Ultracycling

It's very annoying in Germany that in addition to motorways you're not allowed to ride on "Kraftfahrstraßen" (something like 'motor-drive roads'), mostly dual-carriageway A-roads ("Bundesstraßen"). Obviously not everybody's favourite roads but it's often extremely difficult to find another route if they have been built where the main/only road traditionally used to be and where there are no parallel or even remotely parallel alignments, and quite often you d0n't have to be on them for very long before they connect to proper roads again. They're marked by this sign:

dual-carriageway A-roads

But they're my favourite!

So that blue car sign means 'cars only'?

Yep.

Usually you may ride on "Bundesstraßen" which are marked by the yellow signs like these:

(look for the numbers in the yellow boxes)

unless they have the "no bikes" sign like this:

Which may or may not exist, depending on the size of the road. On some roads there is a bike road next to the car road, but no guarantees.

Any big rectangular blue signs are "Autobahn", which means cars only.

If you have any questions regarding german road legality, hit me up, I've got the "Führerschein"

Thanks.

Führerschein

I'm sure there's pills for that these days.

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Great effort from Dylan Taylor to get first place in the first ever American Trail Race... Awesome time considering the distance!
Crazy that the lead literally hovered between 80-100 miles for at least the last 2000 miles! :)
Indiana in second place is almost done too and also managed to keep a similar lead over third for a good while too.
What an achievement by anyone who finishes it.

I can't understand why Mark isn't riding a TT bike, or at least disc and deep front.

I would.

Maybe a Koga sponsor limitation? Or perhaps he's more comfortable on their road bikes?

But free speed!

Don't see how a disc or some 90mm deep wheels would bother koga.

Perhaps he's not comfortable using deep wheels. Also he's not heavy into the TT scene is he so probably still stuck in the lighter=better mentality. He did have deep section wheels on they just weren't "TT deep". He's a big guy so would be able to handle them.

Yeah maybe. Still weird. You think someone would have convinced him.

So do they add 'no cycling' signs to the "Kraftfahrstraße" signage to make it clearer (people often don't understand that blue signs can have a prescriptive meaning, I think) or is there a separate category of Bundesstraße that's off-limits to cycling (as shown by the cycling-specific sign, which I've definitely seen in that kind of use) but not designated as a "Kraftfahrstraße"? I thought the only legal basis was the "Kraftfahrstraße" legislation. (I haven't lived in Germany for a long time, so really have no idea beyond the roads I use for riding when I'm here.)

Yes and no.
"Kraftfahrstraßen" or "Schnellstraßen" as well as "Autobahnen" are generally off-limits to cyclists and pedestrians. So there's no need for an extra sign. They all have the distinctive blue signs.

"Bundesstraßen" are usually allowed for cyclists, but in some parts they aren't which is then shown by the sign.
This is because "Bundesstraßen" can vary greatly in size. The larger a street seems, the higher the possibility to be cars only, I guess.

So for an idiot like me, just avoid any roads with blue signs and no bike signs?

Big day for Mark today, 260 odd miles, enjoying the updates online

Pretty much.
Though there are "good" blue signs and "bad" blue signs.

These here:


are fine and will be found pretty much everywhere.

If you see these here:

You're probably wrong.

Cheers.

Real PITA that Germany and Australia-without-roos don't have StreetView.

strava heat maps is useful.

Yeah, I've had a play with the site @Yemble made. But even that is no guarantee that the road is any good - common routes can also be locals using roads illegally or slow, safe routes whereas we are looking for speed, gimme what I need...

Generally in germany, a banned road will have no heat maps for it. I've found quite a few roads that way.

I understand and agree though.

I've only look at 300k of my route with heatmaps. It exposed a couple of bits I 'fixed' so it's still worth doing. I'll try and get in a couple of hours each night of tweaking what I have. I'm not riding any fucking dirt this year!

I'm not riding any fucking dirt this year

Showing your age - it's called gravel now!

And you don't ride it, you grind it.

It's intentional. Gravel makes it sound cool. It's dirt. Same way I mock @andyp for racing in the mud aka 'cross.

I swear at it until it forms tarmac...