Touring some Alps

Le Sat, 14 Oct 2006 01:36:08 -0700, jan.t.lindstrom a écrit :


Martin Borsje wrote:
thought the world would like to know that...
Jan Lindstrom wrote:
Finally finished a rudimentary translation of my bike trip to the Alps.
Sorry for all you linquistically challenged, all the notes of the
pictures are in Finnish.

Nice report for a great (Jobst inspired?) trip.
Out of curiosity. Can you, or anyone for that matter, tell me how to
avoid that stretch of highway, forbidden to cyclists , between Saint
Gervais and Chamonix?

Sergio
Pisa


Once a year you can ride this highway (one way only):

http://www.forget-me.net/fsd74/artic...id_article=541

Tortue

Nice slides from Abisko. Do I correctly assume that was a hiking trip
rather than a bike trip? I could find Abisko on my map, but not any of the
other names you mentioned. Are they all fairly close to Abisko? How were
the temperatures in late August? Have you taken any bike trips that far
north? I have an ambition to someday bike from Nordkapp to Gibraltar, so
I'm curious about biking conditions in the north.



wrote in message
ups.com...

Martin Borsje wrote:


Nice pic's Jan!

But, shouldn't "Thun" read "Spiez" (along the Thunersee)?

Greetings from the Netherlands

Thanks for the correction, it should indeed read Spiez. Speaking of
nice pictures, these were taken in Northern Sweden's wilderness during
last week in August:

http://jan.linja.org/kuvat/abisko_20...ery/index.html

Jan

Ron Wallenfang wrote:
Nice slides from Abisko. Do I correctly assume that was a hiking trip
rather than a bike trip? I could find Abisko on my map, but not any of the
other names you mentioned. Are they all fairly close to Abisko? How were
the temperatures in late August? Have you taken any bike trips that far
north? I have an ambition to someday bike from Nordkapp to Gibraltar, so
I'm curious about biking conditions in the north.


Yes, a hiking trip. I saw a dozen touring cyclists on the road between
Kiruna and Narvik when I took the bus between Kiruna and Abisko. All
the places are within 30kms of Abisko (aerial distance of 20+), I did a
loop starting and ending there. Once you step out of the main hiking
trail there are no people. Like everywhere, the most of us want to
stay in cabins along the trail.

It was unseasonably warm this year, max temps between 15 - 20 degrees
and min temps between 2 - 8 (in the tent, camps at 600 - 1000m of
altitude). I've had snow at those altitudes in July over there, but the
usual temps are 5 degrees less than what it was that week. A lot of
people were hiking in shorts, as there are few mosquitos left that late
in the summer.

I haven't toured that far north, but I've hiked there about ten times.
The roads to/from Nordkapp are ice-free usually between May - October,
but right know it's 6 degrees celcius in Helsinki, which is normal for
this season, and it's 0 at the northern tip of Finland, also normal for
this time of year. If I were to make a trip between Nordkapp and
Gibraltar, I'd start in late August from Nordkapp, and ride to meet the
sun. The special thing in riding up north would be the vastness and
emptyness, to most travelers from more densely populated countries it's
like being in the wilderness, when there are no houses, no villages, no
stops for 20kms, but you've toured your country and I think there are
still vast open spaces left there?

Jan

thought the world would like to know that...
Martin Borsje wrote:
thought the world would like to know that...
Jan Lindstrom wrote:
Finally finished a rudimentary translation of my bike trip to the Alps.
Sorry for all you linquistically challenged, all the notes of the
pictures are in Finnish.

Nice report for a great (Jobst inspired?) trip.
Out of curiosity. Can you, or anyone for that matter, tell me how to
avoid that stretch of highway, forbidden to cyclists , between Saint
Gervais and Chamonix?

Sergio
Pisa

There is a parallel road D213 which runs through Vaudagne, Les Houches
and Les Bossons; check this at www.viamichelin.com or, if this fits:

http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichel...amonix&x=0&y=0

Regards,

Martin
NL


--

It's worse than that. The D213 only gets you from the middle of the
stretch of highway to Les Houches, whereas the viaduct starts at the
spot marked with "1" on the michelin map you linked to. To completely
avoid the highway you have to follow D43 from Le Fayet along the
railroad and then D43 through Joux and Servoz. Take the train. I think
this map shows the whole route:

http://tinyurl.com/uaxvp

Jan (from his google account)

I think that indeed taking the train is the best way if they allow
bikes.

Anyway, Chamonix is not a place to bike; came there once on the bike,
coming from the Swiss Forclaz pass, saw it, drank an expensive cup of
coffee and returned.

Martin


--
Posted by news://news.nb.nu

On Fri, 13 Oct 2006 18:59:29 +0300, Jan Lindstrom
wrote:

Finally finished a rudimentary translation of my bike trip to the Alps.

great tour !!!
I wonder how you could travel for long time with so little baggage. In
my last tour I brought with me less-than-the strictly-needed (in my
opinion) but it seems I had much more weight than you. How did you
manage biker clothes washing (if you did :-)) ?
--
bikerfab

Viaggi in bicicletta, report foto e informazioni
Travelling by bycicle, report, pics and information
http://bikerfab.altervista.org/

bikerfab thought the world would like to know that...
On Fri, 13 Oct 2006 18:59:29 +0300, Jan Lindstrom
wrote:

Finally finished a rudimentary translation of my bike trip to the Alps.

great tour !!!
I wonder how you could travel for long time with so little baggage. In
my last tour I brought with me less-than-the strictly-needed (in my
opinion) but it seems I had much more weight than you. How did you
manage biker clothes washing (if you did :-)) ?

wash them, dry them with your hotel towl, finish it with the hairdryer
or take them in bed.


--
Posted by news://news.nb.nu

Martin Borsje wrote:
bikerfab thought the world would like to know that...
On Fri, 13 Oct 2006 18:59:29 +0300, Jan Lindstrom
wrote:

Finally finished a rudimentary translation of my bike trip to the Alps.

great tour !!!
I wonder how you could travel for long time with so little baggage. In
my last tour I brought with me less-than-the strictly-needed (in my
opinion) but it seems I had much more weight than you. How did you
manage biker clothes washing (if you did :-)) ?

wash them, dry them with your hotel towl, finish it with the hairdryer
or take them in bed.


Yes, that's the drill. Wash them in the sink, wring them dry inside the
towel and they'll dry over night in the summer. This time I had to wash
them every evening, since I sweated a lot in the heat.

Jan

wrote:
wash them, dry them with your hotel towl, finish it with the hairdryer
or take them in bed.

.... best under the pillow.

Yes, that's the drill. Wash them in the sink, wring them dry inside the
towel and they'll dry over night in the summer.

Mostly true but not guaranteed, however.
When you take off again in the morning you can expose the wear that is
still damp on top of your bags or backpack.
Or even pin them to the cable housing, if still using external routing,
as I do.

Sergio
Pisa

In article om,
wrote:

wrote:
wash them, dry them with your hotel towl, finish it with the
hairdryer or take them in bed.

... best under the pillow.

Yes, that's the drill. Wash them in the sink, wring them dry inside
the towel and they'll dry over night in the summer.

Mostly true but not guaranteed, however. When you take off again in
the morning you can expose the wear that is still damp on top of your
bags or backpack. Or even pin them to the cable housing, if still
using external routing, as I do.

Like Serge, I found that my cycling shorts did not dry out overnight in
the Alps. But putting them in the sun for an hour while I ate breakfast
and got ready to go solved that. I only washed the pair of shorts I'd
worn that day each night, so that no matter what I had a dry pair to
wear the next day.

On 15 Oct 2006 21:44:06 -0700, wrote:

wash them, dry them with your hotel towl, finish it with the hairdryer
or take them in bed.

Yes, that's the drill. Wash them in the sink, wring them dry inside the
towel and they'll dry over night in the summer.

I have to try the towel trick next time. In my last trip I got rather
annoyed of washing. I had 3 pants+3 shirts to wear in turn, using them
without washing if not *really* needed (while running nobody noticed
it :-))
--
bikerfab

Viaggi in bicicletta, report foto e informazioni
Travelling by bicycle, report, pics and information
http://bikerfab.altervista.org/