{"id":1475,"date":"2017-05-22T21:50:25","date_gmt":"2017-05-23T02:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/?page_id=1475"},"modified":"2025-09-03T14:11:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T18:11:42","slug":"2017-cycle-touring-faq","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/2017-cycle-touring-faq\/","title":{"rendered":"2017 Cycle Touring FAQ"},"content":{"rendered":"

(updated from the 2015 FAQ<\/a>)<\/p>\n

What countries are you going through? <\/u>
\nStarting in Dublin: Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Wales (which Sam instructed me is just not the same).<\/em><\/p>\n

So why Ireland? <\/u><\/p>\n

Because I’ve been there before?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting this isn\u2019t the first time I\u2019ve cycle toured. This is my 11th\u00a0<\/span>trip cycling in Europe, for a combined total of 16 months of cycle touring. My last trip was to Portugal and Spain<\/a>. The last couple of trips have been long and somewhat arduous (for a variety of reasons). I decided that this time I’d just take it slow.<\/p>\n

Oh, and castles. Lots of castles.<\/p>\n

Ireland to England? Isn\u2019t there water in the way? <\/u><\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to tie pool noodles to my bike, and flippers on the rear wheel\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll take a ferry, like everyone else. (And no, I won\u2019t ride in circles on the deck, they won\u2019t let you.) Everyone seems to ask this and think it’s clever and funny.<\/p>\n

How long will that take?<\/u><\/p>\n

I’ve set this trip to up be four weeks.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got a lot going on right now, so no trans-Europe trip this time. Completely opposite of trips of late, I can readily get back to my point of departure from about anywhere on my route.<\/p>\n

Will you buy a bike there? <\/u><\/p>\n

No, I\u2019ll take the one I\u2019ve had since 2006.<\/em><\/p>\n

On my first tour I flew into London, panniers in hand, with the intent to buy a bike there. Imagine if you will arriving in the center of New York City with a plan to buy a bike, while dragging non-portable luggage. I had a hard time finding a bicycle shop, much less one that wasn\u2019t filled with state-of-the-art high tech ($) bicycles! I finally found a shop and left with a touring bike, but it was a very stressful time. In hindsight, going to somewhere like Cambridge would have made a lot more sense.<\/p>\n

How will you get your bike there? <\/u><\/p>\n

The bike will be packed in a box, as checked luggage. All I have to do is turn the handlebars sideways, and remove the pedals. I\u2019ll pack much of my gear with it. Really the challenge is getting the pedals off the bicycle.<\/em><\/p>\n

Taking a bicycle with you adds other challenges. Each airline charges a different amount for carrying a bicycle, ranging anywhere from $0 to $300, each way! You also have to be sure that each leg of the flight is on a plane large enough to accommodate a bicycle box.<\/p>\n

The other concern is the bike arriving at my destination when I do. I try to plan as few layovers as possible (typically one), and then for ~4 hour\/layover (enough time to have the bike change planes, not enough time that they set it aside out of the way). If the bike misses the plan, it will usually show up the next day.<\/p>\n

What will you do with the box when you arrive? <\/u><\/p>\n

When I\u2019m following a circular path, sometimes I can store the box in a hostel, and use the box again on my return. When not,\u00a0I figure it out at the end.<\/em><\/p>\n

For this trip, I\u2019ll reassemble the bicycle and panniers at the airport, and cycle out of the airport, waving a fond adieu to the box. In Dublin, I\u2019ll deal with how to get the bicycle back at the end of the trip.<\/p>\n

About a week out of Madrid, I was talking with a couple of Spanish cyclists about my plan to take a train back to my starting point in Paris. They said there was no way to get a bike on a train from Madrid to Paris, and that it was going to be a problem even getting it on a plane! They invited me to stay with them in Madrid, and the girlfriend of one was a travel agent, and she helped me come up with a plan of having a bicycle shop disassemble the bike and ship it home, while I flew back to Paris. That was going to be a pain, since I\u2019d be sans-bicycle in Paris, but it was better than the alternative.<\/p>\n

That issue being resolved, I spent the next few days touring around Madrid. The day before my flight I decided to cycle into the airport on the off-chance there was a better solution. I asked at the counter whether they might have a bicycle box, and the woman at the counter said, \u201cYou mean like this?\u201d and pulled a box out! Problem solved. The bike being lost anyway when I flew into Paris is another story…<\/p>\n

How far are you going? <\/u><\/p>\n

Absolutely no idea. However far I want to go.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

How far will you cycle every day? <\/u><\/p>\n

Averaging\u00a040(ish) miles. Weather, hills, head\/tail winds, what shape I\u2019m in, as well as what\u2019s along the way, factor heavily into that. I tend to start slow, and build up distance over time. I also take days off to rest and recover.<\/p>\n

I usually average ~10 mph, so that\u2019s about 4 hours of cycling spread out across the day. I\u2019m really slow – the typical cyclist in the US in spandex and neon is typically going 18-28 mph. They can cycle in a couple of hours as far as I go all day!<\/p>\n

On my first tour in 1989, I was in southern Germany figuring out what my current cash situation was, and realized that with my average daily spending, I would be out of cash before I was back in England for my return flight. After some calculations, I decided if I significantly increased my daily total miles I could make it back. I arrived in England having done 250k \/ day for about 10 days, and was out of cash. I expected to spend my last night there camping in a field, but woke that final day to find the two cyclists I\u2019d met the night before had paid for my campsite. The US Customs officials let me through Customs to go to an ATM to pay the import duty on my maps.<\/p>\n

What will you eat? <\/u><\/p>\n

Anything not moving fast enough? The same things I eat here really. A lot of grains and fruits. And cookies.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

I was in Denmark with a German cyclist I\u2019d met along the way, doing the mundane task of shopping for groceries. As I loaded up my basket with my usual supplies he grabbed my arm and said, \u201cNot those! Those cookies are 1500 kilocalories. These! These cookies are 1800 kilocalories!\u201d<\/p>\n

Are you going by yourself, or with a group? <\/u><\/p>\n

Just me, although I will undoubtedly run into cyclists along the way that are headed along the same path.<\/em><\/p>\n

My last trip I started by dragging a couple of friends along with me for the first third of the trip. For the next third I was (mostly) alone, but for the third third I cycled on the El Camino with Sam<\/a>. While I enjoy the group cycling thing, this time I’m seeking some lazy alone time. Now for next year … but that’s another story.<\/p>\n

On a\u00a0trip in Sweden, only two days out of Stockholm I ran across another cyclist tinkering with his bike. Turns out he\u2019d made a bet with his friends that he couldn\u2019t cycle to Norway (I believe there was also a girl involved). He\u2019s bought a bike at a second-hand shop, tossed together what he could find, and was making his way in that direction. We cycled together for four days before our intended paths diverged enough that we went our separate ways. It was a great fit. I had touring experience (including the tools to improve his cycling circumstance) and he could fill me in on the wheres and whys of how things worked in Sweden.<\/p>\n

Is your wife going with you? <\/u><\/p>\n

No.<\/em><\/p>\n

Long-distance cycling (and going walkabout in general) really isn\u2019t Marnie\u2019s thing. That\u2019s not to say she hasn\u2019t done it. She came with me for a week during one of my four week trips to England, and our honeymoon was four weeks of self-supported cycling in Ireland.<\/p>\n

And your wife lets you? <\/u><\/p>\n

I\u2019m always confused by this question. Marnie and I don\u2019t \u201clet\u201d each other do anything. But to answer the root of the question, Marnie\u2019s OK\u00a0with it.<\/em><\/p>\n

Do you know where you\u2019re going to stay? <\/u><\/p>\n

No, I don\u2019t have a\u00a0detailed itinerary.<\/em><\/p>\n

Before the dominance of Amazon, it was hard to find maps in advance for parts of Europe, and if you could find them, they were more like 1:1,000,000 scale (mostly super-highways), so not really useful for touring. I\u2019ve even had to go so far as land in the airport, and buy my first map in the airport book store. Now I can usually find 1:300,000 or so scale maps on-line, which are more appropriate for touring to find my way.<\/p>\n

Why don\u2019t you use a GPS? <\/u><\/p>\n

So how long does the battery in your GPS last?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

For at least the last few trips I\u2019ve had a GPS on my mobile device. I use it rarely, but it\u2019s helpful in a big city, or when I\u2019m at the top of a really big hill, and not sure which path is the right one down. But to rely on the GPS battery, or not banging it into something and being without direction? Nope.<\/p>\n

Where do you stay? <\/u><\/p>\n

Historically it works out to about 40% camping, 40% hostels, and 20% \u201cOther.\u201d That can depends on the country, and how good my maps are.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes even when I have a plan it\u2019s not quite what I expect. Once after a day of pouring rain, I arrived at my intended hostel to find it full. I headed to a campground on the other side of town as my alternate camping plan. But as I stood there in the lobby of the campground, soaking wet, with it still pouring rain outside, I saw they rented those small camping cabins. I spent the night toasty warm and dry, with wet gear draped about the room to dry out.<\/p>\n

Other? <\/u><\/p>\n

\u201cOther\u201d can be any number of things. I\u2019ve camped wild (off into the countryside off the road), as well as stayed\u00a0in abandoned buildings (and even a castle once). I’m\u00a0occasionally invited to stay with people. A couple of times I\u2019ve even stayed in a hotel!<\/em><\/p>\n

While I haven’t had a lot of luck with them in the past, I\u2019m also likely to give couchsurfing.com and warmshowers.com (with cyclists as the membership base) a try here and there. I prefer to meet people, and you don\u2019t meet people while trying to hide in the woods. On the other hand, if I\u2019ve met someone and am cycling with them, then that again makes more sense.<\/p>\n

I was somewhere in the \u201cwilds\u201d of Denmark where I saw another cyclist clearly looking for somewhere to sleep that night off the side of the road. We talked for a while, and I joined his that night, where the two of us swapped stories by headlamp-light. We cycled together for the next couple of days until destinations caused us to go our separate ways.<\/p>\n

I could never do that!<\/u><\/p>\n

Cycle touring isn\u2019t for everyone. There are all sorts of emotional and physical reasons why someone couldn\u2019t bike tour. But you don\u2019t have to be in spectacular physical shape. Europe is small (there\u2019s no point in Ireland less than 100 miles from the ocean).<\/p>\n

Everything in Europe tends to be closer than you expect. If you look at North Carolina, it has hostels in three places: On the coast, in Raleigh, and in the Appalachians. One night in Germany I went to five different (and full) hostels before spending the night in the campground across the street.<\/p>\n

I have a personal theory that every country has the same number of interesting things. When you compare the US to most European countries, those things are a lot closer to one another. You just don\u2019t have to bike far to find things to see, you just have to break the mindset of only visiting capital cities.<\/p>\n

How much does your stuff weigh?<\/span><\/p>\n

I travel full self-supported \u2013 tent, sleeping bag, stove, etc. I pay close attention to weight, and over the years have collected top-end gear, so my entire touring rig is about 10 kg. But my first tour was an aluminum army mess kit and a Boy Scout-style pup tent. I prefer to be able to support myself for as many use-cases as possible, but people also credit-card tour, where they rely on getting a room every night.<\/p>\n

Aren\u2019t you afraid? <\/u><\/p>\n

To be honest, I range from blas\u00e9 to terrified. The first few days are always hard, as I have to figure out what\u2019s going on, and settle into a routine. Even then, I know that while many days will be awesome, there will be those days that suck. And that status can swing at a moment\u2019s notice.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But the payback on that investment is spectacular.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(updated from the 2015 FAQ) What countries are you going through? Starting in Dublin: Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Wales (which Sam instructed me is just not the same). So why Ireland? Because I’ve been there before?\u00a0 It\u2019s worth noting this isn\u2019t the first time I\u2019ve cycle toured. This is my 11th\u00a0trip cycling in Europe, for … Continue reading “2017 Cycle Touring FAQ”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1475","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1475"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5038,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1475\/revisions\/5038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}