Four days, three nights, one destination: A school trip to Vienna by bike

While others debate the most eco-friendly way to travel on a school trip, one student at Steinmühle knows he can always top them all: Julius Henkel. Together with Laurenz Steiß, a classmate from the same 13th-grade class, he set off for Vienna by bike.

Four days, three nights, one destination: The plan took shape for Julius after a comment from his tutor and math teacher, Björn Gemmer: “With all that exercise, you might as well bike to Vienna.”

– “I basically took that as a challenge,” Julius recalls with a wink. Once he found someone in Laurenz Steiß who liked the crazy idea, the matter was settled.

 

Planning begins three weeks before the vacation

Planning began three weeks before summer vacation. We mapped out the route using komoot, the route planner for bike tours. The options ranged from 750 kilometers to a maximum of 950 kilometers. “We decided on something in between,” Laurenz says.

 

Energy bars, gummy bears, and water

In theory, the duo had planned a short break after 50 kilometers and a longer one after 100 kilometers. “The 50-kilometer break wasn’t feasible,” they recall, “it would have taken too long.” Their food consisted mainly of energy bars, gummy bears, and water; there was no time for longer stops along the way. Before reaching Würzburg, they treated themselves to a bit of sightseeing, then continued on—via Regensburg and Linz—all the way to the Belvedere Palace Park. 60 percent bike paths, 40 percent country roads, both dressed in cycling gear. Julius in sneakers on his new gravel bike, Laurenz in clipless shoes on his road bike. They rode mostly at 25 kilometers per hour, sometimes reaching speeds of up to 45 or even 50.

 

Never thought of giving up

“The first day was the most exciting,” Laurenz recalls. He wasn’t feeling quite up to it, but giving up right away wasn’t an option. Despite the challenges, the two students never considered cutting the trip short. “We had two dangerous situations along the way,” Julius recalls, “we were overlooked by cars despite our reflectors.” In the end, both of them avoided any mishaps. At the end, however, Laurenz fell on the cobblestones—the front tire’s inner tube had burst. “But by then we were practically at our destination.”

 

Support for Food, Technology, and Safety

Julius and Laurenz had two important people with them on their trip, without whom they wouldn’t have been able to pull off this adventure, as they themselves say: Per Hübl and Lukas Zimmer, also from the class of ’13. They drove the support vehicle, took photos, and tracked the two cyclists using the “Where Are You?” feature on WhatsApp whenever they were out of sight of each other. “They gave us a sense of security,” say Julius and Laurenz of this escort, during which they ultimately covered 822 kilometers of road and climbed 5,620 meters in elevation together.

 

“Great mentally and athletically”

The quartet was greeted with enthusiastic applause and loud cheers by their classmates—who had already arrived by train—and the accompanying teachers in the Belvedere Palace Park. “A tremendous achievement, both mentally and physically,” commented tutor and principal Björn Gemmer, who, in hindsight—“now that everyone has arrived safely”—is happy to be identified as the “mastermind” behind the long tour. For him, one of the highlights was that Steinmühle was able to share in the mammoth tour through photos and videos uploaded to social media.

 

View on Instagram

If you’d like to get a sense of “tour.de.wien,” you’re welcome to visit the Instagram account of the same name, check out a post or video there, and feel free to follow the channel. It might come in handy. That’s because our two cycling enthusiasts are planning to “maybe do a similar tour again.”—We’re already really excited!

In the photo below showing our large group, the following people are standing in the front row (from left): Laurenz Steiß (road cyclist), Per Hübl (social media manager in the support vehicle), Lukas Zimmer (driver of the support vehicle), Julius Henkel (gravel bike rider), Björn Gemmer (tutor and idea generator).

The second photo, featuring four people, shows (from left): Laurenz Steiß, Lukas Zimmer, Per Hübl, and Julius Henkel.

Angela Heinemann