Birmingham - Villars, Switzerland

[DominicMurphy]

Hi there, firstly great site - lots of useful information found so far!

We are cycling (4 of us) from Birmingham to a Village in the Swiss Alps in June of next year - leaving us plenty of time to train, although we are all keen sportsmen, none of us are cyclists! We are doing the cycle for charity and intend to raise lots of money for charity...

There are a couple of things that i need some help with,

Firstly - Are there any usefull websites (or personal knowledge) that can be used for route planning other than the likes of theaa.co.uk or mutimap - something a littel more specific and cyclst friendly? We intend on going - Birmingham, London, Dover - Calais, Lille, Reims, Dijon, Geneva and finally Villars-sur-Ollon.

Secondly - we all need to buy bikes, what do you recommend for this type of ride - it will be on roads and are looking to spend upto £1k on each bike. Should we go for race bikes or a cross between a race/mountain bike?

Look forward to hearing from anybody that could pass on some helpfull hints/tips/knowledge!

Dominic

 

[rich p]

Are you carrying your own kit? Camping or hotels?

I suppose a touring bike could be classed as a cross between a road bike and an mtb.

You can plan your own route from maps which is fun and gives you an involvement in the process. I personally would avoid cities like the ones you mention. They are busy and tricky to navigate through. If you need centres for a choice of accommodation, I personally prefer small/medium sized towns.

www.viamichelin.com offer a bike route option for suggested routes and also have a facility to search for local accommodation too - in France at least.

 

[belairman]

Hi Dominic

Your proposed trip sounds a lot like mine (see thread under "am I mad?" in this section) except I am leaving from Nottinghamshire and going to Champoussin near Champery which is on the other side of the valley from Villars, and probably in May.

I will be travelling solo or possibly with a friend, like you I am more of a leisure cyclist than an expert, but am doing this for charity, and it would be great to compare notes on routes, stopovers, etc.

It is early days for me just yet although I have a rough route in mind, similar to yours - I will be keeping away from the big towns themselves, as Rich P says, although they do roughly delineate the route.

I have started off planning a basic route using a Michelin atlas, and am intending to buy the small scale Michelin maps to plan in more detail. Problem is my local Waterstone's is out of stock of the first map on the route!

I use viamichelin a lot for car journeys, useful tip Rich that there is a cyclist option. However I guess a route of this length, printed out, would be like a book!

I love my mountain bike, it is comfortable and has good gearing for hills, but I am concerned it will not accept all the brackets etc for panniers and racks, and also it has a lowish top speed on the flat, so I am reluctantly considering a change. But an out-and-out racer is not the thing, I don't think.

PM me if you want to chat on the phone

Regards, Tim