Doug64

My wife and I usually use a modified "winging it" technique. We know the the towns, parks, etc. we want to see and just plan a day or two ahead to get us there. Some of our preliminary destinations will also change depending on time, weather, and topography. We started a 3 month tour last summer with only the first day planned to get us out of a large city (Lisbon). That plan changed before we got out of town after we talked to a ticket agent at the ferry terminal who showed us a better route. We had a few "pinch points" (be at the finish of the Tour de France and doctor's appointment in Paris, visit a cousin in Barcelona, and catch a plane in Amsterdam) where we needed or wanted to be on a certain date, but otherwise our goal was to spend 3 months cycling around Europe.

We actually put more energy planning a 5 day tour with our 2 daughters next week, than we did on a 3 week tour in June. It is their first tour;and we did not want to explain the fine points of wild camping, eating cliff bars for dinner, or having to push an extra 20 miles at the end of a long day. We want them to have a good time. Our route, camping spots, motel, and grocery stores are all nailed down. For our trip in June we started putting our gear together 2 days before we left.

We are planning a 6 week tour in September/October, and we know the cities that we will visit or ride through, but we won't do much specific route planning. The transportation to the starting point and the return trip are the two items that I like to have figured out. However, the return transportation can be arranged about 2 weeks before the end of the tour when arrival times and location are a little more certain.

I believe that the amount of planning depends a lot on the complexity of the route. This may sound counter intuitive, but we tend to plan less for the more complex routes than we do for the more straight forward routes. It seems like the amount of detail gets overwhelming, and they are seldom ridden as planned anyway. Also, distances between services, abundance of campgrounds and lodging will dictate how much planning is required. In an area with a campground every 20 miles, planning is not too critical. Areas where food, water, or lodging are 60 miles apart, more planning is required to prevent getting in a tough spot. Usually planning 2-3 days ahead will prevent most problems. Sometimes, we just accept those "problems" as part of the venture.

Part of the adventure for us are the unknowns. Having said that, I do use a GPS to help in route finding, locating alternate routes, campgrounds and lodging.