In my defence and please note that the criminally insane cannot be held responsible for their actions – I am guilty as charged if you think this ride is absurd.
It pitches the rider against the unknown knowns of the urban jungle including 29 sectors of city cobbles and a frisson of Steinweg. Plus, a 23% climb.
I did get a sense of foreboding about certain sections but once ridden I did feel cool to have succeeded.
I do like to quote from the book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. “We’re all mad here,” says the Cheshire Cat to Alice. “I’m mad. You’re mad.” “How do you know I’m mad?” dear Alice wants to know. “You must be,” the cat tells her. “Or you wouldn’t have come here.”
Or to para-phrase Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, you would be displaying a rational mind not to want to do it and thus be seen as sane whilst a desire to do it would be an act of craziness if not required to do so. The catch is that you must do it because you are sane…
OK, I am probably being alarmist but it is a tough tour and I’m not happy with the end section which means I will have to ride a revised version. This will mean more cobbles!
Urban Jungle
Göttingen has seen almost all of its cobbles long gone and this ride finds what’s left, this is an urban tour with all the pitfalls that go with it – cars (traffic), busy street crossings, pedestrians, other bicycles, street furniture, parked vehicles, space grabbing SUV´s, and all the known unknowns of the urban jungle. Be careful out there…
We start at Nikolaikirchhof, once a haunt of Flandrian weavers (a nice connection with Belgium classic cycle races). You can give yourself a little pep by drinking coffee at the P-Café (we end the ride there also).
Stegemühlenweg in Sudstadt
Kissing Cousins
Our first stretch of cobbles line the inner Gö medieval wall and come soon after we set off. On route we face three climbs one of which will bite your legs (23%) and the Zietenberg which might make you lose the will to continue rattling your teeth. The slow drag up the Panzerweg to Kerstlingerode Feld is also a bit of a pain, but worth it.
We also add five major sectors of Steinweg/Forststraße the kissing cousin of Kopfsteinpflaster notably at Kerstlingerode Feld and the Bismarck Turm.
Not on the tour is a truly short stretch of cobbles in a housing estate in Grone and others which are either unknown or not conveniently placed for the tour.
I rode the route on a bike fitted with 30mm tyres pumped up to about 4.5bar. In the good old days before fat tyres, carbon frames and big tyre/frame clearances pro racers might have chosen a cyclo cross bike and not their road machines for Paris Roubaix.
A Kissing Cousin
Links
Paris Roubaix
Gö Gravel PRbx Tribute Ride
Gö Gravel Stein Tour
Gö Kopfsteinpflaster
Tour Length – 36km
Sectors
Asphalt 20km
Kopfsteinpflaster 29
Steinweg/Forststraße – Five sectors of stone road in total A/B/C/D/E (plus short ones)
Gravel 11
Panzerweg 3
Danke to; Derek, Cordula, Ben, MadC, Konstantin, and Sören for their help finding cobbles in Gö.
GPX
Komoot: https://www.komoot.com/tour/1530285106
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11254186110
Garmin: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/15055385897
April 24 Ride Pictures
THE RIDE INFO
Kopfsteinpflaster/Steinweg Sectors (+ Climbs).
1 Turmstraße – Hugging the old city inner wall.
2 Stegemühlenweg
3 Riemannstraße
4 Stegemühlenweg 2 (we rejoin for a fleeting time)
5 Riemannstraße 2
6 Felix Kleinstraße
7 Bunsenstraße – We pass the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR).
CAFE – There is a cafe on Böttingerstraße 21, just before the bridge.
8 Breymannstraße
9 Kiesseestraße (at Keissee)
10 Laderstraße – you can race the trains.
11 Reinshof – A mix of cobbles and Steinweg!
STEINWEG A – Historically, roads have been made out wood, cobbles, concrete, gravel, asphalt, and part of that development was Steinweg/Chaussee. Steinweg are paved with stones placed in a semi-organised manner resembling cobbles and they are kissing cousins. The Romans became master stone road builders constructing over 80,000 kilometres at the peak of the Empire.
MUR de´ KIRSCHBERG* (aka Reservoir Dog and is violent on your legs) – This links Görlitzerstraße to Am Kirschberge via a narrow and rough asphalt 300m climb maxing out at 23% – The Mur de´ Huy which features on the Fleche Wallone cycle race is 1.3km long and has a 26% max.
ZIETENTERRASSEN – The streets of Zietenterrassen are mostly named after women to help redress the imbalance because of a historical male focused agenda in Gö. Barbarastraße for instance honours the French singer who gave us the song Göttingen.
The area was once a Panzer Grenadier barracks until the 1990´s and this may have contributed to preserving the cobbles.
ZIETENBERG* – Sandbeek (asphalt)/Barbarastraße/Grete-Henrystraße total length 1.4km. If it were steeper it might be Gö´s Koppenberg, the latter being 600m long and a max of 22%.
12 Barbarastraße* – A cobbled climb of 0.5km at its peak it hits 9.1%. and is followed immediately by Grete-Henrystraße.
13 Grete Henrystraße* – 0.4km/Max 8.5%
NO STEINWEG – if you don´t want to visit the stone roads above Zietenterrassen then turn left off Grete-Henrystraße onto Erna Blenkeweg which will lead you onto Anna Segher Stieg, and Von Ossietzkystraße. Turn left onto Hannah Vogtstrasse to rejoin the route.
KERSTLINGERODE FELD
Kerstlingerode was previously a Panzer war games area and is now a Wald open to all.
STEINWEG B/C – Kerstlingerode – We ride sections of Steinweg which I like to think were once within the lost village of Klein Kerstlingerode. The road here reminds me of the Arenberg Forest a fearsome sector on the PRbx parcour.
KEHR – Before we get to the Gö observatories and Bismarck Turm we navigate Panzerweg and a broken asphalt road. On route we pass the Kehr which features a café and beer garden. Plus, a paddock with roaming boar and deer.
Steinweg D – Bismarck Turm – Small stones make for a hand jarring sector as we ride to and back from the Bismarck Turm.
14 Anna Segher Stieg – The cobbles begin softly before the horror. This after a fast abrupt descent and a short section of gravel.
15 Von Ossietzkystraße – A steep, fast descent maxing at over -9% and it might be the most UNCOMFORTABLE section of the tour. BE CAREFUL!
16 Hannah Vogtstrasse – To soften the blow of descending on cobbles we zig-zag along adjacent cobbled streets.
17 Grete-Henrystraße – We go down what we previously came up
18 Ehrengard Vogtstraße
19 Bertha von Suttnerstraße 1
20 Julius Leberweg
21 Barbarastraße – (down this time)
22 Von Witzelbenstraße
23 Bertha von Suttnerstraße 2
CAFE – There is a Kuster at Alfred Delp Weg.
STEINWEG E – We go past a Kita, cross a narrow bridge, and then ride a muddy Steinweg in the Hainberg Forest.
24 Dahlmannstraße
25 Am Goldgraben – the cobbles are re-emerging on this descent.
26 Baurat Gerberstraße – We descend!!! Expect painful hands!
GÖ MAUR – We jump onto the old city wall, it will be busy with walkers etc., there is an alternative cycle path on the main road.
LEINE RIVER – We add distance to the tour by travelling back to Sudstadt along the Leine River path to repeat in the opposite direction earlier cobbled sections in Sudstadt.
27 Breymannstraße 2 (opposite direction)
CAFE – There is a cafe on Böttingerstraße 21, just after the bridge.
28 Bunsenstraße 2 (opposite direction)
29 Turmstraße 2 (opposite direction)
Finish at Nikolaikirchhof.
Where´s the asphalt? Am I sane?
This Steinweg is now lost under a thick layer of gravel.
30mm tyres and roadie orientated
Attention/Take Note
The Gö Feldweg Omloop is a suggested route for a bike tour and not a race or competition. Should you decide to follow our tour description or a GPS of the route described, you do so at your own risk.
You are responsible for cycling as you think you can, according to your ability and fitness level.
Die Gö Feldweg Omloop ist ein Routenvorschlag für eine Fahradtour und kein Rennen oder Wettkampf. Solltest Du Dich dafür entscheiden, unserer Tourbeschreibung oder einem GPS der beschriebenen Route zu folgen, tust Du dies auf eigene Gefahr.
Du bist selbst dafür verantwortlich, entsprechend Deinem Können und Fitness-Niveau, so zu radeln, wie Du es Dir zutraust.
Contact – https://veloklubhaus.com/contact/
Velo Klubhaus 
Leave a comment