the planned route for 2011

The general outline of our planned trip is as follows:

First leg is from Amstserdam to Paris. We arrive in Amsterdam on the 8:30am on the 27^th and plan on 2 nights there - need to mellow from the flight:-) It's 535km to Paris though there is a strong possibility Brugge will be added.

Next leg takes us down Loire river - 475 km. This is probably the most organized cycle route of the trip - Lots of campgrounds and Chateaus.

http://www.cycling-loire.com/.

From Nantes we take the train to Carcasonne -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcassonne Sun, sand,and beaches are next – though roads are narrow and traffic in May is expected to be heavy. This section is 555km – 6 days so arrive in Nice the night of the  16th.

Somewhere along the planning it was decided that the French Riviera, Pisa and Florence should be added - 475 km. Lately we’ve talked that if can get ahead of schedule there may be time for a day or two in Rome by train.

Now aTrain trip to COMO and then the crossing of the ALPS. 316 km – 3 days. 

http://www.veloland.ch/de/routen_detail.cfm?id=20813&tour=route&art=national

Then we follow the Rhine most of the way back to Amsterdam. 759km - 7 days.

http://www.rheinradweg.eu/de/

Total 3115 km in 31 days = 100 km per day. 36 days total for trip and including the stops in Amsterdam and Paris

That leaves 0 days of cushion. Hmmm, I guess there’s always the option to take more train/or pedal further each day.

Keep Rolling,

Pete

Random thoughts

While driving down the coast in Oregon a couple of weeks back, the sun was out and the beauty of the coast brought back to mind last years wet ride down the same road with Tom on the way to Santa Barbara. Strangely, pedaling in the rain is better than driving in the sun.


26 April - John and I's departure date for Amsterdam is fast approaching - hoping for sun.

Keep Rolling.
Pete

Next tour planned

Training for the next tour is underway. Spring training started last October and very few weekend rides have been missed. There have been too many less than 50 mile rides but but there is still almost 3 months until John West and I leave for Europe on 26 April.

Keep Rolling,
Pete

Day 18 -pete - on our way home

We are on the road by and stop at the Cajun kitchen café for the best breakfast of he trip. I had eggs over gumbo.

At the airport we disassemble and box our bikes. A short wait and we board.

Day 17 - Goleta, CA - Tom

We arrive around noon. The day starts out with a rear flat. I pump it up and make it to Starbucks in Lompoc. A short ride to breakfast finds thed tire flat again. Oh well, there was a nice piece of lawn And the weather was great - I'm ready to go by 8AM - two flats repaired. We follow HWY 1 to a 1200 ft pass were Pete sets out to prove that strawberry blintz's are not power food...but I'm so tired of eating smart. Well I got close at one point to passing Pete but we got a headwind the last couple of miles aNd it was all over for me.
We make it down the other side and as we roll along I feel a rock hit my tire in a bad way - flat no.3....the HWY 1 has turned into freeway 101. Three tries patching the tire and I've got something that seems to work. At least it gets me 20 more miles down the road to Goleta and lunch. We find a bike shop, I purchase a inner tube, change out my rear tire which was brand new a month ago with my foldup and we're ready to head out to the airport to check for bike boxes, then hopefully rfelax at the beach.
Bike boxes found we make it finally to the beach, play in the surf and are ready to head out. My front tire is flat - I try to repair but hole is in a bad place near stem. Sure enough,within a mile I'm flat again. We add enough air to get to bike shop, purchase a another inner tube and 8 repair. That's 8 times to replace inner tubes in one day. Pete informs me I've broken his record of 6. I'm not all that happy to make that number; but it was a good ride overall - who am I to complain, I'm a man that has literally had the ride of a lifetime. Thank you all that made this possible. Back to work.

DAY 17 PETE - Santa Barbara

We leave Lompoc facing a 15 mile climb over the coast range. Its the last climb so we work extra hard and race each other to the top. We must have put on some muscle as we average 12.4 mph on the climb. A steep downhill and we are back on the coast. The day is crystal clear and the channel islands are visible on the horizon. After one coastal roller I notice Tom is no longer behind me so I stop to wait. After 10 minutes I figure he's had a flat. After 15 I call and get out my book. Another call and a text message and still no Tom. No aid car sirens so I continue to read on the side of the freeway. Turns out he had to change tubes 3 times. He' already changed tubes twice in Lompoc that morning so he was up to 5 flats before noon. We hit Goleta and he buys a new tube and we roll to the airport.

At the airport, Horizon has no bike boxes so we go to United but the would not sell us theirs. We go back to Horizon and their manager goes to talk to United and to secures the boxes for us. The Horizon manager says in 10 years we're the first ones to request bike boxes - Amazing.

It is still early so we head for the beach and though windy we do go in for a swim. At the Beach tom notices his front tire is soft. He a patches the tube. The patch was close to the stem and slow leaks. We head back to the bike shop for another tube and Tom swaps out his 7th flat. That eclipses my previous record of 6 in one day. He's not really happy about the record however. We head for dinner at the Holister brew pub.The burgers are really good and so was the double stout. The duck fat fried fries are extra special. Tom's smile returns during dinner. After dinner he even treats himself to a hot fudge sundae and an apple pie at the next door Mc Donalds.

Corliss has arranged accommodations for the night at the parents of a friend from work. Thank you Chuck and Pat for your hospitality.

Day 17/ 57 miles/1265 total

Day 16 - Lompoc, CA - Tom

This morning after breakfast we immediately run into a organized group of bikers. We find out through conversations with them that they are doing a 7 day ride from Pacific Beach to Solvang. They had ridden the Big Sur stretch the day before yesterday in the rain and were not able to see much. What a tragedy. I will never forget riding along the Big Sur to San Simeon stretch when all of a sudden by a shear cliff a flock of 20-30 pelicans rises elegantly above the edge of the cliff no more than a few feet from us.
Anyway, today's ride was fast at times and nerve wracking due in part to the strong winds; but also due to reaching urban centers where there wasn't a good alternative bike route (at least not one we were aware of).
One short ride tomorrow and we reach our goal, Santa Barbara.