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This summer I'm going on my very first selfsuported cycling tour from Belgium to Switserland. I've never done this before so all help is welcome to plan this adventure. I have done relatively small trips before but alway ended up back in my own bed. This time however I want to go all the way and take on the challenge. My goal is not to explore and get lost but to get to my final destination and meet up with my family in Sörenberg, Switserland by 10 August so we can spend atleast a week together.
Thats the plan but how do I go about planning this and what do I need?
I gues the first and formost is a bike. As an aprentice in a bicycle wheel and -frame building shop I'm currently in the proces of building one for myself with adventure/cx in mind. It will have a 1x 11 drivechain with adventure dropbars and enough tyre clearance for 700c x 42mm for a smooth and comfrortable ride.
I'm planning on camping out where it's most convenient for me while I'm riding. Since it's going to be in the middle of the summer I was thinking of using a bivibag instead of a tent, to save space and weight. Hopefully the weather is going to be nice but just in the case of rain I'll bring a tarp as well. I have used this combination many times on backpacking trips and enjoyed it very much. I also like the idea of being able to stop practicly anywhere and have a shelthered rest even if its just for half an hour. Lately I have been spending some time on training rides with an seasoned audax rider and he uses a (very light weight) bivi bag to be able to have a quick rest practicly anywhere.
I do like my comfortable sleep so I will bring some kind of matras as well.
Next thing would be food and drinks. I will have room for one water bottle on the bike, I know this will be not nearly enough so I was planning on bringing a 18L Dakine Drafter with a 3L bladder instead. I'm very comfortable carying a bagpack while riding so I dont think this will be a problem for me, but we'll see how I feel about it after a few days in the saddle. I imagine a 3liter reservoir should be sufficiant for drinking water. I can always restock on the way. In the past I have been dehydrating food for backpacking trips where I went into relatively remote areas. I'm not planning on going to remote areas on this trip, so I imagine I will be restocking on food and drinks daily. That way I dont have to bring a few days worth of food on the bike and can save some more space an weight for most of the trip.
I recently got my interest in gasifier twig stoves. They are easy to make yourself and, if done right, really light weight and highly efficient! I would like to use this kind of stove to cook my evening meals and boil my water for tea.
As for my actual cooking kit I'm quite uncertain what I want to do. I could use my old beaten up mess tin cooking pan/pot but I've actualy been looking for an excuse to replace this with something els. What I'm actualy looking for is something that can warm/boil a fair amount of food or water, with the option of doubling as an container for my whole cooking kit. Maybe somebody here knows the right product for me
Of course I would need to store all this stuff and was initially concidering crafting my own bikebags (I like to keep my hands busy haha) but then came across this Polish bikebags manufacturer. http://bikepack.eu/ They seem to have nicely made products and for a very reasonable price. I don't know if anyone has any experience with this company, but I would love to hear what you veterans think about it.
I was thinking of purchasing their http://bikepack.eu/category/repack/repack-x seatbag and their http://bikepack.eu/category/framebags/framebag framebag. As for bar bag options I'm open for all kind of advice and sujestions, although I wouldn't want my front end to get too loaded on account of handeling purposes. I would like to keep the same fork I'm using atm. Also I would like to leave enough space for my shifters to function properly.
I have been looking at possible routes I could follow. I have done this trip I'm planning countless times as a child in the backseat of the car and know there some really nice and hilly areas I'm passing trough. I could follow the EuroVelo 5 route that goes from London to the south of Italy and follows practicly the same route I had in mind, but maybe some of you have other more scenic or interresting routes I could follow.
This is the rough idea I have in mind. Of course I have left loads of things out, like toolkit, medikit, electronics etc.. I can figure this out after I have my basic setup in place. First tings first I need to finish the bike since its just a bare frame now.
I can't wait to hear what you all have to say since I have no idea what I'm actualy up to and the possible problems I could encounter on the road or setting up my bike for the trip.
