Our Dream: An around the world bike tour. Can we pass the first challenge? Riding 1000km across Germany in 2 weeks with fully loaded touring bicycles.
In episode three we cover week two of our final big test, a trip from the north of Germany to the south. Our journey continues in Kassel where we had our first badly needed rest day. The first week wasn’t exactly reassuring: we are exhausted, Arev has swollen ankles and the first proper hills are still ahead of us.
After covering over 430 kms in the first six days, we start day 8 by following the D9 “romantic road” long-distance cycling path along the Fulda river.
We get hosted by incredible people while on the road for free:
Warmshowers https://www.warmshowers.org
1nitetent https://1nitetent.com
You can SUPPORT US via https://www.buymeacoffee.com/aworldbiketour
Please SUBSCRIBE to our channel, leave a LIKE and put your COMMENTS and questions down below! It really helps to make our channel more visible and thus enables us to continue chasing our dream. If you know other bicycle enthusiasts you can also SHARE our video 🙂 Thank you so much for your help.
PREVIOUS EPISODE: https://youtu.be/BeMhL5OPmXc
WORLD TOUR PLAYLIST: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaSOS22KIJA6MVRw24RHbumv4FXzm_p5V
NEXT EPISODE: https://youtu.be/dse29moQwr0
We also created some affiliate links so you can buy equipment we use. If you buy something via our links we might get a small referral bonus, at no additional cost to you.
Amazon US:
Our tent https://amzn.to/3HgDqz9
Our camera https://amzn.to/3D0lbv7
Amazon UK:
Our tent https://amzn.to/3HfweTD
Our camera https://amzn.to/3iHOPi4
Amazon DE:
Our tent https://amzn.to/3QMCTbn
Our camera https://amzn.to/3iM7Z6n
You can also follow our trip on other channels (SPOILER ALERT!):
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amazingworldbiketour
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amazingworldbiketour
Our Webpage: https://amazingworldbiketour.com
Music: Péter Szlávik
Epidemic Sound
Map: Komoot
Thank you so much for watching! Arev & Mathias
21 Comments
WHY WHERE YOU IN A RUSH
The funnies part is this:
"- But, when we are up, it'll be fantastic.
– Really?" 🙂
Frankreich ist mein Land, so welcome! If you happen to be in the South-West, I have a garden 🙂
A very good decision and a very good video!!
If your derailleurs are properly adjusted, chain jumps will usually be due to wear. Chains stretch, chain-rings & cogs wear. Given the age of the bike & the load it’s suddenly having to deal with, I’d be looking at the chain first. Chain gauges are very inexpensive, small & light – if you don’t already have a couple of them in your tool bags …
Another thing to consider, partly due to the age of the bike, would be the gearing. Drivelines that actually get used do wear & eventually require replacement. That’s always a good time to rethink your gearing. Maybe it’s fine as-is, or maybe personal conditioning, a changed role for the bike, or a different operating environment will point to an adjustment. For almost anybody who’s not a pro tour rider, a compact crank is easier to live with. That’s 50 teeth or less on the big ring. A lot of bikes are still sold with 53/39 doubles, & the thing to bear in mind is that when that became a standard the smallest cog or highest gear on the typical freewheel was 14 teeth, & sometimes 15. A 53:14 is 3.78:1. If you put that same chain-ring in front of a modern 11 tooth high gear, you’re looking at 4.81:1, or a ridiculously long ratio for a touring bike.
For whatever it’s worth to you, I’m a fit & not-at-all overweight 61 yr old that can do a 200k day without whining too much about it. I like a 48/38/28 triple w/ a 14 to 34 9 spd. I do run older steel frames, but run free hub wheels w/ modern cassettes & am about to build an 11 spd 14 to 40 – that’ll be a holiday project, or a test that might never leave town.
Downtube friction shifters, btw, can greatly simplify your life as a touring cyclist, but I’ll be looking at mechanically indexed brifters for the 11 spd – with as many as 7 cogs or certainly an 8 or 9 spd, friction shifting can get a little sketchy – it can be tough to catch the gear you want without shifting past it.
I think if you look at standard bikes over the last 40 yrs or so you’ll notice that modern bikes are often far more realistically geared, & more rideable as a result. My old Schwinn, for example, just wouldn’t be a doable touring bike (for me) with it’s original gearing. I’m currently running 0.82:1 on the low end, or 28:34 w/ 3.43:1 on top, or a 48:14. That’s a total range of 360% with a tree climbing low gear of less-than 1:1 & way more gear on the top end than I’ll ever actually use with any loaded, rim brake touring bike.
Don’t be afraid to gear your own bike for your level of fitness & your usage of the bike. It’ll just make you a stronger rider, & a far more comfortable one as well.
Well worth the wait. Congratulations on your first 1,000 km ride. Glad you came away from it with your enthusiasm intact.
Respekt!! Ich wünsche euch viel Erfolg bei diesem epischen Abenteuer. Ihr werdet etwas tun, was nur sehr wenige Menschen jemals getan haben. Wir leben in Massachusetts in den USA und sollte eure Reise euch in diese Gegend führen, seid ihr herzlich willkommen, bei uns zu bleiben!
I switched on the notification bell. Looking forward to the next!
Good video
I liked the little elevation map on the bottom of the screen
Also I learned that in Germany bike paths are numbered (R3). Can you elaborate on this system? The closest that we have here in NA is names. Some names are just given by the bike association like southern tier. Others might refer to the old rail road that the bike path replaced like Kettle Valley trail. Pacific coast trail is self explanatory.
It's a fantastic decision!!
Congratulations! Inspiring!
Learn to travel like the dog. Yes he can travel far on his little legs, but every so often he stops, stands very still and takes in the sounds, he smells the air, he looks around him and if he sees something interesting he explores it and then he moves on. It took me 60 years to learn how to really travel and appreciate all the little things rather than rush on to the next thing.
Fantastich!!
Glad to see you decided to slow down! You'll enjoy the trip much more, as you're already finding out and won't abuse your bodies. Stop when you need to stop. Nothing wrong with taking a day to get 'fresh' legs!
Stay safe!
I wonder if you want to consider ponchos and crocs for riding in wet weather
Ankles usually hurt if you are stretching to far maybe bring the seat down a bit
you guys are truly inspiring!
You two are tough cookies … total respect for persevering to the end! I really enjoyed the footage and would love to try some of the route one day.
Which sort of bikes do you use?
Love this! How do you make the cute map with the route for the video?
Love, love, love mushrooms. Great campsite and FREE.
Wow, is it really forbidden? In Sweden we have the so called "allemansrätten" which means – in short – that you can wild camp basically anywhere for 24 hours.
Duq hrashq eq❤
wow