Hi all, Steve D. here. If you’ve been in the store within the last month, you may have noticed my absence. That’s because my girlfriend, Silva, and I recently returned from a three-week bicycle journey through parts of Holland, Belgium and France!

Over the next while, I’d like to invite you to read my upcoming posts on stories from our trip, pictures, and tips for light bicycle touring, based mostly on our experiences. We had a terrific time, and would love to encourage others to try trips of their own, based on their interests, goals, and fitness levels.

For nearly a year, we both knew that we wanted to do something fun and different on our next vacation, but nothing specific came to mind. The idea of taking our bikes hadn’t really been a consideration (surprisingly, considering how much I love bikes). We’d brought them on shorter trips before, like over to Salt Spring Island, or to Friday Harbour on San Juan Island, to tour around for the day, but we always returned to a campsite or a hotel room, and never carried more than some extra clothes, snacks and drinks.

It wasn’t until part way through last year when the light bulb finally went off. While in the store, a friendly couple shared stories with me about their recent bicycle trip from Paris to Amsterdam. They talked about the distances they rode each day, and how they always had somewhere warm and comfortable to stay (they didn’t bring camping gear). They did the trip at a casual pace, over the course of a few weeks. “That sounds perfect!” I thought, and eagerly broached the idea to Silva that evening. It didn’t take long before we were both on board and searching for plane tickets.

An important decision that we had to make pretty quick was whether we wanted to bring our own bikes, rent bikes upon our arrival, or purchase (and potentially sell) bikes while we were over there. We opted to bring our own, because we were familiar with them mechanically, and were comfortable with how they fit. Who knows what we’d find when we got there! We chose an airline (Iceland Air) that allowed us to bring boxed bikes on the flight for an addition fee of $125 CAD per bike, each way. For the comfort of having our own bikes on the trip, we felt the extra charge was worth it. Each airline has their own rules and regulations when it comes to shipping bikes, so make sure you do your research before choosing which to fly with. The seat may be cheaper with a particular airline, but if the charge to ship a bike is quite high, it may not balance out financially. We flew out of Vancouver in early September, and did a 2-night stopover in Iceland, before heading to Amsterdam to begin our journey to Paris.

Thanks for reading; stay tuned for my next post!

Cheers,
Steve D