We bombed into Passau as the last rays of sunlight ducked behind the spires of Niedernburg Abbey-a train of five American bikers, tucked in behind our Czech guide Jan, from VBT Vacations. As the road leveled off, I wiped tears from the corner of each eye and watched them fall into the Ilz River, just east of Passau, Germany. For centuries this river carried salt miners out of the Alps and into civilization with their white gold, and as I crossed the bridge into city lights of Passau, I felt like I too was being born out of the wilderness on the waves of this ancient river. Our group of 14 cyclists had followed the tributary through Southern Bavaria all day, as we crossed the border from the Czech Republic. For forty years, the Iron
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