Twitter
Facebook
Cyclists are invited to join the three-day “Liberty Trail” ride to commemorate Soldiers and Allies who fought and died to liberate France and, ultimately, much of Europe during World War II.
Members of the U.S. military community will join bikers out of France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg and Italy for this year’s demanding 360-kilometer ride – being held June 6 to 8 – throughout the Normandy peninsula, including World War II battlefields.
This year’s route will follow landing beaches and feature ceremonies at the historic towns of Ste-Mère-Église and St. Lô, as well as the monument at Gen. George Patton’s field headquarters at Nahu.
***image1***The event is for road bikes only, requiring serious training to keep up with a peloton (the main body of cyclists). But it is not a competitive event; the average speed is approximately 23 kilometers per hour.
The average daily distance of 120 kilometers is broken down into manageable 40-
kilometer segments with stops in between.
As in past years, there will be local training rides to improve bicycle handling skills on the open road and in the peloton, get used to hours on the saddle, strengthen legs and muscle endurance.
The training rides, which started April 1, are being organized by John Crouse, leader of the Heidelberg Chain Ring cycling group. Meeting places and times are posted online at www.johns-radhaus.de.
The registration fee for the event is €83 and includes a jersey, three lunches, mid-route snacks, plus extensive support: motorcycle escort, repair service, medical team and “sag” bus.
Steffanie Paoletti, fitness coordinator at the Campbell Barracks gymnasium, is organizing transportation and lodging. Since contracts and reservations need to be booked months in advance, interested cyclists need to contact her at 370-6489 or 49-06221-57-6489 or Ron Rasch at 377-4754 or 49-06221-57-4754 as soon as possible.
(Courtesy of U.S. Army Garrison Heidelberg Sports and Fitness
Office)
