Europe (local)

The ``tradition'' of going to Copenhagen in May started in 1992 when we took the ferry from Oslo to Frederikshavn and cycled via the Danish mainland Jutland. However, with only 350 km this tour became too little of a challenge after 2 times. Therefore, in 1994, we did our first trip to Copenhagen via the Swedish West Coast.

A beautiful tour, mostly off-road, with great photos.
Uphill and downhill sections in a beautiful landscape on the south slope of the Sierra Nevada with more white villages.Great views.After Ug?jar a 63-year-old mountain biker starts a roadside conversation on bicycling, this year's draught and possible climate change.Unlike me, he believes the Puerto de la Ragua is the only pass crossing the Sierra Nevada.

The report of a one-week training camp in Spain.
After 2 days spent on a bus, and a night in a Premier Classe Hotel in Rheims, France, we were ready to get on our bikes and stretch our legs. (There had been the temptation to get the bikes unpacked in Rheims and re-run the stage finish there from the 1985 Tour de France when Sean Kelly and Eric Vanderaerden had thrown punches at one another as they sprinted for the line ! But as it was dark, 1 a.m. and we were all tired it was decided to leave it until another time.) The camp was based in L'Estartit, a holiday resort on the Costa Brava approximately 100 kms north of Barcelona.

This is the great report of a tour in the Alps that Jobst Brandt did in the summer of '95.

Wayne rides through France, and has a look at the Tour on the way.

A family goes cyclo-camping and brings back valuable experience, great stories and beautiful pictures.

From Arrivèe On-Line, Audax UK's quarterly magazine.

A certain Frenchman, Georges Rossini of Thonon on Lake Geneva, has set up four testing Alpine routes, or 'Raids':

• Randonnee Alpine - Thonon to Antibes, 740km and 43 cols through the French Alps.
• Randonnee Alpine - Thonon to Trieste, 1180km and 41 cols through the Swiss and Italian Alps and Dolomites.
• Randonnee Prealpine - Thonon to Antibes, 894km and 47 cols through the French Alps.
• Randonnee Prealpine - Thonon to Venice, 1209km and 69 cols through the Italian Alps and Lakes.

This report details a van-supported, mostly camping, bicycle tour of Germany and Austria taken by 29 members of the Davis Bike Club (Davis, California) during 3 weeks in 1995. We were a varied group, aged from 9 to 70ish, and included families, couples, and singles, riding 7 tandems and 22 single bicycles.

Wayne rides through France, and has a look at the Tour on the way.

In the summer of 1995, my girlfriend Thea and I spent a fortnight on a motoring, camping and cycling holiday in France. Our longest stay was a week camping in Bourg d'Oisans, with the joint aims of seeing the Tour go up Alpe d'Huez, and also cycling up a few mountains ourselves. I was also considering attempting the Marmotte randonee, which coincided with the weekend of our stay.

This was our 10th cycling trip to France but our first north of the Loire river. We were very apprehensive about the weather but our worries were unfounded as Normandy had a sunny and dry summer that year. We travelled with another couple who have joined us for four European trips (and a fifth this year - 1997). We are all middle-aged (actually getting to be late middle-aged). We travel unsupported but we stay in hotels or chambres d'hote (B&B's). We average about 60km per day. We dine well. It's an elegant life we lead!!

Paris-Brest-Paris is the oldest traditional cycling event, started in 1891 by a Frenchman named Giffard who thought it would be a great way to promote cycling, as a test ``not primarily of speed but brains, skill and endurance.'' It was held thereafter every ten years, and since the middle of the century, every four years. Attracting more than 4,000 or so riders from a number of countries, it is a ride of over 1,200 kilometers (about 750 miles) that must be completed within 90 hours.

In the summer of 1995, my girlfriend Thea and I spent a fortnight on a motoring, camping and cycling holiday in France. Our longest stay was a week camping in Bourg d'Oisans, with the joint aims of seeing the Tour go up Alpe d'Huez, and also cycling up a few mountains ourselves. I was also considering attempting the Marmotte randonee, which coincided with the weekend of our stay.

We'd managed just one ride before getting to Bourg d'Oisans. This, around Annecy, included the Col de la Forclaz, claimed by a local friend to feature ``the best view in the Alps'' from the top. We were sadly unable to confirm this, as it was pouring with rain and visibility was down to 20 yards when we got there. A bunch of people in the cafe seemed very amused by us taking photographs of each other in front of a fog bank.

Although there are many areas that I have not toured yet, trips to Lorraine, Alsace, Vosges, Doubs, Alps, Pyrenees, and Provence have all been great.

Very brief: Auvergne, Dordogne, upper Loire region, Languedoc-Roussilion, Ballon d'Alsace.

This route goes from the rainy South-West coast of Iceland right to the North of the country, which is drier and warmer in summer, passing through the interior of Iceland along the Kjölur route. I made it with 4 more friends in 6 days.

A gorgeous trip through the Alps, over several passes: Simplon, Furka, Oberalp, Wolfgang, Fluela, Ofen, Stelvio, Mortirolo, Tonale, Mendola, Sella, Fedaia, Gardena, Campolongo and Pordoi. Don't miss this great story!

[...] I saw three bikes being loaded onto the conveyor...two of them were in boxes that looked different than the ones I had so carefully reinforced and packaged back home. Sure enough, my bike and Eric's had suffered terminal damage to our front wheels, and Eric's front pannier racks had been damaged badly. How were they able even to start this tour? Read on!

This is an older version without pictures; the main one is no longer available on the net.

From Arrivèe On-Line, Audax UK's quarterly magazine.

A certain Frenchman, Georges Rossini of Thonon on Lake Geneva, has set up four testing Alpine routes, or 'Raids':

• Randonnee Alpine - Thonon to Antibes, 740km and 43 cols through the French Alps.
• Randonnee Alpine - Thonon to Trieste, 1180km and 41 cols through the Swiss and Italian Alps and Dolomites.
• Randonnee Prealpine - Thonon to Antibes, 894km and 47 cols through the French Alps.
• Randonnee Prealpine - Thonon to Venice, 1209km and 69 cols through the Italian Alps and Lakes.

Most of the places we stayed were walled medieval towns, each with histories dating back centuries, and each with its own identity and flavor. One such city was Volterra. Perched on a high plateau, Volterra has been occupied since prehistoric times because of its strategic location. [...] The fields of colorful spring wildflowers, flowed up to the vineyards, which were just starting to spread their new spring growth across the hills, while roves of olive trees added their own unique presence to the landscape. Tall, stately spires of Italian cypress appeared to march across every distant ridge, usually leading to a small farm or a large villa. As we finally entered the ancient gates of the city, we collapsed in the shadows on a cool stone bench.

There are two major roads out of Riva, towards Monte Brione to the east, and south towards Monte Tremalzo and others. Monte Brione is good for short but difficult tours; this hill is roughly elliptic, with the west side nearly on level with the lake and the east end sloping up and then dropping sharply. It looks like a large cylinder buried at an angle. There is a Worldcup trail along the steep east edge and plenty of single trails. A road leads up and ends at a large bunker near the top. Monte Brione was crowded with mountainbikers when we were there, it has terrain for everybody.

I set out to make a good and complete tour to the High Tatras. We took part three of us in this thin two weeks planned expedition: Zoltán Maráz and R´dei from Szolnok and me, from Budakalász. Based on the guys experiences we planned the tour for the middle of august. Zoltán Maráz, with whom I got acquainted in the tour in 1993, had already cycled 6 times to there and back the highest mountain-range of the Carpathians through the years, the other guy had only one. I had left 28000 kms behind me by bike in the last 5 years before 1995. We agreed to meet in R´páshuta in the Bükk mountain-range. For me it meant 200kms for the first day with the pack of about 20 kgs. At dawn of the 9th of August 1995 we started at the same time, at 5 am. It was dark. On the whole rainy and grey day I tried to get used to the 20 kgs heavy pack. After the tiring, hilly area before Eger I had to climb on a long ascent up to the 700m high Bükk-plateau, and after 200 kms I arrived at the Hunter-restaurant in R´páshuta, where my tourmates had already waited for me.

I visited Tenerife in December 1994 for two weeks. [...] We have cycled totally 1400 km, without getting bored. There are a lot of beautiful climbs. Tenerife is really an eldorado for mountain goats, without a flat kilometer.

If there is one single thing that made our trip to Spain worthwhile then it was the people. To put it simply they are the tops. Maybe because of the contrast from what we were used to, I do not know, but they do come across as warm, friendly, easy going people. This is especially true of small Spanish villages where everyday seems like a Sunday.

One day: 6 September 1994 from 6:30 to 20:00. Chiasso-Airolo by train then: Airolo - Nufenenpass - Ulrichen - Briga - Simplonpass - Domodossola Domodossola-Vergiate by train then: Vergiate - Azzate - Vedano Olona Olgiate Comasco - Drezzo - Pedrinate - Chiasso Km 180 (only cycling). Find more of Marco Buffa's tour reports here.

1367 km in 13 days with a vertical height gain of 11,165 m with two ``rest'' days in the middle on a cycling trip from Elba to Glashuetten.

A brief description of a bike tour which we undertook in Portugal in September '94. We started from Faro at the Algarve coast, proceeded via Sagres to Lisbon and terminated our journey in Coimbra in middle Portugal. [...] The overall distance was about 800 km. We took (including rests) three and a half week with 16 days of cycling. As a whole, the trip was one of the most magnificent and wonderful holidays we ever had ! If you plan to do something similar, do it as soon as you can!

Markku Tuomi has written up beautiful reports of severals rides he did in Central Finland in 1994, one per month, partly on-road, partly off-road.

Saturday, August 13, was a nice day, none too cold. The summer of Central Finland was gradually coming to an end but one could still wear shorts and other summer stuff for cycling.

• 9 August 1994 from 8:30 to 17:50: La Salle-Chamonix by car via Tunnel, then Chamonix - Col des Montets - Col de la Forclaz - Martigny - Col du Grand St. Bernard - Aosta - La Salle; Km 153.
• 12 August 1994 from 7:30 to 20:00: La Salle - Col du Petit St. Bernard - Bourg St. Maurice - Albertville - Beaufort - Col de Saises - Megeve - Chamonix Chamonix-La Salle by car via Tunnel; Km 207.

Bicycle tour thrugh the Czech Republic, riding 1100km in two weeks.

I cycled around the Baltic Sea from mid-June to mid-July 1996, starting in Stockholm and going clockwise, finishing in Stockholm a month later. It was a great trip!

The report of a 37 days (from July 21, 1994 to August 26, 1994), 4240km tour of the Baltic See along the route: Hamburg - Schleswig/Holstein - Denmark (Border-Frederikshavn) - Norway (Moss-Ostby) - Sweden (Sorsjoern-Grisslehamn) - Aland-Island (Eckeroe-Mariehamn) - Finland (Naantali-Helsinki) - Estonia (Tallinn-Valga) - Latvia (Valka-Bauska) - Lithuania (Salociai-Lazdijai) - Poland (Sejny-Kostrzyn) - Brandenburg - Berlin - Magdeburg - Hannover - Paderborn

Karl and Karin travel with two children (age 3 and 1) in trailers. Now who was talking about ``anchors''...

The report of a 37 days (from July 21, 1994 to August 26, 1994), 4240km tour of the Baltic See along the route: Hamburg - Schleswig/Holstein - Denmark (Border-Frederikshavn) - Norway (Moss-Ostby) - Sweden (Sorsjoern-Grisslehamn) - Aland-Island (Eckeroe-Mariehamn) - Finland (Naantali-Helsinki) - Estonia (Tallinn-Valga) - Latvia (Valka-Bauska) - Lithuania (Salociai-Lazdijai) - Poland (Sejny-Kostrzyn) - Brandenburg - Berlin - Magdeburg - Hannover - Paderborn.

One day: Tour 21 July 1994 from 8:00 to 20:20. Pontresina - Zernez - Ofenpass - S. Maria - Umbrailpass - Bormio - Passo Foscagno - Passo Eira - Livigno - Forcola - Bernina - Pontresina, Km 180. Find more of Marco Buffa's tour reports here.

The report of a 25 day bicycle tour of Sweden and Norway near midsummer 1994, by Dave Dermott. Includes the Vättern Rundan 1994.

Markku Tuomi has written up beautiful reports of severals rides he did in Central Finland in 1994, one per month, partly on-road, partly off-road.

It was Thursday, June 7, and I found myself in Lappeenranta, a town of some 60,000 inhabitants in southeastern Finland, only about 20 km from the Russian border. [...] So, on a most beautiful hot summer day, I set out on my own, panniers fully loaded, to the northwest and Jyvaeskylae, where I live.