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Europe bike trails?
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Feicht
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Posted on: Thu, 03/07/2008 - 12:29

Wondering if anyone knows of a map of Europe with good bicycling routes on it? I seem to remember something about alot of old Roman roads being used for this now…


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Posted on: Thu, 03/07/2008 - 12:38 #1

http://www.ecf.com/1…


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Posted on: Thu, 03/07/2008 - 18:35 #2

Hehe that’s pretty much exactly what I was looking for Cheers dude

Anybody on here ever cycled around the continent before? Any good/bad experiences?

I’ve started riding my bike again here at home, and it got me thinking that it might be a cool/different way to experience Europe. All very pre-pre-pre-preliminary at the moment, just kind of brainstorming. But I’m likely going to be studying in Rome next summer, and the thought has crossed my mind about trying to cycle from there up to Germany…maybe taking a train up the Alps, and coasting the way down might not be a bad idea though hehe

I think it’s around a thousand miles between Rome and Hamburg… mathematically speaking, to do it in a month would be about 35ish miles a day. A few years ago, I used to ride my bike to and from work every day for a total of about 30 miles in hilly country, took about an hour and a half each way. Hell, if I had two months, it seems totally do-able to not just be riding continuously, but actually stay places as well.

The main issue would be though… are there agencies where you can rent a bike in one country and return it in another? Hell over that length of time I bet it’d actually just be cheaper to freakin buy one…


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Posted on: Thu, 03/07/2008 - 19:41 #3

i met a woman from the Netherlands when i was in France
mid life crisis
sold all her stuff, quit her job as a physio, and put the stuff she was going to use: some clothes, laptop, tent, on a bike with saddle bags. She then biked from the Netherlands down to Spain….....at least that was the plan. I ran into her at the hostel in Blois.
If she got to Spain, the next plan was to fly to the US, bike westward to the Pacific.
Crazy. I wouldn’t do all this biking. Maybe a Tour de France type vacation where they let you ride the routes of the Tour before hand for like 10 days.


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Posted on: Thu, 03/07/2008 - 20:55 #4

Damn that’s pretty cool Smile

It just seems like it’s a way to like, feel closer to the places than anything… like, imagine what you’d know of the US if you just drove on the highways and stopped off in New York, Chicago, and LA for a few days each…


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Posted on: Thu, 03/07/2008 - 21:39 #5

Feicht wrote:

It just seems like it’s a way to like, feel closer to the places than anything… like, imagine what you’d know of the US if you just drove on the highways and stopped off in New York, Chicago, and LA for a few days each…

Well, that’s exactly what some people I know happen to know about the US

What you think of doing is pretty cool! And it’s got to be a lot easier then you may think. Biking is very popular in Europe. There must be plenty of town to town routes. Most trains are outfitted to transport bikes for when you don’t want to ride. You may have trouble finding hostels spaced close enough to one another, but hotels away from large cities tend to be cheaper, and many won’t mind you and your bike.

As for buy vs rent, can’t you just get a [used] bike for the trip and sell it at the end?

By the way, outfitted in your favorite tight lycra shorts and jersey you’ll blend with the locals a lot better then in baggy shorts and NCAA t-shirt


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Posted on: Fri, 04/07/2008 - 00:34 #6

Yeah.. like I said, I’m just thinking about it at this point, but I’m sure it’s do-able.

I’d also like to find a good map of old Roman roads too, I wonder if my professor could help me out there… I know there’s one that goes from like, North-Central Italy up into Bavaria… I wanna say to Donauwörth, but I’m not sure.