I can’t believe it’s been two years since I set off on my ride across the United States. I left the east coast having never done an overnight trip on my bicycle, but after 81 days I was already looking forward to the next time I could get back on the road. I’m not sure I thought my next trip would come so soon, but two years later I’m planning a trip through Europe.
When I finished the Trans Am trip my plan was to head back to New York City and find a job. I ended up spending a month in NYC splitting time sleeping at a friend’s place and my brother’s floor without any job leads. After that I tried out Colorado for a month but was eventually contacted by my former employer and hired back as a consultant. I worked remotely in this role spending a month at my parent’s house in Florida, followed by a month in Park City, Utah. After 8 months without a permanent place to live I finally moved back to NYC full time In January 2018. I worked for my former employer until December 2018 but was subsequently laid off. Since then I’ve been doing some consulting work to hold me over until I head out on this upcoming trip.
Having had such a great experience riding across the United States, Europe seemed like a great follow up trip. I’m really looking forward to experiencing the different cultures, languages, and history that Europe has to offer.
Route
Planning a bicycle trip across Europe began as a daunting task. There are so many points of interest and possible start and end points. I began the planning by deciding on a few places that were of highest interest to me. I knew I wanted to visit the cities of Amsterdam, Brussels and Basel and had an interest in exploring Italy. I also wanted to ride over the Alps between Italy and Switzerland as a climbing challenge for the trip. The Eurovelo 5 bicycle route seemed to be the best route to hit up all of these places. This became the basis for my planning. I also decided I would start in the south and head north under the assumption I will find cooler temperature as I head north during the later weeks of summer.
When I started planning this trip I was aware of the Eurovelo routes that crisscross Europe, but had a very hard time finding reliable maps. Many of the Eurovelo routes are still in the planning stages and are not fully complete. What I came to realize is the international Eurovelo routes tend to be composites of national and regional routes. While I couldn’t find great information for the Eurovelo routes in their entirety, I was able to find a wealth of information as long as I looked at national websites.
After a ton of research I finally decided to start my trip in Rome. Rome is a city with a ton of history and the Eurovelo 5 route runs straight through it, heading north towards the Swiss border. The best resource I found for this section of the trip was related to the Via Francigena bike route (https://www.viafrancigena.bike/en/ ). The Via Francigena is actually an ancient road established between England and Italy over a thousand years ago that was walked by pilgrims. People walk this route to this day. The fact that I would be cycling on a walking route for the first part of the trip was highly encouraging. I know there have to be resources packed close together if people are able to make the trip on foot.
Once I hit the northern border of Italy I will climb over the Alps and head through Switzerland to Basel, which borders Germany and France. I found a great resource for Switzerland’s national bike routes and determined Swiss route 3 to be my best option.
From Basel I will be able to follow the Eurovelo 5 route all the way to Brussels. From Brussels I plan to head to Amsterdam where I’ll hit the final stretch of my trip on the Euroroute R1 which crosses northern Germany to Berlin. Depending on how long it takes me to get to Berlin I will either end my trip there or continue on to another major city to fly home. I’ve got my sights set on Prague, Vienna and Budapest if I have the time and energy to make it past Berlin.
The googlemap above will be updated as I plan and make changes to my route. Nothing on the trip is set in stone, but I hope the general outline I’ve set out for myself will be enough to keep me moving in the right direction.
Ramblin' Dan: Bike Touring Adventures 