Seasoned Bicycle Tourist

[Velotour]

Hello:

I just now registered here for the first time. I believe that long distance bicycle touring is really great and I have done a lot of it. I have cycled a fully loaded touring bike about 31,600 miles through nineteen countries, and have traveled extensively to thirty-five countries.

Regions where I have cycled extensively are the USA, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, China, and quite a bit in Mexico, Korea, and Canada.

I have crossed the southern tier of the USA three-and-a-half times, the Pacific coast once-and-a-fourth, the Atlantic coast thrice, 2600 miles of the northern tier, and have done much more.

If anybody can use some helpful advice I might be able to provide it.

 

[blackbird05]

Hello Velotour, welcome to the forums!

What I love about this place is that it's not only people with questions that come here to ask them - the people with the answers also volunteer their time to help others out.

So coming from a fellow bicycle tourist (and this is open to everyone who's done any kind of touring), here's a tough question to get some discussion going:

If you could pick a single tour out of all the places you visited as your favourite PLACE TO DO A BICYCLE TOUR, which one would you pick, and why?

I've had the wonderful chance to meander through Europe, and from that trip I think I'd honestly choose the West Frisian Islands in the northwestern Netherlands. They were a perfect combination of features for bicycle touring: few people (and those we met were incredibly friendly), even fewer cars, a myriad of good quality lonely roads gave us the opportunity to explore, relatively "undiscovered" by tourists (in May at least), relaxed environment, places of wild isolation, very pretty coutryside, lovely small towns with no surrounding urban sprawl, and a bicycle culture incredibly supportive of cyclists.

*phew* That's not to say that I could list a dozen other places as my favourites on top of that though

 

[Velotour]

Hello Velotour, welcome to the forums!

What I love about this place is that it's not only people with questions that come here to ask them - the people with the answers also volunteer their time to help others out.

So coming from a fellow bicycle tourist (and this is open to everyone who's done any kind of touring), here's a tough question to get some discussion going:

If you could pick a single tour out of all the places you visited as your favourite PLACE TO DO A BICYCLE TOUR, which one would you pick, and why?

I've had the wonderful chance to meander through Europe, and from that trip I think I'd honestly choose the West Frisian Islands in the northwestern Netherlands. They were a perfect combination of features for bicycle touring: few people (and those we met were incredibly friendly), even fewer cars, a myriad of good quality lonely roads gave us the opportunity to explore, relatively "undiscovered" by tourists (in May at least), relaxed environment, places of wild isolation, very pretty coutryside, lovely small towns with no surrounding urban sprawl, and a bicycle culture incredibly supportive of cyclists.

*phew* That's not to say that I could list a dozen other places as my favourites on top of that though

Of my several long tours I would have to rate two at the very top of the list. One is England, Scotland, and Wales. It was perfect. The many small country lanes and the always available hostels made it a really enjoyable experience. And the scenery was often breathtaking. The people of the UK were very friendly and always helpful and accurate with directions. Keep in mind that when I did this tour (70 days) it was back in the summer of 1984; it was a drought summer with only five days of light rain during my entire 70 days there. That is unusual. Usually it rains cats and dogs every day.

The other best tour was the Pacific Coast Bicycle Route in 1993. It was a tough way to go with all those many hills. The scenery is unsurpassed anywhere in the world that I know. The air was pure and fresh right in off the Pacific ocean, and it was nearly always following going from north to south. I hated it when the tour ended and I had to return home.

The next best tour went from Key west, Florida to San Diego, California in the winter of 1984-85. In all it was about 3,800 miles. We did not actually begin in Key West. We cycled quite a bit before going there and heading north. We also took an excursion into Mexico for quite a distance before regaining the American side of the border and continuing west to CA.

These three tours were really fantastic, really great

 

[imagesinthewind]

My husband and I are going to ride around Great Lake Erie Ohio in July 2008.
What is the best way to map a route when we live in Denver?
How did (do) you map your way before you went on your tours?
Thanks!
Oh, and any advice?

 

[Velotour]

Hi:

In the UK tour I bought a book of ordnance survey maps and chose country lanes as much as possible. I just went any way the wind blew. I often did not have any specific destination. I just went.

On the PCBP it is pretty much a straight forward matter of taking highways 1 and 101 with some variations along the way. I used standard road maps.

From Key West to San Diego we followed standard road maps all the way, and what seemed to be the shortest ways from A to B so to speak.

It seems to me that the DOT in the states you will be cycling might have some information on bike routes in that area. My opinion is that if you can use
dedicated bike paths as opposed to busy roadways, no matter the width of the side lanes on the road ways, the bike path is the better choice.

Get regular road maps. See the towns in the areas you will be cycling. Call their yellow pages and see if you can get numbers of bike shops. Call the shops. Maybe they can tell you about bike paths, cycling maps, or perhaps bicycle clubs that can put you on to the information you will need to maximize the enjoyability of your tour.

Look up bike paths for your areas on the WWW. I know that Ohio has several long bike paths. I am not sure, but I think I saw one, or was it a projected one, that goes a long way in Ohio along the southeast part of the lake. There is a map on the web that shows bike paths in Ohio. I do not remember its address but if you look for it on the internet it should pop up.

My husband and I are going to ride around Great Lake Erie Ohio in July 2008.
What is the best way to map a route when we live in Denver?
How did (do) you map your way before you went on your tours?
Thanks!
Oh, and any advice?