Distance: 56 mi / 90km Climbing: 4,098 ft / 1249m This was my longest day yet, and I had expected it to also be the flattest. Overall the route was pleasant with many dirt roads through the vineyards of Rioja connecting small villages. It seems that from Logroño, it is more possible to ride the next few […]
Distance: 49.6 mi / 79.8km Climbing: 4544 ft / 1385m Today was another scorcher with temperatures in the high 90F (35C+) and little shade. The path was a nice variety of rolling dirt routes, with a little pavement in and out of the towns. It was my longest day so far, and also had the […]
Distance: 40.8 mi / 65km Climbing: 2894 ft / 882m The road out of Zubiri was full of walking pilgrims, and the Swiss cyclist and I stayed together for the first 5km in order to startle the walkers twice in succession. Even with a bell’s warning and saying “good morning” in whatever language I guess people to be by […]
Distance: 34.4 mi / 55km Climbing: 5978ft / 1822m When I asked the older woman at the pilgrim office about biking the Napoleon route, she flat out told me it was impossible. They recommend that people take the extremely narrow and trafficked road via Valcarlos. As I had seen other bikers in previous years on […]
After another long travel day, I’m ad St. Jean in France at the foot of the path to cross the Pyrenees tomorrow. The day was mostly a combination of train and bus, with a focused 2 hour bike assembly in the middle in Pamplona at a city park bench near to the train station. I […]
After a long and tiring day of travel, I’m glad to be at my hotel in Madrid. I left Washington, DC late last night, and had a transfer today via Munich flying with Lufthansa, who does not charge extra for a bicycle if it is under the normal baggage weight (51 lbs / 23 kg) […]
Tonight I travel to Spain for my sixth trip on the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrimage route starting in France and ending at the city of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. After five times walking, this time I’m going with a bike. Beautiful vistas in the Pyrenees on Spain’s GR-11 trail My first experience […]
I planned to do at least one shakedown overnight tour with my Camino bike setup, and decided to bike to a family campout south on the Blue Ridge Parkway at the Peaks of Otter to see some new landscape near my hometown of Harrisonburg, VA. Although I’ve spent months touring with racks and panniers, this […]
I decided to take the new Troll out for a test run with a mix of paved and gravel roads, similar to what the Camino would offer. The bike performed great, and the Schwalbe Marathon Mondial 2.15″ tires rolled much better than I expected. The route followed quiet country roads along the west side of […]
As the Camino is a mix of off-road trails and paved riding, I wanted to try a bicycle travel setup different than traditional racks and panniers. With a lot of momentum in the bike packing world, I’ve opted for the standard setup of seat pack, frame bag and handlebar bags, which avoid the need to […]
