During our visit to Eurobike last year, one of the highlights of the day was the evening trips organized by Rapha into the Friedrichshafen area. The contacts that were made there while pedaling often turned out to be far more lasting and nicer than some of the official trade fair dates. Which certainly has something to do with the fact that the combination of a beautiful route, good organization and relaxed togetherness after the exit attracts many people who think like us. Responsible for the trips was the German Rapha representative Dirk Kaufmann, with whom the idea of ​​organizing a joint Rapha Chic Hat trip later arose at the BBQ table.

This season, Rapha is sending a truck to Europe as a Mobile Cycle Club, stopping at various cycling events: Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Frankfurt-Eschborn, Colnago Cycling Festival, Giro D'Italia , Tour de France. And on Sunday, May 3rd, the bus will stop at Talstrasse for one day. In the morning there is a little coffee to start, then we have planned a tour of the farm roads and small streets from Düsseldorf via Ratingen, Essen, Duisburg and Mülheim. Route length almost 90 kilometers, garnished with not quite 700 meters in altitude. In the style of a Belgian spring classic, it goes up and down, no long climbs, rather short ramps. Set yourself up for a partly rustic surface and don't smear us when your lightweights suffer in the gravel.

After the tour we all come in in our hats, there is coffee, cake and a few things to eat and we watch the end of the Tour De Romandie on TV together.

So that we can calculate a little bit how many passengers will appear, it is important that if you are interested, you send us an email with the subject "Rapha MCC" to info (at) schickemuetze dot de. In any case, we are looking forward to the tour and hope that we will spend a nice day together.

Your hat brigade

Rapha Mobile Cycle Club @Fancy Hat, Sunday 3rd May 2015, Meet 10:00am Start 10:30am. Return around 2 p.m., then coffee, cake, snacks and TV. Registration by mail, information about the Rapha MCC: here .

We'll just leave the last word on this exit to David Millar, who is in the Telegraph modified the rules a bit . His rule no. 5 reads:

Don't race unless it's a race

“The most important piece of etiquette when you are out riding in a group is to try to ride side by side and don't half-wheel your colleagues. Also don't start racing unless you are in a race. For most people a group ride is a social experience, not a competition. So if you want to smash yourself, ride on your own. If you are in a group, be social, respect each other and take care of each other. Keep the pack mentality and you will enjoy it more.”

There is nothing to add.