Let’s give it a try… where are you touring in 2025?

[Gary Gilbert]

I am planning to ride from LaCross Wisconsin to Milwaukee sometime this summer following US Bike Route 30. Mostly on trails including the famous Elroy Sparta. Only 270 miles but might add another 75 to get from Milwaukee to home.

How about you?

Sent from my iPhone

[Derryl Cocks]

Hi There

Yes, please continue this group. I enjoy reading other people's tours.

This summer I'll be doing a 3 month trip around France on my LWB recumbent. Starting off at Roscoff to ride La Velodyssee on the Atlantic coast, then riding through Canal Du Midi to Nice then up through the Alps to Grenoble then Geneva and finally to Paris. Not sure when I'm starting and I'm looking for return tickets from Richmond VA to Paris.

Derryl

On Tue, Mar 25, 2025 at 9:37 AM <bicycle...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

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• My response that I emailed to Gary - 2 Updates
• Why are we here? - 5 Updates
• Let’s give it a try… where are you touring in 2025? - 1 Update

My response that I emailed to Gary

Mark Boyd <mark...@gmail.com>: Mar 24 11:36AM -0400 I agree that the group has devolved, but I still find some value in it. Although I have no need for any of the items recently listed on it, they are touring related and I have, in the distant past, bought stuff listed on this group.   Mark Mark

lprice1023 <lpric...@earthlink.net>: Mar 24 08:46AM -0700 I completely agree with Mark. I enjoy the contact with other cyclists.   Lawrence   On Monday, March 24, 2025 at 9:36:17 AM UTC-6 Mark Boyd wrote:

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Why are we here?

Gary Gilbert <bicyc...@gmail.com>: Mar 24 08:44AM -0500 Seems to me this group has devolved from a group of “pfreds” describing their adventures to a group with people selling “almost new” stuff.   Any reason to continue?   Sent from my iPhone

DancesWithCars <dancesw...@gmail.com>: Mar 24 10:13AM -0400 It's kinda off season So may pick up with your journals, How to questions, And general comradeship as the season progresses....

DancesWithCars <dancesw...@gmail.com>: Mar 24 10:14AM -0400 Your > tour

Bryan Lorber <bryl...@gmail.com>: Mar 24 10:30AM -0400 I often ask myself, "Why are we here?' Followed by, "Where did I come from?" And finally, "Where am I going?"   I was first inspired to bicycle tour my folks on this list. One in particular has since peddled off to the land from which no one returns but I will always value what he taught me.   There are better bicycle touring resources these days with "real time" interactions but I will continue to appreciate the good people here even if the interactions are few and far between.   With warmest regards, Bryan Amherst, MA   On Mon, Mar 24, 2025 at 10:14 AM DancesWithCars <dancesw...@gmail.com> wrote:

<cyclin...@gmail.com>: Mar 24 08:06AM -0700 Seems the same to me too Gary. I don't mind the odd post with stuff for sale, especially from like minded "Phreds," but not really interested in buying or selling here. Lots of other platforms for that.   As there are many other touring related websites, blogs, youtubes etc to browse on.   I agree, I think it's time to put this group to bed.   I suppose it's up to Mark to make the final decision though.   Regards and Tailwinds, Adam K. Sidney, BC Canada   Email: cyclin...@gmail.com Website: http://www.adamk.ca

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Let’s give it a try… where are you touring in 2025?

Gary Gilbert <bicyc...@gmail.com>: Mar 24 09:23AM -0500

I am planning to ride from LaCross Wisconsin to Milwaukee sometime this summer following US Bike Route 30. Mostly on trails including the famous Elroy Sparta. Only 270 miles but might add another 75 to get from Milwaukee to home.   How about you?   Sent from my iPhone

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[Bill]

My touring days are over.  Last one was Heart Attack Comeback that I posted on CGOAB in 2011.  Knees have gone to the point that I can only do about 10-20 miles unloaded, but I still ride most days, weather and schedule permitting.  

I do miss the old Phred interactions.  Hopefully some will start posting some abbreviated touring stuff here again.  I might even cook up some short stories about my daily bike rides.

Here is a recent, really unusual one for you:

On Tuesday, 4 March, 2025, it was a wonderfully warm 55-60 degrees, the third such day in a row, and I wasn't about to waste it.  I'd been ice fishing the day prior about 6 miles from home, near a friend's house and I was going back.  The ride was nice with a tail wind, and warm enough to not need gloves. I stopped by to see him on the way and pick up my ice fishing stuff that I stored there for convenience.  He said he needed to get the oil in his pickup changed, but would join me when he was done, probably an hour or so.  I went out to the spot, checking ice depth in the previous test bores every 50 feet or so as I went across the ice.  There was quite a bit of melt puddling across top of the ice, but it was 5-6 inches thick all the way.  I sat down on my 5 gallon plastic bucket and set out 2 poles in the old holes where we had caught so many bluegills in previous days.  Fishing was slow, but I did have 3 of them that were big enough to keep after about 2 hours.

I noticed the water puddling around my feet was about an inch deep, and when I looked around, there were no more puddles anywhere else... I though I'd better get off the ice because it was sagging, so I quickly pulled in my 2 poles, grabbed my mesh fish bag and stood up, putting them all in the bucket when the ice crumbled.  There I was, tossing the bucket a little ways toward the shore, arms catching the ice as I plunged mid chest deep in 16 feet of ice water.  About that time a pickup with 2 guys stopped and they hopped out with a look of horror on their faces as I did the frog kick and tried to roll onto the crumbling ice.  I yelled "The ice turned to mush!" and about the 5th or 6th attempt, I finally got up.  About then, I was concerned that I might become hypothermic.  I slid on my belly to my bucket, grabbed it with my right hand and used it and my left hand to pull myself across the ice for about 150 feet as I spread my legs wide to distribute my weight across as much area as possible.  I was really glad I was in such good physical condition from my daily cycling, as I was sucking air with the effort.  At that point the ice color was different, probably due to shading of the trees on the bank, and I gingerly stood up, shuffling over to the place I had gotten onto the ice.  

There was my buddy just arriving and not knowing I had fallen through.  We quickly walked back to his place as I started shivering uncontrollably.  There, I wrung the water out of my clothes and he went in and got some dry stuff... He was the same size!  I quickly put on the warm dry stuff and shivering stopped.  I left my wet things on his porch to kind of dry and loaded my fish onto my bike to ride home on the bike path.  Interestingly, I met the wife of my friend's fishing buddy.  She was out walking their dog and I stopped to talk, as I normally do when we pass, telling her of my experience.  After I got home I got a text from my buddy who was amazed that he had gotten a text from his fishing buddy telling about the icy plunge!  At home, I filleted the 3 fish and changed into my own clothes.  Next day rain was forecast to start soon, so I drove over and picked up my damp stuff and ice fishing gear which would not be needed for at least another 10-11 months, and gave him back his stuff.  

All ended well.  I was glad that 70 some years earlier as a kid in Ft Wayne, the school annually gave kids ice self-rescue training in the fall, and at age 79, it was still stuck in my brain well enough to automatically do it.  Funny thing is, I was never scared.  It was kind of like getting a flat out wherever and knowing you gotta fix it.  You never know when you will need what you learned and forgot decades earlier.

[hpvluve...@aol.com]

I hate to see this group go as it is the link to my cycling dreams. Although I am too old now but can't give up the dream. This ice fishing story makes me shudder. Sure glad you got out of that water safely. Call me chicken. I would have never gone out there in the first place. I guess growing up without all that winter and ice you think differently about it. Keep the stories coming so it doesn't go away. Fran

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[John Gorentz]

I'm planning a "tour" in Ukraine in a couple of months.  I originally had the idea of riding from Warsaw to Kiev. With my most recent schedule plans I suppose it's still possible, but it might be more strenuous than I'm up for at age 76. There are nighttime curfews through most of the country, which means I'd need to get to my hotel destinations, rain or shine, tail winds or winds against me.  And spending so much time on the main roads as I'd need to do is not really what I was looking for. Occasional power outages don't make things less complicated, even though I wouldn't be riding an e-bike. There is only one border crossing with Poland where I would ordinarily be allowed to ride across with a bicycle, and it is not on the route I'd prefer.   So I think I'll do it more like when I travel with my wife: where we stay in a small city a few days and I do day rides and get to know the area, and also allow time to do tourist things together. We've done that in Ireland, France, and Slovenia as well as here in the U.S., and have plans for some of that in Germany and Poland this year, though later in the year than my Ukraine trip.  For Ukraine I'll use buses or trains to go between cities, and to go across the border. (I have a new Bike Friday New World Tourist, which has become my favorite bicycle, period.  In the past I've used a Bike Friday Pocket Rocket, which I still have.) So current plans are to fly into Warsaw, take two days to ride to Lublin, take a bus across the border to Lutsk, spend several days riding there, take a bus to Zhytomyr, spend several days riding there with one possible overnight ride to a smaller city nearby, and then take a bus or train to Kyiv, where I would stay one or two days before taking the overnight express train back to Warsaw.  I'm not planning to stay near electrical power plants, hospitals, or other things that seem to be frequent targets of missiles and drones.  

I've wanted to visit Ukraine ever since Mark Boyd was reporting on his tours through Ukraine, though this isn't much like the real tours that he did. I gather that tourists are indeed welcome, though international tourism is understandably down the past few years.   There are some extra insurance things that require attention, and a whole lot of things to get ready in a short time.   

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[hpvluve...@aol.com]

Will be waiting for your report. Should be really interesting. Fran

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[Denis]

Here is my tentative 2025 tour in September - https://ridewithgps.com/routes/49882133.  This starts in Spokane, loops up into British Columbia, and ends in Whitefish.  The choices of Spokane and Whitefish are because they have Amtrak stations with baggage service where I can travel from/to Chicago Union Station.  Baggage service is important because that allows me to get my touring bike on Amtrak without packing up my bike, assuming I can get a bicycle slot on Amtrak (if there are no bicycle slots available I can pack my bike up in a large Amtrak bike box that just requires removing the pedals and turning the handlebar sideways).  Spokane is also interesting because I have a nephew and a niece who live in the Spokane area so I hope to be able to see them.  I may also continue my tour from Whitefish through Glacier National Park to East Glacier which also has an Amtrak station with baggage service (this stop is discontinued at the beginning of October).

The big question is whether forest fires will put a wrinkle into this plan.  I know there were forest fires last fall that forced cancellation of a train trip through the Rockies that a friend had scheduled.  Hopefully, that won't happen this year.

Denis Kertz

[Eric Floden]

Sounds good!

EricF

No tours yet

[stev...@gmail.com]

Denis:   In my mid 60s I did a loop starting from the Whitefish area (parked a van in Kalispell). Met a friend coming in from the west coast on Amtrak.  Then she and another girl friend and I rode up into Canada and may have covered some of the same ground and roads you are planning.  The Crazyguy link that trip is here:   https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/GlacierParkandCanadianRockies2015    Big country and great scenery.

My plans for 2025-26 involve the Philippines. Now in my 70s, I'm pulling back on bigger bicycle tours and limiting myself to regular day rides.  But I'm using small motorcycles and scooters more.  Last year I was in the Himalayas on a Royal Enfield. This Last January/February I spent 6 weeks exploring the Philippines.  Still two wheels.  But a little easier.  Still doing the adventures. Just not pushing the heavy loads anymore.  Life is still good.

Best of luck on your ride.

Steve

Steve O'Rourke

P.O. Box 538
Baldwin, WI  54002
 

My Crazyguyonabike Bike Touring Site: cgoab.com/ScoutSteve 
Blogspot: https://scoutsteve.blogspot.com

 

"When I said that nothing had been done I erred in one important matter. We had definitely committed ourselves and were halfway out of our ruts. We had put down our passage money — booked a sailing to Bombay. This may sound too simple, but is great in consequence. Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!” Begin it now!

              --- The Scottish Himalayan Expedition by W.H. Murray

[John Gorentz]

I've been home for over a month since my bicycle tour in Ukraine, so owe a report.

It turned out to be more like a regular tour than when I described my intentions back in March.

I flew to Warsaw, took a FlixBus across the border to Lutsk (the first bus stop in Ukraine) and then rode to Rivne, Zhytomyr, and Kyiv. I took my time, partly because the weather was rainy and I holed up in hotels for some of the worst of it. I stayed two full days in Kyiv, then took the overnight express train back to Warsaw, and then flew back home.  I was gone from home for three weeks.

Some logistical details that may be of interest.  Getting medical travel insurance was harder than I expected.  It seems most travel insurance companies are geared toward covering the costs of pre-paid package tours. Of those that sell medical travel insurance only, without reference to a tour package, most will not insure for travel in Ukraine.  Of the few that do, the only one I found that sells policies that include medical care needed due to terrorist activities was GeoBlue. It cost over $20/day, but some of that was due to my age, I imagine, and perhaps I didn't pick the cheapest options.  (It's been a while and I've forgotten.) Involvement in combat activities is not covered. There are companies that purport to sell insurance to people who are doing volunteer work in dangerous areas, but I imagine it's quite expensive.

There is no way I'm going to get my new Bike Friday New World Tourist in a suitcase that weighs less than 50 lbs, like I've done with my Pocket Rocket, so I had to pay extra for it to fly with me as checked baggage. The suitcase that I bought with it is somewhat too large for the airlines maximum dimension requirements, but none of the airlines cared about that.  They did care about the weight.  Bike Friday had shipped the bike to me in the suitcase in a package that weighed just under 50 lbs., so your mileage may vary, depending on what you think  you need to pack with it.

I also bought the canvas-like bag that Bike Friday sells for transporting the bike on busses or trains. The bike fits in the bag without removing racks or wheels, but I'll not travel by train with it again.  If I was a foot taller I might, but it's too hard for me to lug for any distance or up or down stairs or escalators. Traveling by bus where I could pack it up near where the buses park worked well enough. 

The main road between Lutsk and Kyiv was in excellent condition for riding, except for one two-lane stretch with heavy traffic between Lutsk and Rivne, where a paved shoulder was nonexistent.  The unpaved shoulder was mostly ridable, but I may have walked the bike for a mile where it wasn't. 

I did not get off the main road to do any of the exploring I wanted to do, largely because the rain discouraged me.  However, I greatly enjoyed riding on the village-like service roads that paralleled the main road near big cities or villages, and seeing the variety of houses, gardens, etc.  I shared those roads with household chickens and occasional goats, cows, or horses that were staked out to graze there.

The gas-station convenience stores were good places to stop for coffee and breakfast or lunch along the way.  They tended to be meticulously clean and staffed well enough to be patient with a foreigner like me who hardly speaks the language.  I do know a bit of Russian and even less Ukrainian, but Google Translate was a big help at times.  I found that the best thing in the grocery stores, too, was to explain that I didn't know how to mark the bread or whatever I wanted to buy, and there was someone who took all the time I needed to show me how it worked.

I did all my hotel bookings through booking.com, and used that to explain that I was traveling by bicycle and needed a safe place to store my bicycle if I couldn't take it into the room (which usually was not practical or workable).   When booking.com tells you that the languages spoken at a hotel are Ukrainian, Russian, and English, that means that somebody on the staff speaks English, and that person may or may not be on duty when you check in. But I got along OK even when no English speakers were around.  One hotel near Kyiv identified its spoken language as Russian only, and it was not a problem.  The "administrator" took pains to speak very simple Russian that I could understand. As expected, in Kyiv it was a lot easier to conduct business in English, 

It was easy to forget that a war was going on. The restaurants and stores are all operating, and the streets and sidewalks are full of people of all ages, both men (including those of military age) and women.  The law requires restaurants to shut down during air raid alerts, but none of them shut down.  I did hear one boom during a nightime air raid alert in Zhytomyr. At first I thought it must have been thunder, as it had been raining, but soon realized that it couldn't have been thunder.  I looked out the window and saw nothing but a sleeping city.  I was on one edge of the city, and it may have been different where the sound seemed to come from.  I forgot about it and went to sleep, In the morning I was reading the Kyiv Independent and was surprised to see that Zhytomyr was in the list of cities that had been attacked the previous evening. Then I remembered what I had heard.

In Kyiv I may have heard one artillery shot taking down a drone or something.  Somebody told me that the pickup-truck-mounted units are pretty good.

I arranged to be in Kyiv on a Sunday so I could attend a Lutheran church service in one of the three Lutheran church bodies in Ukraine.  The liturgy is more derived from the Byzantine/Orthodox rite than the Roman Catholic rite, and is quite something in itself.  A couple of older ladies (though probably not as old as I am) helped me find my place in the worship book when I got lost, which happened several times. (It was all in Ukrainian,) The pastor speaks good English and when he found out where I was from and how I had got there introduced me to the congregation at both services.  He was also busy with those in the congregation who were trying to help out a woman in the congregation whose windows were blown out of her house during one of the bomb attacks. He said the government may or may not help repair the damage, but when these things happen (it wasn't the first time) they try to take care of it right away rather than wait for the government.  The people need some place to live in the meantime, anyway.  

I also visited the semi-famous Hydropark Gym in Kyiv, and tried out a bit of the equipment.  It would be hard to explain what it's all about, but there are YouTube videos about it. 

That may have been a strange agenda for a tourist in Kyiv, but that was mine.  I also did some of the usual things that tourists do.  (I wasn't the only tourist in the city center, but I can't say that the place was packed with tourists.  Most were probably Ukrainians from out of town.)  

The Sunday I was there was also the day of operation Siderweb, which I read about that evening.  I think the evenings have been quite a bit more dangerous in Kyiv since the weekend I was there.  But daily life still goes on, too.

[Bryan Lorber]

Thanks for sharing this fascinating tour! I greatly respect your sense of adventure during such a difficult time for the people of Ukraine. 

I recall Mark's tour there and it sounded like a wonderful country. I am glad you had such a positive experience. Do you have any photos? 

Bryan

Amherst, MA

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[John Gorentz]

I don't have a lot of photos, due in part to the rainy weather much of the time, but I do have some.  I also took video with a handlebar-mounted gopro camera.  I told myself I was doing it only for myself.  I kept the camera mounted low and inconspicuous like, because one is not supposed to photograph military activities or traffic.  I did honor that rule, but it's easy for accidents to happen when traffic comes up behind you, and I didn't want my camera to get confiscated despite any promises I might make.  I probably need not have worried about it, except for one place that was very explicit about no photography.  

Anyhow, when one of my wife's older cousins heard we would be coming for a visit (part of some travels we're still on) she talked my wife into having me do a presentation-discussion at her church, so I whipped together some snippets into a first-draft video. It turned out better than I had expected. This cousin has had a long life of being persuasive and a good organizer of community activities. I hadn't really wanted to do it, but I learned some more of DaVinci Resolve in the process of making the video, and after it was done decided that I would put it together into a proper YouTube video after all. I don't know if I'll get it done before my wife and I take off for a month in Europe in August-September, but I'll try. We're going to be on the road until the middle of July and there are also a lot of things that need doing at home that I've been neglecting, so we'll see.   (On this next trip I'll take my bike along for some day rides, which is more our usual style these days.)  

By the way, over on reddit one person had discouraged bicycle touring in Ukraine due to the time that a person would waste at police checkpoints.  Other than the few hours it took to cross the border checkpoints in either direction, I didn't run into a single checkpoint where traffic was stopped for close inspection.  The facilities and personnel are definitely in place for doing such checks, but I didn't run into a one while I was in the country.

[Mark Boyd]

I first toured in Ukraine in 2008  (https://www.cs.unca.edu/~boyd/touring/tour08/tour.htm) and last toured there in 2016 (https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=3d2&doc_id=17789&v=tY). It quickly became my favorite European country to tour in and that was still true after the Russian invasion/occupation in 2014. 

I think very few folks in the US realize  that Ukraine is the largest country in Europe. If I hadn't  aged out of touring - I'll be 80 next January' - I'd still be touring there!

Mark

             Mark

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[John Gorentz]

Mark, your tour reports did a lot to get me thinking about riding in Ukraine someday.  I was already interested in Eastern Europe at the time of your first tour in Ukraine, so may have been especially receptive to what you posted.

In case anyone is interested, here is a link to my RideWiithGps collection of tracks in Warsaw and in Ukraine.  It's nothing impressive in terms of miles covered, but I kind of enjoyed the leisurely pace and now I have the excuse that I'm old.  Ukraine 2025 · Ride with GPS