Cycling travel tips, resources and product reviews
Why You Should Eat Well on the Plane Knowing what to eat on long haul flights means you’ll land feeling fresh, bubbly and ready to jump on the bike. Long haul plane trips are not a healthy experience. Your immune system will be compromised, you don’t sleep well, don’t eat well and are exposed to […]
Cost of hiring a campervan versus Car+Hotel for France Do you need a real Car Vs Campervan Cost Comparison for Cycling Trip to France (or anywhere actually)? Is hiring a car and staying in hotels or accommodation cheaper than hiring a campervan for my France Cycling Holiday? This is a question I get a lot […]
The 2012 Tour de France ® and Etape du Tour ® have been announced, and it is looking a cracker of a Tour and just as importantly Etapes du Tour 2012. I’ll have a range of posts coming up in the next couple of months that’ll help you plan, however, it’s important you start thinking […]
Site News This is the final instalment in the 2011 reader trip reports from France. I got some great feedback and reports as well as some good content ideas (David J, Sean M, Mario, John C) I’ll have something in place soon to make it easy for you to submit your own trip reports. Thanks […]
If you’re heading to Spain on a cycling trip, and need internet on your iPhone or smart phone, check out my latest PrePaid Mobile 3G On The Road page – Getting Prepaid 3G in Spain. For 39 Euros, you can get 1GB (valid for 3 months) in a USB dongle. Simply remove the SIM and […]
That’s right, this one is from Eugene, AKA HugeMutha HugeMutha dropped me his trip report from Etape Issoire, aka Etape II. Upon reading, I am sure glad I did Etape in the Alpes (circa 30 degrees and sunny). Hi Tim I awoke to grey skies and rain on the morning of the 17th July somewhat […]
Sean from Australia sent me this great report and some cracking photos. And the best part? He’s only just started and is going back next year. Awesome! Hey Tim, here a few pics from the Etape. I was stuck in the back, pen 11. Pretty cold by the time we moved after 8. Stuck mostly […]
Steve M, UK Steve M was one of the hardy individuals who did both Etapes. Pretty good effort considering the weather in Etape 2. Check out his Etape stories here and here. John Hodgart John sent me an awesome email. I love getting emails like this. A new-found love of cycling, raising money and back […]
Damien is a guy from NZ who emailed me pretty bummed at how far back the Etape had put him at the start. He sent me through his Etape report which is pretty hilarious reading. Thanks Damien! By Damien Kearney – NZ Here’s the email from Damien that accompanied his report. Didn’t end up doing […]
2011 trip wrap up I always like to do a wrap up after each trip to describe the lessons I learnt and pitfalls from each trip. So, here are the things I learnt from my 2011 trip. Note, many of the campervan-related tips I will cover in the next VeloNomad ebook, Campervanning through France. Make […]
In this post you’ll learn how to do Les Cingles de Mont Ventoux. I’ll show you exactly how to prepare for an attempt at smashing Ventoux 3 times in one day. Whilst this post focusses on Ventoux, the training and technical information lend themselves to any climb which means you can apply the practical advice […]
Day 28 – Bedoin After yesterday’s epic Ventoux 3-peat, today was an absolutely nothing-day in Bedoin. Slept, recovered from the Ventoux 3-Peat, ate pizza and salad. Day 29 – La Barroux We unfortunately had to start heading north for home, and had been told by VeloNomad Steve to check out La Barroux which has an […]
Les Cingles – a Ventoux Three-Peat – descent into madness Read how to do Les Cingles in my special article. Ever since my 2009 trip, I’d planned on doing Ventoux 3 times in one day. Ventoux is one of the toughest climbs I’ve done (but I love it) and the three peat is officially called […]
Day 24 – Cadques to Argeles-sur-Mer After leaving delightful Cadaques, we headed north. The area between Cadaques in Catalunya and Argeles sur Mer is just epic riding. If I had to pick a spot, I’d base in Cadques or Banyules sur Mer then just do endless riding, swimming, relaxing and exploring. None of the riding […]
After leaving L’Escala, we headed via some flat roads – full of cyclists – and checked out a place called St Pere Pescador. Unfortunately the camping grounds were waaaay too touristy and miles from town. I did have a decent coffee and croissant though! The road rose up a small mountain and at the top […]
Day 14 – Into Spain, Boltana We headed off early and continued to be interested by Andorra; it’s certainly an interesting (and wealthy) place. We had had a crap sleep as there seemed to be some sort of dance party all night in town. I think it stopped at 6AM, and was characterised by bloody […]
Day 12 – The Peyresourde and driving to the Plateau de Beille for TDF Stage 14 Day 12 dawned sunny and quite cool and I snuck a Peyrasourde ascent in. The Bagneres de Luchon side (Arreau, where we were, is on the opposite side) is harder and more picturesque, then headed down so we could […]
After a couple of days we drove over the Col du Portillon – a Bucket Col from both sides – into France, through Bagneres-de-Luchon. Our aim was to see the TDF head up the Ancizan on Stage 12. We arrived into Arreau, got a park and pizza’d up. The caravan started rolling into town as […]
Day 8 – Etape du Tour 2011, Etape Alpes I’ve already published the horrendous story of my Etape Alpes effort. Check out my Etape du Tour 2011 Etape Alpes report. Day 9 – Spain and the Pyrenees After Etape Alpes, we hightailed it down via Grenoble to get to Spain. We parked for the night […]
Day 6 – Alpe D’Huez Ascent 2 We had a cracking sleep then woke up to a hot Alpes day and the D’Huez beckoned. We went into town for croissants and coffee and a bit of morning market shopping then I knocked out another D’Huez ascent. This area seems to have a pattern of awesome […]
Day 4 – Climb Avoriaz, drive to Chamonix The next day we rolled up toward Morzine en route to Chamonix. After having a look around. We parked up and I rode toward Avoriaz. The weather was typical Hautes Alpes sketchy arvo weather with threatening rain. I bailed short of the Avoriaz peak due to rain […]
Day 1 – Packing, Departure We arrived to Melbourne airport with my precious Look packed carefully away. I’ve described how to do this before, but I’ll re-iterate how important it is to pack your bike properly. Here’s the link to my video showing how I pack my bike in an EVOC bike bag (check out […]
Sorry this all out of order. Ordinarily I’d provide some detail of the previous day’s adventures but thought you’d want TDF stuff first and foremost! What a nightmare. I’ve seriously learnt even more TDF tips about campervanning and watching the TDF on this stage. We rolled into town after a long drive from the base […]
This 2011 Etape du Tour report will demonstrate that even if you train for 48 weeks and turn up ultra-fit, Etape is still hard. After a lack of sleep I woke at 4.45AM to get ready. I was ready very early and planned to meet VeloNomad reader and all round nice guy Peter H’AC at […]
I had a great email from Etapper and TDF Tips reader Jessica the other day: Fitness wise we’re in pretty good shape, and will continue to train hard until the week before. Mentally, I wondered if you had any motivational tips or mind games you play when the legs are hurting? I sure do Jessica; […]