Kait and Ash: Eurvelo 6 What You Need to Know

Wow, you guys had quite the journey!! For our readers who didn’t follow along with your hilarious Facebook posts (shame on you!), give us a press-worthy 5 sentence recap.

Our journey took us from the Atlantic Ocean in France to the Black Sea in Romania, and through 5 countries in between. Our trusty bikes, which we had trained on, tricked out, and trusted, never made it to France (thanks BWI Customs). Because our entire trip was centered around raising money and awareness for Camp Ray of Hope in Romania (a camp for children with chronic illnesses such as hemophilia and cancer), we couldn’t afford to wait for the bikes to be found and sent to us, so we bought new (really, really cheap) bikes and began our journey. Through rain and cold and mountains and epic high- and low-speed crashes, we made it to Romania with enough time to visit the kids and camp we had been supporting throughout our trip. Along the way, we were met with hospitality, kindness, and the overwhelming evidence of the goodness of humanity — if you’re ever feeling down about the state of the world, take a bike trip. Seriously, you won’t regret it (this is technically the sixth sentence but I’m using it for emphasis so I think that’s allowed).

I am honestly astounded that POS and Sirius Neon made it all the way to your destination! I think you probably set some sort of record in terms of miles logged on 200 euro bikes.

Did you have any moments when you thought the bikes were done for?

Believe me, we are just as astounded as you are. I suppose the great thing about these bikes was that they were built with reckless little kids in mind. You know, the kind who bike all around town, crash into curbs, and drop their bikes unceremoniously on the ground when they arrive home for dinner. To top it all off, they were exceedingly simple machines – nothing fancy about ‘em at all.

Both of our bikes went through quite violent ‘breaking in’ phases pretty early on. The biggest difficulty was in convincing them to shift smoothly (hell, at all) between the three front chainrings. We could convince it to work in 1 and 2 or in 2 and 3, but never all three. And, periodically, when we did finally get it working, the chain would ghost shift through the rear cassette like we were on stationary bikes in a spin class. When you’re going up a hill and the chain decides mid-climb that it doesn’t like the gear you chose for it, you will quickly learn to dismount before the chain throws the ultimate tantrum and falls off the gears completely. By such prophylactic methods (EZ note: for those of us not pursuing medical professions this means “preventative”), we managed not to break any chains or bones, but we also walked up a lot of hills.

Other issues we had included: seat posts that were impossible to tighten fully (they were always squirming about and pointing the wrong ways); tires that popped early and often (until replaced with Schwalbe editions); non-adjustable front suspension (with twist-gauges that just didn’t work); and, of course, spectacular feats of human-error. Only once did human error threaten to cripple our tanks, once and for all. Ash ran into a wall and crunched up Sirius Neon’s nose-end pretty good. We were all sure that the wheel would be, well, we’ll call it ‘less-true than it started,’ but it was miraculously salvageable (with quite a lot of re-tuning of the also-now-disemboweled-brakes).

In our pre-ride interview, you mentioned that you all didn’t prepare much in terms of endurance for the ride. How did your legs feel on Day 3?

Were there any hills that you just didn’t think were possible to summit? Any regrets on the preparation/lack thereof?

The Actual Day 3 of the trip was tough because we had no news of our bikes and we were just kind of hanging out in France without a plan and without bikes. (Legs: fine; heart: aching.) Post-Bike-Purchase-Day 3 was tough because WOW were our muscles sore. And also, because we were still in France, it’s likely that it was raining and cold, which is never a spirit lifter. However, the cool thing about bikes is that even though your body is sore and your legs hurt, you can still rise and pedal another day. The sport is so low impact that you can drop your gears and keep pedaling through the soreness. And/or you can take a well deserved rest day and hang out and watch movies all day in your tent, which might actually be what we did on Post-Bike-Purchase-Day 3. If that’s the case, then our legs were sore on Butts-On-Bikes Day 3. Either way, we’ve discovered that Keep Pedaling and Stop Pedaling are both effective methods to relieve soreness.

Luckily for us (okay, we obviously planned it this way), the majority of the first ⅔ of our trip was nearly completely flat because we followed rivers all the way through Budapest. That let us build our strength and endurance slowly in preparation for leaving the EuroVelo. Once we hit Romania, we left the riverbed and climbed up and down, up and down through the foothills of the southern Carpathian Mountains, while being thankful that the peaks constantly looming over us were not something we would have to summit.

When did you laugh the hardest during the trip?

It had to be when Ashlyn ‘Did anyone else see that bird?’ Angell crashed her bike into a wall in Austria (it should be noted that there was plenty of space for her to ride on the path).

Actual photo of the event in question

Of course, we did the responsible thing and made sure she wasn’t critically injured before showing our mirth, but once the initial ‘is she alive? Is anything broken?’ check was complete (made easier by the fact that Ash was already chortling at herself as she rolled around on the ground), we all lost it. Mostly because, when asked why she had chosen to abruptly park her bike and perform an emergency dismount, she told us, sheepishly, that she was looking at a bird.

A bird whose presence cannot be confirmed by any of the other three members of the biking party. Hmm…

I’m curious about the final cost of your trip. I know Kait is right with me on the more extreme end of the frugal spectrum, but I also know things did not go quite according to plan. The last time we spoke, your original estimate with $6k all in.

Do you know how close/far you are from that number? Or are you trying not to look?

We have just looked at our total financial commitment for the first time (we were definitely Not Looking), just for you (also because we’re curious but lazy and wouldn’t do it without a good reason).

For the purposes of this accounting, we are going to remove all gear purchases from the equation (just assume we already had everything we needed – and that everything made it to and from Europe as planned) and focus on exactly how much we thought the trip itself would cost compared to how much we ultimately spent. We tallied all transportation (including flights with bike boxes, trains, buses, and subway tickets), all food and lodging, all personal hygiene products (soap, shampoo, razors, sunscreen, and bug spray), and even all bike maintenance purchases (including chain lube, rags, sponges, and visits to the bike doc)… Etc. etc. – you know, everything.

Our original estimate was that it would cost us $1,000 each per round trip flight to/from Europe and then an additional $1,000 each per month for everything else.

…….. Drum roll please …….

We blew it.

But not by much!!

All said and done, we each spent three months in Europe for $4,200 per person. Assuming we each spent $1,800 or less (this is probably close to accurate, if a little on the low side) on our original bikes and gear, our theoretical budget of $6,000 per person held up in real life!

If you take the flights out of the equation, our actual on-the-ground-in-Europe spending worked out to about $36 per day per person. For the 85 days we spent there, that ends up being about $3,070 per person. We can’t even rent an apartment and eat for that much here in the US! So, in our books, this is going down as a huge W. For Winning and more importantly, for not losing, in the budget games.

Congratulations on exceeding your funding goal of $5,000 for Camp Ray of Hope! We loved reading about your experiences at the camp and the proceeding media coverage you were able to attract for the organization.

Can you share a little more about your time there and any memorable moments?

Thank you! We were so excited that we reached our goal just as we pedaled into camp. It was a wonderful thing to arrive at camp and surprise the 40 children of the oncology week with the news that the campaign had raised $5,000 to help bring them all back again next year.

Aside from our arrival, one of the moments that sticks out to us was when the camp received its first-ever national TV news coverage. The whole camp was gathered in the dining hall and, as the 4:30 PM news rolled through its litany of stories, the camp collectively held its breath for the introduction of each new segment, sighed in disappointment when the story wasn’t ours, and then screamed, cheered, stamped, and clapped when our story finally aired. The energy and hope in the room was so tangible!

One of the other moments (set of moments) that stands out was the last night of camp. The night started off with the legendary TALENT SHOW, where almost every child at camp got to showcase his/her respective talent. While the plays that were put on were a little over our head since they were done all in Romanian and our vocabulary is limited to High Five! (Balta Palma!), Thank you! (Multumesc!) and Chicken (Pui), the singing and dancing were universal and incredible. These kids are so talented! We may have also performed a handwritten rap about bicycles to the tune of Sir-Mix-A-Lot’s ‘I like big butts.’ But also, maybe we didn’t. Following that expose of talent, there was a dance party to rival Ibiza. Glow bracelets, the Macarena, and group hugs pretty much sum up the night. What really struck us was the friendship, respect, and kindness that these kids showed all week. Not only to us but to their fellow campers – regardless of whether or not they got along.  What an incredible family to be welcomed into.

What would you tell someone looking to ride on this or any other parts of the Eurovelo?

What was the most surprising thing for you all even after all of your research?

The great thing about this bike route (specifically, the EuroVelo 6 – our time in Hungary and Romania deviated from this path) is that it’s a great ride for people that just aren’t that sure about their bike-touring ability.

I imagine that goes for any of the EuroVelo routes through western-western Europe. France cares a lot about its cycling infrastructure, and we highly recommend bicycle touring there for anyone interested in giving cycle-touring a first try. It’s not about the fitness level that you do or don’t start with. Especially in France, where the route is paved and flat and confined to dedicated bicycle-paths, all you have to do is start pedaling. The endurance and strength will follow (quite quickly, we found) as you continue on your ride. We still consider ourselves pretty average bikepackers, but this trip was a great way to really cut our teeth on the experience. If we had to give advice to someone looking to ride the EuroVelo routes from start to finish, I’d say to invest in a good set of printed maps specifically for the route you intend to take or to download a GPX file of the route into an offline mapping app for your phone, like Galileo. The flavor of these routes changes dramatically from country to country, and you never know when a reliable source of turn-by-turn directions will save you from getting irreparably lost and having to take a train to get back on schedule.

I think the most surprising things for us were the weather, the overall lack of paved cycling paths, and the lack of signage at critical points on the path.

Even with all our research on temperature and rainfall, the amount of rain and the chilly air in France was a huge surprise to us and our moods. It’s crazy how much of an impact weather has on the pleasantness of a bike trip, but there you go. Cycling in the rain is only fun if you’re tricked out in rain gear, don’t have to manually take out a rain guard for your saddlebags, and have a warm place to go home to where you can dry your clothes in a dryer.

The lack of paved cycling paths took us by surprise, especially in Germany, Slovakia, and Hungary, because from what we had read, there were a lot of dedicated cycling paths. What we quickly found was, though the paths were indeed ‘dedicated,’ they did not lend themselves to a smooth ride. Rather, we spent a surprising amount of time battling through freshly-dumped gravel, avoiding farmland tractor potholes, and removing the traces of impassably-tall grass from our chain rings. And finally, the signs.

We expected the signage to decrease as we made it further East, but we did not expect that, in places like Germany, there would either be no signs at critical turning points, or so many signs without any indication of which path they were standing guard over that we wouldn’t be able to distinguish our trail from the other 8 options. And, on one memorable occasion, we followed a really legitimate-looking sign for camping, the destination of which had either never been planted or had been abducted by aliens who found it amusing to watch travelers scamper down and back the same .5km stretch of gravel forest road 27 times. They would have been especially delighted by our dedicated reenactment of the definition of ‘insanity.’

What’s next for you guys? What will happen to the original Sirius and Professor?

K: I start back taking classes this fall, and I think the biggest things I want to take from this trip back with me to the US are: using bikes as a method of travel to work/school/fun activities/all the things and to try and pay forward the incredible hospitality that we were met with on our trip. Now that I have all the gear and supplies for the Professor to go overseas and support me for 3 months, it should be pretty easy to convert that into the ability for him to carry my school books/groceries/etc. I know some pretty cool people in Australia that have been living carfree since they abandoned me, and I continue to be inspired by their lifestyle. If LivingEZ can do it (and crush it) with a kid and real adult responsibilities, I can certainly work towards it in my student/kid-less lifestyle.

A: I’ve already put Sirius Black back together and taken him for a spin. Holy cow what a different ride from Sirius Neon! I’m planning a fun life for him up at Michigan Law – cycling (for exercise, transportation, meditation, you name it) will definitely be part of my daily life as a law student. Even if my long-distance cycle touring days are now far ahead of me, I’m excited to continue incorporating the bicycle into my physical, mental, and social life, rolling forward. I’ll also echo Kait’s sentiments about the mind-bending hospitality we experienced in Europe through the WarmShowers touring community and even our AirBnB and hostel hosts. It’ll be a while before I feel comfortable handing over the keys to my flat and sleeping at a friend’s place (or opening my home to someone while I’m away on vacation), but if the right person comes along, I feel a lot better about giving it a try now that I’ve met people who took that chance on us.