It’s just over two years since I rolled out of Porto and embarked on a 3,200km adventure to Munich. I’ve been meaning for a while to write a look back at the ride and how the planning worked out, so here you go.
Origin Story
Somewhere early 2007 I bought my Specialized Allez Sport, and things escalated from there. Zach is partly to blame, with his crazy ride suggestions such as London to Bristol and the Dunwich Dynamo. Nat, Kevin, Ben, Fred and Dan are also implicated, by feeding the habit with weekend rides, sportives, cobbles.
I found myself with a lot of free time in which to ride when I quit my job in early 2016, which was triggered by two things. Firstly, reading John Wood’s Creating Room to Read: A Story of Hope in the Battle for Global Literacy made me rethink my job. And the other one, you’ll have to ask me about (it involves cheese pasties).
The plan vs. reality
Planning worked really well.
Before I went, I started by figuring out how long to go for (6 weeks), then found a start and end point to match (Porto and Munich). Looking at booking.com hotel prices, and distances, I figured out a good town to aim for each day.
When I hit the road, on each rest day I’d plan for the iteration after next (e.g. on day 4 I’d plan days 9-12). I would find hotels near the target place and book, preferring cancellable rooms, then plot an exact route using Strava’s Route Planner.
The 110/110/50/0km 4-day iterations felt great. On days 1 and 2 I was happy to push through knowing I would have easier days on days 3 and 4 of the iteration. Oh, except where I ended up doing a ton more, and that one 7-day stint so I could include Tourmalet.
Highs & Lows
There were definitely some highs and lows along the way.
The Highs
- BikeFlights were fantastic in shipping my (empty) bike box from Porto to Munich
- I didn’t have a single mechanical
- That day racing a thunderstorm up the Rhône Valley
- The two old ladies shouting “Allez allez allez” and ringing their cow bells as I started the climb up Tourmalet
The Lows
- Quite a few route mishaps, ending up on gravel roads for 20kms on a road bike
- I’ve still not edited the time lapse video I took (update in December 2025: I’ve finally edited it!)
The Gear
- My packing list was pretty much spot on, except I could’ve done with spare brake pads after the heavy rain in the first few days
- Using my Nexus 6P with a keyboard and mouse connected to do route planning on the road worked really well, and saved me the weight of a laptop