a missed story from yesterday. We picked up a really cheap carton (yes carton, not bottle) of wine. However, having no wine glasses we had to get creative. We had some 1.5 liter

Day 31: I would bike 1000 miles and I would (not) bike 1000 more

Day 31: I would bike 1000 miles and I would (not) bike 1000 more

Today, on our bike tour from Bingen down the Rhein to Koblenz, we hit the 1000 mile point on our trip. One nice thing about using the imperial system is that we get to celebrate both the 1000 kilometer point and the 1000 mile point when biking just about anywhere

Day 30: The Century

Day 30: The Century

Today was a very long day on the bike. 161km, or just over 100 miles. We've now done that. And hopefully won't have to do it again. We knew we had a long day coming, so left the campsite outside of Heidelberg promptly at 9:00am. We followed the Neckar

Day 29: The Schloss

Day 29: The Schloss

Today was a rest day, and we spent most of the day doing just that. Unfortunately, it's hard to sleep in because of the sun, but we got up around 8:30 and moseyed up to the main office to eat breakfast and charge our phones. All three of us

Day 28: North up the Rhein

Day 28: North up the Rhein

Sorry about the lack of pictures, I'm writing this at 10:33 and realizing that I have no pictures to post. The biking today was very similar to biking through the lower peninsula. It was flat, and we'd bike through corn fields, then nice forests, and then back through corn

Day 26: Bikes on a Train

Day 26: Bikes on a Train

This morning we departed camp after breakfast on Lake Zurich with Mike. Breakfast was a simple meal of bread cheese and salami, but we're buying bread by the kilo now, so we get plenty of food. (We've been using Nate trademarked "immigrant mode" method for saving money in Switzerland. Pasta

Day 22: Heat Wave Day 3

The heat relented a little today, with a high of a lowly 88. We moved the tent last night to try and get better airflow, and it might of worked (although I think it was just a little cooler last night). I think everyone slept for a least a few

Day 19: Die Föhn

When we first landed in Austria, we learned about "Die Föhn" from Nate's friend Rachel and her friend Joe. They told us Die Föhn is a hot wind that blows out of Italy and heats up the alps. Joe went on to explain that everyone in Innsbruck believes Die Föhn

Day 15: It's All Downhill From Here (Not!)

Day 15: It's All Downhill From Here (Not!)

Pre-pre-Post note: We're enjoying the comments on the blog! Thanks all Pre-Post Note: Sorry for the lack of photos, Matt's phone died. Today could be described as epic. Nate seems to enjoy planning 100km+ days with just under a mile of vertical gain. To be fair, we are camping around

Day 11: To the valley and back (up) again

This morning we woke to the peaceful sound artillery fire (our campsite was right next to a Swiss military facility.) Nate and Mark rode into Chur to pick up some more vitamin I for Nate (has he talked about how old he is lately) and a spoon and some glue

Day 9: Rest in St. Moritz

Day 9: Rest in St. Moritz

I'm going to keep this short, because my battery is going to die soon, but today was a rest day in St. Moritz. It was raining in the morning, so we waited until 10 for the rain to stop, then rolled out of bed and ate breakfast. At the campsite

Day 7: Welcome to Switzerland!

Before I get started describing the day, Nate would like to make it very clear that it rained all day (again), and he is not happy about it. And he's ready to go home. That being said, today was a pretty nice day. After dinner last night at a "Gasthof"

Day 4: Lazy Thursday

Day 4: Lazy Thursday

Today was a very relaxed day. Matt woke up at some ungodly hour of the morning trying to combat a pesky fly, but I managed to make it until 9:30 or so and Nate, of course, had to be roused from bed at around 10. Breakfast was bread and

Day 3: Welcome to Innsbruck

Day 3: Welcome to Innsbruck

Today was probably the most stressful day of the trip so far, and it wasn't that bad. We slept in until 9:15 or so, and then had breakfast of bread and cheese kindly provided to us by Michiel and Maureen. We made it to the airport with plenty of

Day 2: Arrival in Europe

Day 2: Arrival in Europe

We arrived at Schiphol at around 10:30am local time and had no issues getting off the plane. All of our luggage arrived with us (awesome) and after a brief issue where Mark left Matt in customs with two bike boxes and one piece of luggage, we were on our

Flights out to Europe

Flights out to Europe

Our first day of the actual trip. No majors issues. We crossed the boarder into Canada with out any issues (except a visibly nervous mom) and made it to the Windsor airport with plenty of time to spare. Bags were already paid for, so we brought them to the counter