Blackforest Double

No more back aches, shoe position just about sorted (right foot still needs few mm adjustment) and fine weather made for a great biking weekend discovering new routes in the Blackforest. Almost came to an end on the fast road section to Steinen yesterday though, when an elderly gent overtook a van, I could see what he was doing but couldn't believe he wasn't going to prevent his overtaking action when he saw me, instead I had to escape onto the grass verge then aimlessly shout and make hand gestures in the middle of the road after the event.
After surviving that, I was on a mission to discover new roads, like the days of rindo hunting in Tokyo-to. The map I use is full of bike routes in the Schwarzwald, and so colourful that its hard to see the real roads underneath the coloured trails. This often means the road disintegrates when you are someway up the hill to dirt and stone, great for mountain biking but not so good for cosmic wheels. This happened several times north of Steinen, before I took the usual route up to Neuenweg and attempted to follow the map route to the top of Belchen, the 3rd highest mountain in the Blackforest. Again, the route was but a bridleway and would be great for the Stumpjumper, but I will have to attack Belchen another day from the north.

Instead I enjoyed a great climb up and down to Badenweiler, then took a new route up to Blauen, with the intention of enjoying the first black forest gateau of the year. Instead, at the top I found a closed down hotel and visitors center, and what looked to be the site of a great downhill mtb trail.

That was Saturday, and over the past few weeks I've been aiming to do ~130km hilly rides Sat and Sunday, the aim being decent rides on sequential days. Really hope we have weather like this over easter, as a 4 day training session would be ideal at this time of the year.
Todays ride took me over a new Rhine crossing at Augst, and this route might well find its way into the "umleitung" = my daily commute as its fast out with no traffic lights crossroads etc at the start.
So over to Gersbach, descend then Todtmoos, back over to Zell then more up and down to Endenberg, Shlecktenhaus and back to Steinen and home.
At the coldest part of the ride, up above Todtmoos, I was admiring the snow piled up by the side of the road then fastening my jacket for the descent when I rode straight over a sizeable rock - it felt sharp, and I stopped to check for a puncture before I could here the hiss and later a trademark snakebite was to be found on the inner tube. So I got to try out CO2 cartridges for the first time. Obviously I made a mess of the first one, only half inflating the tyre. An aborted attempt on the half inflated tyre meant I had to use the second cartridge, which did the job, but now of course I was left with no way to repair another flat if it should happen. Is it worth the risk of cartridge v carrying a pump?
At least I had a decent seat for my mechanic interlude, watched over by St Antonius, but it was feeling cold sitting around at 1040m. Felt so warm once I was back in the valley.

Overall, today's route could be a classic route, doesn't need much tweaking at all.