My Bicycle Ride Across Europe 2009

[Hostels]

In 2000 I met a Dutch guy who had bicycled from Amsterdam to Jerusalem. I asked him a lot of questions about it, because it sounded very interesting, and it planted the idea in my head to bike across Europe.

In 2001 when I was working at my first hostel, I spent all my free time biking and at the bookstore planning my route with maps and travel guides. The idea evolved into a trip from Amsterdam to Greece.

I wasn't able to save enough to go on that trip, but in 2004 at the last minute I went on an unplanned 3-month bicycle tour of the Greek Islands, ending up at Plakian's hostel in the hottest part of the summer. I think the last part of the trip was mostly spent snorkeling in Crete



I didn't complete my mission to bike across Europe -- the minimum requirements were to cross the Swiss Alps, and to go from coast to coast. I came up with this idea for a Barcelona to Stockholm route in the fall of 2007:



That didn't work out because I couldn't take time off from work.

I'm finally going to do it at the end of this summer though because I need to take a break from work. There is only time for a short trip from Barcelona to Amsterdam via Paris where I'm going to go to a tech convention:



Unfortunately I'm not allowed to stay in Europe to do the longer version that crosses the Swiss Alps. Will have to save that for next time

That's the plan -- train until August and then take 4 to 6 weeks off from working to do this trip.

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[Canhostel]

What a great way to spend the summer. And hopefully you will have a nice gentle breeze from the south pushing you toward Amsterdam.

[LatestViking]

Originally Posted by Hostels

I'm finally going to do it at the end of this summer though because I need to take a break from work. There is only time for a short trip from Barcelona to Amsterdam via Paris where I'm going to go to a tech convention:
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This is brilliant idea !

Make sure you have enough battery in your laptop/netbook and a 3G device or something...to see how is to blog while running the bike.
There is no off time !

Enjoy, relax and give us updates!

[Hostels]

Originally Posted by LatestViking

Make sure you have enough battery in your laptop/netbook and a 3G device or something...to see how is to blog while running the bike.

I'll be camping out most of the way, so I'm not sure how often I'll be able to recharge batteries, but I'll be on Twitter one way or another.

It started on Twitter -- I was thinking about it out loud and someone said to do the trip and stop by the Drupal convention in Paris

My widescreen laptop is too heavy but I'll have a netbook for Drupalcon.

[Tim]

I've been thinking of a similar trip but my idea was to cycle from Stockholm to La Rochelle, which I figure would avoid most hills. I enjoy cycling as long as I'm not going up a hill and it sure beats dieting as a way to lose some weight.

[Hostels]

Originally Posted by Tim

I've been thinking of a similar trip but my idea was to cycle from Stockholm to La Rochelle, which I figure would avoid most hills.

That looks like a good route. I had originally put Stockholm at the end because I thought it would be something to look forward to. I've never been there but it looks interesting:
http://www.seedforum.org/userfiles/Stockholm(1).jpg

I gained over 30 pounds since my last bike trip from working with computers. By August I'm hoping I'll be in shape enough to go over the Massif Central. There's an alternate route around it too, just in case

Photos:

• http://www.notre-planete.info/photos...er=puydome.jpg
• http://www.christopherholt.com/image...ral_02_001.jpg

[Hostels]

Check out this guy's bike:
http://microship.com/bike/index.html

17,000 miles on various high-tech bicycles, including the $1.2 million BEHEMOTH.

[Stefan]

sounds like a great bike trip, always make sure to have enough water with you
what does end uf summer mean to you, as the tour de france will be in late summer also, maybe you can take part
i'm doing some day bike trips occasionally in the surroundings of berlin, very nice as well and no mountains... if you ever come back here i can give you some advice for trips up to 90kms

[Hostels]

Originally Posted by Stefan

sounds like a great bike trip, always make sure to have enough water with you

I have 3 water bottle holders on the bike, though one usually holds kerosene for my stove.

I'm running into some problems though. I'm moving to Spain in the fall and they are going to hold my passport until they approve my visa. So I won't be able leave the USA at my originally planned date -- meaning I probably don't have enough time to do the whole distance. Still trying to work out this problem.

I could start in Amsterdam and ride to Paris for the tech convention, but then would only have 2-3 weeks to make it to Barcelona -- about 50 miles a day for 14 days non-stop in the worst case scenario. I don't think that pace is realistic considering I'm not in the best shape at the moment -- but who knows.

Originally Posted by Stefan

i'm doing some day bike trips occasionally in the surroundings of berlin, very nice as well and no mountains... if you ever come back here i can give you some advice for trips up to 90kms

Thanks... I'll be in Europe for a year, so maybe will stop by Berlin again

[Hostels]

Update:
I had to cancel all European travel plans for this summer. If I had been on schedule I would have already have spent 3 weeks in Greece and be leaving for Barcelona with my bicycle in 10 days.

Because of visa delays I'll now be lucky to leave the US by September 1st.

The new plan is to go to Arizona or California in August while I wait for my visa to be processed (they hold my passport so I'm trapped in the US).

The bike trip is delayed for at least another year (but not abandoned)...

Not all planning was wasted though -- I already lost 15 pounds (7 kilos) preparing for the bike trip and am feeling much healthier than before...