Europe (local)

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.

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

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

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.

Our tour took us through several of the rural areas of central England, and we experienced very pleasant and relaxing cycling on the B and unclassified roads. This may come a bit as a surprise regarding that the area crosses the central urban and industrial belt stretching from Greater London to the Midlands (Birmingham).

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

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.

The rain is relentless in beating against me. There is no way of enjoying the scenery but my memory tells me it is rather nice. [...] At times the rain falls down ever harder, the drops hurt my face and my bell keeps ringing faintly. I see no other cyclists. Sissies.

A 25 day bicycle tour of Sweden and Norway near midsummer 1994. So why am I on a bike tour of Scandinavia? ( Norden) A long time ago, I was on a trip there with my parents. If I ever went on a bike tour of some foreign land I thought it should be to Norway and Sweden. Some features of the Nordic lifestyle appeal to me- the love of outdoor sports for example. After bicycle touring my big passion is nordic ski touring. I was curious to see that if those old Participaction Canada ads about the 60 year old Swedes were true . THEY ARE TRUE!

Also the climate, vegetation etc of Sweden and Norway are much that of parts of Canada ( Sweden like Nova Scotia, Norway like British Columbia). It would be interesting to see a how another society has developed in the same environmental conditions as Canada. It would be both exotic and familiar.

The report of a one-month, 3018km tour of Spain, beautifully illustrated.

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.

The dark forest envelops me and welcomes me home. Telephone poles have large heaps of squirrel-processed cones at the bottom. Large boulders speck the forest floor, remnants of the ice age. [...] At home I feel happy at my first ``century'' after nine months of ankylosing spondylitis.

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.

Spring was on its way, finally. With the arrival of April, I had discarded studded tires and other winter equipment. Riding had been chilly and dirty, the scenery bleak but then the snow really started melting and the ice fishers were driven off the lakes (or drowned). Monday, April 25 was a pretty day for my traditional 100 km spring test run.

A very detailed tour description in three chapters: Paris - Rambouillet - Tournoisis - Onzain - Chinon - Ingrandes - La Roche - La Rochelle - Saintes - Morcenx - Biarritz - Cambo - Oloron St. Marie - Lannemezan - St. Girons - Limoux -Carcassonne - St. Pons - St. Rome - Pont de Montvert - Vallon Pont d'Arc - Avignon.

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.

Sunday March 13 appears uninspiring. The sky is grey. The snow is dirty. There is slush, it is +1 C. The breakfast newspaper is dull, the oatmeal bland. Finland is depressing. What can save the day? A bike ride!

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.

Sunday February 27 was another glorious winter day here, Jyvaeskylae, Finland, above the 62th parallel: clear blue sky, sparkling snow and the sun low above the horizon. Time for a bike ride. [...] The temperature is very pleasant, -9 C, the wind unpleasant, in my face.

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.

[...] four months of illness and recovery (and no cycling) at the end of 1993 evaporated whatever fitness I used to have. I was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (a rheumatoid disease of the spine) and for a while it looked like I might not be cycling again. [...] It is overcast and not so cold (- 8 C) on January 23.

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

This is the great report of a tour in the Alps that Jobst Brandt did in the summer of '94.

This tour's destination is Briançon in the heart of the French Alps. In the mountains around the village are several ancient forts, and a network of old military roads makes it very suitable for mountain biking. We camp in le Rosier a little outside Briançon. The road from Genève and back again is very hard mountain climbing across some of the highest and most beautiful passes in the Alps. We are two persons carrying our own pack but sharing one tent.

This is a log of a trip I took with my wife Carol and two other couples (Brooke & Rosie Keneford and Jim & Mary Holmes) in July of 1994. In one sense it was a miracle trip because Carol had fallen on the ice in early February and had broken her hip. However, despite her appearance and her ladylike demeanor, she is very determined and as tough as nails. So, barely five months after breaking her femur into two pieces and with a stainless steel plate and a bunch of long screws still in her leg, she was on her bike for a 1100 km cycle trip in France.

The riding along the coast there was great. It was quite hilly; generally, it would be leave a little town, climb up 150m or so to leave the valley, then contour a bit, and soon drop down (sometimes quite quickly- 40+ mph which is a lot since I'm a wimp about going fast) into the next valley with another little town on the sea. There were some impressive ruins and towers on the higher hills further inland, including the Tour Madeloc, which is quite prominent.

I rode from Montpellier, France to Barcelona, Spain at the end of July and beginning of August. This description is of the day I crossed from France into Spain along the Mediterranean.

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

• Poland and Lithuania 1994
• Lithuania and Latvia 1995
• Finland and Estonia 1996

When Richard Freytag and I started planning this year's recumbent tour, the somewhat obnoxious idea of touring Switzerland on the outside came up. We liked it, although it was soon clear that we would not manage the complete round in the time we had on our hands so we decided to go for a semi-circle and save the rest for later. After contacting Andreas Fuchs (from the HPV mailing list) in Bern for help with some practical details, it was decided that we would start in Bern and thus get a couple of days of riding in Switzerland before entering France.

In mid-September 1993, a group of five Digital employees set out to ride from Geneva to Venice The planned route was 800km, and had > 10,000 metres of climbing, with pre-arranged hotel bookings at strategic points.

See also the Biking Gallery of photographs.

An excellent report, also from a technical point of view.

Kosice, Roznava, Miskolc, Eger, Tiszafüred, Hajdoszoboszlo, Szarvas, Csongrad, Kiskunhalas, Villany, Haromfa, Zalakaros, Heviz, Sarvar, Kapuvar, Breitenbrunn, Bratislava.

An excellent report, also from a technical point of view.

After long planning ´s some training I and a friend of mine (from the secondary school), Csaba Budavári started to „conquer” the Tatra by bicycle. We had already known the hungarian land next to our home: Vác, Penc, Acsa and the sunny, hilly area with sunflower-fields. In Verseg we spent a little time in a village-muzeum (skanzen) which consisted of only two old houses. The old lady who showed us the rooms was very friendly. Not much before Gyöngyös, after reaching the top of a climb we got a nice view to the town, and the mountains (the highest: K´kestetõ) behind it. In the evening it wasn’t a problem to fall aslep; we were tired.

An excellent report, also from a technical point of view. Die ``Gardasee-Tour'' war meine erste größere 'Radwanderung', die ich mit Peter Steinlehner unternommen habe. Damals gingen wir in die 11. Klasse vom Gymnasium Vaterstetten und starteten uzu dieser Transalp-Tour, auf die wir uns schon lange gefreut hatten. [Diese] euphorische Tourenbeschreibung ist in den Tagen nach dieser Tour entstanden

An extremely well-organized and informative report, with historical notes, a bibliography, useful links, in one word, The Works!
Onze route voerde door de noordelijke helft van Polen, globaal: Poznan - Torun - Kazubie Gdansk - Mazurische meren - Bialystok - Warschau (1400 km in drie weken).

Mike's site hosts reports of his other non-European tours: These trips range in distance from 355 miles (Hawaii) to 6089 miles (Canada) and in time from a week to three months.

A recumbent ride from Bergen (Norway) to Motala (Sweden) with Richard Freytag, Charles Clinton and Ian Feldman.

[...] I rode past the emerald Lago di Carezza in whose glassy surface the myriad spires of the Latemar (2846m) were mirrored. Then after passing the huge magnificent hotels with massive 1920's architecture near the summit of the Costalunga (1753m), I descended to Pozza di Fassa (1220m) and on to Canazei and turned up the Pso Sella (2257m), the Gardena (2121m), and the Campolongo (1875m) and onward to the Giau (2236m). The view from the Giau was magnificent with the great Dolomites, the majestic Le Tofane, Monte Cristallo, Monte Cadini and the Marmorola above Cortina, clear and bright in the afternoon sun while to the southwest, the glacier glistened on the Marmolada.

This is a log of a month-long cycle tour in south-west France with my wife in the summer of 1993. I've tried to keep it simple, but the rush of great memories made that difficult. With nice pictures.

La Marmotte is one of the toughest and most spectacular one-day events in Europe, only 175km but with well over 5000m of climbing, finishing on that most famous of Tour de France battling grounds, the Alpe d'Huez.