cyclezealot

And if you are a European Bike Forum's member- which country in the E.U. do you spend most of your time..
...A poll. Where do you ride and how do you find the cycling.. Great cycling.. And how do you find the cycling conditions, such as infrastructure and relations with the motoring pubic..

dorkypants

I ride mainly in Italy and to a lesser degree in France. I don't want to get anywhere near a motoring pubic unless I'm already on intimate terms with her; however, the motoring public is generally quite courteous and friendly other than on busy trunk roads and in big urban centers. You're more likely to find a place with refreshments at the top of a mountain pass than in N. California (which is home), though not always.

Oddly, one has to keep an eye on the clock because if you don't get to a store before noon to buy provisions (or get to an eatery between noon and about 2 pm), you're not going to find any substantial food until dinnertime, which is late (after 7 pm, if not even later). There's also the Mediterranean thing where retail businesses close from noon through mid-afternoon; e.g., discover you need a bike part at your lunch stop? nothing's open until siesta time is over. Italian bike shops also tend to be closed Saturday afternoon through Monday afternoon AND have another day during the week when they close.

filtersweep

norway. No shoulders anywhere. There are MUTS everywhere, but they are like biking on a sidewalk. Motorists are much more patient than in the US.

cyclezealot

Dorky. South of France is the same , regarding shops being closed during the Noon hour.. My local shop closes between 12:30 PM and 3:30 PM, but it is open until 7:30 PM.. Can't blame that bike shop owner, causes he's also a cyclist and bikes on Saturday's and Sundays..

ms99

Western Germany - Rhineland-Pfalz area. GREAT! area lots of trails to ride to keep away from cars and traffic.

Have ridden the Glan-Blies Weg a bit and will look at trying to find how to connect to that into France.

Planning a ride with some of my older Clydes buddies for next spring from Kaiserslautern area over into France and back. Looking for recommendations.

Pedaleur

Learned that (nearly) the hard way when we were in some little Italian village with 1500m passes to get home and everyone was hunger knocking. 12 hungry cyclists show up at a café and the owner says "No bread left. It's Wednesday." (Apparently bread wasn't delivered then.)

Eventually, he says "Wait a minute," and goes across the road and comes back with bread -- from where I don't know. He got a pretty big tip.

Pedaleur

I ride primarily in Denmark (which is part of Scandinavia, by the way).

Tons of paths/side paths in the cities, narrow farm roads in the country. The cycling is pretty nice, if you don't mind rain and aren't looking for mountains...or even long hills. There are some hidden gems if you look for them.

cyclezealot

Pedaleur.....I realized Denmark is a part of Scandinavia. But, my interest in separating Denmark from Scandinavia - Denmark and Holland are reported to be among the world most bike friendly countries.. I wanted to encourage special comments on cycling in Denmark and Holland...

Juha

I answered Scandinavia, mostly Finland with some riding in Sweden. I'm always planning a trip to Baltic states (which would deserve a poll option of their own, BTW). I hear there's some good cycling to be had there, but probably not on the bigger highways.

In Finland there's usually a MUP if you're in village of any size. In between villages there may not be much shoulder to speak of, but traffic volumes are relatively low too. There's lots of unpaved country roads, if that's what you desire. I've never had any problems with traffic outside the city areas. It's also relatively easy to throw the bike in a long distance bus or train, if you need a quick change of scenery.

Regions I can readily recommend as touring destinations inlcude the archipelago in Turku region + Aland isles between Sweden and Finland; eastern Finland (Saimaa lake region) and Lapland (northern Finland) if you can deal with mosquitoes and 24h daylight in summer.

In Sweden my experience is much more limited. With that in mind, basic infrastructure seems pretty much the same. The few times I've ever been harassed while riding were sadly in Sweden. Nothing serious, shouting and horn blasting, but still - a clear change from here. Bike transport in Swedish public transportation is a pain. Literally handful of train routes and even fewer buses accept bikes, unless it's packed and shipped as cargo. People (tourists?) seem to occasionally take their chances and just throw the bike in train and hope they get away with it. The ones I saw succeeded. On the other hand, bikes can be rented mostly everywhere - that's what we did.

--J

Urthwhyte

Another Danish rider here, about to pick up my first road bike in the next week, but have been doing a fair bit of riding around Zealand (the main island) on my mountain bike for the time being. Compared to my native Massachusetts and the UK, the amount of bicycle infrastructure here is amazing, the amount of times I've needed to take a car somewhere can be counted on one hand, and those were primarily trips out of the country or 5+ hour car rides to other parts of Denmark.

The only thing that the country is lacking is hills, running to school for cross-country practice in the States included more elevation changes then all of Denmark has put together

cyclezealot

Thank you very much Juha for all the work you put into your response.. Finland is one of the parts of the EU we've yet to explore.. The two lake districts look very appealing.. We might even get to Scandinavia this coming September.. If Ryan air does not have a terribly restrictive policy towards bikes .

Metzinger

Canadian in Holland for the last 2 years.
The motorists are very careful around bikes, and generally very polite. Almost all of those drivers are cyclists too.
The routes are many and varied, yet very well marked and mapped.
All cities are ridiculously easy to ride and navigate through.
The islands off the north coast, especially Terschelling are great riding.
Limburg (in the south) is a special treat. All the features mentioned above, but add rolling hills, orchards, and castles.
Come during April/mid May for the intoxicating hyacinths and tulip fields in areas north of Leiden and north of Alkmaar.

Good routes in Belgium also, but don't forget your map! From what I've seen so far, a bit lower intensity of the bike culture there. Especially the urban, everyday stuff.

cride

My favorite climb, path, track, whatever in the Netherlands is the Cauberg. I believe it is the only real "hill" in the Netherlands. A good 1.5 km with a max grade of 12%.

Urthwhyte

The largest climb in Denmark can now be found in Norway

Pedaleur

Since 1814.

But what can you expect from a country whose highest point is the top of a bridge abutment?

Urthwhyte

Øresundbron?

Pedaleur

Storebæltsbroen.

OK, technically, there are some radio towers in Jylland that are higher, but this is the highest "solid" structure.

Chris_W

Why do you have to make it political, and not geographical? Refer to the continent as Europe (geographical name) not the EU (political name). I live and mostly ride in Switzerland, which is not part of the EU but is in the heart of Europe, and so I feel left out of your poll.

Urthwhyte

The OP also separated Denmark from the rest of Scandinavia, with seemingly no intentions of it being political rather EU is much easier to type then Europe.

Juha

True. Scandinavia is a good example. If I understood correctly, OP's Scandinavia included Sweden, Norway and Finland, with Denmark having a separate entry. But strictly speaking geographic Scandinavia = Norway, Sweden and Denmark (excluding Finland). Nordic countries on the other hand = all of them plus Iceland to boot. EU does not include Norway and Iceland, and EU's monetary union EMU includes only Finland and Denmark.

It's not easy to find a suitable and absolutely correct collective term to fit the ones that were targeted here. Personally, I think Scandinavia is just fine. Same goes for some other points in the poll. I suppose the best is to vote whichever point seems appropriate and clarify with a post if needed.

--J

Pedaleur

Almost. Denmark hasn't taken the final leap to the Euro (even though the crown is thoroughly tied to it).

But to be fair, the poll can only have 10 choices, so Switzerland would have wound up under "other" regardless.

Juha

Sorry, my bad.

Pedaleur

Heh. I'm just finding a way to give this thread some attention.

Urthwhyte

Speaking of giving this thread attention, today is the first time since moving to Denmark that I've not cycled to school, snow is 3-4cm thick on the bike paths, and the town seems to have no intention of clearing. How's the weather in Odense?

Pedaleur

Stram F'en op! ("Danglish" for HTFU :wink: )

But the paths here, at least between my house and the university, are fine. I saw two sweepers on the way home last night, and one passed behind our house two or three times before I went off to bed.

Are you in CPH? DTU or KU?