European Peace Ride 2026 on Cyclix

Dresden to Chemnitz: Rain, Then the Steile Wand

Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Day three was supposed to be the gentle one. 175 km and about 1,300 m of climbing, the flattest profile of the weekend, a roll west out of Dresden through Tharandt, over the hills past Freiberg to Mittweida, then down through Penig and Waldenburg to Meerane and back east into Chemnitz.

On paper, the easy day. In practice it rained.

Liberec to Dresden: The Climb Comes First

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The briefing for day two went like this. 171 km, 2,350 m of climbing, river valleys all morning, and then everything goes up in the last third. Yesterday was 1,300 m. Today is nearly twice that. Two long climbs, both of them properly hard, waiting for you after the Elbe.

That was the plan. The plan was wrong by about nine kilometres.

Zittau to Liberec: Three Countries Before Dark

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The European Peace Ride is not a race. Two hundred riders, three days, three countries, one peloton, and nothing at the end to win. That is the whole premise, and it takes about an hour on the road before you stop expecting it to turn into something else.