Touring around a country on a bicycle while on your vacation is a pastime that is becoming more popular. Maybe it’s the drive for people to get more fit or experience a place from a different viewpoint.
It is indeed a fun way to spend your vacation but I wouldn’t recommend people trying a full one or two week bicycle tour without first preparing and reading this post, as there are many mistakes that people can make (and I’ve made most of them myself) when they try this holiday activity for the first time.
You Really Do Need to Make a Plan!
I think this is the number one mistake that newbies make. You either make a very rough plan regarding where everyone will be riding and sleeping each day and night or even worse, you don’t make any plan at all.
Granted, it does sound fun heading off into the unknown like some explorer from a distant past but the romance of this idea soon fades as you find yourself spending hours backtracking from getting lost and just as long trying to find accommodation. And this isn’t fun while you’re tired after a long days ride.
So avoid this common hiccup by;
- Going through a map with the other people on the tour well in advance.
- Look at all the famous tourist spots you want to visit.
- And just as important research online for the not so famous places which may have some hidden gems for explorers.
After many discussions (sometimes heated!) you should all have an idea of where you want to get to each day.
You then need to start booking accommodation.
When doing all this for the first time, you need to add an hour or two onto each day. Don’t assume you can get from ‘A’ to ‘B’ in eight hours for example. Add on a couple of hours for those things that are bound to crop up (good or bad).
Here is a great article which helped me. It gives more advice on planning the route.
If you only follow one piece of advice from this article, this is the one to use!
You Don’t Need to Pack the Kitchen Sink
Another very common thing I used to do (and I think many do as well) is to over pack. You see, unlike normal vacations, you have to bring your entire luggage with you while you ride from place to place.
So while you may think it makes a lot of sense to pack every possible item, you need to remember that you’ll be carrying all this bulk with you. And trust me; when you’re riding up a mountain that extra weight will hurt!
Are You Fit Enough?
So you ride once a week or worse only once in a while?
This is great but when going on a full tour you have to remember that you’ll be riding every day.
Some people can skip this as they just are able to adapt and manage to keep the pace up but some other people can find they have a lot of trouble after a couple days of solid riding.
So try to get some practice in before the tour. This is another reason why you should plan in extra hours into the route.
Bicycles Can Have Bad Days as Well
Like people, bikes can have bad days with things like punctures and more serious problems.
So spend some time before the tour to learn to fix these kinds of issues.
Jack, a travel and cycling fan is working with Pedaltours a company in New Zealand that runs a wide range or cycling tours all over the world. You can find more information here regarding what places they ride in. They have recently expanded into various European counties such as the Czech Republic and Austria.
