What is your route?
What we know for sure: we’re flying into Stockholm, Sweden and will fly out of Paris, France. We are flying with our bikes (boxed up and checked as luggage) and plan to put them together at the airport so that we can ride out from there!
This plan has us going through Sweden, taking a ferry to either Copenhagen or northern Denmark (we haven’t decided yet), entering into northern Germany, swinging west into Netherlands, south through Belgium, and into France. As far as the towns we’ll stop in, we aren’t sure yet. We want to be open to suggestions and whims along the way. We’ll avoid major roads and cities, but some (Copenhagen, particularly) we are curious to visit. We’ll decide as we go!
Do the kids ride their own bikes?
The 12-year-old boys, yes. They are riding mountain bikes with touring tires and two panniers (bike bags) each. Lest anyone worry that they can’t handle it, the boys recently completed a 35-mile group ride and while the adults ate and drank at the end of the ride, the kids got back on their bikes and rode laps around us, getting the odometer up to 60 between them!
Our 7-year-old will be riding stoker (co-pilot) on a tandem with me (Maria, aka “mom.”)
How long will it take you?
We have approximately six weeks: from mid-June to early-August.
How many miles a day will you ride?
Stockholm to Paris is about 2000 km, or 1240 miles. If we rode every day for six weeks, this would average 30 miles/day. However, we plan to take days off: not only for a break from riding but also for sightseeing and lingering when we want to. If we fall short of Paris by the time we have to leave, we’ll catch a train.
What are you doing to prepare?
Because we have so much blessed time for this adventure, we’ll do our physical endurance training as we go: we anticipate to start out riding fewer miles per day (20-30, we’re guessing) and build our mileage from there.
What we’re doing before the trip has more to do with other types of preparation: we’re taking family rides almost every weekend (35 miles in one day will be our max: we usually stick with rides that are between 10-20 miles) to make sure we are comfy on the bikes and ready for the elements. We practice safety on the roads and weathering the psychological ups and downs inherent in both endurance activity and family life.
We are planning at least two “shakedowns,” as Chris calls them, when we will ride with all of our gear to a nearby camping spot, set up, spend the night, and ride home. This way we know we’ve got what we need for a night while being close enough to home if we’ve totally screwed something up.
Why camping?
First of all: it’s cheap, which makes it possible for us to do this trip. We deliberately chose countries that have generous laws regarding land use: Sweden allows Allemansrätten, or “freedom to roam” which means camping is allowed almost anywhere. Denmark and Germany are also known for abundant campgrounds and…a bonus for bike touring… flat land!
Secondly, it allows us to have flexibility. We don’t want to worry about having to be a certain place at a certain time to keep a reservation. We don’t have to worry about checking in and making calls to have a room somewhere at the last minute. When we do take a break from camping, about once a week, we’ll certainly appreciate warm showers, electricity, and real beds!
Finally, it’s fun! I love the simplicity of camping. You have only what you need and you know where everything goes. And as Chris has pointed out since the first time we took the twins camping, when they were 3 months old: the outdoors is childproof. We enjoy relaxing in the fresh air, building a warm fire, and letting the kids get dirty and break stuff without any reprimands.
Why are you doing this, anyway?
We typically get one of two responses when we tell people about our plans. One response comes from the people who say “I’ve always wanted to do something like this.” They go on to ask us the logistical questions above. The other response falls along the lines of “But, why?” This is a more difficult question to answer. I’m going to dedicate an entire blog entry to this question and will link back here when I do.
Summer on Bikes 