The Loaded Touring Bike Website is Reborn

Ron Wheeler created and now runs one of the most successful cycle touring websites, possibly because it’s based on a very simple idea. Here’s part of Ron’s story about The Loaded Touring Bike site:

As a long time bicycle tourer and photographer, I had an early vision of such a site, though little knowledge in how to make it happen.  I had no doubts that it would be big, but surprisingly no one I’d talked to gave it much of a chance.  In the end, I taught myself how to create a webpage and with 7 images I had the first pages created.  To shorten this story; the website took off,  going worldwide in short order by word-of-mouth.  Very quickly hit counts drove the site to the number 1 result for Touring Bikes on Google.com in any language.  Over 10 million hits in just a few years.

Send a message to CycleTouringINF if you succeed in getting your trusty steed added to Ron’s site. The shot below simply isn’t good enough (but I like it anyway). You could even send your loaded bike photos to me too, but include yourself in it – we’re not going into competition. Sort of like the shots you find here, but some background scenery would be an added bonus.

Great Cycling Photos from around the World

First post since mid-November! Many apologies but until a new CTC touring bod gets going, it’s not going to happen. Until then, the very occasional blog will be published, like this link to a great set of photos. Enjoy!

http://cyclinginfo.co.uk/blog/3240/articles/cycling-photos-from-around-the-world/

(I should mention that the photo on the right is not one of the ‘great cycling photos’ – it’s just me having a go at pedalling a rickshaw in Beijing with my mum in the passenger seat. She was a very nervous passenger – the smile is one of sheer terror. It wasn’t totally easy to pedal and the brakes were abominable.)

Cycling the Mississippi

Here are some reports of a 500 mile bike ride down the Mississippi River from its source to Dubuque, Iowa. It’s nice folksy tale which you should pass on to anyone who thinks that undertaking something of this magnitude is just for the tougher types among us.

1. http://www.turnagaintimes.com/current%20issue/2011-09-01/mississippi-bike-trip.html
2. http://www.turnagaintimes.com/current%20issue/2011-09-15/mississippi-bike-trip.html
3. http://www.turnagaintimes.com/current%20issue/2011-10-06/mississippi-bike-trip.html
4. http://www.turnagaintimes.com/current%20issue/2011-10-20/mississippi-bike-trip.html
5. http://www.turnagaintimes.com/current%20issue/2011-11-03/mississippi-bike-trip.html

If every reader of this blog were to persuade a cycling, but non-touring friend to do a ride along a river, from source to mouth, we might get a lot more people cycletouring. River suggestions: River Test (Whitchurch – Southampton), River Severn (Newtown to Chepstow) , River Trent (Biddulph to Humber Estuary), the River Thames etc – the choices are endless.

Cycle Tours in 2012

Over the course of the next few weeks tour programmes for next year will be released by CTC, not to mention numerous other tour companies. Adventure Cycling already have theirs out; our old friends, the Russian Cycle Touring Club, have just been in touch to advise us of their tours next year.  CTC members receive a 10% discount.

More on Cycle Rallies

Friends Steve and Anni Gregson write:

Mark, some more rally info. I also know that the Germans and Danes have annual rallies but I do not know any web-sites for them. 
 
All over Europe, including the UK with its Birthday Rides, there are excellent weeks of well organised cycle touring organised by experienced club members in many countries. Anni and I took part this summer in 2 rallies and have enjoyed others in the past.
 
The 67th AIT international rally ( held in the Ardennes ) began on 16 July for 7 days, opening with a ride around the host town followed by snacks and wine plus a parade of old bicycles.  Daily rides at 4 distances between 43 and 125km were held in parallel with off-road rides.  One day there was a hog roast picnic for everyone. On our return each day, there was a large TV showing the Tour de France, beer and tasty 3-course dinner with wine followed by music, dancing and more beer including the special beers for which Belgium is justly famous. The full programme can be viewed on http://www.cyclo.marche.be/  In other words a very sociable week enjoyed by over 1300 cyclists from 14 countries. Although there was some rain, how lucky we were in that it generally stopped 5 minutes after our return to the H.Q.
 
The Swedish rally was held in the Central Southern area and followed a similar format. It was not quite as sociable but the very quiet routes certainly made up for the lack of lively evenings. Organised walks around Boras’s town sculptures, visits to old textile mills and free tickets to a first division team’s European match filled our evenings. See more on http://www.ctv2011.se/   A highlight was the first day when 2 hours passed without meeting a vehicle on Sweden`s quiet ways.
 
If anyone fancies a rally in 2012, here are some ideas:
 
The 68th AIT International cycle -rally in 2012 ; 1-8 July, Gijon, northern Spain. Details www.gijoncicloturismo2012.es . Accessible by LD Lines, Portsmouth-Le Havre or Newhaven- Dieppe then St Nazaire-Gijon. In 2013 it will be at Yverdon-les-Bains, on Lake Neuchatel, Switzerland,
 
The Swedish Rally in 2012; 29 July – 4 August, 2012 is in Varberg, south of Gothenburg on the coast and quite accessible from UK. www.cykelframjandet.se/ varberg  and www.varberg.se . The Swedish rallies are on very quiet roads/ bridleways but as a rally , are less sociable than the AIT. You make your own entertainment in general.
 
 There are 3 and 4 day mid-week rallies in Holland from May to September. Details can be found on www.fietsengeniet.nl.  Distances approx. 30,40,60 and 100km daily.  Inexpensive. Camping and other accommodation possibilities. Info in Dutch but should not be hard to work out . We did a few evening rides when working there. All well organised, informal and jolly. Nice and flat.
 
Anyone needing more info can contact us via the CTC Information Desk
 
Steve and Anni Gregson

 

Berlin Wall Cycle Tour

If I was a plagiarist, I certainly wouldn’t be admitting to it, but one has to get ideas from somewhere, and where better than Adventure Cycling’s Bike Bits which is similar in nature to Cycle Clips.  In a recent issue there’s a piece about a good new hostel in Berlin called the 3 Little Pigs, conveniently located near the heart of the city, just a couple of blocks from the Potsdamer Platz. This is where you can start your 160km ride of the Mauerweg or Berlin Wall Cycle Tour. It is by no means all urban either, in case you were thinking that this is a bit of a wacky suggestion for a touring blog!

Winter has all but set in, but the mild weather is still with us so what better time to take yourself off for a week to a new and (by all accounts) fantastic destination, not just to mooch around the museums and tourist sites but to do a spot of cycling too. Google ‘Berlin Wall Cycle Tour’ for everything you need to know. On the first google page alone, there are links to a Bikely route, a Bikeline guide, accompanied tours by bike and a whole lot more.

Free Camping in France!

That word ‘free’ usually succeeds in grabbing the attention. Precious little is free these days but plonking your tent down where it’s not going to upset anyone, and enjoying a peaceful night at no cost, is one of life’s great pleasures. Cicerone’s guide, Lightweight Camping, has been blogged here before, but here are a few succinct words from the author, together with some useful links at the bottom.   http://www.freewheelingfrance.com/cycle-camping/wild-camping-in-france.html

Getting to your European Destination by Train

If you haven’t considered the train as a means of getting to the start of your next cycle tour abroad, perhaps you should. City Nightline do it very well and it’s a joy to see all those mentions of cycle carriage being permitted. Check out their website: http://www.citynightline.de/citynightline/view/en/index.shtml

Willie J Machin’s End to End

 This is just a bit of fun, but you never know, it may turn into something useful. And if it doesn’t just be entertained. Check out the individual sections of video. Willie J Machin, the star of the show, is up to video 8 and he’s arriving in Edinburgh. The previous seven videos – I have to admit I’ve not watched them – are to do with the process of getting organised for the ride. From Edinburgh I have no doubt he’ll be heading for John o’Groats – and that’s just to get to the start!!!  http://www.youtube.com/user/WillieJMachin#p/u/15/4vl4NaVJHa8

Good luck, Willie. Up the CTC!

Top Tips for Travelling in Africa

 Quite one of the best blogs around at the moment is Peter Gostelow’s ‘Big Africa Cycle’. He’s just blogged a long list of do’s and don’t's which are definitely worth a look, even if you’re not planning on a trip there in the immediate future. They’re a bit of an eye opener, that’s for sure. I find it hard to believe but it’s 44 years since I was last in Dar. I do wish I could have all that time back. I arrived by ship, not by bike, so it doesn’t count really.