From hiking to biking the Camino de Santiago

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Tonight I travel to Spain for my sixth trip on the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrimage route starting in France and ending at the city of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. After five times walking, this time I’m going with a bike.

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Beautiful vistas in the Pyrenees on Spain’s GR-11 trail

My first experience walking the full 500 mile (800 km) Camino was in 2009 as a personal learning experience while developing hiking trails in the Middle East. During that summer, I started my walk farther east along the Pyrenean border on the GR-11, connecting to the Camino for a total of around two months and 800 miles (1300 km) on foot. Later my wife Anna and I wrote a guidebook to the route (Camino de Santiago: Camino Francés), and have now been working with trail development and publishing for the past decade, via our company (Village to Village Press, LLC).

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Hikers and bikers along the Camino Francés

Although I love long-distance hiking, I’ve always been even more drawn to travel by bicycle. Since moving back to Harrisonburg, VA at the end of 2015, I’ve used the beautiful Shenandoah as the perfect reason to get back on the bike. Whether it’s mountain biking in the National Forest or riding gravel country lanes, you can find almost any cycling experience you desire right out your front door.

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Cub Run Rd. on Massanutten Mountain, Virginia, USA

I’ve spent much of the last 15 years traveling and living abroad, and have always found that I’m happiest when on my bike. In comparing thousands of miles on foot vs. thousands on the bike, it’s no comparison—bicycle travel is the way to go. It’s the perfect pace to experience the world flowing around you without any barriers. A car is too fast; walking can feel too slow, but cycling is a pace that allows you to cover a reasonable distance and connects you to the people along the way, empowering you to go anywhere.

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Crossing the Cascades, Washington, USA

Plaza in Slovakia | Family touring on the Great Allegheny Passage – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA | Our son Silas’ first bike tour

In planning to head back to the Camino this year to update our book, I decided to ride the route by bike instead of walking, partly to do it more efficiently, but also to have a new experience that would connect my passion for bicycle touring with providing travel information and guidebook to those seeking a similar adventure. And it puts two things I love together, the Camino and bike touring!

Of all the long-distance paths in the world, I think it’s safe to say that the Camino Francés is one of the most utilized (more than 300,000 people/year walk at least 60 miles / 100 km), most serviced (villages overnights every 3-5 miles /5-8 km), and most affordable (beds from $6/night – no camping or cooking necessary) ways to cross a European country on your own power. I like to think of it as a “gateway” adventure, a grand first journey that will infect you with the travel bug for eye-opening sojourns throughout your lifetime.

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Riding Rockingham Country, Virginia, USA

Early this summer, while on a ride over Hopkins Gap with two friends, the idea came up to consider a Surly Troll with S&S Couplers for my Camino bike, and a bikepacking setup to carry gear. This seemed like an ideal way to travel the Camino, given that I would only take 10-15 lbs (4-7 kg) of gear at the most. [Blog post on the bike and gear coming soon!]

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Union Springs Road, Virginia, USA

I approached my local bike shop, Shenandoah Bicycle Company (SBC), and they were super excited about the trip, and helped connect me to Surly who makes a Troll frameset/fork available with the couplers factory-installed (called the World Troller). This bike can be broken down to enable it to fly in a more standard suitcase size that doesn’t incur a typical airline bicycle fee (saving me $300 for this trip via Lufthansa).

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Packing the World Troller: 26″x26″x10″

The folks at Surly were also very enthusiastic, and excited to see my adventure take shape, and their World Troller on the Camino. In compiling the gear for the trip, I found that bikepacking bags, while perfect for my needs, were in high demand with many items out of stock. Thankfully through a few months of conversations with suppliers and the support of SBC, I am now set to hit the trail.

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller

 

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I’ll be posting images and updates from the journey on www.CaminoCyclist.com, as well as Facebook (www.facebook.com/CaminoCyclist).

The website is still being developed, and will have even more information after the trip is complete, as well as many more images of cycling the route. I see these resources primarily for future cycling pilgrims on the Camino, and also a way to extend that journey into a longer European bike tour.

This month’s trip should take a little over two weeks at my target pace, allowing time to enjoy myself and gather the important research to make our guidebooks an essential tools for other cyclists. And of course, slow down enough to step back and let the Camino work its magic once again!

View my planned 15 day cycling itinerary for the Camino Francés and Camino Finisterre.

 

Overnight Bikepacking Shakedown Ride

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I planned to do at least one shakedown overnight tour with my Camino bike setup, and decided to bike to a family campout south on the Blue Ridge Parkway at the Peaks of Otter to see some new landscape near my hometown of Harrisonburg, VA. Although I’ve spent months touring with racks and panniers, this was the first time I had used bike packing bags and a bike as robust as my new Surly Troll.

Below are a few photos from the trip, as well as lessons and observations to prep for my Camino ride.

Day 1:  Harrisonburg to Douthat State Park: 83 miles, 4550’ feet climbing (Strava)

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I slept in and ended up leaving at 11:15am, but still got in in good time before 7.

I was pretty tired around 50 miles as it was a gradual climb, but then felt stronger and pushed into the park. I saw a dirt track heading into the George Washington National Forest right before the Douthat State Park boundary. So I filled up my water and turned around to find a perfect primitive site in the National Forest next to the stream, with even a swimming hole to rinse off and cool down.

Random Lessons & Observations

  • I had a headwind most of the day, but the bike packing setup cuts through much better than panniers. The bike handled very well, much more like an unloaded bike.
  • Front derailleur rubs the frame bag a little at the lower corner. Will try to tape it up to soften as it was looking a little worn there
  • As my handlebar bag had not yet arrived, I used a stuff sack with a daisy chain and compression straps to lash my tent to the underside of my Jones loop bar, and a bargain in comparison to the bike packing specific handbag roll bags.
  • Used seat bag as a bear bag to hang food overnight, worked well and was about the right size
  • Used the Nat Geo maps in the tent to protect the sleeping pad as forgot the tent footprint
  • Could have brought less dinner
  • Made a pillow from stuff sacks and random items. As I was super light, most of what remained was the rain jacket
  • Very hot and humid, wouldn’t have needed the sleeping bag (summer 45F), could have just had a liner
  • Xero shoes seem to work great so far as a lightweight alternative to Chacos (3X lighter). Glad I didn’t only have bike shoes
  • Pretty route, would be very beautiful in the fall with changing colors
  • Bike seemed to work well, shifting was smooth after yesterday’s adjustments.  I still need to adjust the brakes some more on the brakes
  • My calves might have touched the frame bag sometimes, but didn’t seem like a big deal.
  • Glad to have tent with mosquitos
  • Phone only dropped about 30% battery after recording full day with Gaia GPS. Garmin Fenix watch around half full. Anger charger could get me through 3 days, depending on how much I use Internet on my phone
  • Glad to save $31 by wild camping, will get a big breakfast tomorrow somewhere. Should be just more than half the distance of today, but a similar level of climbing
  • Foldout keyboard works well, would be easier if I had a desk or table, not laying on my stomach in the tent
  • Troll handles great on dirt roads. It offers a lot of confidence compared to other bikes, beefy 2.15” tires and disc brakes help a lot
  • Summer bugs can be super loud
  • I think if I was bike packing in colder weather or for multiple days that I’d need to consider front panniers or a backpack or more capacity. Seems like it would be hard to carry a lot of food for remote touring like this.

Day 2: Douthat State Park to Peaks of Otter campground: 53 miles, 4400’ feet climbing (Strava)  

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Thankfully every day on my Camino itinerary should be easier than each of these, with shorter distances and less weight on the bike. I should be good to go. 🙂

Gravel Roads Test Run

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Catherine Furnace

I decided to take the new Troll out for a test run with a mix of paved and gravel roads, similar to what the Camino would offer. The bike performed great, and the Schwalbe Marathon Mondial 2.15″ tires rolled much better than I expected.

The route followed quiet country roads along the west side of Massanutten Mountain, climbed over the New Market Gap on Rt. 211, and then climbed up into USNF dirt roads between the ridges on the east side of the mountain. After the descent back to asphalt, the temperature really started heating up (105F/41C heat index), and I needed to stop at a gas station for a cold drink/electrolyte refuel.

I loaded the frame bag with repair supplies, snacks and a map, and kept my iPhone in the Revelate Designs Mountain Feedbag. The water bottle mounts on the front fork held the 1L bottles tight, even with the fast, bumpy descent down the road.

I was a little worried about the S&S couplers loosening up on the rough roads, but they were still as snug as could be after finishing that section of trail. Overall, the bike was much more comfortable (and faster) than I expected given it’s weight and wide tires.

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Surly World Troller

 

 

 

 

Bikepacking the Camino

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As the Camino is a mix of off-road trails and paved riding, I wanted to try a bicycle travel setup different than traditional racks and panniers.

With a lot of momentum in the bike packing world, I’ve opted for the standard setup of seat pack, frame bag and handlebar bags, which avoid the need to have racks and panniers. Advantages include saving weight (no racks), as well as keeping the bike to a narrow profile, helping cut through head winds, navigate single track trails (and crowed paths of walkers), as well as keeping the weight of the bike closer to the center to improve maneuvering the bike.

More soon…

My search for the best Camino bike

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It’s been quite a process determining the best bike to take on the Camino this September. I’ve done a lot of bike touring over the years and walked the Camino multiple times, so I’ve enjoyed trying to merge the two together into what will offer the best experience.