sheeps

Because of the pandemic last year (2021), I had too much vacations to take and I didn't know what to do, so I just took my bike and went to "mont saint michel". It took me 5 days, it was my first time and I did a lot of mistakes

  • too much riding and not enough enjoying the landscapes ( ~130 km/days )
  • freezing at night ( you need to isolate yourself from the ground )
  • mechanic not well prepared ( I had to shift the lower gears by hand at the end ... )
  • not enough food ( -5kg )

But still, it was a fantastic experience. So for this year, we decided to go on duo with Clementine. Confident by my colossal 5 days XP, we planned to take 2 months to go to ... Slovenia

Here are the mistakes why of course it didn't go well

bike gear-ratio

It's covid, there is a bike shortage, but Clementine already has a triban rc520. It's a road bike with really good mechanic

Clementine: "Is it going to be OK to not have a more touring bike oriented ?"

Me,MonkeyMaster: "Yes of course, I will take the heavy stuff it will be easier for you"

hahaha ....

Gear-ratio

in few words: it's the facility of climbing hills

full explication: This youtube video gives a really good explanation

It's not intuitive but if your bike can go shorter distance for same power, you will climb less of the hills and it's going to be much more easy

schema_gear_ratio

On a road bike like Clementine had, you don't need this as you are supposed to go mostly on flat or maybe cyclotouring without any luggage

My bike is 8 years old but more "trek" oriented and it was much more easy ... Depending of the area, it became sometimes impossible to pedal and she had to push the bike by feet

pushin

Elevation

Which lead me to another big mistake

don't rely too much on apps

For the path beetween France and Austria I simply used Komoot

I put touring bike option, go from A to B, save the .gpx

Here is an example of the elevation we had from day 2 ...

elevation

With my previous explanation, you can imagine how it quickly became really hard (for both of us)

In the descents, we could just think of we are gonna have to go back up the whole thing...

epic_view

Emergency contact

On the 3rd day, we are in the "Ardennes Belges".

  • 90% of our time is climbing and 10% is down
  • It's 1:30 pm, the sun starts to hit really bad

We decide to stop to the next city in 5KM for break lunch but suddenly, Clementine's body shut down ...

I won't detail the scene but it was really bad and I couldn't figure what to do, on the hot road, in the middle of nowhere ... I should have prepared myself better for this scenario

  • The European number for emergency is 112, if outside, should have a list of contact/country
  • Check if you have the correct health insurance, your bank has often some offers to check
  • Have a back up plan to go back to your home if you can't cycle anymore
  • If you plan to going far, you should take a first aid class just to put your partner/yourself in safety by the time the help arrived
  • It's not a sprint, it's a marathon, go easy

Big thank to my little sister who brought us home after only 4days "to slovenia"

The Sloth Way

After a 2 days break, we went this time on the eurobike velomaritime. Following this path and staying in France gave us the confidence to go back on the road(Honnestly, I didn't want to go back, she did)

  • Find your own rythm. Don't think about "I have to do 100 km today". When we stoped to think about our goal we were riding with less stress

  • take as many breaks as you need. Whole day pushing on the legs in hard. In big elevation : stop, breath, controle your heart beat and you will do much more road !

  • Enjoy every little moments on the day. We know the destination but not what the journey is going to be ... you can't plan if it's going to be

simply wonderfull (veule-les-roses)

veules_les_roses

with great cultural heritage and camping on the cliff (Fécamp)

fecamp_camping

full of cars, nothing to do (Pont-l'Évêque)

But on the road you can

Meet a boys-band rabbit, sheep and a goat

sheep_goat_rabbit

20km of hidden road full of incredible houses/castle

hidden_road

enjoy the food you 100% deserve

meet lovely people ... In the city, speaking with strangers almost never happen, it became way more natural on this kind of trip

Planning everything before is quite hard ... if the travel is hard and you rely on the destination to enjoy, some dillusions might (will ?) happen ! Setting our goals on unlocking core memories was a big change for us

core_memory

Did we arrive ?

We stopped at Mont-Saint-Michel, we slept in a camping , then on the morning, took the bikes, stop by the bakery, went as early as possible and it was amazing. This place is known for be really crowded and having the opportunity to enjoy the tide's rising alone with the breakfast, in this place was great.

empty_streets

I do hope this small experience will help you to try this adventure. Hard to explain but easy to feel !

photo_finish