Did my first longish tour, from my home to le gurp, traversing France from east to west.
Altogether, 1,500 km in 11 segments, with 180 km as the longest day.
On my way back, I took the TGV from Bordeaux over Paris to Metz.
It wasn’t the most exciting route in terms of mountains and views, but
it was really pleasant, I enjoyed every day on the bike, everything
around it, and never got bored. I guess this won’t be my last tour.
I envy the French for their endless miles of cycling long-distance paths criss-crossing the country, and for their major cycling infrastructure improvements in every single city I passed.
Reading and getting questions answered on this reddit helped me a lot.
With the decision to base my build on a surly frame to begin with. And lots of smaller gear stuff. I had some long-weekend test runs up front, and was very sure about my setup.
My only fear, that the 32 mm Conti 4 Seasons I chose for minimum rolling resistance were maybe too optimistic. That was unfounded. They dealt with cobbles, endless miles of ‘strade bianche’, single trails, narly sharp
edged gavel as well as curb stones and broken glass in the cities –
without a single issue.
In terms of unexpected incidents, it was utterly eventless. The only thing I overall had to do on the bike was changing the tire pressure a few times. And a plug from the rear light disconnected once, which still annoys me and I think about just superglueing it on.
At least, I did two roadside-repairs for riders I encountered along the way. So I didn’t bring tools for nothing. I almost envied a student I met on the way home, who, due to low budget and somewhat non-existent preparation, had a lot of stuff breaking, and so encountered many more small adventures. Almost 🙂
I stayed in campgrounds, except for an Airbnb on day 2, after I figured out you have to make reservations for campgrounds in August in France, even for single-tent cyclists. Which I then did for the whole trip. And I had a super nice hotel stay in la Rochelle – because why not.
I am a road biker, so it was no question to build a road-ish touring bike, with clipless pedals. And I was glad for it, having a bunch of days of permanent heavy headwind. But I didn’t want to do minimalistic bikepacking. I had full camping gear, including cooking equipment, on-bike as well as civil clothing for every weather, running gear and other stuff for my one-week beach holiday at the target campground in le Gurp. As well as some selected luxury items like a French press or a tent peg hammer.
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Did my first longish tour, from my home to le gurp, traversing France from east to west.
Altogether, 1,500 km in 11 segments, with 180 km as the longest day.
On my way back, I took the TGV from Bordeaux over Paris to Metz.
It wasn’t the most exciting route in terms of mountains and views, but
it was really pleasant, I enjoyed every day on the bike, everything
around it, and never got bored. I guess this won’t be my last tour.
I envy the French for their endless miles of cycling long-distance paths criss-crossing the country, and for their major cycling infrastructure improvements in every single city I passed.
Reading and getting questions answered on this reddit helped me a lot.
With the decision to base my build on a surly frame to begin with. And lots of smaller gear stuff. I had some long-weekend test runs up front, and was very sure about my setup.
My only fear, that the 32 mm Conti 4 Seasons I chose for minimum rolling resistance were maybe too optimistic. That was unfounded. They dealt with cobbles, endless miles of ‘strade bianche’, single trails, narly sharp
edged gavel as well as curb stones and broken glass in the cities –
without a single issue.
In terms of unexpected incidents, it was utterly eventless. The only thing I overall had to do on the bike was changing the tire pressure a few times. And a plug from the rear light disconnected once, which still annoys me and I think about just superglueing it on.
At least, I did two roadside-repairs for riders I encountered along the way. So I didn’t bring tools for nothing. I almost envied a student I met on the way home, who, due to low budget and somewhat non-existent preparation, had a lot of stuff breaking, and so encountered many more small adventures. Almost 🙂
I stayed in campgrounds, except for an Airbnb on day 2, after I figured out you have to make reservations for campgrounds in August in France, even for single-tent cyclists. Which I then did for the whole trip. And I had a super nice hotel stay in la Rochelle – because why not.
I am a road biker, so it was no question to build a road-ish touring bike, with clipless pedals. And I was glad for it, having a bunch of days of permanent heavy headwind. But I didn’t want to do minimalistic bikepacking. I had full camping gear, including cooking equipment, on-bike as well as civil clothing for every weather, running gear and other stuff for my one-week beach holiday at the target campground in le Gurp. As well as some selected luxury items like a French press or a tent peg hammer.