Last Wednesday, the second follow-up event to our film screening of Why We Cycle took place at the VHS Freiburg. Members of the ADFC Freiburg – Emmendingen – Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald gave four entertaining presentations about the cycling tours they have undertaken in recent months.

While the film Why We Cycle and our political cycling excursion through Freiburg focused primarily on everyday cycling, many people also use their bikes in a different way – as their mode of travel on holidays. Last Wednesday, seven members of the ADFC presented their latest cycling trips in four short talks. The tours could hardly have been more different. From a tour from Spain across Europe to Sweden (with an intermittent ICE train journey through Germany), to a short trip across the Alps to Milan (including overnight stays above the treeline), to a tour from Berlin to Copenhagen, there was something for every type of cycle traveller.

The adventurers also had some helpful tips to share that they had learned on their travels: when planning your route, pay attention to frequent winds; when travelling with Flixbus, bring a lock for each bicycle (or you could keep watch at every stop). If you are flexible when travelling, you should listen to tips from fellow cyclists about their favourite routes and possible places to sleep. This can lead to discovering unexpectedly beautiful places, even if you might stray quite far from your original route.

The presentations were not entirely apolitical, however. During the tour from Berlin to Copenhagen it became clear how cycling in cities is given more consideration in Denmark than here in Germany. For example, special tunnels are set up for cycle paths at construction sites so that cyclists do not have to merge with traffic, and several traffic lights are equipped with footrests for waiting cyclists. In Germany, these are things we can still only dream of.

If you are also planning to travel by bicycle in the near future, you will definitely benefit from an ADFC membership, which provides you with a free Europe-wide recovery and towing service. And if you manage to take your bike to the nearest repair shop yourself, the ADFC will even reimburse you €50 for transport costs.

This event was part of VISIONS OF SUSTAINABILITY, an inter- and transdisciplinary research project funded by the Innovation Sustainability Campus (ICN), located at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Non-university cooperation partners include Harmonie Kino, the Volkshochschule Freiburg and Greenmotions. The Freiburg environmental mayor Christine Buchheit has taken on the patronage of the project.