This year I have been touring in Puerto Rico and Panama. Next year I'd love to go to Australia. Problem is, in such a huge country time is an issue for this working bloke. Oh well, it's better than nothing!

Yes, I had seen that link before, it's very helpful. I'm glad to know that the trail is well marked and it's nice for riding. I think we're going to plan our route with a mix of Sverigeleden, Cykelsparet, and just regular maps. I think we probably won't buy the Sverigeleden maps, though - sooo expensive. I'm tempted to get a cycling GPS but I don't know if it's worth it.

This year we toured around Europe for 5 months so next year its a short 3 week tour of (most likely) Denmark or if its in the budget we love to cycle Ireland.

I haven't toured yet, but I'm very interested, so here's my current strategy for the upcoming year.

1) I have planned a "big" (big being relative...) trip from Amsterdam to Rome with a friend in July/August. It will be a credit card tour and should last about 3 weeks.

2) As part of a shakedown of sorts, I'm hoping/planning to do an ACA weeklong tour that starts very close to my home here in Austin - it takes place in April. Unlike the European trip, it involves camping, but I won't have to carry all my gear. Even though I don't have to, I'm planning to carry what I'll use in Europe in order to see how that all works as well as doing a lot of mileage. I come from a road biking background, so I need to figure out what kinds of paces work best for me. I know I can go real slow and be fine, but I want to mix it up so that some parts are laid back and some parts are more intense. This trip seems like a great opportunity to figure that out.

3) I'm also hoping to do one or more weekend tours on my mountain bike where I would only be gone from home 2 or 3 nights. I have a 7 year old son and simply can't be gone too much or too often, but I want to figure out how to incorporate mountain biking and camping with him when he's ready. I figure it's best to try it out solo this year and then hopefully he'll be ready for some flat fire road adventures next year. Going by myself will let me test out the equipment and scout the terrain.

KDC,
I sent you a pm about your trip.

Oops! Not enough posts for me to PM. Shoot me one if you would please.

This thread is really turning into a nice list of dream tours really. Glad to see I am not the only one excited about this upcoming year.

I know I am. As a matter of fact, I'm excited about Christmas because it means the days are getting longer than I am by the rest.

Original plans were to ride from NY to FL via the Blue Ridge Parkway. I was going to give myself a month to complete it, enjoy a few days at the beach, and hop on a plane back home.

I casually mentioned it at work, and I could see by the reaction that if I took that much time off, it would put unnecessary strain on the business. I had a feeling it would, and I can understand this. So...

I've trimmed it back and I'm getting excited about doing a loop around NY state, leaving from my fair city of Kingston.

-Kingston
-West/North through Catskills
-Erie Canal trail and bicycle routes to Syracuse
-Great Lakes Seaway Trail to the northern terminus
-Across Northern NY
-Cross Lake Champlain
-Head south through VT and bring it on home back to the Hudson Valley

I'm fleshing out several ideas, but it will be in Europe regardless.

My dad was a US combat infantryman during World War II. He landed at Normandy and fought across northern France, Belgium, Germany and was in what is now the Czech Republic when the war ended. Last year, I toured his route through Belgium, with an emphasis on where he was engaged during the Battle of the Bulge. It was a truly moving experience, and I'd like to do the same with northern France provided I can cobble together his movements as well as I was able to for Belgium. He passed away some twenty-five years ago, so I am having to rely on a variety of sources to determine his route, most of which don't offer the level of detail I'm seeking. If I can piece together his route over the next couple of months, this is the tour I'll most likely take next.

Failing that, I may hold that tour off another year and follow a backup plan this year. The leading backup contender is a tour from Prague to Budapest, along the Danube for much of the way.

But I'm flexible and may end up doing something totally different.

That's a pretty cool way to do a tour. Before my dad died, I was lucky enough to go to Europe with him and try to follow his route (but in a car). He also started out in Normandy (9 days after D-Day), but he often didn't know where he was. It's pretty neat that you have some good sources. We found a couple places in France that he was certain of, but couldn't find the exact street in Erfurt Germany where he was shot right before the war ended. It was still a fun trip and I will never forget how a hotel owner in Bastogne treated him like absolute royalty once he learned what we were up to.

I'm planning riding out from my home in Minnesota, catching RAGBRAI, then heading southwest towards Moab, UT. At that point I'll either look for a job at a resort or national park over the winter, or head down into southwest Arizona or California until spring. Less of a bike tour, more of a stab at a nomadic bicycling lifestyle. If all goes well, in 2012 I'll head up the west coast and then to Alaska - then who knows what.

I am taking a boat from my home in Seoul to Beijing where I will then ride to India through Tibet and Nepal. I have about six month set aside for the trip before I have to be in the States for grad school.

Planning on the 2nd leg of 3 to cross the northern US. Williston, ND to Niagara Falls via Hwy 2 and the Upper Peninsula. I like crossing in stages as a month is about all I want to be gone from home, and I enjoy anticipating the next stage. Getting to Williston will be the challenge.

Also got an annual, short, January tour with a buddy coming up. Somewhere we hope will be warm.

You don't have to do the whole country in one bit. There are plenty of individual regions you could visit that would provide a very fulfilling tour on their own, and the best part is, with such a huge country, there's going to be something of interest somewhere, irrespective of which time of year you visit.

It took me a few months to come down from my Japan tour back in August/September, but I'd love to go to Europe next year if I can afford it. One of my hiking friends over here lived in Switzerland for 17 years and is always telling me how spectacular it is. I could be tempted if I have the funds. Apparently there's a pretty spectacular pilgrimage route that takes in 2,000km from Central Europe to Compostela in Spain, passing through some pretty spectacular areas along the way. I really could be tempted.

If not, I might do the Northern Territory tour that I keep putting off.

Decisons, decisions.

I hope everybody is as enthusiastic about providing us updates while on tour as they are about planning the tour.

All I've got on the fire right now is a week of dual-surface bikepacking, rolling from Grand Junction CO to Moab, UT, on the Kokopelli trail, and maybe a Texas history tour around Gonzalez, Goliad, San Jacinto, et cetera.

I always feel that way until I actually start the tour. Then I'm usually too busy doing other things to seek out Internet Cafe's to do regular updates. I always seem to end up apologising to people for that.

No definite plans for the coming year, probably lots of short overnighters and weekend trips. Would love to spend a little time to cycle the olympic peninsula, or maybe a loop that incorporates the icefields parkway.

Yes, in the past this has been my experience as well. However nowadays with Smart Phones, I bet people will be updating way more often then they used to.

I've never done anything like a tour before, and am excited to be planning one with my brother for next spring/summer. Not sure how far, or exactly where we will go, but are definitely planning on visiting friends and family in other states....
I am very excited, and getting gear and making plans is making me pretty itchy for spring-time

I Wish. I remember that feeling before my first tour. I spend all winter training and riding. I think I even left 1 day early cause I just couldn't wait to go anymore. Nothing more freeing that riding with everything you need and no destination.

Sorry for the duplicate post, but ...

At the age of 62+ and as an insulin dependent diabetic for the past 46+ years I figure I can apply my dreams to my life

Yee Haw.
Thank the Creator for trees and what they do

Im doing a similar trip in May. Im taking the ferry to Comox (about halfway along the island), and riding down to victoria, where I will take another ferry to Port Angeles, and then ride along the Pacific Coast Highway until I get down to Redding, CA, where I will meet my family on vacation.