Zurich to Brussels Bike Trip Summary - We are Home

“Life is like riding a bicycle. In order to keep your balance, you must keep moving.” – Albert Einstein

Zurich to Brussels bike trip summary

Miles ridden: 1059.9 

Elevation gain: 23,925 ft.

# of Countries: 6 - Switzerland, Germany, Liechtenstein, France, Netherlands, Belgium

# of flat tires: 4

# of times the chain fell off: 3+, usually on a steep hill 

# of bicycle light malfunctions: 1, the back light started to have a mind of its own

# of diabetes monitoring device malfunctions: 0, yay!

# of items lost, broken, or left behind: 8 - A panier strap tore on one side of a bag, there is a hole in the middle of Joan's seat from wear against the metal bar below, the screws to hold the middle panier rack never got packed at home, the iPhone that we use for navigation only charges by sharing battery now

# of dogs that came running after us: 0. Germany had the most well-trained dogs that we have seen.

# of people asking us about the tandem, taking our picture, yelling out positive comments: hundreds

# of people who stopped to offer help when we stopped to check maps, fix tires or rest: 4+

Blessings to be thankful for on this trip:

• Pascal, our Brussels Airbnb host, for all the work that he did with Belgian customs to get our luggage just in time for us. Thank you, a million times, over!!! Also, Pascal later found a scale so that we can weigh our luggage since we usually are close to the max.
• Riding on dedicated well maintained bike trails for the majority of the trip while enjoying amazing scenery.
• Getting to meet so many other long-distance cyclists.
• Meeting and talking to so many kind people.
• Injury free trip except for some minor scrapes.
• Finding a bike shop that could help with our brakes and truing the wheel.
• Finding a hardware store in Zurich that could make a replacement bolt for us.
• Farmers in Switzerland, Germany, France, Liechtenstein, Netherlands and Belgium for growing so much corn. 
• The people that prayed for us before & during our ride.
• The thousands of smiles, waves, high-fives, thumbs ups, positive comments from all the great people along the way.
• Marla & Nick for Luna sitting.
• Cara & Nick for house & garden sitting.
• Annette & Mike Lochard for mowing our lawn.
• Marla & Nick for transporting us to the airport.
• Dr Darla for connecting us with Sebastian, Andreas & Margaret in Glandorf.
• Amazing weather. We only really got rained on while riding once. 
• The faithful readers of this blog that give Tony the incentive to keep doing 1/2 of it even when he really just wants to go to bed.

Our greeting party: