Getting Ready to Go: Boxing bikes and measuring panniers

August 22, 2015

We are about to head to Europe again with our trusty Surly bikes. They have had a check up at our local bike shop and are now in great shape. We went for our last ride today before boxing the bikes and they performed like they are new again. Thank you North Park Bicycles.

The panniers have been carefully measured to ensure they comply with Air Canada's new stricter carry on regulations and I am evaluating everything that I pack. Keith carries the maps and tools...lucky me.

This year we will start the tour with a week in Montreal. Our youngest son lives there and we are looking forward to seeing him. We aren't sure how we are getting the bikes from the airport to our accommodation as we plan to leave them in the boxes. Hopefully that will all be clear on the ground! We will rent bikes in Montreal if we want to go further than we can walk. We fly to Frankfurt on September 1, and the real biking begins.

This year we plan to bike to Budapest. From Budapest the plan is to go to Venice via Salzburg and then go to Tuscany. This is a very loose plan, subject to change as we go. We truly do poke around, and this is a bike tour where we hope to achieve type 1 and type 1.5 fun at all times. Type 1 fun is all fun all the time. Type 1.5 has some unpleasant portion, that is redeemed by pure pleasure...think up a steep uphill but then a fantastic descent, with a bakery at the bottom. We are hoping to avoid type 2 fun...that kind of fun totally sucks at the time but makes a great story later - and are definitely steering clear of type 3 fun, where your life is in jeopardy. Think capsizing a boat in a hurricane. A great explanation is here: http://www.tetongravity.com/story/adventure/the-three-and-a-half-types-of-fun-explained

Keith will be Chief Navigator again this year. I will resume my role as the GTW (the 'Go This Way'). I am the sign reader and used as a back up for the maps and GPS. We are leaving the tent at home again this year and will find accommodation as we go. We have the first and last night booked and the rest we will figure out on the way. This is going to be fun!!

The bikes about to get TLC from the great crew at North Park Cycles.

Keith needs a new vest and we have been looking everywhere. This one is a great colour, but note the fit, and it is an extra large! I could hardly hold the camera I was laughing so hard. I told him he might be going to Europe alone if he bought it.

Keith writing now. When picking up the bikes I met a brave young couple as I was admiring their electric bike, used, amongst other things, to transport 1 or more of their 3 young children (one baby on board in the box). We had a great (but far too short) conversation about our upcoming bike tour and their single bike tour. Their tour was to Cuba with two young babies. This presented some logistical problems...the most pressing one was finding food for the babies on their trip. We would love to hear more about their trip and I am hoping they will read our blog so we can keep in touch. And I didn't get their names - dummy! I had to smile when I said to the young mom that my only regret is I didn't discover bike touring when I was her age. And she responded ... "My only regret is I didn't discover it before we had babies"...

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