I was really worried that something bad could happen, but lake Garda in Italy is a truly amazing place. The route took longer than expected, but just because of the amazing views. Stopped almost every 10 minutes to capture it. Totally recommend, except the dangerous tunnels the infrastructure is really great, lots of cycling hotels, cafes, rentals with professional bikes and more
My wife wasn't a cyclist. She had a whole list of reasons she couldn't do a tour. Wrong bike, not fit enough, can't camp, doesn't speak French. Honestly I was a bit nervous, everyone says taking your partner on their first tour is how you put them off it for life.
We did the Avenue Verte anyway. Gatwick to the Eiffel Tower, about 400km over five easy days, plus a rest day at Giverny. And it just... worked. The route's basically flat, you sleep in B&Bs the whole way so there's no camping gear to deal with, and the ferry in the middle gives you a four-hour sit-down that resets everyone's legs and mood. By day three she was the one checking the map.
Now she wants to pick every tour we've done since.
Wrote it up properly on my Substack if you want the longer version.
Happy to answer anything if you're thinking about doing it or you have a reluctant partner you are trying to come on your tours with you.
I’m a bit sad. I was so nervous for the trip being a woman alone and I had a fall and I’ve never fallen. This was supposed to be an easy trip. The wheel was twisted, now it won’t turn right, only left.
I don’t speak the language but someone is helping me try to find a place to fix it but we’re in the middle of no where.
Is the problem bad enough to take a train home?
Update: I was picked up by a city tree cutter and he had room in his truck. I’m at a bicycle repair spot. I hope they can fix it.
Update #2: They fixed it! I’m going to hit the road again soon! Thank you everyone for your advice! You can’t imagine how reassuring it was to have support from you all!
I'm heading on EV6 trip end of August into September. I went on an EV15 trip last year, only had a raincoat. I heard good things about ponchos for rain. I would like to hear some real life experiences with use of poncho and opinions.
I did not have any problems with just a rain coat, (Rab .. British made) but maybe there is something better.
Mountains? Done. Fields and meadows? Been there. Tailwinds and headwinds? Naturally.
I am flying to Vietnam in a couple of weeks and spending about 7 weeks there. I fly into Hanoi and out of Ho Chi Min, I plan to do the ha giang loop but other than that I don’t have a whole lot planned.
Would you recommend going in land and following the ho chi min highway or going along the coast? Some pros and cons for each would be great if u have them.
With nicer I mean more fun(adventurous), scenic, more landmarks etc...
Hi all,
I'm looking for a long-sleeve snap-button down shirt for bikepacking for tropical weather, something pretty much exactly like these two;
But the Cognative one doesn't seem to be made anymore, and the Orionride company is getting some pretty shitty reviews...
Any other suggestions?
I have a cheap windbreaker from Uniqlo. I use it if I want just a bit of extra warmth on a ride, mostly early in the morning. I dont need it for rain. It's served me well, but it's ready to be replaced. Is a more expensive cycling-specific wind jacket really going to be better? I just saw one by Castelli and one by Sportful at some bike shops and the material is almost see-through. Seems hard to believe that one like this will provide as much warmth.
Hi guys.
Silly question, I want to put a kickstand on my Kona Rove Dl.
Sacrilege bute I know but I want to use it more as it's so nice to also use it as a city bike.
Any links would be awesome.
Cheers Jett.
Thinking of staying in Utrecht for a week and setting out on daily rides to nearby towns and sights. This sounds somewhat more appealing to us than a traditional tour changing lodging each night.
Has anyone done this? Curious whether Utrecht is a good of bike tour base.
Hey yall,
My partner and I are heading to New Zealand in December for about 8 months on a work visa. I’m hoping to spend 1-2 months of those months touring and I’m looking for ideas.
I mostly enjoy road touring but are open to dirt too. If gravel/ dirt is what New Zealand is best for I’ll switch to that, I just had a tough time enjoying the Peru Great Divide when I was there in the past. I like hills and are down for climbs, usually like to average 3k a day/ 40-50 miles per day. At the moment I have a trek 520 but are willing to look for something else if gravel is more common.
I am trying to find the perfect long sleeve jersey for all-day riding and I'm hitting a wall. Everything seems so specialised and without enough variations.
I just want something for the times when t-shirt is not enough, but not so cold for jacket. It needs to be full zip for ease of putting on and off (pullover types require too much time, remove helmet/hat, glasses), to block at least partially the wind (have Patagonia R1, but this thing is like artificially increasing the wind feel), definitely not so tight fit like wearing a wetsuit what all the road/gravel jerseys are.
And it has to be not crazy expensive and available to buy online in EU.
But all familiar stores - bike-discount, bike24, vaude, etc. have basically either these tight fit road jerseys or pullover mtb or casual regular cotton hoodies.
I havent biked toured but from my perspective it is one of the most rewarding way to travel. And actually chillest. I bike in a chill pace all day stop when i want to, eat when i want to and often you can still get a bed in either a hostel or a hotell either way it is amazing to sleep under the stars.
And if you chose a good route with variations in the scenery and that goes trough villages it wont get to boring.
I have a dream to bike down to Portugal this summer from Sweden.
Pls tell me the reality cause i think that i am somewhat a little naive.
I’m 30s/M in good shape but have only ever done a handful of 30-50km day trip rides with friends on hand to navigate and do any maintenance if needed. I‘ve recently done a 50km ~600m elevation day and pretty sure I can do more distance and elevation than that.
I’m last-minute planning a cycle trip for myself and would appreciate some experienced input.
Anywhere is fair game within a 5 hour flight from London. I’m interested in northern Spain, Slovenia, Scotland but open to other suggestions. Inclination is to either do luggage forwarding or base camp with long loop day trips.
Would love input on:
Goal is basically to be comfortable enough to buy a good used road bike by the time I get home and convert to a consistent weekend warrior. And also see a new country in a fantastic way.
I am planning to do a 4-day-trip. Preferably I would like to take the train from Frankfurt (Germany) to somewhere and then ride back. I want to do about 100km every day. Anyone has ideas where start from for this distance? Any nice routes?
Stretching after reaching Niagara Falls. Birds welcome me, and Ginette also welcomes me in her house, I cook arepas for her and she tells me bear stories from Canada.
I’m producing a filmed bicycle diary, and whoever might like to see it, I’ll share link in comments or via DM.
Abrazo!
Pablo
Nice little overnight trip on the Chief Ladiga to the Silver Comment. It was super hot out so just mainly carrying extra water.
Just got back from a 3.5 week credit card tour in Europe. Belgium, France and Germany and thanks to the research on this forum I was very happy with my load up. The weight was nicely distributed and everything was easy to take off an load up. The bike is a 2023 Kona Rove DL (which I love by the way) with the majority of bags being Rhinowalk brand. I went with a tubeless set up and added a Mountain Bike Shock Spring Absorber Suspension Stem last minute (not shown in picture). I weigh 230 lbs and my gear was about 25 lbs. The only thing that failed on my was the rear seat post water bottle holder / stabilizer. One of the arms snapped on day 5. But luckily the rear bag worked great without it and remained stable. I was able to rip down single track forest trails, cross chunky farmer fields and soak up cobble stone paths and roads with this set up. I will be using the exact same load out for future touring trips.
Hi cyclists,
I’d like to ask whether it’s a good idea to drill a small hole in a Tubus Logo Evo rack.
On some newer bikes I’ve noticed that the rear light cable is routed through the rack itself, which looks neat and seems to protect the cable better. I’m wondering if doing something similar on an existing Tubus Logo Evo is a smart idea.
If drilling a hole is acceptable, where would be the best place to do it? For example, would it make sense to drill near a junction where two metal tubes meet, or is that actually a bad idea from a structural point of view?
Curious if anyone has experience with this or knows whether Tubus specifically advises against it.
Thanks in advance!
