Time to boil Micky’s piss again. Black Forest, Baden-Baden, Freudenstadt, Calw

Wapping

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A popular enough destination, this jaunt (lifted from Tourenfahrer magazine 2022/3 edition) might interest some. Not least, it misses out some - but not all - of the iconic B500 (‘cos that is well shite, mate) so it’ll please somebody.

Download the route from the magazine’s website, as usual. Got a link, mate?

https://www.tourenfahrer.de/tour-datenbank/tour/gruene-horizonte-1126/detail/

e3c8bcb705ca20f065e9771fa06efe60.png
 
It looks to have the norther half of the "Iconic" part of the B500 - roughly the first 25 miles or so South of Baden - most of it is 70kph now so harder to enjoy than a decade or two ago - even if you have no problem going twice as fast most other vehicles will now be going that bloody slow so most the time you will be trying to swerve around them - and watch for plod, particularly at the weekend - best bit is have hotel at top / bottom of that section and ride it early one week day morning before brekky ;-)

The do the published route after brekky.
 
The B500 used to be a great road, but now full of plod, caravans and wanna be bikers, bit like the NC 500 then eh :D

Know a good road? keep quiet about it ...

:beerjug:
 
Know a good road? keep quiet about it ...

:beerjug:

Mickey, I couldn't agree more. Since every mag and all and sundry have commercially published routes for the lazy and inept biker mates (and others), we have seen more targetted action from authorities, with lower limits, cameras and other measures. These are the result of all these riding 'gods' displaying their lack of ability, common sense and consideration for others. Many, if not the majority of the national limits have gone in my county, just look at what they achieved with Horseshoe pass, Cat and Fiddle and Snake Pass to name a few.

It is not just limited to us 'biker' types either, with cyclist magazines doing similar and detrimentally affecting the lives of rural residents as these types head out of the smoke in their droves, park up, lycra up and then cycle in wannabe pelotons thinking they are on a Tour De France. Obviously therefore, meaning they are exempt from any rules that apply to anyone else, and behave like any other pack in nature.

Another unintended consequence of the wonderful internet and its ability to help in a modern world .......
 
…..Horseshoe pass, Cat and Fiddle and Snake Pass…..

Three roads that I have not been on. Got a route, mate? :D

I can’t agree with everything you’ve written. The internet is a wonderful thing. On this site alone it has helped bods (some with little or no experience) go out of their front door and enjoy a holiday, having received help from people they’ll probably never ever meet. Could some of them (and their five mates) have done more to help themselves? Undoubtably, yes. But that is often a common factor of life, not restricted to motorcycling holidays.

Should magazines and the like publish great routes? Yes, of course they should, just as much as they should be encouraged to publish ideas of routes and holidays away from the ‘Must do’ areas and roads. I do republish them here for exactly that reason, in the hope that someone will think, “Hey, let’s try this idea of going past Frankfurt and see what this German fellow in a German magazine is on about”. Similarly, I try to put up jaunts on say the north German Baltic coast, as it is at least different to going to the Alps or Eifel again. The vast majority even so, whether constrained by time or imagination (it matters not which) will not journey outside of the ‘easy’ area of very central Europe, constrained and hedged in by the English Channel, the Alps and the Pyrenees.

Guide books, which is all the internet is, are not new. The Romans had them, after a fashion. They then exploded in the 1700 and 1800’s in England and across Europe, with the fashionable Grand Tour. Michelin and others then carried this through into the 20th century; the internet taking over thereafter. Overall, I believe its contribution has been positive.

PS You forgot to rant about horse riders.

:beerjug:
 
Know a good road? keep quiet about it ...

:beerjug:

How does this actually work, Micky?

Should somebody at say Dent, not offer to lead a ride if it uses ‘great roads’ only he knows about?

Should old JB or Tim O, not take bods on rides across the fells or to Iceland, using roads or trails that they know about?

Should the TET be wiped off the map?

Or is a secret still a secret, if you only tell one person at a time?
 
Roads are never secret, they're on maps FFS!

Sooner or later people discover them and tell others, write about them, post about them, run tours on them etc.

I do think some mags have done harm, one of the UK mags described the B500 as like the Ring, but without having to pay to ride it, it also suffers from being close enough to the UK for Freddy Fireblade and his heroic mates to all go and impress them Krauts with their Foggy like talent. Since I went for the first time in 2008 it has really been damaged by hordes of dickheads.

Same could be said of the Vosges, but the locals seemed to manage to fuck that one up, and the bobble hats have done a number of the Dolomites.

More than ever we need to get out and enjoy what we can before it is ruined forever, how long until only glorified milk floats are allowed on our beloved routes?
 
Soon petrol will be £10 a gallon and my trip to work will be the best roads to play on at 30mphb
 
We keep it 'in house' so to speak .... simples :D

:beerjug:


Lots of the roads and routes off the B500 are better


However I did have an excellent bit of B500 fun, riding with Micky on his F800 into Baden Baden one day, when we were ‘ahead of the others’ for a good few miles
One of those moments when the stars aligned and we had some fun on our bikes
 
There are always ‘better roads’ off everywhere. The B500, like for instance the Stelvio, is iconic for what it is, a stretch of road snaking down through the scenic Black Forest and was in its time a major engineering feat. In that sense, it is no different than the Hochalpenstrasse / Grossglockner High Alpine Road, another ‘must do’ road, which is also iconic. Are there ‘better’ roads than the Grossglockner? Arguably yes, just as there are perhaps ‘better’ roads in Austria outside of the Tyrol.

What is sad perhaps is that bods, when they say “There are better roads off the B500” don’t then give some details as to where they are and, more importantly, why they are better. Is it that they are narrower, more ‘technical’, less policed, bumpier, go through more interesting places, got more biker friendly hotels on them? And, not least, why the great secrecy about them?

The Black Forest is a vast area of roughly 6,000 square kilometres. That is roughly half the area of Yorkshire and twice that of Essex. Nobody is ever going to fill it up, so throw out suggestions on the ‘better roads’ or hide them away in a dark box of mystery, if you must.


PS Had you been on a FireBlade and passed someone on a GS, they might have had you and Micky marked down as a MotoGP wannabe and castigated as such. Indeed, the very phraseology used: “…excellent bit of B500 fun….when we were ‘ahead of the others’ for a good few miles…” with all that that implies, is not so very far removed from the words used in the more popular bike magazines. It does sound fun though, so I am only jealous.

:beerjug:
 
Ha ha .... good one Wappers, good one JB :thumby:

Those were the days :D

I'm down in the Süd Schwarzwald next month for a few days .... bring it on

:beerjug:
 
Wapping's posts for the benefit of members are much appreciated here. I tend to use RIDE routes but recognise the effort (Richard?) goes to - long may it continue. Chris (2gses) too, always happy to help us Southern types venturing North
 


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