Surly World Troller - touring thread

UPDATE 02/09/17

I'm currently on the way! You can follow this thread for short updates, Http://cycletello.wordpress.com for bigger stories. https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=14e105946b8cc8b03d&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes for dotwatching

Introduction

It's been a while since the idea slowly nestled inside my brain to go on what is going to be the hardest and most demanding shit I've ever done in my life: a cycle tour from my beloved hometown through Europe, Central Asia and China all the way to Beijing. It's a very daunting task which to me at the moment seems almost impossible, especially since I've never done comparable distances before. However, I've almost got my bachelor's degree, and I'm still young, strong and without a lot of obligations which I'll undoubtedly get in the future so why not try and see how far I'll get? If I end up not liking it I'll just turn around (praise the beauty and freedom of bicycle touring!).

I intend to leave in the beginning of the 2017 summer, more or less as soon as possible after turning in my bachelor's thesis. You can't really plan when you're going to leave anyway, the only thing that's standing in the way right now is to build enough funds (trying to work my ass of right now and the savings are steadily growing, but the more money seems to be coming in the more I seem end up spending), to plan the route (as far as that's possible from behind my laptop), getting the appropriate visa's, and getting a suitable bike and gear. This thread is here to document mainly the last three challenges, and possibly the tour itself when I'm finally off.

Planning the route

The route I'm going to take is still uncertain. I have roughly planned two routes. The first is the route I ideally would want to take, which is also inspired by the route Marica van der Meer took on her way from Holland to a birthday party in Adelaide, as documented in her journeys. I'll call it the Southern route. It goes from Holland > Germany > Austria > Hungary > Serbia > Bulgaria > Turkey > Iran > Turkmenistan > Uzbekistan > Kyrgyzstan to China. I like this route because I love the Balkan and would love to visit Iran and the Central Asian States. However, this route requires me to get more visas, which equals more money and some problems, namely entering Turkmenistan, but more on that later. Unfortunately cycling from Iran through Pakistan to India may be an option but I'm not really open to getting lynched by a mob of anti western militia...

The Southern Route (very roughly)

The other route goes from Holland > Germany > Poland > Ukraine > Russia > Kazakhstan to China. This route is more northern which means colder, and also requires me to circle around the east of Ukraine because of the war. However, this route would require me not to get that many visas, and would allow me to see some Russia and southern Kazakhstan, which sounds awesome to me as well. This route is more straightforward and has less visa issues, but more on that later.

The Northern Route (very roughly)

All in all both routes are nice but I definitely would prefer to have it warmer rather than colder, because this will (probably) equate to having to pack less weight and because continental winters can be really cold. The Southern route is also more diverse in countries and cultures which is also a big plus. China can already be a seemingly endless country and adding Kazakhstan to this could be killing.

F-ing Visa Problems and Costs: the Northern route

1. EU zone & Ukraine: free! yay!
   
2. Russia: a cost €65-€85 depending on the service you use, very manageable
   
3. Kazakhstan: same as Russia, again managble
   
4. CHINA! BIG uncertainty. If you want a visa to enter China you need some things which make it very hard for a bicycle tourer to manage. First, you need proof of arrival and departure, which normally would be a flight ticket. Second, you need to enter the country within three months after the visa has been issued. This cancels out getting a visa in The Netherlands and thus would mean staying in Almaty, Kazakhstan for a week trying to get a Chinese visa. Also, because you need proof of arrival and departure I at least need a plane ticket out of Beijing and possibly a plane ticket from Almaty into China OR I'll be allowed to cross the border near Dastyq, Kazakhstan. You also need proofs of stay which is a PITA because I'll be camping out most of the time. These problems also apply to the Southern Route, just switch Kazakhstan for Kyrgyzstan. I'll also expect to have to pay a few hundred euros to a travel agency for a Letter Of Invitation (LOI)
   
   

fuck.yes!

F-ing Visa Problems and Costs: the Southern route

1. EU Zone, free!
   
2. Turkey €25,- easy.
   
3. Iran $45,- easy.
   
4. Turkmenistan: MAJOR PITA. They only accept visas if you've booked a tour, otherwise you can get a transit visa with a high and seemingly random turn down rate. A turndown on the Turkmeni border will probably mean having to get onto a plane to Uzbekistan or on a boat to Kazakhstan.
   
5. Uzbekistan: around €90,- but pretty easy. Seems to be possible to order one in Istanbul and then to pick it up in Tehran (source)
   
6. Kyrgyzstan: free!
   
   

TLDR; getting a Chinese visa is going to be a PITA regardless of the route I'll take

Getting the suitable bike and gear

I'm going to take over @andy_k his Surly Troll, more info will follow :)

Subbed. This looks like a great adventure!

Awesome thread, awesome plan. Good on you for going for it!

Lots of touring cyclists (all over the 'gram these days) go through all those places so there have to be reasonable ways around all those bureaucratic hoops. Guessing it will just take a bit of research. Good luck!

Maybe @laner will join you.

Bickering about what bike to get is a large part of this forum. At first I was planning to get one of those bargainous Marin Four Corners completes 2016 from Charlie the bike Monger. However I really wanted to use the Surly 24-pack rack I recently bought from @JB so I kept switching between the Marin and a Disc Trucker frameset from Triton until I found out Andy was selling his Troll. Major win because this frame will take both discs and Vs, and also has ALL THE MOUNTS! Buying the bike finally meant the first material commitment to the insane idea, so why not start this thread to organise my thoughts, get some help and document the process.

The Build: things I know for sure
Surly Troll Frame & Forks inc. Cane Creek 40 headset almost bought
Front rack 1: Surly 24-Pack Rack Bought
Front rack 2: Tubus Tara
Rear rack: Tubus which I already have
Seatpost: probably the Thomson Inline which I have stashed somewhere

The rest is still pretty much open. I plan to do the build in phases, starting with the wheelbuild, then the gearing, then the finishing kit, bags and lights. For the wheelbuild I know I want a 36h Shutter Precision Dynohub because they seem to be good and reliable for at least 10k km. For the rear I'll take a cheap Shimano hub, possibly Deore XT FH-756. I'm still pretty much undecided about the rims but these Ambrosio AK30 rims seem to fit the bill for being pretty wide (24 mm internal), coming in 36h flavour, having a brake track and being cheap (I like cheap). Spokes: DT Alpine III seems to be the approved overbuilt touring spoke.

I plan to order all these wheel bits myself, however I have never built a wheel. Think I'll find someone in the neighbourhood to build them.

However, nothing is decided and I'm very open to reasonable suggestions :)

@Spxtz @alialias Thanks!

@pastry_bot You're absolutely right, I can't possibly be the only person doing this. Luckily I still have a few months :)

@pastry_bot
@Heldring
I have too many bikes to up sticks and go travelling, maybe

This is a proper and excellent plan, I like it. If you decide go the Kazakhstan route, I have a pal from there with family/friends/connections in Almaty, I believe, can certainly ask for advice if you need. Also I may be selling a Tubus Tara Big Apple (if @amey hasn't already nabbed it with his #buyersense )

Sounds incredible and something to do whilst you have minimal commitments and as a nice way to see off the degree. Looking forward to how this one develops.

YES! Part of me wants to do some touring around europe after my degree.

I have a big commitment in the form of a girlfreind unfortunatly which makes it hard ha!

great thread and interesting to read. a great refreshment during all the boring cps.

I have a big commitment in the form of a girlfreind unfortunatly

Not for long if she reads that

wow gaaf! the troll looks like a good idea too!
had a chat yday withza friend of my gf who did a 2month 5000km tour of switzerland-balkans-greece-bulgaria-rumania-ukraine-moldova or something. I reckon everyone just feels envy for your plans whilst we are stuck with life, computers, work, family etc.. keep us posted!

http://www.ridewithgps.com and OSM cycle layer - laptop planning totally doable.

I've also been having thoughts of doing something crazy like this for some time. It's certainly daunting and scary but that sure means it's going to be memorable.
There's really nothing holding me back except the current workplace, which i'm planning on leaving by next summer anyways. And perhaps the fitness.

Let's make it a nice little group ride :)

After my year in industry I went on a 3 month bike tour while in a committed relationship. She couldn't commit to travel with me and I wasn't missing the chance so I went for it. Eventually she decided that she wasn't sitting around in Manchester while I had all the fun so she went to SE Asia for a couple months, and we ended the trip with a few weeks on a Thai beach. Don't write anything off!

I doubt she's lurking in the depths which is lfgss!!

@TomvanHalen Thanks a lot for the help! That's what I love about this forum. I'll certainly let you know. Also very interested in the Big Apple if @amey doesn't grab it.

@laner Let me know :)

@jambon & @Eingang Thanks for the support!

@Josh I'm also in a relationship for some years now. I've told her about my idea about two months ago. Initially she was pretty sad and shocked about it, like I was going to leave in a week or so and never come back. Right now she still doesn't really wants to see me leaving but fortunately does understand my point of view and supports me, we plan to meet up somewhere along the way and maybe also in somewhere near the end in China. Spending some time on a beach like @alialias also sounds great 😁. Of course I'm aware of the possibility of long-distance not working out for us, but for now it's all nice and pretty so let's keep it that way :)

@Thuekr Thanks for the tip! This certainly will help me escape Europe. Navigation is also definitely something I will have to work out. Garmin, GPS, maps, phone, compass? I'll need to do some research.

@Rodolfo Currently it's just a boy's plan and a bike frame that I haven't even had in my hands. Also the-being-finished-with-my-bachelor's-this-year is still a gamble. For now I'm doing well so reasonably speaking there's no reason to think I won't make it. Still. It's scary 😵

@psee Sounds fun! To be honest I'm not that fit but from what I've read the first month or so will be hard as fuck and after that your body and fitness will hopefully adapt 🏋️

Overall thanks for all the support. I'll keep you updated

Ontzettend gaaf plan; very ambitious! Definitely jealous. Wish you all the best. Will definitely keep an eye on this thread, as it is something I'm very interested in as well.

Question: will you be camping in the wild?

Nice plans! There a fb group called bicycle touring which is very inspiring and has a lot of stories and beautiful pictures. I think it's also important to decide if you just want to focus on grinding away miles and getting there or enjoy all the nice places and people along the way and have a good time. My experience is that only cycling every day can be really boring so I like to take it slow. If you like to get some inspiration you can read the books of Frank van Rijn, I believe he wrote one about a trip from the Netherlands to Bali as well. I'm heading to Vietnam in a few weeks to do some touring so if you have any questions about camping gear etc. send me a pm.
Also: this is very accurate; http://www.roughchop.net/que-mierda-the-other-side-of-cycle-touring/

I think he doesn't have a choice haha

Wow, this is amazing. Sub'd.

Totally irrelevant that I have mostly been drinking beers with Richard this year as he is so fast.

But his book might be of interest to you.

Laid-Back-Around-World.