Generic Touring Thread

Definitely more inclined to ride away from home, but points awarded to all of you.

Another factor is the flight cost - much, much more expensive flying from London in early August than flying home.

That would be awesome, ride from Denmark to Germany then Brussels for the Eurostar back, or flight back via Munich.

With a three weeks tour, I reckon you can do 2,000km in comfort and go further south away from Germany into Austria which is also another place worth going (1,200km approx on a straight line).

Denmark to Budapest would be around 1400km.

And I'm now thinking I should've taken the ferry to Denmark and go to Budapest instead of Spain/France, dammit.

Visualisation of current idea. Coming in around 1200 miles, 70miles a day would put it at about 17 days.

Bit of warning - coastal route can be great, but hellish if you encounter strong headwind.

Oh god I know, had an awful ride back from Amsterdam in April. Possibly worth heading inland for the Copenhagen - Gothenburg stretch. I'd also skip the ferries and bridges of the Netherlands this time, heading towards Antwerp, and then north to Groningen.

I'm planning to ride from Cologne to Berlin in August, using a basic touring/bikepacking set up - I have found this route - (http://www.bikemap.net/hu/route/1529643-berlin-koln/#/z9/51.66914,10.51666/google_roadmap), which I will likely use, and hopefully throw in a day of two around the Harz mountains (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harz).

Does anyone have any experience of riding this part of Germany? anything that could be added to the route, any better routes altogether etc etc?

I was origionally planning to ride from Calais, but it actually worked out cheaper (train from London, ferry etc) to take the Eurostar all the way to Cologne...

Yoss, how much is the train costing? Back in April the train/ferry combo cost around £40 each way

Yoss, how much is the train costing? Back in April the train/ferry combo cost around £40 each way

£49.00

But that's not including the £25 for the bike going assembled on Eurostar.

I'd not seen any rail/sail offers, so had just worked out the individual trains/ ferry... I was also mainly sold by arriving on the same day in Cologne, and thus having all the cycling time in Germany.

So my bike is complete. Not tour specific but it will do for the job at hand i'm confident.

I'm not likely to get a (proper) holiday this year so Im thinking of lightly packing up my bike and heading into the sunset.

I'd be keen for a couple of decent weekend routes that I could do on my fixed bike. Anyone got a good route/destination to inspire me?

To see how I go with riding and camp overs. My gearing is light 70inches so should be fairly so and chilled pace.

If all goes well i'll crack out a week and shoot for Amsterdam from home and back.

Might be a little high, ideally 65-67GI would be suitable (1t bigger cog).

Would suggest riding out and then taking the train back would make a nice weekend.

This topic might be more helpful.

e.g. this kind of route.

Might be a little high, ideally 65-67GI would be suitable (1t bigger cog).

Would suggest riding out and then taking the train back would make a nice weekend.

This topic might be more helpful.

e.g. this kind of route.

nice one thanks :)

Hello tourers! I wonder if you can give me some advice about travelling before and after a novice tour.

I've got some time between jobs in August and I'd like to do a ride down the Danube from as close to the source as possible to Budapest (easy going compared to you lot I know). My question is about how to get myself there and back.

Trains cost £250 and I'll definitely need a bike bag, but I'll still need to pay Eurostar £30 each way to take it unless it's <85cm in length which it won't be).
Flights cost £160 and it'll cost ~£100 to take the bike on board in a bike bag.

I'm thinking of taking the planes but worried about what to do with the bike bag during the tour. I've never used one before. Are they collapsible to an extent and can I stuff it into a pannier or is it going to be too much hassle? Is it viable to find a cardboard bike box at either end and just discard it after getting off the plane?

Thanks if you can help! Cheers!

Sorry if I don't reply in the next 4-5 hours. I've got to be offline for a bit this evening.
Cheers for any help!

I would ride into Budapest and use their bicycle shop to pack your bicycle back for flying back to the UK.

How many days/weeks will you be off for? if it's week, would fly into a different city, says Vienna and ride to Budapest.

Oh. That's a good idea. Thanks very much Ed.

Do you think I could do the same in the UK? Just get a cardboard bike box at both ends, wrap it up, get rid of it when I touchdown?

I was thinking about 3-4 weeks, flying into Stuttgart and following it down. It's about 1200km I think. Only about 50km a day which is about my regular daily commuting distance. Does that seem manageable for a novice tourer?

Cheers Ed

Yeah you can, any LBS is happy to give you a cardboard box to pack your bike.

50km is a very very leisurely distance each days, great if you intend to stop and see the sight as much as possible, and give yourself a couple days off every once in a while.

50km is basically 3 hours riding (20km/h), a full days riding (I would says 9 to 5) is between 80-100km.

Brilliant. Thanks very much for the advice Ed.

I thought it would be. I'm hoping to make decent speed into the major cities and then spend 1-2 days in each and probably about a week in Budapest itself so I think the km/day should be ok.

Cheers Ed! You've been a great help as always :D
[must spread rep]

Visualisation of current idea. Coming in around 1200 miles, 70miles a day would put it at about 17 days.

Are Aarhus and Copenhagen optional? If it was me, I'd look at either of these changes:
Instead of going north to Aarhus, I'd turn right at Kolding/Middelfart and then head southeast across Funen to Svendbord and Langeland and then a ferry to Lolland/Falster and ride north to Copenhagen and then on to Elsinore and take the ferry across til Helsingborg.
If you want to do the Aarhus part, I'd ride along the north coast of Zealand, take the ferry at Rørvig to Hundested and then continue to Elsinore along the north coast.

brendography: many parts of your route through Holland may be quite boring. I'd recommend you going straight to Germany through the south of Holland and go north from there. If you don't mind skipping Amsterdam that is, which I would being a Dutchie and all.

Is Gothenburg also a must for you? I haven't ridden these parts myself, but I would want to ride some more inland routes through Sweden and see some of the Vännern and Vättern lake regions.

I never had much trouble finding a cardboard box for any flights I did with my bike, but you may want to call some bike shops at your destination in advance just to make sure.

Just to add. I am jealous.

Locks on tour - whats your take? I have a few weeks long tour in planning, and this might be silly question but what kind of lock would be "best" option to carry? Hauling heavy u-lock with me seems a bit inconvenient for some reason. Is it?

http://www.kabrus.co.uk/xl505.html
around chain, chainstay and a spoke
+

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/LOCPY7/sagisaka-y-7-japanese-cable-lock
through the alarm lock, around chainstay and around a pole or whatever

Had a great little tour with some good friends over a long weekend.

Train out to Bath. Rode to Wells, then to Castle Cary. Lots of up and down. Then Dorchester to Poole. That's an awesome rolling ride with amazing scenery. Poole into the New Forrest and camping at Beaulieu - amazing food in a great pub, and very pretty surrounds. Then up through the forrest and to Winchester for a train home.

4 days. 160 miles and about 6500ft of climbing. Very easy going and lots of eating drinking and campfires along the way. Also little traffic as we were following greenways and cycle routes. If anyone wants the routes let me know - happy to share them.

Pics attached.

3 Attachments

I'd be up for seeing a route please, sounds perfect

I've got the tubus QR adapter for my bike that lacks mounting eyelets but I'm a little worried about mounting on an old road frame with horizontal dropouts and having the wheel slip - I'm not sure how solid this QR is, it's an external cam model and looks a little plasticy.

Are there any 200mm long steel internal cam QRs available out there, my search came up with nothing, as it is I'm gonna tighten this thing up tighter then any QR before it and take it for a test.