The Invictus Games athletes staying in my hotel were like ravenous barracudas at the breakfast buffet. As soon a new bowl of food was set down hands came out of nowhere to empty it. I slowly drank a green tea until they started to calm down before trying to grab food myself. I imagine the fancy hotel buffet is a lot nicer than military food they’re used to. And they are surely all hungry from competing. 

Soon after I hopped on my bike and started pedaling towards Cologne. I let myself take wrong turns in Dusseldorf just to see where I ended up. Eventually I crossed a big bridge over the Rhine and found myself on the Rhine River Bike trail. I’ve ridden this from its source in the Alps to Strasbourg before and it was cool to pick up the other end of it. I immediately lost the trail though as the signs were not enough to stand out amongst the scene stealing scenery. Also, my mind was wandering a lot. 

It’s strange to skim the news and see body counts from disasters all over the world while I’m on a pleasant sunny road indulging my desire to wander around via bike. My world is reduced to the simple actions of pedaling and steering around pot holes while keeping and eye out for a convenient place to buy a snack. It feels insensitive to be on a pleasure ride while the world is burning and flooding and warring. My brain spins out from here remembering the world has always been doing those things on some level and I don’t know how to process it. I replay my own rationalizations of these thoughts that I wrote in The Bike Path. I don’t know if it really holds up amongst the magnified misery going on in the world right now. I pedal harder to drive the thoughts out of my head and feel a little guilty about it. 

A while later I stopped to take a break on a comfortable looking rock in the shade and a chihuahua named Betsy wandered up to say hello. Betsy cheered me up in the way that dogs do. Betsy made it clear that despite what is happening in the world she wanted to spread love and happiness. 

I rolled into Cologne and had another cascade of BMX memories similar to arriving in Hastings. I’ve been in Cologne many times for BMX events and even won a world championship in dirt jumping here. That sounds pretty badass but I will tell you that I actually just winged the whole contest. I hadn’t been riding much dirt before hand and so approached the event with a laugh. I tried tricks (pulled from my memory at random) that I hadn’t done in years and though they were pretty rough I managed to ride out of all of them. Lots of good times and good friends here to think about. I first came here in 1996 and I also remembered that one of my last contests was here too. 

After a shower I met up with my friend Traci. She took me for some decidedly different food than I’m used to. Baked potato stuffed with all kind of random things that some how worked (pickles?) and I tasted a coke mixed with orange juice that wasn’t bad either. We sat in a big grassy park (in the shade for my sake) and she practiced her hobby of feeding crows while I nearly fell asleep laying in the grass. I am physically tired and think I need to give myself a solid rest soon. Traci is an American who has successfully made the move to Europe. I was really interested to learn how that process worked as I’m am very much considering it myself. I don’t feel any draw to be back in the states and life seems to fit me better over here. Immigration sounded the same for her as for all my friends who have managed that hurdle: stressful and tedious but possible with enough determination. 

Near my hotel we looked at the Kölner Dom, or Cologne Cathedral. Every trip I’ve had here sees me spending a lot of time near it. It’s the largest one in Northern Europe and absolutely astonishing. The work and detail and size and scale always blows me away. Construction began in 1248! It took another 600 years to be considered completed though they are working on it even now. It is so intricate and massive it over rides all the obnoxious tourists that surround it. It is well worth becoming a tourist yourself to see this building. The sun set, Traci hopped on a train home and I fell asleep with my drawing book open (whatever idea I had for it was lost in the night).