Europe (local)

A fun tour throughout Vienna. Hello friends, we had fun by participating this event. Even, we didn't follow the dress code 'naked'...

The tour started near Vienna's 'Russian memorial monument' at Schwarzenbergplatz. Took us all the way to the 'belt street' (Gürtel). We hit the old railroad station 'Westbahnhof' and have been riding back to the town center. A fun tour, in order to promote bicycling... Even Vienna's police has been smooth like velvet. I felt like in San Francisco... Enjoy the pictures. Good luck to all our followers!

A fun Tour inside the city of Vienna.

This event has been sponsored by British folding bicycle manufacturer. As Heide has one from this brand, she couldn`t be stopped to participate. Very hot weather conditions made it a very sweaty tour over paved and unpaved roads. Three rounds round the 'Lusthaus' at Vienna's Prater. In total just nine Kilometers... Heide has been recognized as the first women at the arrival. Enjoy the pictures. Good luck to all our followers!

I heard about this easy going mountain bike competition. As it has been so nearby to our home, and some bike friends pushed me to participate, I did so... A wonderful ride with the chance to meet a lot of new bike comrades... Enjoy the pictures! Good luck to all our followers!

Every year, we are going to Grieskirchen. All participants from the bike club WHC Voesendorf. All of them retired. Still going strong. Enjoy the pictures! Good luck to all the followers!

Every year, we are going to test our shape. All participants from the bike club WHC Voesendorf. All of the retired. Still going strong. Enjoy the pictures! Good luck to all the followers!

Update 2011 - In, out of and through Austria by train taking your own bicycle with you

Rail services of the Austrian national federal railway company OEBB have seriously deteriorated the last few years. There are no direct connections to France, Belgium, Netherlands any more and the rest is a fragment. On domestic connections passengers suffer from delays, overcrowded trains, bad service and all sorts of unpleasant experiences including overcrowded trains cleared by the police.

Most important for tourists with bicycles is that in 2010 most of the trains that still had bicycle capacities were robbed of the luggage van.

This year the most popular amateur MTB race in Croatia shall start on Saturday June 18th from Senj www.senj.hr in Croatia. All information shall be kept at the website of the organizer, Senj Tourist Office www.tz-senj.hr or can be obtained from malojcic (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Latest two events can be seen at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1kg3A9EM_4 and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPoOfYDRN7I.

Everybody welcome!

ISLANDA IN MOUNTAIN BIKE? SOLO CON NOI!

IBAS 2011 NOVITA'!

Cari amici appassionati di viaggi in Mountain Bike che avete, come noi di IBAS, quella spinta interiore che fa pensare continuamente all'Islanda, come anticipato il viaggio IBAS 2011 con le Mountain Bike si svolgerà nella seconda metà di Agosto 2011. Le date dovrebbero essere dal 15 agosto al 29 Agosto. La parola ''dovrebbero'' dipende ancora dagli ultimi dettagli che ci devono fornire gli operatori dei voli e sopratutto il traghetto che deve portare i veicoli dell'organizzazione dalla Danimarca all'Islanda. Ma già da ora sappiamo che potrebbero essere aggiustamenti piccoli di uno o al massimo due giorni.

La sorpresa che vogliamo farvi, questo capodanno 2010, è che siamo riusciti a eseguire una economia di scala sulle prenotazioni voli e rifugi che ci permettono ora di proporre un prezzo inimmaginabile per altre organizzazioni, per coloro che riusciranno a prenotare entro il 28 febbraio 2011. Oltre questa data il prezzo salirà, non per colpa nostra, ma per i voli e le prenotazioni dei servizi connessi al viaggio. [...]

Independent assessment of Irish Cycle Touring Routes

Do you want an independent assessment of Ireland's Official Cycling Routes? If you do read on. My name is John Walshe and I have decided to cycle them all. According to the Failte Ireland website we have about 79 cycling routes in the Republic of Ireland which came as news to me when I happened upon that claim earlier on this year (2010). Since then I have been cycling them one by one and I have uploaded my report on each route onto my web page.

Some of them are o.k. but most of them are dreadful. I intend to assess each and every one of them. I am cycling them solely from the viewpoint of a touring cyclist i.e. the kind of person who uses his holidays to cycle bringing with him all his luggage, tent etc. on the bike. As I cycle these routes I also bring along with me a theoretical nine years old daughter and an equally theoretical 10 years old son. This is the standard test that is used internationally. Would you let your two kids cycle this route? If the answer is 'yes' then the route qualifies all things considered. If the answer is 'no it's too dangerous' then the route does not qualify. It's as simple as that. Of course scenery has to be factored in and the degree of difficulty. [...]

A short, concise explanation of how you can travel around France with your bicycle.

A site made for people who are thinking about cycling in sunny Languedoc, France. There are many great cycle routes of all lengths, as well as useful information on what it is like to ride in Languedoc.

Each route page has a Google Map, route description, directions, and photos. Routes can be searched by region, difficulty or distance.

Beside bicycling, we tried a hike, which is not so far from our home... Destination: 'Trefflingfall' located in Lower Austria. Reachable via train 'Mariazellerbahn' (a 'narrow rails track' train)or by car, following the Hwy 39 from St.Poelten on. Passing little towns like Obergrafendorf, Kirchberg, Loich, Winterbach. Right in the middle of the village 'Puchenstuben' one has turn right a downhill road to the 'Trefflingfall'. A sort of hidden place. Safe to go. A lot of safety ropes surrounds the hiking path down to the river fall. Worth to go! Enjoy the pictures! Good luck to all the followers!

Corvara, has been the starting point of several 'Maratona dles Dolomites', I have been participating. We said: we do the Sella Ronda in winter. On Snow board. The tour takes just 4 hours (if you are lucky on queues before the lifts...).

Worth to see the little city of Arabba, just before the Porte Vescovo. We made a side trip to the Marmolada (there are two ways of correct spelling: Marmolada and Marmolata - one is in local language 'ladinisch'). Enjoy the pictures! Good luck to all the followers!

This year the event shall start on Saturday June 19th from Senj www.senj.hr in Croatia. All information shall be kept at the website of the Tourist Office www.tz-senj.hr or can be obtained from malojcic@yahoo.com .

Last year event can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1kg3A9EM_4

Everybody welcome!

For 7 years an amateur MTB race ``Hillclimb to Mount Zavizan from 0 to 1594'' starts from the Adriatic shore up to the mountain peak Zavizan at 1594 m. Last year organizers had to limit the number of participants because they could not accomodate them all in the tiny haven Sveti Juraj. This year they decided to extend the race to 40 km and move the starting place to Senj. You can learn more about the event which shall start on Saturday 20.06.09 from Senj by searching Yahoo or Google for ``Hillclimb Zavizan'', ``Aufstieg Zavizan'' or ``Uspon na Zavizan''. Race has no commercial interests and organizers want only to bring cyclists together and introduce them to the beauties of Mount Velebit forests. Information offered by malojcic@yahoo.com . Following pages give more information on past races:

http://www.np-sjeverni-velebit.hr/Biciklijada_2008/Fotogalerija/content/index_9.html
http://www.np-sjeverni-velebit.hr/novi_web/Velebit_htm/Karta.htm
http://www.np-sjeverni-velebit.hr/novi_web/Velebit_htm/Profil.htm

These will be the longest single stage mountainbike races in Europe.

Teams have 24 hours to complete 250km courses.

A collection of photographs and anecdotes from my father on cycling in the late 1930's and 1940's. Racing, touring, pass-storming, you name it, they did it - usually on fixed gear, and wearing corduroy shorts - ouch! No chamois leather for these boys.

In May, 2008, I spent two weeks in Albania. First week I stayed in the city of Vlora, during the second one I crossed the country from Ionian sea coast to the Greek border near the Prespa lake. All this gave me an opportunity to acquire my own experience in cycling in Albania, which I would like to share in this short review.

Contents: roads, maps, drivers, city driving, bicycles and parts, communicating with people.

Pancanal is the website for the annual Anniesland (Glasgow) to Ratho (Edinburgh) bike ride. It follows the Forth and Clyde canal to Falkirk then the Union Canal to Ratho.

This cycle is in memory of Robin Wilkie who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in February 2005. All sponsorship raised from this cycle go directly to the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund.

Tour dei castelli della Loira in bici, percorso abbreviato adatto alle famiglie.
Durata: 7 giorni.
Tappe: Tours, Villandry, Chenonceaux, Amboise, Blois, Cheverny, St.Dye, Chambord.
Suggerimenti anche per altri tour: tour dei Castelli Romani, dei castelli medievali del Casentino, dei castelli del Trentino, dei castelli della Scozia.

Grazie anche a girolibero.it per i consigli.

A website dedicated to providing in-depth information about cycle touring in Spain. Great ideas for tours, weekends away and places to go; useful links to get you there and get you around, as well as a travelogue and picture gallery to tempt you to get on your bike and go!

Have a look at this fantastic site and plan your first really exciting cycling holiday in amazing and surprising Poland. Here you will find practical information about roads, health and safety, money, threats and much more.

Since 2003 in the second half of June a race is beeing organized by the Senj Mountain Bike Club which starts from the village Sv. Juraj near Senj at the sea level and ends at the mountain hut Zavizan 1568 m above. Trek is 33 km long and is graphically represented on the web page. About half of it goes on a paved road and another half on unpaved road through the forest which belongs to the North Velebit National Park. Participation for less trained cyclists is facilitated by the second start at 1000 m from the village Oltari. Traditional evening reunion of participants takes place in Sv. Juraj harbour restaurant after the race. The event is a good introduction to the beauties of cycling in mount Velebit forests. Accomodation for foreign visitors is provided through http://www.tz-senj.hr.

This website gives information for on and off road cycling in the Alpes Maritimes inland from the busy roads of the Cote D'Azur.
Detailed descriptions of on and off road cycles, including height graphs and distances.
Photo gallery.
General information about the area - market days, restaurant phone numbers etc.
Information about cycle friendly accommodation with a shopping service to save cyclists carrying heavy shopping on bicycles when coming to an area devoid of shops. There are cycle tools, a lockable garage, all maps are provided, washing machine available.

The World's most beautiful cycling tour. July 23rd - 28th 2006. Geiranger, Trollstigen, Sognefjord, Jotunheimen, Nærøyfjord...

The Viking Tour takes you everywhere! Six days, eight fjords and nine mountain passes shared with 230 cyclo-tourists and former Tour de France competitors. Great international atmosphere and informal Fjordland hospitality dearly welcome all cyclists whatever goal they have for the tour. Competition classes are only timed for parts of each stage, giving everyone a much appreciated chance to ride with people normally at the other end of the ``peloton.'' No time limits. Our welcoming you at the stage finish only gets warmer the later you arrive. You can choose to stay in the Valhall Camps which include simple breakfasts, showers and some places pools & sauna. Or you can rent your own room, share a cabin with friends, bring a camper-van or...

The organizer Re Cyling Club provides luggage transport, feeding stations, bicyle repair service, first aid and everything needed for you to focus enjoy the experience. The cycling- and social thrills are unlimited. Available starting places are not...

David has written a book on bicycle touring in Tuscany. The site offers many useful links for Italy in general, Tuscany, Umbria, Marches, and Lazio, and miscellaneous travel sites; as well as a picture gallery.

A Web site devoted to the challenges of getting you and your bicycle on a train and to your destination in Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic. Specific ``how-tos,'' detailed photos, hints and tips, useful links, etc.

's Werelds mooiste fietstocht

Zesdaagse cyclosportieve en recreatieve tocht toegankelijk voor wielertoeristen en zij die willen wedijveren met ex-profs. Ontdek Geiranger, Trollstigen, Jotunheimen, Peak Road, Sognefjorden, Vikafjell, Eagles Road, Dalsnibba... 600 km en 11000 m hoogteverschil vanuit Aurland tot Åndalsnes. Een unieke kans om kennis te maken met een exclusieve meerdaagse tocht waarbij de wegen verrijzen uit de Atlantische Oceaan en klimmen tot de pieken in de wolken van West-Noorwegen. De etappes zijn voorzien van gechronometreerde zones, waarvan een klassement word opgemaakt, maar u kan ook gewoon recreatief deelnemen zonder tijdsopname. U fiets 'Touring Class' of voor de dames 'Ladies Class' naast de 'Competition Class' netjes in vijf leeftijdscategorien bij de mannen en de vrouwen onderverdeeld. De organisatie ``Re sykkelklubb & DBS Viking Tour'' zorgt voor transporten van bagage en bevoorrading zones zodat u zich kan focussen op de bergpassen, de fjorden, de watervallen, de gletsersn en de meren.

All about cycling in Ukraine. Routes and detailed info for Kiev, Carpathians, and Crimea. Trip reports and pictures of trips. General info on Ukraine, transportation, weather, getting your bike on the train, etc.

What you need to know about renting bikes in Paris; bicycling in Paris; subways, trains, and the RER; and cycling out of Paris. French pronunciation; French bicycle types and repair vocabulary; Road signs and their observance; helmets. How to get regional maps, lodging, and tourist sight information. Six bicycle routes and tours out of central Paris, avoiding almost all traffic: Detailed Directions and Photos. On the same site: Seventeen Best Bike Tours in France, Holland, Italy, Germany and Austria.

Eurostar, Paris Metro, TGV, local trains.

Read also the minutes of the Spanish Senate session in which the law was discussed (in Spanish).

This page has a report of the 1999 edition of Paris-Brest-Paris, a history of the Paris-Brest-Paris tour, and other material.

Situated almost in the center of the Italian peninsula only one hour away from Rome, Abruzzo it's one of Italy best kept secrets. Most of its economic life takes place on the coast facing the Adriatic Sea but its very heart lies among the many mountains ranges that run along its territory. Here you can find the highest peaks in the Apennines. Coast and mountains are fastened together by a green belt of gentle hills lined with olive trees and vineyards. Thanks to a foreseeing policy of land preservation now thirty percent of its territory is protected as National Park (4 right now) or wildlife reservation.

Then we saw the bikes. My God, the bikes.

How can I describe them? Should I even try? Well, why not. They were just normal bikes, after all. A bit clunky-looking. Fat and heavy, but not in a judgmental way. After all, they weren't meant for racing. They were meant for lumbering over cobblestones and kerbs and dumbstruck pedestrian tourists and tram tracks and probably along the bottoms of canals, should the need arise.

And they. Were. Everywhere. Even the city aquarium had one in a display tank, dangling like bait above a couple of uninterested fish, and graphically proving, to me at least, that the saying ``A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle'' really means something, at least to fish.

Romania is an amazing country. Most people imagine the country as rough, poor, violent, dark, or even asiatic. Dracula remains to be the first association with the word Transylvania [...] the black images linger in the minds of people who never were there, and don't consider ever going there. Maybe these pages about this special Eastern European country will enlighten a few of you, and convince you that Romania is a country to be experienced. Travelling there is partly stepping into another concept of time. Things seem to go slower than in our hurried West, and some regions seem to have decided to stop altogether for a century or two. Still, Romania is not a large open-air museum; it is on the move, and sometimes more dynamic than we'd expect. Since 1989 the inhabitants have got acquainted with the concept of freedom. Even though lots of people I spoke to were worried about their economic situation, most were happy to be able to speak aloud again after fourty years of pretty awful repression.

El Camino de santiago is the most important pilgrimage trail all over Europe. Gotescalco, Bishop of Le Puy, was one of the first pilgrims as far as we know, he did the trail in 950 AD (more than 1000 years ago!!). The first guide of the CdS was written by Aymeric Picaud, priest of Potou, in the XIIht century: Codex Calixtinus. Today, the CdS is called also GR-65 in the International Code, GR means Gran Recorrido or Grand Randonne. It starts in France and ends in Santiago de Compostela.