Bicycle Touring and Bikepacking

~50 km away another (same type) bike for comparison

And small earlier type (~1936)

So after the Pyrenees i kept cris crossing around France, bit of Cevennes, Provence, Verdon, Haute Alpes, back to Provence, Vercors, Chartreuse, Jura then to Freibug to take a train home. Title picture is taken on the Montagne de Lure, Mont Ventoux' little brother close to Sisteron.

Gorge du Tarn in the Cevennes. I was getting sick here again

Riding out of Gorges du Verdon to Castellane

On the descend of the Col de la Sinne, looking onto the village Ilonse

This is not some gravel track but the still closed Col d'Allos on my way back south after riding Bonette. Nobody around but two roadies.

Riding the prealpes, from Digne-les-Bains to Sisteron via St Geniez, very nice.

Vercors mountains look awesome, picture taken close to Die

Riding out of Vercors down to Grenoble

After Grenoble i rode through Chartreuse mountain range then down to the Lac du Bourget towards Jura

Second to last day, in french Jura, after that i rode to Freiburg to take a train home

Route of France section Part 1, Perpignan - Barême and Part 2, Barême - Freiburg

So few weeks ago my friend told me that he and 2 of his friends are planning trip to Slovenia. I was interested because I could get week off and ride with them.

Then I learned more about the trip, these guys didn't know what are they doing- first they planned to go there and back in a week ~170 km / day (I told them that it isn't possible), then they planned to take some trains along the route (they didn't checked if they take bikes...). Then I just told them that they are doing it for the first time so don't complicate it - start from home and see where you can go and adjust the route on the road.

So we started from Brno with plan to get to Břeclav, join EV13 and ride south to Hungary border and then go west to Graz.

At the start I saw for the first time all our bikes - my bike on which I have ~6000km, my friend with borrowed older mountain bike properly maintained, one pretty new mountain bike but small 26' wheels (the guy is taller than me) without rack so he had backpack, short guy with 29' new mountain bike and guy who "planned" this trip on really old road bike with flat bars (standard frame from 80's that was made in all sorts of bikes).

They didn't have some gear and reserve inner tubes... so first stop was local decathlon.

I planned the route for the first day so we had all possible terrain, good thing I did that because the old 80's bike got bent back wheel, I was like ok fortunately I have tool for centering wheels on my multitool but unfortunately I never done it. I was able to get it to not touch the frame (yes it was that bad) but discovered that the bike was in worse shape than I anticipated - bent rear V brake, totally cooked drive train, bad wheels...

So for the second time we scratch route and wanted to go to Bratislava. We started the second day on Austrian side of EV 13 and we intended to take ferry half way to Slovakian side of Morava river. Unfortunately because high winds and higher levels of water ferry didn't operate.

Scratched route again, we ended up on campsite in Petronell-Carnuntum. But before we get there we had to center the wheel again. At the time I was little bit pissed and I didn't wanted to ride somewhere where isn't train connection so he can get home if the bike falls apart. We agreed to go to Vienna and see where to go from there.

At the campsite there was French family with 4 kids bike touring. I chatted with them and they started in France 2 months ago and will probably end in Budapest.

On the third day everything was without a hiccup, we got to Vienna, pitched tents and got to look around there. The guy with 29' mountain bike which was too big for him went home because of back pain (surprise!). And I snatched this pick of the camp area (it is bad but you can clearly see that nearly every tent has bike next to it).

Some of us wanted to go home early so from week trip it became 4 day trip. We get on EV 9 back to Břeclav.

I took some photos for eco minded people:

And some for the the petrol heads:

5 km before Břeclav I fell, I will be all right but I will have to find somewhere these condoms to repair my leavers.

All in all I would categorize this trip as a experience, not bad. I was able to test some gear, new bags that I bought because I have borrowed ones and my friend needed them back, that it is possible to use alcohol stove...

Hey! Newbie to the touring world here. I have a Kona Rove DL 2021 frame, and looking at getting a front rack set up organised. After some research, the Tubus Duo and Tubus Tara look like excellent, light reliable choices which run nice and low on the bike.

My understanding is that the Duo requires "lowrider eyelets on the inside and outside", whilst the Tubus does not. However, I must admit my understanding of eyelet terminology is not up-to-scratch, and as such I'm not actually sure whether my bike would support it. I also haven't been able to find any good learning resource for understanding this specific case of eyelet requirements in my usual sources online.

If I had to trust my limited knowledge, I would say no, and that I would need an additional eyelet running parallel to the one I have at the moment. But I'm hoping to get conclusive advice from others!

Cheers!

Won't be getting any higher, at least not on this trip. On the Cime de la Bonette.

Riding mountains gives me a crazy high, the combination of exercise and the views that come up. There are places where you can get similar views "for free", without the work, but for me the feeling does not really compare.

In the background Erg Chebbi, the highest and largest sand dunes of Morocco, N. Africa: the dunes spread over an area of near 200 km2 (28 x 7 km) and are 150 meters high
#touring #cycletouring #cycling #wanderer #exploring #bicycle #bicycletouring @bicycle_touring #adventurecycling #cyclinglife #cyclingnomads #traveldiaries #biketouringforever #pedalpower #travelstories #travelbybike #bikewander #bikelife #biketouring #fromwhereiride #worldbycyclingù #worldbybike #pedaljourneys #humanpoweredadventures #neverstopexploring #biketocamp #worldbycycling

This "sauna" weather isn't the best for bikepacking, I had to take breaks pretty often. There is cherry season so you always find "reason" to stop for some "snack".

cross-posted from: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/17281060

Hello,

I have an ELEMNT BOLT V2 GPS BICYCLE COMPUTER. Now I'm planning a longer bike tour with breaks. The bike computer stays on. Can you turn off the bolt to save power and then reactivate it to continue recording?

Best regards

This post may be used as resource for others so try to structure it somehow. Share whatever you think will be useful- links, local knowledge, interesting places, routes, maps...

This is a bit of an older link, don't think he updated in a while. I still have a look at it every once in a while.

Ultralight with little money, taken to the extreme (bubble wrap sleeping pad anyone?). I think he has some really good ideas and interesting thoughts, also like his humor.

Last year in Portugal #touring #cycletouring #cycling #wanderer #exploring #bicycle #bicycletouring #bicycling @bicycle_touring #adventurecycling #cyclinglife #cyclingnomads #traveldiaries #biketouringforever #pedalpower #travelstories #travelbybike #bikewander #bikelife #biketouring #fromwhereiride #worldbycyclingù #worldbybike #pedaljourneys #humanpoweredadventures #neverstopexploring #biketocamp #worldbycycling

Crossing High Atlas Mountains, Morocco, N. Africa. #touring #cycletouring #cycling #wanderer #exploring #bicycle #bicycletouring @bicycle_touring #adventurecycling #cyclinglife #cyclingnomads #traveldiaries #biketouringforever #pedalpower #travelstories #travelbybike #bikewander #bikelife #biketouring #fromwhereiride #worldbycyclingù #worldbybike #pedaljourneys #humanpoweredadventures #neverstopexploring #biketocamp #worldbycycling

This topic is meant to be a low threshold possibility for all kinds of discussion. It is not meant to keep anybody from creating a new topic, the idea is that it may enable some discussion that would otherwise not happen at all.

overlooking silicon valley from the west with just a water bottle (hiked half the way, it was a trail too sketchy for these tyres)

Oh my gody guys and girls. I am beyond hyped right now, two days into riding the Pyrenees west to east.

I started my pyrenees route yesterday from St. Jean de Luz on the atlantic coast. I thought road cycling was popular in spain, but here in this french town - and i'm trying to be accurate here - i saw about a hundred roadies riding out into the mountains this morning. Crazy.

It is a beautiful sunny saturday, i feel like it's the first really warm day while i am cycling on this trip, it's 25° - which was basically the temperature i expected all along. The route for the day would take me over two smaller passes, but starting from sea level it's still a lot to climb. First pass is the Puerto de Oxtondo, it's not very spectacular and has some traffic, totally forgot about motorbikers. On the way to the pass i cross into spain, the downhill is sweet and at some point i turn east to climb up the Izpegiko or Col d'Ispeguy, a border pass after which i'll be back on the french side of the basque country. That one is much nicer, hardly any traffic. A guy touring with a cargo bike comes zipping down as i climb up, waving happily. On top of the pass is a bar, i have a drink, then sit on the grass to eat a banana and some cookies and enjoy the view. There's horses around and one cute baby horse comes up to me, i pet it a bit and it keeps demanding more. It starts to nibble on my tshirt. I try to hush it away, it's been hanging around for a while. Then it starts to nibble on my forkbag. Eventually it lets go of my stuff and licks the cylinders of a motorbike. Horses i guess.

About to descend the Izpegiko

Downhill is gorgeous and i roll into St Jean Pied de Port, a major starting town for the camino crowd. I check in on the municipal campsite, whole bunch of cycle tourers there (hikers too), i assume most of them are doing the camino too. I go into town to eat at a bar and befriend an american guy, we decide to share a table, he was also waiting for a free table. He is going to start walking the camino the next day.

Back in my tent i plan my route for the next day, as i have already went off the track i had originally planned.

I start right in time to when the carrefour supermarket opens, i buy food for 2 and a half days because it seems like i won't pass anything really. Turns out i just had the food type poi's disabled in my navigation app.

It is going to be 17° and cloudy today, but the wind isn't cold so it feels kinda good. I'll be heading into the Irati forest. As i'm riding towards my first climb there's a sign that says col d'iraty 17 km at 5.7 %. That sounds alright. My plan is to ride only about two thirds of it, then go onto what looks like a hiking track, then do a little river crossing onto a mountainbike route. A sign comes up 17.5 km to the col, next 500m will average 11%. I guess that'll only make the rest a bit milder. But it turns out the whole climb isn't very even and i started a climb that will average almost 10% for the next 9km. If i had had a look at the grades yesterday evening, i'm sure i'd have found a different route. The climb is really moody and cloudy, but i still enjoy it, there's a whole lot of vultures dipping in and out of the clouds, which looks amazing, very calm climb too, just a few roadies and a couple RVs.

Climbing up the Burdinkurutxetako

The climb has some kind of pre-pass, it goes by the snappy name "Burdinkurutxetako", it is basically where the steep section ends and i will turn onto the hiking track. It is super beautiful forest, i ride along the creek. There comes a section that looked like hike-a-bike, but i am able to "ride" down, walking speed and one foot on the ground kinda. Then i am at the river crossing. I gues this is the first actual river crossing i did. Water is above knee high in parts. There are diagonal rocky furrows in parts that look super sketchy, all the rocks are covored with algae too. I find a spot with hardly any furrows, do a test walk to the other side. It's pretty damn slippery and the current kinda strong. I decide to carry over bags and bike seperately. I bring two bags at once, i think having one hand free could be helpful. Last i bring over the bike, which is way easier.

About to cross. There is a big toad hidden in this picture, i guess it's really hard to find, whoever finds it will get an upvote

I don't know if the it was the right call to cross the river 7 times (incl. test walk) or if i should have just gone with the complete bike. Maybe the current would have been worse with the bags, but it felt really stable with the bike as an extra post. While i'm fooling around with my crap by the river, the sun comes out. On the other side of the river is a picnic table and i eat some waffles and try to let my sandals dry. River crossing was also a border crossing, i am back on the spanish side now.

Then i get onto the mtb track, which is really a gravel road. It gets cloudy again, and i ride a climb way into the clouds, then a real fun downhill out of the clouds, then climb back into the clouds again. On top of the climb is a hikers bar, open on the weekend. I drink a coke on the terrasse, which should have a fantastic view but it's all in the clouds. The plan is to go like some 20km more, but fiddling around with my phone i see that there's a refugio just 2km further up a road. It is a bit early, but the sun breaks through the clouds again, i can see into the mountains and think that would be real sweet. The clouds move real fast, i get a view for 20 seconds and then it's all just fog again. And then a view again. I order two beers at the bar, one of them to go, some crisps and another bottle of water. The bar closes at 6, i ride up up to the refugio and get a glimpse of really great views and i start to get super fucking high on my trip. Cycle touring is the best.

The refugio is again a bit shoddy, but i place a chair outside of it, sheltered from the wind and eat some crisps, drink the other beer, watch birds of preyg, enjoy the view and start writing a post for lemmy.

Chilling at the refugio

At 8 o'clock i am covered in clouds, the wind picks up and it gets cold, but in the refugio it's warm, someone has made a fire here today, the warmth comes from the fireplace. I cook some pasta, then some tea, have a look outside but it's still all clouds.

I am sending this the day after, there was no connection in the refugio. Morning was still all clouds, but i descended out of them already. On the descend i remembered what i wanted to buy last week at Decathlon in Pamplona: Gloves.

I’ve wanted to get into bikepacking for years, but I’ve always been concerned about how I’d be able to ride for multiple days. I was on a cycling team in college and the longest ride I’ve done is about 70 miles, after which I was toast and my butt was really sore. Obviously this is different than bike touring, but it still makes me wonder how others do it.

Do you take a lot of breaks throughout the day? Or is it more just conditioning yourself and building “callouses” (for lack of a better word haha). I’m pretty sure my pelvic bones are positioned right on my saddle, but maybe I need a different one.

A shake down ride to make sure everything is in order. Needs a little more air in the forks, and I need to add lights to my list, otherwise all good.

3 punctures, all in different places so not the rim or anything, just bad luck.

I gained a travel companion en route to Paris. We both camped near Dieppe the first night, then we both stayed at the Cyclist Halte in Dampierre-en-bray, so we decided to travel together. It was really nice having a companion for the first half of the trip. They are 64 and have done a lot tours and taught me lots of neat tricks and how people toured before GPS, which saved me a lot of battery in the end. They were using a Brompton folding bike as they came over from Canada (see pictures)

After Paris, I got the train to Calais and cycled the Euro Velo 4 route along the coast back to Paris. I didn't know the fast trains require bike bags, I thought there were lots of options to get to Calais, but in the end it was one of two regional trains that you can just walk bikes onto, and I had just missed the early one, so got to Calais to late to ride that day. The next day was rainy, and I did my 50 mile quota plus about 30 more to make up for losing time the day before. However the next day was gale strength head winds, I tried my hardest to get to Dieppe so I could make the ferry in the morning, but I just ran out of energy 30 miles short, and had to give in. I booked a ferry for the following day instead and took the last 30 miles at a relaxing pace to recoup.

My rear brake was broken. It failed going down a few hills and I had to foot brake to stop. I could temporarily fix it, but it would stop working again after a while, and I had to keep fiddling with it before going down a big hill. Need to get it fixed at a shop before any more tours.

Arriving in Dieppe:

A view of Normandy on the Avenue Verte:

Gisors:

Camping in Dangu:

Travel companions:

Some cool wall art:

A coastal town view:

She said she planned to travel to Norway pulling this little bicycle caravan! We met her in Dangu, about 50 miles ride NE of Paris. I hope she is enjoying herself and not working too hard to pull it along.

After Paris I got the train to Calais to ride back to Dieppe. I got to Calais to late to cycle as intended, so I found a campsite, then went for a walk down the beach, and found a pretty cool bunker, where the sand beneath it had been blown away. I don't know who it is that was sat inside it, they invited me over to sit with them, but it was late, and I am not that brave..