CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenery first, traffic last, with checkpoints that make sense on a bike. 279 km round from Großbeeren - plan on about 4 h 41 of riding. The stops in between: Grunewald, Scenic stretch near Velten and near Oranienburg. The climb of the day is near Michendorf. Much of it runs through woodland.
Next is High point near Michendorf.
You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Saxon Switzerland Overnight checkpoint 8.
Berlin has a racetrack hidden in plain sight. The AVUS, which opened in 1921 through the Grunewald forest, was both one of the first motorways in the world and a racing circuit, where drivers and riders competed at astonishing speeds on its long straights and steep, banked north curve. Racing ended long ago and the banking is gone, but the road is still there, now part of the A115 motorway, and the old grandstand and timing tower survive by the roadside. Passing them on the way into the city is a nod to history.
Read the complete Near Grunewald write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 279 km. Next is Scenic stretch near Velten.
Scenic stretch near Velten, about halfway. Next is Photo stop near Oranienburg.
Oranienburg is a town on the Havel river, a short way north of Berlin, and it carries two very different histories side by side. On one side there is the palace, built in the seventeenth century for Louise Henriette of Orange, the Dutch-born wife of the Elector of Brandenburg, who gave the town its name. It was the first baroque palace in Brandenburg, and its Dutch influence is seen in the proportions and brick. The town became known as Oranienburg, the castle of Orange, and the palace now houses a museum and gardens.
Read the complete Photo stop near Oranienburg write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Photo stop near Oranienburg sits at 147 km, about halfway. Next is Berlin motorcycle escapes return.
Berlin motorcycle escapes return comes up about 187 km into the recorded legs. Next is Food stop near Grünheide.
For most of its history, Grünheide was a sleepy village of lakes and pine forests on the south-eastern edge of Berlin. Then Tesla arrived. The enormous electric car factory that opened here in 2022 transformed the place into a symbol of industrial change, controversy over water and forests, and new traffic. Even so, the countryside around it still offers some of the nicest lake landscapes near the capital.
Read the complete Fuel stop near Grünheide write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
A break here. Next is Back to Saxon Switzerland.
It owes its modest fame to a battle. In August 1813, during the Napoleonic Wars, a Prussian and Swedish army under Bülow defeated a French force marching on Berlin, which saved the Prussian capital from occupation. A monument in the town marks the spot, and the battle is remembered each year with a local commemoration.
Read the complete Saxon Switzerland write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Back to Saxon Switzerland. That is the ride.
Treat High point near Michendorf → Near Grunewald as bend craft. Brake early, look high through the turn, and keep throttle changes gentle. It is more satisfying to link ten clean bends than rescue one silly one.
Scenic stretch near Velten → Photo stop near Oranienburg is the reward section in Berlin motorcycle escapes. Look through the bends, use legal pull-offs for photos and keep a little margin for tractors, cyclists and damp shade. The best ride here is smooth, not noisy.
Photo stop near Oranienburg → Near Waldsieversdorf, on the way back is shade riding: beautiful, cooler and sometimes slick. Expect damp patches, leaves, gravel and wildlife where the trees meet the road.
Food stop near Grünheide → Back to Saxon Switzerland is the logistics leg. Watch junctions, villages and speed changes, then let the roadbook do its job: move you out of the clutter without spending your best attention too early.