Dr. Ross Bassett's Bike Ride from Paris to Prague
Day 11: In MĂĽnster: Deutsch Fahrradhauptstadt. (German Bicycle Capital)
Monday June 22, 2026, 25 miles (40 km) - Total so far: 607.2 miles (977 km)
I am still looking forward to a lot of things on this trip, but it will be hard to top today. It ranks as one of my favorite days in all my bike tours, even though I didn’t do much riding.As I was planning this ride, I knew I had to go to Münster. Münster is known as the German Fahrradhauptstadt, the Germany bicycling capital (more on this later). Also in February, I joined the ADFC, the German bicycle club. There is no equivalent to it in the USA. It combines a national organization with local chapters, advocacy with a lot of grassroots efforts, as well as support for bicycle touring in Germany. They even have a “pannenhilfe” section which provides help to bikers with problems on the road. I then got in contact with the Münster chapter of the ADFC and got a very nice reply, offering to meet with me when I got to Münster. I solidified these arrangements last week. They were very accommodating on a short notice.
Before our meeting, I took a ride along the Münster Promenade, a ring road used by bicycles, but also by scooters and wheel chairs and pedestrians. So many bikers and they all seemed to be relaxed and enjoying themselves In general, they weren’t speeding along. One highlight was seeing a boy around 4 years old pedaling furiously alongside his dad, who was carrying another child in his cargo bike. As I passed them, I could see the boy had a big smile on his face. There is a Brasserie right alongside the Promenade, and I had a croissant and a coffee there, while I took some video.
At our meeting we had a great time talking about biking in MĂĽnster and making comparisons with the US. They were very kind to suffer my German, and we had a conversation that was in German, English and French (one of the members I met with Elmar, has a wife who was French). They all had such a passion for biking and were so welcoming to me. Hermann is the chief mechanic of the MĂĽnster chapter. He runs a repair shop where people can come and get their bikes fixed and simultaneously learn how to be self-sufficient in fixing bikes. He kindly fixed my pump that had a valve stem stuck in it and then lubricated my chain. Bene, had lived in the United States for 25 years and had married an America. Mareike was the leader of the MĂĽnster chapter.
They gave me a tour of their facility–a former bakery. All very impressive, especially since this is an all volunteer organization. When the mail person came by, they stopped to get him to show me his bike! He asked me if mail people in the US had something similar. Sadly, no.
After about two hours of conversation, we went on a bicycle tour of MĂĽnster.
Mareike had other commitments and couldn’t make the ride. Elmar took the lead There was such joy in Elmar, Hermann, and Bene as we biked along that really made the tour spectacular. Elmar showed me the new parking spot for bicycles in Münster.
They showed me some guerrilla repairs made to the bike ways by citizens to smooth over bumpy patches.
They showed me various “Fahrrad Straße throughout the city, where bikes have priority--clearly marked by the red brick.
I love this sign--"Autos as Guest". we rarely think of it that way.
A classic piece of historical writing by Peter Norton asserts that streets were one considered the property of a variety of users, but in the 1920s and 1930s, automobile drivers claimed it as theirs. This is an effort to reclaim the street for other users.
Hermann had mentioned to me that MĂĽnster had a strong city FahrradbĂĽro (bicycle office) and I thought it would be good to make contact with them. Although I got in touch only this morning, Max from the buro offered to meet with me this afternoon. Their work was really impressive. MĂĽnster has a bicycle mode share (the percentage of trips taken by bike) of 46%, which puts it right up there with Dutch cities, which are often considered the gold standard. The overall bicycle mode share in the MĂĽnster's state ( North Rhine Westphalia) is 10%. Max showed me some of the buros' other work both completed and planned, including designating Veloroutes where bicycles had high priority, a paved greenway along a canal, which allowed bikers to ride long distances along a north-south axis without traffic lights. And of course, making streets more friendly by cutting down on on-street parking. Max mentioned that a group from Rochester Minnesota had visited.
This is a little bit of engineering to make it so bikers don't have to put their feet on the ground when they stop--making it easier to get started again.
Several people have told me that bicycle traffic regulations are strictly enforced in Germany. Twice today, I saw what appeared to be a police officer giving citations to a biker. I am not sure what the infractions were.
After my meeting with Max, I went to an organic food store to get some more Nackthafer. Then I took a ride on the canal bikeway that Max had told me about. Really beautiful. A lot of people were out enjoying the canal–some swimming, some diving, some kayaking, some stand-up-paddling.
I am getting myself into a little bit of trouble. I have a little extra capacity but between the ADFC and the Fahrradburo, I have picked up a good amount of material. I need to reorganize and maybe think about sending some things home by mail, or getting rid of some other things.
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