McTook’s, now serving second breakfast and elevensies all-day!

Damn that’s a dream route right there, including badlands and montañas vacias. I heard it can be chilly at night, but at least in the montañas vacias there are some shelters where you can build a fire!

If the Pyrenees are too cold going through the Basque country might be incredible, too.

Aah, egyptian cotton makes sense. I had a regular cotton one before, always felt like packing a brick.

Have fun, and keep us updated if you can and feel like it — I will be looking forward to it!

Beautiful!! Where is the road taking you this time?

I have a few questions about the gear, if I may: Why did you opt for a cotton sleeping bag liner instead of silk? (My 30e decathlon silk liner is great and very light) Why are you taking and actual book if you also have a kindle? Do you wear a helmet when touring?

Awesome post, thank you for sharing! This is the kind of content that makes me so happy this sub was created (by OP, no less).

Route looks very well planned. Since covid I have been more aware of how much incredible beauty Europe actually has to offer. Those valleys/Gorges, empty French roads, and incredible landscapes are worth all the cold nights, rainy and windy descents, and the liquid that the French call coffee (I’m not sure we will ever agree, but when I’m on the bike, I don’t even care).

I also really appreciated that find the tunnel challenge, thanks for that! I once rode from northern Italy to Nice through the alps, I remember how incredible it was to experience the shift in landscape and vegetation from day today. I will share a little story about it in one of the upcoming throwback Tuesdays.

Someone in the comments asked how to do the camping stuff. My two cents on the matter is: if you have a limited budget, start by riding full gear for only a weekend, with one or two nights only. Plan some cheap campsites, or your friends and gardens as stops and don’t plan more than half the distance he would normally cycle without luggage to start with. It does take some time to get used to it, even more, so if you are cycling in an area with a lot of ups and downs.

If your budget allows it, it can also be very interesting to do some credit card bikepacking. This means one bag only, between five and 8 kg. Then you go from hotel to hotel in the off-season and it can be reasonably cheap (It is cheaper with a duo than alone) and it can be great fun to have a place to eat dinner at and to have a hot shower at the end of the day. In planning the route, also be kind to yourself. Those 5 to 8 kg really do make a big difference on an alpine. Next to the price, the most obvious downside to this method is that you probably book everything in advance, so your flexibility is limited. Another reason to be kind to yourself during planning.

Lastly, on this: In some bikepacking communities, there is some gatekeeping going on, meaning that they say you need to do this, or that, or it doesn’t count if you don’t have a mug hanging from your bag or whatever. Never, ever listen to any of that. What you need are two wheels, some bags whose contents preferably stay dry in the rain and the road. The smile will come out automatically and the rest are minor details. (the disclaimer here is that I do like all kinds of middle and high end bikepacking stuff, but when I’m on the road, it’s the road that makes me happy, not the carbon that I’m sitting on per se)

Unfortunately, due to some circumstances, I haven’t been able to do any long distance stuff the last 2 years, so my contributions will mostly be a throwback Tuesdays, but I will be back with a vengeance.

PS: again, OP, the photos are absolutely stunning. I find myself daydreaming about cycling in this area now.

We’ve been dunked on by our own people — tankies, probably

By the way, and I understand this is mostly about the joke. But getting a good bike helmet is really important, and there are reasons to buy a new one like every 4-5 years.

Virginia Tech does extensive independent testing of bike helmets every year, really worth looking into if you’re going to buy one.

link to Virginia Tech helmet test

The sad thing is, poor people for Trump could also be in this picture. But there are more than enough voting for him anyway.