Grand Tour de Öffentliche Verkehrsmittel Stage 2/59 – Dall-Döb

It rained most of the night and as expected, the overall weather situation was dank but not raining so Stage 2 was on! I had unbelievably good blood glucose overnight – a steady 90 mg/dL for the whole night. A good sign if there ever was one. Porridge armed with some chunky peanut butter was the fuel, I reduced both basal and bolus insulin with today’s ride and the increased insulin sensitivity from yesterday’s ride in mind. I did have to eat a standard müsli bar before heading off as the peak blood glucose from breakfast was not as high as I would’ve liked.

First port of call was S+U Rathaus Spandau. This is going to be a common one as it is a major bus terminus. I took a detour to the Tiefwerder Wiesen in Pichelsberg and stopped at the Faulersee (the Lazy Lake!) just in time for a heron to elegantly fly off. Water buffalo was mentioned on the information signs but I didn’t see any which was a shame. The same sign did call them ideal and robust pets! Never considered water buffalo to be pets and I doubt any landlord/lady would allow one in a rented apartment.

The first bus route on this stage of the Grand Tour de Öffentliche Verkehrsmittel was the M32 from S+U Rathaus Spandau to the Havelpark in Dallgow-Döberitz. I have cycled most of this route on previous non-public transport related tours and knew what to expect: car showrooms, bicycle paths on pavements next to main roads and residential areas. The wide cycle path next to the B5 up to the Havelpark is always nice to cycle on but today I was the only one on it. The Havelpark is basically a big shopping centre so nothing much to look at.

The next, and final public transport route of this stage, was the X49 starting at Hahneberg and ending at Messe Nord/ICC. I followed the same path from the Havelpark all along Heerstraße until the first stop at Hahneberg. This route is also nothing spectacular since it follows Heerstraße all the way until Theodor-Heuss-Platz and then down Masurenallee to the Messe. 

Both routes are fairly unspectacular but did make me think that the two main roads out west from Berlin, Charlottenburger Chaussee and Heerstraße, have similarly awful cycle paths – especially if on a road bike. The cycle paths are separated from the road on the pavement, and on the pavement there are lots of trees whose roots make the cycle path VERY bumpy. It is more comfortable cycling on the pedestrian part of the pavement on many parts of these paths. 

If I’m on my road bike and feel like cycling pretty fast (around 30 kph), I’ll use the road on Charlottenburger Chaussee – this is a dual carriageway so there’s plenty of opportunity for vehicles to pass. But that’s not an option for many users on this road and it MUST be improved. 

Heerstraße is even worse. It has long stretches where it can only be used by motor vehicles (Kraftfahrstraße). This is fine BUT make the cycle path usable! Everything is fine up (heading from Berlin to Wilhelmstadt) till Pichelswerder, then the bike lane is very narrow, the surface is uneven and the bushes between the speeding cars and the bike lane aren’t trimmed very often. So back to using the pedestrian part of the pavement. Further up on Heerstraße the still narrow bike lane morphs into a multi-use lane with pedestrians. Better planning is needed urgently to make this section safer for all non-vehicle users.

My mini-rant is over and after today’s dismal conditions poor Earp needs a wash. Tonight is pub quiz night so tomorrow will be a rest day for both me and Earp. Rain is forecast so we’ll have to see when Stage 3 will take place.