emtroche

Hi,

My name is Emmet. I'm a former racing cyclist and one of the organisers of the Race Around Ireland ultra-marathon race. I'm currently in my 4th year of BSc in Tourism Management at Dublin Institute of Technology. My thesis is about the suitability of the cycling infrastructure for tourists in Ireland. As part of my research i'm hoping to get feedback from a wide variety of people. I was wondering would anybody here be willing to answer a questionnaire in the coming weeks?

While i'm interested to hear from anybody who has ever had a cycling holiday, i'd be particularly interested in people who have had cycling holidays in Ireland, Denmark, The Netherlands or Germany

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If you would be willing to help could you email me at emmetcycling@gmail.com or message me here.

Thanks

Emmet Roche

fietsbob

CGOAB has lots of journals there , start your reading there.


CTC in UK, Adventure cycling Assn in Montana..

djb

May I suggest looking into the Montreal based "Velo Quebec" organization, its been around for about 25 years, I used to peruse their small library when I began getting into touring. Over the last 20yrs or so, they have developed a great number of supported trips, here in Canada and all over the world now. From purely a "tourism" angle, it might be interesting for you to read about them and their trips, and see how they have clearly tapped into the popularity of biking here in Quebec.
While I have done a number of trips self supported over the years, my wife isnt keen on lugging stuff, so we have done Velo Quebecs "Le Grand Tour" week long supported trip a few times, it is very popular and is a good success story of attracting the crowd who dont want to have to deal with finding campspots, the daily planning of a route, or food (but it is still camping, to keep the costs down--compared to hotel trips)
You might even want to contact Velo Quebec directly with questions that may direct you with specifics about odds and sods. I suspect that you are looking at more getting "outsiders in " so to speak, as opposed to getting Irish folk involved.

all the best with your paper (and no, I have never biked there, nor been in fact)

fietsbob

I found it odd that the Places that had Rental fleets only had a Hand pump [carry on the bike kind]
to pump up all the tires on their bikes..


Low budget guy , the Independant hostels let me stay in out of storms,
IYHA ones always Booted you out at 11am.

had to stay out for 5 hours.. before they opened the doors,again..

Bacciagalupe

I didn't see any cycling infrastructure at all while in Ireland. Belgium has its Fietsroutes, which are as much for locals as anyone else, but can be used by tourists.

FYI a company called Iron Donkey runs bike tours in Ireland and a few other locations in Europe. You might want to get some input from them, if you haven't already.

juggleaddict

translation: crazyguyonabike.com for folks browsing or unfamiliar.

Machka 

The Netherlands and Germany ... and a few other places ...

https://www.machka.net/RTW_2012/RTW_Europe_Main_2012.htm

emtroche

Thanks for the replies guys. I actually have a ton of research done already. My literature review is more or less done and i'm on the right track.

At the moment i'm starting my primary research so i'm at the point were i'm trying to get peoples personal experiences. That way i can build up a picture of what people have experienced with regard to infrastructure and what they think is good or bad. And then i can translate that into whats in place here and if the strategies are appropriate.

So if anybody would be willing to complete a questionnaire i'd be glad to hear from you.

Thanks

emtroche

I have to say it is improving, however this is one of the reasons why i chose this subject. I want to see if the plans are going in the right direction and if enough is being done. I also want to see if the planners actually understand the benefits of improved infrastructure, because the benefits have been proven in many countries. Personally i think if i do a good job on this paper, it could have a beneficial impact on cycle tourism here. Hopefully!