Cycling Holiday - How many Km per day?

spaczed

Hi,

I'm organising a cycling holiday for myself and a friend in the south of France. We've found a nice region that is well suited to cycling and are planning our route. My question is this: what is a reasonable mileage per day to plan for, when factoring in the ascent? Is there a rule of thumb of 'x km and s hundred metres of climb per day'?

We are both reasonably fit 20-somethings, but cycling isn't something we would do regularly.

Thanks in advance...

Ghost Rider

I don't believe there is such a rule of thumb, although I strongly suspect one could be devised by a suitably disposed cartographer-cum-cyclist. (If s/he's reading this, let's hear from him/her...!)

In the absence of any such a generality, I'd say aim for 45-60 miles per day at a comfortable pace, depending on how hilly the terrain emds up being. (I'm assuming you're carrying panniers etc. If not, you'll probably cover more than that without much difficulty.)

spaczed wrote:

Hi,

I'm organising a cycling holiday for myself and a friend in the south of France. We've found a nice region that is well suited to cycling and are planning our route. My question is this: what is a reasonable mileage per day to plan for, when factoring in the ascent? Is there a rule of thumb of 'x km and s hundred metres of climb per day'?

We are both reasonably fit 20-somethings, but cycling isn't something we would do regularly.

Thanks in advance...

Persius

When cycle touring with paniers etc, I found that I averaged 90 kms per day. I was reasonably fit and used to cycling long distances

The distance you do is based on how far away the next town with accomodation is. Some days 70km would bring me to a town with accomodation, and I'd know that the next such town was another 70 km away, so I'd just stop there. Other days there may be a town 110km away from my starting point, so I'd do the whole 110 km. And generally it then averaged up to about 90 km per day.

I'd say 130 km would be the max I did. Though if you had a downhill route with the wind behind you, you could do considerably more then this.

oobydooby

When touring, I've averaged about 80ks per day, again based on where the accomodation was. This was within my comfort zone; I'm average fit, not an athlete. I wouldn't cycle in the afternoon sun (except on a few occasions when I'd have to).

I guess it depends how many hours you're willing to sit in the saddle.

I underestimated a few climbs in China with the bags and one day only made 30 km (all climb). We were fit 20 somethings at the time(!) but had to change plans on this climb and stay somewhere uncomfortable while feeling a bit dizzy and bonked. Next day's cycling was really tough too and it took a few days rest to recover properly.

I blame the heavy bags:rolleyes:

Planet X

I'd imagine you'd probably be better off by doing 'hours per day" as opposed to how many miles can you clock up.
For you to cycle 80k per day as opposed to a less fit Joe Bloggs............. no comparison.
Alot of cyclists can cycle 80k per day. For some it may take 6 hours, for some it may take 3 hours.

Capt'n Midnight

It's a holiday. Are you going to be sightseeing or just cruising through the scenery ?

Don't over do it, plan for a shorter trips, you can always take a detour on the day if you want miles. Maybe plan for a few half days.

On one trip to the west we had plans for doing wonderful distances, we'd done the Wicklow 200, one of the guys went off to spain to do racing, I was doing Audax events. We got from Dublin to Portlaoise the first day :rolleyes: Three days later we got to Clare.

The next year we got the bus to Mayo and camped in someones front garden, ok it was big garden, but we were gone at 6am. Later on where a road had been upgraded we sprawled out on the hot tarmac, on lovely September day, another low mileage day.

If possible put miles in your legs before you go.

spaczed

Thanks for all the response.

I don't think we will make concrete plans on how what to cover each day - as you say, it is a holiday! It will be a mix - mostly cruising, but with one or two sight seeing stops along the way. A few days off and some half days will be in the mix I'm sure... we'll take it as it goes.

To be honest, I was just looking at the map and distances and wondering what would be a reasonable average to think about. Your posts have given me exactly the kind of answers I needed to chew over. Cheers!

blorg

Check out www.toporoute.com for an idea of altitude (unfortunately no metric measurements.)

Where/when are you planning on going?

Recent long trip for me was the Camino de Santiago where we averaged 72km/day over very hilly terrain. (We would be quite used to long touring.)

Try to arrange a route where you have a train option to end point in case you over-extend yourself.

oobydooby

Sorry to hijack Spaczed, but blorg I've been looking at the Camino. Know some people who walked it and others who live on the route. Would love to do it. Have you posted about it before?

How did you bring your bikes over?
Did you start from St James' Gate in Dublin?;)
Is there an option to return by boat?
Did you cycle back again?
How long did it take you? (as in how many days holidays would one need)
Were you staying in the 'peregrino' hostels and was your bike gear safe if so?
What time of year did you do it?

I'm thinking about going next June and would love to get a boat, train option if it was comparable price wise to flying. Strange state of affairs when the cheap option is to hop on a plane, whether to Cork or to France!!

blorg

I have posted about it but can't find the thread! I put some photos on Bikeradar where I was looking for advice.

Flew Dublin-Biarritz (Ryanair) and then took the short local train to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port where we started from, flew back from Santiago to Dublin (Aer Lingus.) Did it in early August which I would not do again, it was too hot altogether the first week. If doing again I would do it spring/autumn. 867km in 12 days. Only stayed in one pilgrim hostel but I would imagine they would all be perfectly safe.

The only reason I can imagine to get a boat would be if you actually want to cycle all the way from Ireland and see this as more authentic. Otherwise flying is a lot easier and cheaper. Aer Lingus and Ryanair are both good for bikes; Ryanair is actually a bit cheaper. Great cycle, highly recommend it. Best on a mountain bike if you want the option of taking the trail.

That is one point to consider regarding possible distance covered in any tour- temperature. The distances we were covering would have been no trouble at home but were made a hell of a lot more difficult with temps pushing into the mid-40s.

spaczed

Ooobydooby - About the Camino to Santiago, it's a great route, I walked about 200km of it a while back, great variety and scenery and well set up for walkers and there were a good few people biking too. Went at the end of May/start of June and weather was fine, not too hot. Also earlier in June was not too busy as the universities in Spain had not yet finished.

About this trip - We are going to the Luberon region of Provence next week. They promote the area for cycling holidays (apparently it is something of a natural park too) and have plenty of information on places to rent bikes and where to stay, including a suggested route map/altitude guide. As I didn't have too much time to plan a trip that would avoid over busy routes, it seemed perfect. They have a website about it which is helpful enough too. Velo en Luberon

It is only about 90 minutes from Marseille, so easy enough to get too -when Ryanair aren't booked up!