Table Of ContentREMARKABLE
BICYCLE RIDES
REMARKABLE
BICYCLE RIDES
COLIN SALTER
Close to the edge on the White Rim Trail in the Canyonlands National Park, Utah.
Contents
Introduction
Adidge Cycle Path, Italy
Alpine Panorama Route, Switzerland
Applecross Loop, Scotland
Assynt Circuit, Scotland
Barry Way, Australia
Cabot Trail, Canada
Camino de Santiago, Spain
Carretera Austral, Chile
Crater Lake Loop, USA
Danube – Passau to Vienna, Austria
Dutch Coastal Route, France
Elbe Cycle Path, Czechia/Germany
L’Eroica, Italy
Flanders Beer Routes, Belgium
Garden Route, South Africa
The Great Divide, Canada/USA
Great North Trail, England/Scotland
Hadrian’s Cycleway, England
Hebridean Way, Scotland
Iron Cutain Trail, Bulgaria/Macedonia/Turkey
Isle of Wight Circuit, England
Katy Trail, USA
Ring of Kerry, Ireland
La Farola, Cuba
Lakeland Loop, England
Loire Valley, France
London to Paris, England/France
Molesworth Muster Trail, NZ
Mont Ventoux, France
Mount Desert Island Trails, USA
Mount Evans Scenic Byway, USA
Munda Biddi Trail, Australia
North Sea Cycle Route, Norway to Scotland
Oregon Coast, USA
Otago Central Rail Trail, NZ
P’tit Train Du Nord, Canada
The Parenzana, Italy/Slovenia/Croatia
Paris to Mont St Michel, France
Postal Boat, Norway
Route of the Hiawatha, USA
Route des Grand Crus, France
Salzach Valley, Austria
San Juan Islands, Italy
Shimanami Kaido Biikway, Japan
South Downs Way, England
Stelvio Pass, Italy
Upper Danube Cycle Path, Germany
Vasco-Navarro Greenway, Spain
Voie Verte Burgundy, France
Whistler A-Line, Canada
White Rim Trail, USA
Whole Enchilada, USA
Yungas Road, Bolivia
Introduction
It’s estimated that more than half of the world’s population can ride
a bike, compared to around 17% who think they can drive a car.
Concern for the environment, cost, and increased consideration for
cycling in urban planning have all contributed to the rise in bike use.
Giant strides have been made in the provision of cycling
infrastructure within towns and cities. Separate bicycle lanes with
their own traffic signals are common, and commuting to work by
bicycle is a much safer proposition today than it was twenty years
ago. The more people cycle to work, the fewer people drive to work,
the cleaner the air is for those who cycle (or walk) to work.
Cycling is a tremendously efficient way of getting from A to B over
short to medium distances. In built-up areas it’s faster than driving;
and the parking is infinitely easier. It’s ideal for commuting. Better
still, that short ride to work every day is a far more effective way of
keeping fit than an occasional longer route.
But cycling is addictive. You find yourself wanting the longer route
at the weekend as well as the daily work-out. It’s as if those lungs,
once opened, want all the fresh air they can get. Those legs, once
accustomed to pedalling, must pedal.
In reality, most of us stop before things get too extreme – the
1,220km of Chile’s Carretera Austral across volcanoes, fjords and
glaciers is not for everyone. A family cycling holiday along the banks
of the River Loire is a far gentler proposition. A day out every now
and then – for example Oregon’s 33-mile Crater Lake Loop around a
single volcano – would satisfy me and most of my fellow weekend
cyclists. (In this book, by the way, we use the local units of distance
first, be they kilometres or miles, metres or feet)
But whether you’re planning to ride the Great Divide or just
dreaming of the Shimanami Kaido, this book offers an armchair
taster of 53 remarkable bike rides from around the world to whet
your appetite. They vary in length, from the short sharp shock of
the Whistler A-Line Singletrack (one and a half miles and five
minutes you’ll never forget) to the seven-country, 6,000 kilometre
coastal extravanganza of the North Sea Cycle Route. They vary in
altitude and gradient too, from the level paths of the Dutch coast to
the lung-busting twists and turns of the Mount Evans Climb in
Colorado.
There’s something within every cyclist that loves a challenge.
Although many of us think a steep hill spoils an otherwise enjoyable
ride, others crave the punishment of a 20% incline. There’s plenty
for them in here. The French version of the Camino de Santiago has
to cross the Pyrenean Mountains, while in Scotland, the Assynt and
Applecross Circuits make no effort to take the low road through the
rugged Scottish Highlands. The Alpine Panorama Route through
Switzerland crosses four different mountain ranges and in Cuba, La
Farola crosses the island’s spine on a marvel of mountain road
engineering.
It’s not always the ascent that’s the hard part: the Yungas Road in
Bolivia can be ridden downhill all the way but clings to mountains so
steep that it is known with good reason as the Road of Death.
