Touring - if you could tour anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Joe Gardner posted this one ages ago - I was just browsing. I thought it sounded like an interesting question to ask all of you...

Al

And would you believe I still haven't got to Tasmania, New Zealand or Switzerland?

I would definitely have to say France. I know it's an easy answer becauase of that one tour ( what was it called again :) ) but I just think it would be the best experience ever to be able to trace some of the route of this great race.

I would go to Ireland. Yash Ai Wood. Dat iz whar Aiyed gooo.

And I would hope to meet many pretty redheaded ladies frolicking jollily in cozy pubs while I whistle down pints of Irish Stout. Perhaps I could beautify the ladies even more with a cap or two of Irish whiskey.

And the fields would be ever so green as they are in the PBS television shows about Ireland.

And all the roads would bring me gently downhill toward the emerald sea where I would meet fishermen who would invite me to their homes for dinners of fresh codfish and tumblers of rich grog served by their rosy cheeked plump wives. Their children would listen to our big tales of adventure with their eyes wide while they kicked the cobblestone kitchen floor with their leather shoes.

Ah Ireland, Ireland. That is whar I would like to bicycle!

Since I've never been able to tour or probably never will that dream changes daily! Many hours spent thinking about that while driving my bread truck from stop to endless stop. Maybe if I took my 2 weeks of vacation time together, a small tour.Right now its just a couple days around the Shawnee forest close to home. Anywhere I went I would have to bring my hammock cause sleeping on the ground ain't good for my spine.:D

I like the idea of tracing some of the tour de france routes, as previously stated. And I like mike's idea of cycling through ireland.

I am really looking forward to central and south america.

Other than that, I think switzerland and new zealand would be nice too.

Hows that for indecision?


Dave

well, New Zealand has been on the top of my list for over 3 years and still not fullfilled...

Norway is also up there... although not sure if i would want to do as a XC tour or bike-camping tour.

and another TransAlp crossing of the Alps on the mountain bike i will surely do again this coming summer (probably again as a guide so it's mostly paid for!)

and some kind of bike tour in China would also be interesting but i haven't looked into it all that well - i did a 6-week non-cycling backpacking trip in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia in 2000... but i didn't make it to China, Vietnam or s. Korea, all of which are of great interest to me.

Alright, I know I already have a post about touring in France, but I started thinking........ Don't we all do our own "LITTLE TOUR DE WORK" everyday. I mean, whose is to say that our commute doesn't count. All I have to say is.....;;;;GO DUKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want to tour India, from west to east someday. Possibly following the Karakoram hwy, but that might be too dangerous....

TransAlp challenge would be very nice :D

TransAlp challenge would be very nice

Toolfreak, i haven't planned it yet, but i should be doing one or two TransAlp tours in summer 2003 --- probably one tour as a guide and another private with a couple buds. our guided tours are something like €250 (the DAV or german outdoor club sets the prices) plus food and lodging so something like €400-650 for 8 days or riding (plus transit to Bavaria). our privately organized tours are even cheaper but since i don't know you personally that might be tough...

we usually start in Germany either Oberstdorf or Garmisch and ride Germany/Austria/Switerland/Italy to Lake Garda Italy although there is talk of doing a "western Alp crossing" through France/Switzerland and some more rugged terrain. our tours usually fill up by mid-spring, and if you're interested i'll let you know when the schedule is out. everything's done in German but most of the guys can speak at least decent English.

we have a planning meeting next week and i have to come up with my tour schedule - i hate planning months in advance!

nathank - on or off road? and how many miles a day?

to be honest, I'm more inclined to pick your brains re routes and difficulty around there, but I am interested anyway

cheers

Thanks for the offer!

Somehow these big Alpine rides make me curious, don`t you supposed to be an iron-man for these challenges? :D

I did quiet a few high alpine tours and i know how it feels to travel from - 4 below sea-level to a cabin at 2500 meter.
So how do you train for such a big & high ride like this?

:beer:

off-road mostly - we had lots of fire roads, but at least 1 good single-track downhill per day.


originally posted by alexiecharkham
to be honest, I'm more inclined to pick your brains re routes and difficulty around there, but I am interested anyway

be glad to provide any info... although i'm still learning myself as i've only been in Europe for 1 1/2 years --- but then i've been in the mountains virtually every single weekend during that time and logged lots of miles and over 61,000 meters vertical in 2002!

originally posted by toolfreak
Somehow these big Alpine rides make me curious, don`t you supposed to be an iron-man for these challenges?

well, there's the official "TransAlp Challenge" which is the 7-day race across the Alps with 20,000m vertical. it is serious! 2 of our club members competed in the mixed doubles and finished 7th which is VERY good. i've ridden with both of them and the girl was on the TransAlp as a "client" where i was guide #3 (we had 10 riders and 3 guides). i would be interested in the TransAlp but there is a lot to organize and it costs a LOT - usually in the thousands! b/c you need support gear, repair equipment, support team members and all (if you want to do well)

there are tons of route that vary in the number of days, number of vertical meters and total kilometers. most week-long TransAlp tours are in the 8,000 to 12,000m vertical and about 350-450km... we did a relatively difficult route with 2 passes over 2700m and single track descents EVERY day!


originally posted by toolfreak
I did quiet a few high alpine tours and i know how it feels to travel from - 4 below sea-level to a cabin at 2500 meter.
So how do you train for such a big & high ride like this?

i personally ride and race all the time and i LOVE to climb! most of my weekend tours are between 1800 and 2900m of vertical. i personally think anything over 2000m in a day can be considered "a lot". (a friend of mine did a rcae in Switzerland with 7000m vertical!)

but we had some riders who had only ridden maybe once a week with weekend tours in the 1500-2000m vertical range. there are different tours for riders of different abilities. in general, if you can ride for 6 hours and do 2000m vertical and still get on the bike the next day, you can probably do an Alp crossing.

the Bahamas, on a luxury yaht.:beer:

Besides my goal of crossing North America; one definite plan is to cross the South end of France from the Meditterean from Beziers to Biarritz. Some call this the Mer to Mar tour I think..
You generally follow the route of either the Garronne River or a canal used for barge traffic.. Major cities you go through are Toullouse and follow the Garrone through the famous Bordeaux wine country..

Well, from my world tour and many shorter tours, I can think of a great variety of places I would go back to in a flash... and only slightly in order I would say they are:

(1) India: the best country in the world for cycling in its dry season. Good enough roads, roadside paraos or rest areas everywhere, great food, great curry, great people. The India of Kipling still exists! Ride from the Hill stations in the north all the way to Karnataka in the south; then back up thru the central highlands to Calcutta. YAHOO!

(2) Canada's Icefields Parkway. Two hundred miles of mountains, glaciers, icefields and snowy wilderness; a shoulder wider than any lane on the road, and campgrounds/hostels just at the right points on the road. Two passes, moderately difficult.

(3) the Grosseglocknerhochalpenstrasse in Austria. I go from the north to south. Steep, chilly, and unbelievably scenic; a side trip to the Glacier overlook makes for a full day riding.

(4) The INN Valley of Switzerland to Landeck in Austria. From mountains to rolling green hills as you roll over the terraces and buttresses of the Inn river. Hayfields and sand bars are great for camping.

(5) The Karakoram Highway from Gilgit north to Sust. World highest mountains; this section is not as dangerous as kohistan section just to the south, with its rock throwing kids and anti-feminist Islamic zealots.

(6) The Oregon and Northern California Coastal Highways. Sunny, dry, and gorgeous views of sea stacks; a trip thru some of the redwoods, and all that wine, too!

There are others, but i think I am boasting about all my tours, and I don't want to give that impression!

:)

roughstuff

I would like to start in Deluth MN pedal around the great lakes counter clockwise, once back at Deluth I would ship my bike home pick up a few Mark Twain selections and continue down the Mississippi in a sea kayak, I am ready to experience more of the boring old mid west

I would chose a route down the west coast of Canada ,US,Baja Ca. and Mexico and then back up via central/eastern Mexico and the US and Canadian Rockies perhaps taking in Alaska as well.Other ideas would be cycling around islands such as Jamacia,Puerto Rico,Bahamas etc. and Switz. /Austria and Australia/NZ sound nice as well. However with the current international travel situation I am content to just start out my front door and tour around Fl. for the time being.Anyone up for the Keys lol.

We've made three very memorable family trips to the Canadian Rockies & Icefield Parkway (and adjacent areas). As mentioned above, great roads, views and weather. (The shoulders on the main road DO disappear near the big towns to make way for four traffic lanes.)

These trips have all been fully loaded camping trips: 1) 6 week tour with our daughter (age 3) in a trailer (traversing the Parkway both directions and included a side trip to Canada's Glacier National Park); 2) a month with our daughter (age 5) as child stoker on a tandem (this trip actually started in Port Hardy, Vancouver Island -- 1200 miles in a month); 3) and, again with daughter (age 9, this time) as stoker on the tandem (she couldn't remember the other trips and wanted to go again) My wife road her single on these two tandem trips.

For the future: We are laying plans to be in France for a month or more this coming summer and will chase the Tour De France through the Pyrenees -- the two of us and our (just graduated) college age daughter (how time flies).

(3) the Grosseglocknerhochalpenstrasse in Austria. I go from the north to south. Steep, chilly, and unbelievably scenic; a side trip to the Glacier overlook makes for a full day riding.

Roughstuff - i almost did this ride this last fall -- actually my proposal was to take the train from Munich, ride about 70km to the start, climb the road (from 700 to 3200m actually i forgot exactly how high the end of the paved road is) and then summit the GrossGlockner... i couldn't find a partner and in the end i drove to GrossGlockner and did the 2000m vertical on foot (without the cable cars) it is a beautiful area and i looked down across the glacier on the street... maybe next summer!

where wouldn't I want to cycle....
-delhi to leh,
-karakoram (did it on motorbike, but would love to do it again on bicycle
-from holland to santiago di compostella (spain)
- to st petersbury
- northcape
-cuba

and on and on and on
holland is good too, but do that every day:)

This year I would like to ride in the Etape du Tour in the
Pyrenees. It would be a great experience to ride the
same route as the Tour from Pau to Bayonne. The ride
is July 16, 2003.

Originally posted by nathank


Roughstuff - i almost did this ride this last fall -- actually my proposal was to take the train from Munich, ride about 70km to the start, climb the road (from 700 to 3200m actually i forgot exactly how high the end of the paved road is) and then summit the GrossGlockner... i couldn't find a partner and in the end i drove to GrossGlockner and did the 2000m vertical on foot (without the cable cars) it is a beautiful area and i looked down across the glacier on the street... maybe next summer!

Very good memory you have, Nathank! There is a sign as you enter from the north (Fusch) side..it says 'summit 2500 M.' I always say to my self as I enter... wow! only two and a half kilometers to the top! Too bad they mean vertically! . I believe the Grosseglockner averages 12% for most of its length. One sad thing is that the road used to dotted with springs where cold, fresh water came out of the side of the mountain: these were not present when I ascended in 1999, so I assume the aquifers have been polluted.

roughstuff

In the United States, to northern Illinois. Outside the U.S., I wouldn't mind touring in New Zealand.

Italy, the Tuscanny region, god wine and good food. Then New Zealand. That is been an my mind a lot lately because of the race I see a lot of NZ orders go by makes my wonder of better places to be.

-The Black Hills
-The States a 4 corner trek
-Base camp at Everest/ K2
-Katmahndo
-India sounds fun
-Indonesia/Viet Nam
-China
-Tibet
-Africa
-South America
-Alaska/Canada
just to name a few

The US, Canada, Italy

Karakoram Highway from Islamabad to Gilgit

Carretera Austral in Chile (will do sometime this or next year)

Hmmmmmmm..... this is difficult.

I've travelled to so many wonderful places, but I've only really done Italy by bike, while the rest were all backpacking adventures. I don't know if I could just pick one place. The world out there is a wonderful place to see. Everytime you get to one country, another country beckons. I love Italy, but I also know there's so much more out there. I could easily do Italy one more time, but after that, I would have to head out to other regions of the world:

Asia has this timelessness that can't be beaten. I love that it's cheap too, and I love how the culture is so different than anything I've ever experienced. I love seeing some parts can be so incredibly filthy, but you can travel a short distance to other parts that are incredibly clean too. I find it fascinating how British rule influenced some parts of Asian culture, and travelling through it, you can pick up on this through looking at the homes, the shops, the landscape, etc. I love going through all those open air markets and smelling all those unfamiliar smells and watching people haggle over prices. I love learning a little of the language and talking with the people in the markets and watch them smile in appreciation when I attempt a few words of their language on them. Once, I went to this chicken market in Vietnam, and there was this guy on a motorcycle who'd bought hundreds of live chickens. He had them tied in bunches and they were hanging from every part of his motorcycle.... it was like looking at an overdecorated christmas tree, only chickens served as ornaments. I thought, "only in Vietnam!". It was one of my more humorous moments. I remember being in Indonesia and staying at a waterfront hotel- I took a ferry across the lake from the mainland, and it would drop me off at my room. I would walk from the dock onto my balcony and sit outside in the evening while I watched the women standing down in the water as they would scrub their clothes and their children would be playing nearby in the water. It was like watching time stand still. Beautiful. I love Asia!

Australia has a little appeal to me also. I spent a year in Australia and did some travelling in western Australia. What I enjoyed about travelling through there was the quiet lifestyle that each town offered. At night, you could look into the sky and stare at a mess of stars- the sky's belly was swollen with so many stars I felt like I could never take all of it in- I would stare and stare and stare. Sometimes, I would take a ride with my friends in the car at night, and I would open the windows and me and my sister would stick our heads out and just look up into the night sky and not say anything- no music, no words. The sky was so black and served as a wonderful contrast to the brightness of the sky. Then in the daytime, we would go down to the beach and watch the people, or we'd stroll through the town we were in and relax and enjoy the peacefulness of it all.

Canada- loved it, but I haven't been through Canada enough to form a clear picture of it. That's pretty much why I need to get over there. What I have seen is lovely- the nature is classic, and it's almost like a canvas of colors and life. Actually, I'd love to ride down the west coast of Canada back into the States, then continue that ride all the way to the Mexican border. That would be another trip that would be wonderful to take.

Mexico- I would love taking the east coast of Mexico down from the border of Texas into Cancun, then take the west coast of Mexico all the way back up to Monterray and back into the border of Texas. I've been through Mexico many times, and each time I've been backpacking. I love the way Mexicans seem to love life with a passion that I haven't seen in a while. Once, I went to a Mexican wedding- a Jewish friend of mine was marrying a Mexican Jew, and it was fascinating to see a Mexican Jewish wedding- part english, part spanish, part hebrew. The cultures seemed to collide, creating this entire sub-culture I don't think many people are aware of. Then, there are so many parts of Mexican culture that are wonderful to observe- from the silver mining town of Taxco on the mountaintops, to the cloth-making capital of Oaxaca. I was amazed to see complete squalor and extreme poverty in Acapulco, then walk less than 1 mile down the road into opulant wealth. The contrast was astounding- in the poorest area of town, there was a river that ran down the middle of it, and everyone was bathing, washing, p*ssing, and doing everything in between in the water. That same river ran down the road into the rich part of town and emptied into the beach where the rich frolicked and played in the water. I had to smile- the rich think they are so separated from the poor, yet they all get the run-off of the dirty water from the poor part of town, and they didn't even realize it.... Another part of Mexico found me at Chichen Itza and the wonderful ruins. I wandered through a wonderful maze of preserved Mexico, then a few hours later, found myself standing at the edge of the ocean in Cancun. Instead of going into Cancun, I instead chose to take a ferry to Isla Mujeres and enjoyed paying $1 a night to sleep in a hammock on a roof overlooking the beach and the ocean. It was so quiet that you could hear the stillness- I fell asleep to hearing the waves lapping against the shore. Such peace.

South America- I haven't been there yet, and I have no idea what there is to offer, but I would love to see what there is to offer there.

Africa- I am interested in going, I want to see the culture, but my greatest fear is how Africans would perceive me- one of their own or an outsider? I am interested in seeing Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Eteria (sp?), Ethiopia, Kenya, and Egypt. I imagine them to be rich cultures of people living within their tribes with strong familial ties.

Europe- some parts of Europe I am definitely interested in seeing-mediterranian countries fascinate me. Also, I am interested in seeing Switzerland. I heard the bike trails and bike paths were to die for... I am not as interested in Slavic countries, Britian, and Germany. I don't know why, but I just haven't found a fascination with those countries... yet. I would love to see some of the countries like the Netherlands and Sweden- I went to Sweden twice, and each time, I enjoyed meeting the Swedes. They are warm and friendly people. I never once felt out of place. I enjoyed seeing the ice sculptures in northeren Sweden and walking through the ice sculpture park, looking at huge ice sculpture displays. I enjoyed walking through small towns. It would be so quiet over there, even though there would be lots of people walking through the streets. One time, I walked through the streets and heard this humming sound. I asked my friend (ArcSpin on this forum) what the sound was. I bugged him about it until we identified the sound- it was the quiet hum of the heaters that warmed the houses. It wasn't loud, but people were so quiet when they were walking along the streets that you could hear the appliances in the streets. And when I was flying over Sweden, we got to fly right through the Northern Lights, which was way cool- shimmering lights of blues and reds and greens that looked like a hazy mist in the night sky. I was fascinated, and I couldn't stop looking out the windows. It was so cool to fall asleep watching the ever-changing colors in the sky swirling about us.

Hmmm... I'm sure there's more, but I am interested in touring the whole world! There are so many wonderful places to go. What I love about travelling is meeting people from different cultures and backgrounds and seeing what it is about their cultures that makes them function. I like seeing people that are different than me. I like seeing contrasts and I like being confronted with the differences. I like that I have to change my way of thinking. I like to challenge myself to put aside "western" thoughts and lose myself in a totally different culture. And now that I choose to ride my bike, I will be even more dependent on the cultures I visit, which means greater interaction between myself and the countries and people I visit. If anyone hasn't been touring to a different country, you've got to do it. Once you do it once, I'm sure you'll be addicted to do it again.

The only downer parts of touring is finding the time to do it! How can you do all that touring and squeak out a living? I have a friend that lives to travel- works for a year, then takes a year to travel, but that doesn't sound ideal to me. I'd much rather just take off and never return- or at least not return for a while. It's just the "how" part I'm struggling to figure out. I'm hoping that in the next couple of years, I can set myself up financially so that I can just walk away with my bike and say goodbye to my home and go off to see the world. My second concern is getting tied down to someone that may not share my views of travel- and maybe that's why I remain single. I can't see anyone wanting to travel and do the things I want to do, and I can't see myself getting into a relationship that would survive with me gone so long. So I guess those are the things that I need to work on.

Well, that's the long version of where I want to tour in the world. Oh sheesh, I'm feeling nostalgic now. I gotta go look at some pictures from past trips now.....................


Koffee Brown

Lewis and Clark - St. Louis to the Pacific then Monticello to St. Louis then the Natchez Trace to the point Of Merriweather Lewis' death/suicide. That would be my transcontinental - after the States, I would like to get to Ireland