“Bring the power cable,” Dad instructed.
“Which one?”
“On the blue reel,” he called back as he made his way out to the bus – thankfully the buckled remains of the Mercedes have been removed so we can use the drive again.

Any ‘He Man’ I might’ve still been harbouring were given another blow when I went to pick up the reel of cable – I needed both hands just to lift the damn thing. I staggered across the workshop with it swinging between my legs – very ladylike – not!

“Ah, thanks, kiddo,” Dad took the reel from me in one hand and swung it into the bus alongside his bench saw.
“That everything?”
Dad surveyed, the gear we’d loaded, “I think so, you ready?”
“Just need to get my bag.”

With everything else going off, when Con rang last night to say we were painting up at the kiosk today I was a bit taken aback. Even more so when Dad announced he’d be starting our fence today – I'd forgotten he was doing it, oops. Not that I had anything beyond this evening’s training ride organised, I thought I was just gonna hang with Con.

Dad locked things up while I fetched my bag and after a quick stop at the bakery to collect Con we headed up to Altenahr. I’ve not been to the kiosk for a few days so I was a bit taken aback when we crossed the bridge and I got my first look at the newly rendered walls and smartly tiled roof. Con’s uncle Josef was already there and came out to meet us as Dad pulled the bus onto the pavement.

“Girls, Dave,” he greeted.
“Morning, Jo,” Dad offered, “once I've got the gear off I'll move the bus.”
“I'll give you a hand, Franz should be here with the timber anytime.”

Con and I left the two men to unload Dad’s tools and headed to our revamped kingdom.

“Wow,” I allowed, “it looks like it’s just been built.”
“Let’s see inside,” Con suggested heading around the side.

There was something different outside but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Inside there was stuff all over – so much for our clearing it out although this stuff was Jo’s tools and stuff rather than rubbish. Clearly there’d been a bit of a change of plan, the original shelving was gone, the walls were bare plaster, wires hanging loose in several places.

“Different eh?” Jo noted joining us.
“Just a bit,” I agreed, “I thought we were just getting new power points.”
“The wiring was completely shot so rather than do a bodge you’ve got all new.”
“What about the shelving?” Con asked.
“We had to take it out to do the wiring, don’t worry you’re getting new shelves.”
“So what are we painting?” I enquired – clearly not the inside just yet.
“The Fachwerk .”
“That’s what’s different,” I mentioned as we trailed back outside.

Originally the building had been pretty plain, painted render only broken by the servery, door and the guttering. But now, although it’s not structural, the walls are decorated in pseudo timber framing which already makes it look quite different. By mid morning the kiosk area was a hive of activity, Dad’s saw screaming its way through the pile of planking, Jo singing out of tune with the radio and Con and I getting nearly as much paint on ourselves as the wall decoration.

I took a bite of my very English cheese and Branston sandwich and surveyed my handiwork from my perch on the pile of planks.

“It looks really different.”
“Yeah,” Con agreed, “sort of friendlier.”

Friendlier, yeah that's it, the Fachwerk softens the appearance and makes it look less like a concrete bunker.

“Your dad’s really good at making fences,” my companion went on.

I turned my attention to where Pater was making short work of our new decorative fence. It’s far from the plain plank affair I was expecting, no, it’s a solid looking thing with a curved top and some decorative holes he’s added with a jigsaw.

“Yeah,” I confirmed proudly.
“We should be finished in a couple of hours,” Con opined.
“One of you could start inside,” Jo suggested joining us, “sockets are all done.”
“What about the shelves?”
“I'll do those once it’s all painted, I'll need to block in some of your appliances anyhow.”
“Guess I could make a start,” Con volunteered.

Oh well looks like I'll be painting the framework for the rest of the afternoon.

“That’s what’s missing,” I announced as we surveyed the day’s travails.
“What?” Dad asked as he rewound the power cable.
“Shutters.”
“Shutters?” Con queried.
“You know, on the windows.”
“Wouldn’t be difficult,” Jo allowed, “functional or just decorative?”
“Not sure,” I admitted.
“I'll speak to Tomas later.”
“Should have the fence finished tomorrow,” Dad put in.
“It’s getting very real,” Connie stated.
“Second thoughts?” Jo asked.
“Ut uh, nope it’s gonna be brill eh, Gabs?”
“Er yeah, brill,” I added.

My cleat engaged with a very audible ‘click!’, “Ready?”
“As I'll be,” Mand replied sliding her specs onto her face.
“Be careful out there,” Dad told us.
“We will,” I sighed pushing off after Mand.

No mad, ‘easy’ ride across the Eifel today, no it’s a relatively short session up towards Effelsberg then across to Liers and back down through Ahrbruck, maybe forty five K’s.

“Okay?” I enquired as Mand clicked up and down her gears.
“Yeah, just finding the right gear, it feels either too low or too high.”
“The bike’s the same as usual,” I pointed out.
“Probably,” she agreed finally settling on one sprocket. “urgh, it’s good to get out, school’s driving me loopy.”
“Know what you mean.”
“It’s alright for you, you’re done ‘til September.”
“Doesn’t mean I'm not doing stuff,” I defended, “I've been painting the kiosk all day.”
“Better than maths, chemistry and history,” she grumbled.
“Did Dad mention, we’re going to England to race in a few weeks.”
“Really?”
“Some junior stage race in Yorkshire.”
“For BC?”
“Nope, Apollinaris, we’re all going.”
Mand’s mood picked up, “Kewl, we can show the Englisher Schwein how to ride!”
“Mand!”
“What?”

Hey that’s my line.

“Sorry about the accommodation, Dave.”
“It’s alright Chris, it’s not far across on the one seventy.”
“You just need to confirm the vans registration the day before you sail,” Chris went on, “those cabins, okay?”
“We’ll work it out, the girls are used to bunking up.”
“Let me know if there’s an issue, I'm sure we can squeeze a bit more out of P&O. Oh before I forget, what we talked about yesterday, the boffins seem to think it’s plausible, a big dose of adrenaline would send her BPM up and on top of a big effort.”
“Well that's something, I'll keep an eye though. You doing the summer camp thing this year?”
“Not the same, we’ve got some new talent coming through that we’ll have for a couple of weeks and take to Italy but those already in the programme we’ll just be monitoring, we just don’t have the funds for everyone.”
“What if I could rustle something up?”
“Such as?”
“Well there’s a good programme here, we’ve got budget here we can use, they could ride for Apollinaris.”
“You’d need support.”
“Bus, mechanic – we can sort out other staff here.”
“Thanks, Dave, I'll run it past God in the morning. So how are the girls?”
“Apart from you know, in pretty good shape. They’re out training now, Amanda’s giving as good as she gets.”
“I'm looking forward to see how they tackle Ryedale.”
“Make sure you’ve got the German anthem dusted off!”
“Fighting talk! I’ll speak to Dave and I'll get back to you.”
“Nite, Chris.”

It’s a toil up the Sahrtal any day but on a humid evening after a day of painting my legs are like lead. And what with Mand up and down the gears, goodness knows what's up with her tonight.

“Keep up, Gab.”
“Yeah, yeah.”

I'll show you, de Vreen, just wait until the steep bit. It’s not long, it’s not even particularly steep but it does include a set of hairpins which I love but Mand isn’t a particular fan of. Hmm, coming up to Binzenbach, quick wet before the….bum!

You relax for two seconds and this happens, I pushed my bidon back in the holder and stood on the pedals. Mand is dancing into the first turn as if it was flat, my bike feels like I've got two flat tyres, sugar. I changed up a sprocket, the bike finally reacted to my effort and the gap to my nemesis started to close.

Each pedal stroke, each breath brought me closer but this was a different Manda, yes I was closing but at a slower rate than I'd expect. I pushed harder but we’re halfway up already and she’s still got twenty metres, I'm not gonna make it.

“Geez!” I allowed grabbing my bottle.
“Nearly had you,” Mand wheezed.
“Only nearly, next left.”

She nodded agreement to the direction change as she ingested half an energy bar. Indeed it had been close, it was like she was on nitro, I was gaining on the turns but Mand was holding me on the straights. It was only on the drag away from the last tight turn that I closed the gap, we both fought side by side up to the summit, I just edged ahead before our usual end marker.

However we weren’t done climbing, the road drags up for another couple of K through the trees before a tight set of hairpins start the plummet to Liers back in the mid Ahrtal. It’s not the best road but it’s fairly straight so neither of us held back, first me then Mand taking point. I did have a minor panic attack when we came head to head with a huge red Massey tractor, just as well that Mand was in front so she didn’t see me riding the brakes.

Then it was out onto the main road back to Altenahr, thankfully another tractor was causing a bit of a traffic jam which allowed both of us to catch our breath. The traffic was overtaking the tractor bringing us closer by the minute, my heart started to race as I contemplated pulling out to pass. Get a grip girl, you can see for miles on here, just follow Mand.

By now we were approaching Ahrbruck, we’d no doubt not get past until we’re clear of the village. I tried to relax, it’s okay, just imagine it’s a car. We trundled on into the housing.

“Easy,” Mand instructed as the tractor started to slow.

Suddenly it gunned its huge motor before lunging across the road into the road up to Lind. I breathed a sigh of relief, panic over.

Maddy Bell © 10.02.17