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Glen Stefani
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Mötley Crüd
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Used my 25% off to get the Leather Mitts. They are nice but I sent them back as there is no padding at all. An un-perforated section of leather around the thumb but the rest is just a thin bit of perforated leather. Rapha say that the seams are designed to avoid any pressure or rubbing but I didn't want to test this out on longer rides.
A large pair of the old GT gloves turned up in the archive sale menu so I've got those instead. The 'sniper padding' on the palms works a treat.
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They mentioned something about a new range of gloves in, I think, their 2017 preview at the beginning of the year.
Hoping they do another decent pair of the African hair sheep leather/sniper padding mitts, but with a press stud and not Velcro closure.
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Apols for delayed response, no notifications/change of log-in.
Decided to go upstream for a couple of reasons. Partly because I wanted to leave the most impressive scenery until the end and partly I thought it would be slightly more exercise gaining altitude along the way. Doing it this way probably made the big climb on the last day slightly easier after all the preceding miles, but it also made getting home longer and a bit of a bore on a sleeper train and daytime north sea crossing.
Hope you can get to ride it in the summer - let us know how you get on.
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16 days including two rest days. One of which due to heavy rain. Averaged a leisurely 70 miles a day, max 105, min 40.
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Cycled the whole route at the end of last summer, upstream from Hoek van Holland to the Oberalppass. Then hiked the last couple of kilometers to the source of the Vorderrhine.
Generally it was a great trip. As you say, it is mostly flat so pretty easy going apart from the final climb up the pass and a bit of climbing around a gorge between Ilanz and Reichenau. Also, surprisingly, there's a bit of climbing just west of Arnhem in the Netherlands. Apart from the Swiss alpine bits I'd consider doing it fixed.
Quite a mixture of cycle path conditions, my 25mm Gatorskins were fine for the most part but there were sections, mostly in Germany, that were a bit ropey. Some of the paths were bumpy due to either tree roots growing under the path or not-so-great block paving. The fine gravel sections were OK. One section in Switzerland suddenly changed from perfect smooth tarmac to really rocky gravel where I had to get off and push until I could switch to the Austrian side. Another short section in Switzerland before Dissentis was little more than a goat trail.
Signposting was mostly good. Can't comment on campsites as I used hotels/guesthouses. It was usually pretty easy to find a room every evening but some sections were fully booked such as all along the Bodensee.
If you just start in Basel you are missing some very impressive/picturesque parts such as the Rhinefalls at Schaffhausen, pretty villages like Bad Säckingen, Stein am Rhine and Lindau, and views of the big mountains. If you were to start in Chur instead of Basel you could take these in and miss out any really steep sections. You'd then just have a few minor climbs to get through "Heidiland" at the start. Saying that, the Swiss Franc costs a fortune at the moment and there is plenty to see along the way from Basel to the North Sea. Or start in Lindau and only eat and sleep on the German side.
In a few years time I'll probably do the route again so I can see a few of the places I couldn't stop at the first time around.
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Is that the "Fixed" jersey @HatBeard? I was thinking the same thing about my two Fixed jerseys the other day. Still going strong, no moth damage and none of that saggy-loaded-pocket-syndrome some compained about. Not quite as good value as yours mind as they cost an average of £65 seven years ago.
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Went for a ride along part of the route yesterday evening, weather and scenery was glorious. Attempted to attach a picture from the Tissington Trail, hope it's visible.
Buon viaggio to all those doing one of the routes on Sunday.
Alice Pooper