Prepare for liftoff

September 10, 2023

While we’re three weeks out from starting our bike tour, the flight to Europe is just a few days away. We leave Thursday for Prague - more than a hop away from Spain- to start our two-week Rick Steves tour of Central (some might say Eastern) Europe with our friends Terry and Mary Fran.

The trajectory of our whirlwind tour of Central Europe

It should be a fascinating tour, and quite the cushy situation for keeping up our training during the two weeks before our bike ride around Spain. We'll have open time for day rides in most of the stops in Central Europe, and someone to transport us and our stuff from one city to the next and handle all the details. This is not our usual mode of travel but we'll have to grin and bear it ;) We just have to figure out where to ride.

Checking out Cycle Blaze journals for ride ideas around Prague, I've found a lot of through routes going into and out of the city but no day rides so far. I read about the ruins of Okor Castle which is 13 miles or so Northwest of the city center of Prague - could be an interesting destination for a loop ride. We'd love to hear about any other favorite places to ride around Prague, Krakow, Budapest or other places on this circuit.

Okor Castle, built in the 14th century, underwent a series of restorations over the next 400 years in Gothic, then Renaissance, and finally Baroque style.

Game plans

After reading the forum posts on “winging or planning” a tour, I’ll have to put myself squarely in the planner column. I like to know where we’re riding and staying ahead of time and how we’ll get around on transit, just to minimize stress and burning time on all that stuff during the trip. The last few weeks have been a frenzy of reservations and research on logistics.

I’ve spent hours figuring out transport for the Bike Fridays to Montpellier where we’ll start riding towards Spain. We can check the bikes for free on our flight to Prague, but they’re not coming with us on the Central Europe trip. The notion of lugging the big suitcases around on cobblestones, extricating and reassembling the bikes every couple of days, then breaking them down and stuffing them back in the cases for the bus trip to the next destination does not sound like vacation. It’ll be much simpler to rent a bike for a day ride here and there to keep our legs and butts in shape.

I hoped that shipping the bikes from Prague to Montpellier where we'll start riding to Spain would be as simple as Scott and Rachel Anderson’s experiences at Mail Boxes Etc. … just waltz in and ask the MBE folks to box them up and ship them. Sounds great, if only Mail Boxes operated in Czechia. Scott suggested DHL which has a store in Prague but there’s no intel online about their packaging/ boxing services. Apparently there's no way to ask either - no published email address or contact form. I guess we’ll just walk in when we get there and see what their deal is. Boxing the suitcases seems worth the trouble to avoid damage, especially to the spinner wheels. If they don’t do boxes, we can ship them from a Mail Boxes store at our next stop in Krakow. Our Montpellier hotel will store them until we get there, then we’ll ship the empty cases on to somewhere in Madrid, our last stop in Spain.

Finding a hotel in Madrid that will store them for six weeks is harder than I imagined. Out of eight hotels I’ve contacted, only two will do it. One of them requires a non-refundable reservation and the other doesn’t have a secure place to lock up the bikes while we're there. One way or another, I’ll be glad to get this chore off my plate soon.

Training days

In the last month we’ve put in almost 400 miles getting reacquainted with the Bike Fridays. Since our LBS installed my new drop bar and STI shifters there has been a succession of adjustments – shortening the stem, fiddling with the saddle position, and replacement of a missing quick-release skewer that keeps the handlebar from spinning around. By last week everything seemed to be working reliably enough for a shakedown ride.

Last Wednesday we packed up the bikes and all the stuff we plan to take for two months in Europe and shuffled off on the train from St. Louis to Hermann Missouri. Amtrak had only one bike space left so Barry gallantly agreed to fold up and bag his bike for the train. A little extra practice on that task doesn’t hurt.

Getting started in Hermann by the Missouri River. The child's drawing of the train station is wonderful.

After the blistering heat wave of the week before, we enjoyed beautiful weather for a two-day ride from Hermann back to our home via the Katy Trail. Skies were sunny, temps were in the 70s to low 80s and the trail was pretty quiet now that the kids are back in school. We are so lucky to live near the Katy, the longest rail-trail in the country and a perennial favorite in reviews of the prettiest trails in the country. It's yellow season again, prime time for all the golden-hued wildflowers.

Prairie stand of Black-eyed Susans near Peers

Back in June when we rode from Glacier National Park to Portland, I had no flats on the P38 recumbent that I had just bought from my friend Hank. He had put sealant in the tubes and never had a flat in all the years that he rode that bike.

I had enough sealant in the basement to do three of the wheels on our Bike Fridays before our shakedown ride. Barry's front tire was the only one without sealant in the tube. Sure enough, that's the one that flatted about 20 miles in. I'm a believer.

We're restocked on tube sealant now so that front wheel will get the treatment next.

Downtown Washington Missouri, our destination for the first night. I finally figured out how to connect the Lumix camera to my phone and transfer photos. Now I just need to learn how to focus.

One casualty of the shakedown - Barry's helmet. I heard it hit the road when he took a tumble on the ride into Washington. He's OK! The helmet did its job but they're only good for one crash so it's in the dustbin now.

Barry's front derailleur wouldn't shift up from the granny gear the first day so he was spinning all day. Good thing he had a spare cable along to fix it that night.

There's new art on the old grain elevators near Sunflower Hill Farm in Augusta.

Traveling for a couple days with all the stuff we plan to bring is always a useful exercise. It fosters more critical thinking about our packing choices and exposes the things we missed – everything from longer Allen wrenches to antiseptic wipes and the wristwatch I forgot to bring.

We covered 35 miles the first day and 41 the second. That's about as far as I want to ride on the small wheeled bike. After all my saddle adjustments the seat is still not great on a long ride, but it's good enough. If we do another trip where we're bagging the bikes for a train I'll have to think seriously about a gravel bike with S&S couplers that make it possible to break it down and fit it into a bag for transport.

I feel like we're ready enough. Now we just have to clean up and pack the bikes.

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Scott AndersonWe’ve biked to or from every city on this itinerary except Eger, and that was on the plan too on a semi-aborted trip 25 years ago that rerouted before we got there. Our knowledge is all too stale to be useful though, except for Rovinj and Bled. I’ll send a few ideas on those through email.
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8 months ago

Suzanne GibsonYou have a very interesting tour lined up! Looking forward to what you discover. Not far from Eger is Franzensbad which I think is worth seeing, a small spa town with parks and neo-classical and belle epoque architecture. Marienbad might be more interesting, about 35 km one way. Karlsbad wouldn't be in the range of a day-trip but I can imagine a loop including all three spa towns would be nice. On my Komoot planning it looks like that would be roughly 130 km. I'm wishing I were doing this!
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8 months ago

Suzanne GibsonHave you seen the film "Last Year at Marienbad"? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Year_at_Marienbad
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8 months ago

Kelly IniguezWe used Aymar at All Bikes in Madrid this summer. He assembled and then reboxed our bikes after the tour. He kept the boxes and our duffle bags for five weeks while we were gone, no charge. Aymar even offered to lend an iPhone holder to Jacinto when he realized he'd forgotten it! You won't need his boxing services, but perhaps he would hold your suitcases for a fee? Aymar was friendly, efficient, and provided reasonably priced services. He had never worked on a recumbent, but was open minded, and did a good job.

I am less enthusiastic about our lodging. The Hostel Vicky's drawing card for us was the free shuttle to the airport. It was the only lodging in the area of All Bikes that offered a free shuttle. The rooms were spartan, but clean. Well located. The big down for us was the grouchy front desk/shuttle drive. It seemed to be a 50/50% chance of getting him.

This general area has groceries, restaurants, a small plaza, and was a good spring board for our trip. It was not close to downtown or the big sites. Maybe it will be convenient for you on the trip home, and less so on your arrival?
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8 months ago

Janice BranhamTo Scott AndersonThanks, excited to see any ideas you have!
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8 months ago

Janice BranhamTo Suzanne GibsonThat sounds like a lovely spa tour Suzanne. Eger is the one stop on our tour where we don't have an open block of time for a ride, but I'll definitely check out Last Year at Marienbad on Criterion.
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8 months ago

Janice BranhamTo Kelly IniguezHey Kelly, thanks for the tip about All Bikes in Madrid. I'll check and see if they'll hold our suitcases. It sure would be nice to break apart the storage question from the hotel choice.
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8 months ago