Rides

It had been a good 2.5 years since I had taken my Brompton to the Stelvio Bike Day. Still remembering the breathtaking experience of riding an alpine pass road with no motorized traffic around, I had since learned about a similar event at a no-less iconic mountain road: the Sella Ronda Bike Day in the […]

Linum, about 50km north-west from Berlin, is a small village famous for its role as a “pit stop” for tens of thousands of cranes as they migrate from Northern Europe to the South in fall – and vice versa in spring (and, but this is not what this post is about, during the summer as […]

Back in February, winter in Finland seemed to never end. So, with a conveniently sized gap between projects, I jumped at a cheap Lufthansa offer and went for a week-long bike tour around the Algarve, the southernmost part of Portugal. Travelling from one corner of Europe to the other fully delivered on what I had […]

A few winters ago, I read about the Stelvio Bike Day, an annual event in August where the Alps’ second highest paved pass (the Stelvio pass, at 2,757m just 13m lower than the 2,770m Col de l’Iseran in France) is closed for motorized traffic. Usually extremely popular with motorcyclists, being able to ride such an […]

Porkkala, a peninsula in the municipality of Kirkkonummi, has long been in military use and today serves – along with few remaining public functions – as a recreation area with lots of untouched nature and a fascinating, rocky coastline. Located only 30 km southwest from Helsinki, it is the perfect destination for a day ride. […]

After our big Japan expedition in late 2013, there were too many work and other obligations to schedule a longer bike tour in 2014. But with two touring bikes standing around, and the Nordic summer being short as it is, we obviously had to get out on the road for at least a week or […]

In the beginning of August, the nights up here in the North are still very light, even though in the middle of the night it already starts to get properly dark. One evening, as it was still warm enough to go for a bike ride in shorts, I headed downtown for a bit of exercise […]

Japan – densely populated megacities, overcrowded commuter trains, narrow roads with tiny cars, the constant risk of devastating earthquakes and a distinct typhoon season. As we first started our research, we did not dare to believe when most sources kept telling that bicycle touring in Japan would be easy. Yet, we decided to give it […]

We refused to accept that summer was over. Even though the season had already clearly changed towards the common fall weather, we decided to arrange a long weekend to go for one more bike tour as long as it still was reasonable. The destination was chosen quickly: the Åland Islands half-way between the Finnish mainland […]