Grand Tour de Öffentliche Verkehrsmittel Stage 11/59 – Ice Blocks for Toes

Today was one of those cold but sunny winter days, beautiful to be outside – just not for too long. A look at the weather forecast for the next week showed warmer temperatures but overcast and rainy skies, so I definitely had to make the most of today! I decided to complete one of the short Stages, due to the outside temperature and as this was also a rest week after the distances covered in the last two weeks. 

Since I planned to head out later than usual, I didn’t reduce my bolus insulin for breakfast but this led to my sugar trending downwards as I was getting ready to leave. I ate an energy bar before heading out to make sure that my blood glucose levels would be higher during the ride. I cycled towards the Messe Nord/ICC station which is the starting point for the 139 bus route. This bus route heads north towards Siemensstadt and Spandau before ending in Hakenfelde. 

I followed the 139 route on roads that I know very well – I’ve taken the Fürstenbrunner Weg many times during cycling tours towards the Hennigsdorf area. As usual, the view from the Rohrdammbrücke was pretty awesome – it’s a usual photo stop when the sun is out. 

The bus route then makes a right turn to service the industrial park in Siemensstadt. I really like these brick industrial buildings, very picturesque. There are also tracks of the Siemensbahn – the S-Bahn used to pass directly through and stop at Siemensstadt before being shut down in 1980. Now the station and train tracks are just ruins although there are plans to potentially reactivate this train line.

The 139 route continues through the beaver protection area on Rhenaniastraße (sadly, no beavers to report) where the Rohrbruchteich (Pipe break pond – love this name!) had a light covering of ice. Next up was crossing the Havel using the Wasserstadtbrücke and heading into Hakenfelde. Typically I would not make the left turn onto Mertensstraße but keep cycling on Goltzstraße towards the lovely cycle paths next to the Havel in the direction of Hennigsdorf. 

The 139 bus route terminates at Eschenweg and from here I headed towards the start of the M45 bus route – the Johannesstift. This is a Protestant institution consisting of a school, infirmary and provides support to the elderly and people with disabilities, among others. This first section of the M45 route passes through the lovely Stadtpark where many people were out with small children and dogs. 

The route then heads towards the Spandau train station where the U7, S-Bahn and regional trains all stop. Here there are a large number of bus stops and I passed through at a time where a large number of commuters huddled across the bike lane between the buses and underground station. I safely navigated the section along Klosterstraße and headed towards central Berlin along Ruhlebener Straße.

I have cycled along the next section of the M45 route along Charlottenburger Straße many many times since this road connects to the Havelchaussee – the road beloved by cyclists because it actually contains some hills! However, as I alluded to in Stage 2, the Charlottenburger Straße has a terrible bike lane.

Next up were more streets that I frequent often – Spandauer Damm and Otto-Suhr-Allee – until the M45 terminates at Zoologischer Garten. This is the main bus terminus in west Berlin and similar to the Spandau train station, there are U-Bahn, S-Bahn and regional train services here. With that, I just had to make it home to complete Stage 11. 

By the time I reached home, my toes were really REALLY cold! Once I took off all the foot layers (plastic bags, 2 thick pairs of socks, shoes and thick overshoes), my toes were red from the cold and it was painful to walk on them. 

In terms of blood glucose control, the energy bar I ate before setting off worked a bit too well and my blood glucose was pretty high (> 200 mg/dL) for most of the ride. If the ride was going to be longer, I would have injected some insulin before starting the M45 route. I waited till I got home to inject some insulin as exposing my warm tummy and then pinching it with cold hands is really not much fun. Shocking, I know 😀