Hi. We're Pam and Gilbert from 2bikes 4adventure.
We've been cycling the world without giving up our day jobs since 1993.
We recently cycled the Velodysee Trail in France and we'll give you some
background on how we decide where to go using this most recent trip as an
example. Bear in mind that this is not spur the moment traveling. We start
planning at least several weeks in advance. We have five main criteria to
consider when choosing a destination. What is the typical weather forecast for
the area? Ideally we'll avoid rainy season. We can handle a few wet days but several
days in a row of unrelenting rain can be grim, especially if the temperatures are
low. Anything below about 15 degrees Celsius is uncomfortable when combined
with rain. If it's dry we can handle somewhat around 10 degrees in the
mornings as long as the day gradually gets warmer. We start the day with a few
layers of clothing and shed them as we warm up. Of course the other extreme is
temperatures above 30 degrees. We may welcome rain in these circumstances but
if there's a cooler drier season, we'll choose to travel then. For the Velodysee
in September to early October, temperatures range between seven degrees
and 27 degrees with no more than moderate rain. We were lucky with only
two days of steady rain and intermittent showers on a few other occasions. Another
important factor for us is elevation gain on the route. We do not blame our
little wheels for our challenges with uphill cycling. We started cycling on
road bikes and we were usually the last to the top even then, so we look for
trails that are not extreme. An occasional steep incline can be trudged
but we like gradually rolling hills where we can gain momentum on the
downhill to help power us up the next hill. While we admit that constantly flat
roads can become monotonous, we never refuse a former Canal towpath
or rails-to-trails.The Velodyssee combined all of these.
Our trips always have a goal. We want to, for example, accomplish a journey which
may be from one city to another or cover part of a long-distance trail like an
Euro Velo route or cycle the length of a country such as South Korea. The Velodyssee
starts at a port on the Brittany coast and continues to the Côte Basque
and the border with Spain. Our goal for this journey was to traverse France.
Cycling infrastructure is something else we consider. It's lovely to travel along
a quiet country road bordered by vineyards. It's less fun to cycle along a
busy highway with no shoulder. Separate bike trails are our preference, although
we expect to share the road with traffic at least part of each day. We've had some
scary encounters with vehicles in the not so distant past and we know now not
to trust an official sounding trail name like east coast greenway to be bike
friendly. Now we give priority to no- and low-traffic routes. We've travelled along
several Euro Velo routes and have learned that in many countries these trails are
well within maximum traffic and speed limits. The Velodyssee is part of Euro
Velo 1, the Atlantic coast route, and France is a big supporter of cycling
infrastructure. Also in general, motorists in Western Europe are respectful of
cycle traffic. We are cost conscious and every night we
stay "sous la couette", meaning in a warm dry bed in a hotel, B&B or other
accommodation. We need to ensure that there are reasonably-priced rooms along our
route at distances that are practical for our abilities and preferences. As part of
our pre-planning we create a draft itinerary. Then we check a hotel booking
site to confirm that we can find rooms within our preferred daily distance and
price range. Our travel sometimes requires airline flights so we adjust our start
and end dates to find the best price. In France, September is a shoulder season
and there was no trouble staying within our budget.
Taking these criteria into consideration, weather, elevation gain, goal,
infrastructure and cost, makes cycle touring not only much more comfortable
but also means we look forward to doing more cycling trips in the future. We'll
provide more details on how we research, plan, prepare, and pack for our trips in
future videos. We hope our touring videos give you have some idea of how much fun
it is to travel by bike.