Camino de Santiago Tour on English 3-Speeds
 

My wife and I were planning to walk the Camino Frances (roughly 500 miles) in five weeks this September/October, but I had a small bike accident and tore my meniscus. Rather than give up on our plans, we're thinking we might bike the camino instead, using our Raleigh 3-speeds. We're hoping it would be easier on my knee.

We'll be staying at the refugios (hostels) along the way, sometimes camping if there's not room, and making most of our own food. I'm pretty experienced with lightweight travel (I thruhiked the Appalachian Trail in 2004) so I'm pretty confident we can put together a decent packing list, but neither my wife nor I are in top physical shape.

The 3-speeds are in decent condition, and we'll probably take them to a bike shop to get them checked over before we go. One's a 1961 and the other is circa 1968. Has anyone here done loaded touring on a 3-speed? I know Heinz Stucke has been doing it for 40 years or so, so I know it's possible. We can't really afford new touring bikes. What are we getting into? Any tips?

Sounds like a fun idea if you're traveling light. My Raleigh 3 speed is geared pretty high, though, and don't think I'm ready to tour on it.

Bad idea. I think you at least will need more gears. With a bad knee and full camping gear you will need touring bike gearing. Get an old decent quality MTB with a rigid fork (Trek 930 for example) there is really no need for a dedicated touring bike. Ebay or Craigs list, ask the forum if it seems a good deal.

Do-able but not recomended given the availability of cheap, decent bikes with wide/low gear rannges.
Any entry level hybrid bike from a decent brand will do the job.
You could probably do this trail without cooking kit, saving a lot of weight and space. With touring, the less you carry the easier it is and bikes give you access to towns that would be out of range on foot.

As much as I love 3-speeds, I would choose another bike to tour on. I agree with those above - pick a cheap and available rigid mtb. Here's my '88 Trek 830. It's 7lbs lighter than my 3-speed. You could probably get this for $100. I paid $500 back in '88. A trek 930 is slightly better with regard to components, but this bike is bombproof enough and has as many hardpoints as my Trek 520, a dedicated tour bike.
http://i1.tinypic.com/23uoniv.jpg

The Camino is doable on any bike, if your gearing is too high you will simply need to walk them more.

I started my Eurasia tour by cycling the Camino from Paris to Santiago, and meet folks of all skill levels riding all types of bikes.

I partnered up for over a week with a Croacian woman who was riding what folks in the US might call a "Wallmart bike". She had her gear/clothes in a backpack bungee'd to a seatpost rack. For a good bit of her tour she couldn't use her granny gear (and didn't know it), so she would walk moderate climbs. We spent a good prtion of our ride cycling the walkers route, rather than the road, where walking a touring bike is allmost required at times simply due to the trail.

If you haven't allready, check out the Yahoo group Santiago Bycecleta (spelling is likely a bit wrong-sorry).

Enjoy your tour, it's a great route!

You can gear a Sturmey Archer AW-3 to a low gear. I don't think you'll get to 20 inches but 30 may very well be possible. Maybe someone on the forum can calculate the size of the chainring and cog needed on a 27' inch wheel to get a 30 inch first gear on an AW-3.

We're both vegans, so we're a bit concerned about the availability of pre-made vegan foods and/or cooking equipment. Cooking gear would probably consist of a soda-can stove, a small bottle of alcohol fuel, and a pot, so it wouldn't add much weight compared the peace of mind.

By "entry level," what price range are you thinking? Even the $100/each suggested below makes me uncomfortable, especially when we already have four bikes between us (three of which are 3-speeds and one of which is a single-speed).

Just to clarify: when I hiked, my "full camping gear" weighed 18 pounds (including several days worth of food). It doesn't seem like I'd need a dramatically different bike than what I usually ride for a camino tour, even counting an extra five pounds for tools and spare tubes: my weight + 23 lbs. is still substantially less than most poeple are able to pedal around, and I'll be splitting a lot of the weight with my wife. I'm a bit surprised by the number of people saying we should get new bikes or change the gearing. How much weight do most bicycle tourists take with them? That would give me an idea of the assumptions that advice is based on.

Also, how do I know if a bike has a "rigid fork" if I decide to go that route?

Thanks for the advice and the encouragement! This will be our first bicycle tour; was their any equipment that you found particularly useful while on the Camino? Any recommendations for cycling-specific preperation or guidebooks?

-2nd try w/ reply-

You're welcome!

Mind that I'm on a rather long tour, and am very heavily loaded (including cold weather clothes for Tibet). There wasn't anything in particular which I found more usefull. I only camped in France up to a bit before St Jean Pd De Porte, not at all in Spain.

You have the rite idea by going lightweight that's for sure! I was a bit jealous of my friends kit actually.

Preperation tips would be "the usual" for any tour with climbing. Get out and ride, and climb as much as you can before your trip. Have your bikes in good tune for the trip, and you will not need to bring along spare parts/odd tools etc.

I met some women from the US who decided to continue there trip on foot after one had injured her shoulder in a crash. I met many folks who skipped "boring" bits by hopping a bus (note that these were hikers, but I can't imagine it would be that difficult to haul a bike on the buses I saw).

Guidebooks-I don't recall the title of the one I used. I think it was "the Way of Saint James-a Cyclists Guide", but I'm not sure. It's a small sized book, allmost can fit in a pants pocket. It has hand drawn route maps which are near useless on there own, but handy as a supplement to a Micheline roadmap. The authors written route description, suggested sights and route profile are handy though. Most folks had a spanish guide which had excellent maps and descriptions (kinda like the throughhikers sectuion guide of the AT).

I'm not a vegan, so I can't say for sure how difficult it will be to maintain your diet. I did meet a Hungarian vegan a few times, and he seemed to be getting along allrite. He was a hiker who bused acrossed the meseta, rather than hiking (a bunch of folks did that). I shopped quiet a few open air markets for fresh food along the way, particularly in Spain.

Rigid fork is what all bicycles had until the beginning of the nineties, ie. no suspension. Personally I hate having to push my bike up hills so I want to have gears for any kind of hill (22 front ,34 rear cog on my touring bike). It also depends on how many kilometers you are planning to ride each day. Short distance, slow speeds, use any kind of bike, but if you are going to ride 70-120 km a day fully loaded (30 pounds all in all for light touring perhaps) you will be much better off on an old MTB.

Lots of water and sunscreen, though if you are going in Sept/Oct this may not be as important.

The guidebooks:

BRAVO LOZANO, Millan. A practical guide for pilgrims: the road to Santiago.
- León: Editorial Everest SA, - 261 pp. with maps in a separate
waterproof pocket. [Regarded as the best of the heavyweight (literally) guide
for walkers]

BRIERLEY, John. A pilgrims guide to the Camino Frances - Findhorn Press 2003
- covering St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela - [A recent and well
written compact guide with maps, photos and information.]

ANGUITA JAEN, Jose Maria. Pilgrim's guide, the road to Santiago - Leon:
Editorial Everest SA, 2004 - 360 pp. with maps in a separate waterproof
pocket includes Finisterre and Padron. [Sometimes issued free by Spanish
Tourist Offices]

HIGGINSON, John. The way of St James – A Cyclists Guide.
- Milnthorpe: Cicerone Press, 1999. - covering le Puy to the Pyrenees to
Santiago and Finisterre. [A compact guide]

CONFRATERNITY OF ST JAMES. Pilgrim Guides
Camino Frances
Via de la Plata (2)
Finisterre
Los Caminos del Norte (4)
Camino Portuges
Camino Ingles
Cycling Pilgrim
Compact, authoritative, and frequently updated (annually on main routes) guides.

Write to or e-mail the Spanish Tourist Office in your country asking for information about the camino and you may be sent the Anguita Jaen guide free.
The CSJ guide to the Camino Frances is revised every year and is great for information on accommodation etc but has no maps/history etc. It is the one I would not leave home without however. You can get it and some of the others from www.csj.org.uk

Just checking back in here:

Please don't mis-understand my comments. I really do love 3-speeds. They are the inspiration for the current setup on both my old MTB and my Trek 520. No one knows how many millions of 3-speeds are in service the world over, on all types of terrain and in all conditions - a billion is as good a guess as any other. Bottom line: Among all bikes having multiple gears, a good argument is that the English/Euro 3-speed in fair shape is more rugged and reliable than many other types in great shape. I include MTB's like mine as well.

It wouldn't be my first choice, given the inexpensive options, but if that's what I had, then I'd do it. I'm envious of you for your adventure.

None of my business really, but if you like your bikes, and know their limitations & strengths and are willing to live within those constraints... then why not? So you have to push it some. Big deal, you were going to hike it anyway.

I would, however, think it prudent to do a weekend or a 3 day weekend with mileage and terrain as close as possible to what you expect por el Camino Santiago (y tengo ningun idea donde esta ese camino).

Double bonus points for style if you do it :-)

Thanks for all that! We have the Higginson book on the way, I think, but a couple of those others I haven't even heard of. I'll definitely write the Spanish tourism office here.

That's an excellent idea. After considering kesroberts comment above, we're considering changing the rear sprockets on the bikes, too, so they're a bit lower-geared.

We're planning to follow the Camino de Santiago from Toulouse, France (where our plane from London lands) to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Most of our route will trace the old Camino Frances pilgrimage way across northern Spain.

There are a lot of Camino de Santiago routes, though most converge at St. Jean Pied de Port before crossing the Pyrenees, and all end at Santiago de Compostela.

Honestly, a large part of our resistance to the mountain-bike idea is style; we both think MTBs are awfully ugly. Perhaps we'll understand their practical beauty better after this tour.

Thanks for the encouragement and practical suggestion :)

I biked the Camino last year as well, and I wouldn't do it on a 3-speed. I'd get something with lower gears. O Cerebrio would be murder on a 3 speed.

Have you got the Bikeline maps?
http://www.esterbauer.com/buecher/html/jakob_buch.htm