Usually we report about sweaty adventures and adrenaline-charged actions. This article is about the slow motion adventure of Jörg Knorr. The travel journalist from Flensburg traveled 2000km across Germany with his Piaggio Ape at a maximum speed of 50 Km/h.Always with him: His reacha SPORT, his kayak and his SUP.
The Idea of a Slow Motion Adventure
Discovering northern Germany on three wheels. This was the rough plan when Jörg got on his Piaggio Ape Classic at the end of May 2020 and raced towards the shores of rivers, lakes and the Baltic Sea, almost always at full throttle, away from the motorways at a maximum speed of 50 Km/h. With a kayak on the roof rack, SUP board, folding bike, a reacha SPORT Bike trailer and Camping equipment in the trunk he wanted to stop everywehre, where exciting waters awaited him. Diversity instead of distance - that's roughly how you could summarize what the man from Flensburg had in mind. Here is a short story in which Jörg covered the distance between Lütow and Koserow on the island of Usedom a total of three times.
Who is Jörg Knorr
Jörg Knorr is a travel journalist, photographer and speaker for exhibitions and events. The born Rostocker says about his own motivation: "What is behind the distinctive line where sky and water come together? Finding out is my motivation." For this purpose, the photographer explores maritime landscapes and is on the road with his camera. Sometimes his adventures arise thereby by themselves.
On his homepagekajaktraum.de he presents his adventures and travels. As a water sports enthusiast, he was excited about our bike trailers for SUP and kayak. Instead of building a bike trailer himself, he opted for a reacha SPORT with extra Bow. His first impression to the reacha:"Ingenious piece. Sophisticated design. Super flexibly adaptable to the desired use. Good driving comfort. Best quality of workmanship.".
The reacha allowed Jörg Knorr since then to be more flexible in his adventures and to discover places with SUP and kayak that he would never have reached without the reacha.
The journey through northern Germany
Spot search with Ape and reacha
Once again I'm sitting in my tricycle, which I'm now steering to Usedom, near the Polish border. Logistically a bit more challenging is my SUP trip from Koserow to the campsite near Lütow. At the campsite I left the folding bike with reacha bicycle trailer and now I'm looking with the Ape for a suitable starting point to cross the backwater.
Bodo, a local and member of the harbor association in Koserow, lets me put my board in the water and says goodbye to me with a rather friendly than critical sounding "Don't do shit out there".
Not for nothing have I chosen Koserow as the starting point for a southwest route. A light tailwind from the northeast gives me additional thrust. About 12 kilometers lie in front of my nose. There's something privileged about standing on the board, being gently pushed by the wind and enjoying a 360-degree panoramic view of the backwater.
"This has to be enjoyed to the full" I tell myself, slowing down my travel speed and standing on the island of Görmitz after five kilometers.
By folding bike and reacha
With headwinds, the backwater could quickly show a carefree stand-up paddler the cold shoulder. Other recreational captains have already experienced this firsthand, as Bodo told me when I pumped up my board in the harbor. Almost three hours have passed. A swimming break only shortly before the finish was still necessary. Otherwise overheating would have threatened. That has never done any engine good.
The final strokes of the paddle give just enough drive to reach the final beach almost silently. Board on the bike trailer, paddles strapped and off we go overland by bike back to Koserow. I have to pedal hard for about 18 kilometers and break into a sweat much more than I would before the wind on the backwater.
As I stand in Koserow again in front of the harbor fence and am busy stowing the board, folding bike and bicycle trailer, by coincidence Bodo shows up again. "Golly, back again," he marvels. Me: "Jo, went better than I thought." After a bit of small talk, Bodo rubs his stubbly beard, looks anxiously up at the now-cloudy sky, and offers me the chance to spend the night in the clubhouse: "There's supposed to be another thunderstorm. You don't need to pitch your tent. You can sleep inside."
A journey's end
Before, during and after my slow-motion trip, the reacha trailer was in use numerous times and had to prove that it's reliably following me without grumbling. To make a long story short: The thing is brilliantly versatile. The trailer is multifunctional, especially due to its adjustability, and so far it has not shown any signs of fatigue. Disassembled, it does not require much storage space and can be quickly mounted without tools and clamped behind the bike. My conclusion: It does the trick!
Should not be missing on the campsite, the reacha SPORT
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