Cycle Touring as a Weight-Loss Strategy

I am not a super-fit hard-core anything.  I know - shocker.  But I am an enthusiastic participant in outdoor activities, and have recently moved “cycle touring” up to the top of my favorite pastimes.

Now, one would think that piling 50lbs of gear onto one’s bicycle, and going out and riding about 50km per day with it, up and down hills, on gravel, cobblestones and “Edmonton surface” would be a pretty good way to shed a few pounds.  If one thought that, sadly, one would be (mostly) wrong.

Brent and his friend, Doug, rode across Canada two years before we met.  Brent is fond of saying that you gain weight for the first three weeks of a cycle tour, and then the weight starts coming off.  He did drop a bunch of weight on his big tour (after his initial three weeks of gain), but he also gained a shed-load of weight in the first year afterwards.

In the early days of our relationship, Brent decided he’d like to take me to do the Golden Triangle, which is a supported tour in the Canadian Rockies, of approximately 317km over three days.  “Woo-hoo,” thinks I, “this will give my metabolism a great kick in the arse and I’ll come back a lean, mean cycling machine”.  Wrong.  I trained some before the tour.  I did most of the tour (although I dropped out of the last section due to exhaustion and traffic dangers).  I came back about three pounds heavier than I’d left.  “What the pudge?!” thinks I.

A few years later, and a few more pounds in the upward direction, Brent suggests that we take a month off and cycle tour in Australia.  Taking off a full month from work was a pretty big deal to me at the time, but hey, when the love of your life wants to take you off to the other side of the world to see what that’s all about, you go.  And, “Woo-hoo,” thinks I, “three days may not have been enough to kick my metabolism in the arse, but a full month!?  That will for sure send me back a lean, mean cycling machine!”  Wrong.  I came back about three pounds heavier than when I left.  I blamed it on cycling less than we’d planned (scary scary roads in Tasmania), and eating more Australian licorice than I’d planned.

A few years later, and even more pounds in the upward direction, Brent and I were off for a six-month tour in Europe.  That’s right folks - SIX MONTHS.  “Woo-hoo,” thinks I, “if Brent is right about the three weeks thing, then a six month tour will surely send me back a lean, mean cycling machine!”  You can see where this is going.  Wrong.  I came back about the same weight as when I left, which was dreadfully high for my tiny frame.  I had even planned for appropriate weight management for the trip.  I would rein in my calories when we stopped riding, manage my caloric intake very carefully when we got back to Canada, and I would blog about it, which would keep me on the straight and narrow.  Unfortunately, we stopped cycling a full month before our trip was done, instead of cycling right to the end as planned, and no, I didn’t do a very good job of reining in my caloric intake for that last month.  When we got back, it was winter and I had crippling tennis elbow, so I was not active enough, and I didn’t do a very good job of reining in my caloric intake that winter either.  My weight increased more yet.

Two years later, we headed back for a month of touring in Germany.  I may not be a hard-core super-fit anything, but “stubborn” I can do.  I’m determined this time to get some weight loss out of this tour.  I joined a gym the November before, started diligent calorie tracking, and started training for the tour, which would be the following June.  By the time of the tour, my weight had come down and stabilized at about seven pounds lower than my highest.  I still had the pipe-dream about coming back lighter than when I left (yes, “stubborn” I can do).  True to Brent’s mantra, I seemed to have gained weight for the first three weeks of the tour, which, let’s be honest, was pretty much the whole trip (we didn’t ride for the last three days).  But, hey, I dialed back my calories for those three days, and have been tightly managing my calories since we got back two weeks ago.  I’m staying good and active (it’s summer this time), and my weight is drifting down slowly.  I came back at about the same weight as I left, but that includes some extra muscle (so, I guess, some fat gone), and the weight is drifting down.

Hope springs eternal.  And if it doesn’t work out this time, well, there’s always France in 2019.  You know, because the meals and portion sizes in France are healthier than in Germany…

Cycle Touring Hardships

Compatible Travelers

In 2015, Brent and I did a six-month cycle tour in Europe, and our friend, Laura, joined us for a month-long portion of that tour. She was bitten just as hard by the cycle-touring bug as I was, and she and I have spent the last couple of years scheming about all the tours we want to do. In June of 2017, the three of us went back to Germany to ride the Romantische Straße and the Mittelrhein, for the first of what we hope will be many return cycle touring trips.

The trip to Germany reminded me of how well Brent, Laura and I travel together. It’s also reminded me that a fourth travel companion in 2015 did not find our travel style, or the trip, a complete joy.

We’ve been working on talking a number of friends into joining our next tour in France in 2019. I thought it might be a good idea to warn those fine folks about some of the less-than-ideal circumstances they might encounter in 2019 so they can make a properly-informed decision about joining us.

Here are some of the “hardships” we anticipate for folks:

1. 

   Early Start

   Early Starts: No one is obligated to take early starts, but if you want to ride with Brent, Laura
   and me, you have to be prepared to have wheels rolling every day by 8AM at the absolute latest. This is not only our preference, but we also find there are a number of advantages to doing this. For example, you can get your daily riding done before the worst heat of the day (if the day is going to be hot); you can get your daily riding done before the afternoon rain showers (if there are going to be afternoon rain showers); you are less likely to encounter problems getting a spot in the campground because you’re some of the first ones to arrive. If you want to join us on a tour, but don't want the early starts, you can certainly set your own start times and ride by yourself, or you can try to rally some other late-starting folks to form a “second group” if you like. If you do, you must be prepared to make your own way during the day, stay in touch via text (if our technology is cooperating) to confirm where we’ve stopped for the night, and take your chances on getting a spot at the campground (no, we can’t reserve spots for you each day). In the case of a heat wave, we might even adjust to “wheels rolling” by 7:00 (instead of 8:00) to beat the heat.
   
   
   
   
   

   

   Zeltplatz at Füssen

2. Campgrounds: A lot of us are used to the peace and serenity of backcountry campgrounds.
   That’s not what we’ll encounter on a cycle tour. We’ll be staying in side-of-the-road campgrounds with campers stacked one on top of the other. They can be extremely crowded and noisy (this is more of a problem in Germany than in France). Laura recommends "safety grade" earplugs and says the campgrounds can be "like Banff campgrounds on the May long weekend before the alcohol ban was put in". As far as we know, in France, you at least get your own assigned site. In Germany, tents don’t even get an assigned site in most places – you’re just sent to the “Zeltplatz” (tent place), which is a big open area, and you pitch wherever there’s an empty patch of grass. The disadvantage of assigned sites, of course, is that the campground might be full when you get there (see early starts).
   
   
3. Camping… a LOT: Laura, Brent and I prefer camping. It is easier and more flexible (and easier on the budget). Given the choice, we will almost always choose camping. For example, on our 2017 tour, we checked into Penzions 4 times due to bad weather and/or lack of campgrounds, plus a BnB for the end of the trip to prepare for going home. Other than that, we camped. You are not obligated to camp as much as we do, but if you choose not to, you’ll be in charge of making your own arrangements. Since we will have a tentative destination for each day, but no guarantees, you should not make reservations more than a day in advance. In 2015, I would make reservations in the morning for that night through booking.com. Besides complications with not finding a place at all, if you do manage to book into a place, it may be more expensive than you were hoping, it may be difficult to find in the town, and it may be straight up a freakin’ hill when you get there. When you get there, you have to unload your bike and carry EVERYTHING up to the top floor (yes, you’ll always end up on the top floor… just because). Camping is easier. I do recommend sticking with us on that.
   
   
   
   

4. 

   "First Coffee" near a Castle

   Coffee: We do not recommend bringing a stove nor cookware on the trip. We either eat cold food
   “off the bikes”, or in restaurants. It’s not worth it to haul the extra gear to prepare food (or coffee) in our opinion. If you decide to bring cookware and prepare coffee in the mornings that is absolutely fine, but remember the early starts – early starts don’t wait for coffee. If you don’t bring anything to prepare coffee, you must be prepared to wait for coffee. We stop for a short or long break every hour when riding, and we try to find coffee on the first stops, but we don’t always find a place. In 2017 we even had a day where we had to wait until the next day for “first coffee”!
   
   
5. Food/Meals: Our tours are not “foodie” trips. We don’t spend a tonne of time and energy seeking the exact right meal for every meal – often we’re just fueling the machine. We buy groceries to carry with us (be sure to reserve some room in a pannier for groceries, or better yet, carry an insulated bag of some kind), and often have breakfast and/or lunch “off the bikes” (e.g., yogurt, rolls, volkenbrot, cheese, sandwich meat, fruit). When it’s dinner time we often have more choice, and sometimes we have a truly special experience, but often it’s “just a meal”. In France, restaurants don’t open for dinner until 7PM. By then, we’ve usually eaten off the bikes, or filled ourselves with pub food.
   
   

   A banana keeps us going for another km

   Side-of-the-road lunch

   Eating "off the bike"

   Is that a baguette?

   
   
   

6. 

   "Laundry Wine" in a Hotel Room

   Weight Gain: It is likely that you will GAIN (not lose) weight on a cycle tour. What else can I say about that? Don't get your hopes up about losing weight. If you did a longer tour than a month, that would likely happen, but as Brent always says, expect to gain weight for the first three weeks of a cycle tour. On a month-long tour, the last week isn't enough time to make a meaningful difference, especially when the last two or three days are reserved for chores and preparation to come home.  See my blog about this.
   
   
7. Laundry and Hygiene: Cycle touring can be like extended backpacking. You have limited
   clothing with you, limited options for showers, and even more limited options for doing laundry. Europeans don’t have bathtubs like we’re used to. It is unlikely that you will be able to submerge your body into a tub of water on a cycle tour. We try to do a load of laundry every few days, but sometimes you go for longer than anticipated without being able to do some. Be prepared to stink. Be prepared to stink even when you’re on your way into a restaurant. Also, re: laundry… even when you get to do laundry, it’s not like doing laundry at home. A lot of European machines take (literally) three hours to do a load. You just may not get your turn at the machine. Be prepared to hang clothes instead of using a dryer (often a dryer isn’t even available). Be prepared to share laundry loads with others – we can’t all take our individual turn at a machine that takes three hours.  After a number of days fruitlessly searching for a working washing machine, we may even resort to doing "laundry wine" (washing the laundry in a bathtub... stomping with feet as though making wine).
   
   
8. Smokers: Unfortunately, EVERYONE in Europe smokes. Yes… EVERYONE. And they smoke in restaurants. EVERYONE smokes, and they smoke EVERYWHERE. It’s actually the one thing that makes me feel like I’m happy to come home after a trip – just to get away from the damned smoke.
   
   
9. Accommodation: We have to be extremely flexible about accommodation. Often what we plan works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. Maybe we don’t make as
   many kms as we planned. Maybe we actually make more. We don’t make reservations ahead of time. We breeze into town hoping for the best. Sometimes we have to keep on breezing into the next town…
   
   
10. Sight-Seeing: We’re not going to be able to see everything, or visit every point of interest along the way. For the 2019 trip, I will “survey” the folks who commit to coming about what they want to be sure to see, and we’ll do our best to see those things, but be prepared to leave some things “on the table” for your next trip to the area. I’ll be trying to organize our “rest days” around areas with lots to see so that folks can see as much as possible, but we’re just not going to see everything.
    
    

11. 

    A "HOUG" in Germany

    Riding Expectations: We do our best ahead of time to know how far we’ll ride in a day, and how
    hilly it will be. But sometimes mistakes happen and we do extra in back-tracking to the route, and sometimes construction and detours happen. Try not to be too tied to your expectations of what the day will hold, because it may just hold more than you anticipated (and not always in a good way). Even on well-traveled, well-marked cycle routes HOUGs happen (that’s “Hills Of Unreasonable Grade”). One thing you can generally count on, though, is that we do take a break (short or long), pretty regularly, each hour.
    
    
12. Road Surface: Often we have separated bike paths. Sometimes we’re on roads. Sometimes we’re on busier roads than we care for. Sometimes we’re on asphalt. Sometimes we’re on gravel. Sometimes we’re on dirt. Sometimes we’re on cobblestones (they’re the worst). Sometimes we’re on what I lovingly call “Edmonton Surface” (yeah, you know what that is).
    
    
13. Accommodating: We intend to ride together. That means adjusting to the slowest-paced person. If someone is actually unable to do the trip, they’ll have to leave the trip (or do their own version of the trip). If someone just has a bad day, though, we’ll all have to adjust, slow down, and accommodate. If you’re the one having a bad day, and you don’t want to make everyone wait for you, there’s the option of “catching up” by train, but keep in mind that taking the train with your bike is NOT fun. We’re all “Outdoor Club” people. We know how to accommodate. Expect a lot of that.
    
    

    No one left behind

    Ann waits out yet another flat tire

    
    
    
14. Your Rig: Freedom or Boat Anchor?: There will be times that your loaded bike will feel more like a boat anchor than anything else. You might have to push the whole thing up (and down) a set of stairs. You may have to load it on and off of trains. Everyone should help everyone else as much as possible, but be prepared to haul that rig around if/when necessary. Make sure you’ve chosen an appropriate bike. Brent, Laura and I can all help with that beforehand. Make sure your rig has been checked over and tuned up before the trip. If you’re likely to need new tires during the trip, consider getting them ahead of time rather than trying to buy and install them on the tour. If, during the tour, you experience a problem with your bike, deal with it ASAP and tell us about it. Don’t wait until you have a complete breakdown to do something. It’s easier to be proactive (i.e., when you’re actually in a town) than to deal with a breakdown out on the road. Note that we do not recommend EBikes. We don't know if you'll be able to get to a charging station frequently enough, and an EBike will be super-heavy to ride if it's not charged, and it will be SUPER-HEAVY to haul up and down stairs, onto trains, etc.
    
    

    Horrible rental bikes in the UK	Reunited with Dewey after rental bikes	Gabi's piecemeal rig	Unexpected stairs across the Rhein
    Train station stairs	Some trains aren't bicycle friendly	Bikes on a train	Loaded bikes on hooks

    
    
    
15. Bailing Out: What if you take ill on the trip? What if you get injured? What if you get out there and you just can’t do it? What if you get out there and you just hate it? Think about how you’ll deal with that in case it happens. I will research some “bail out” points and strategies to help you out, but if you need to leave the trip early, you’ll need to be prepared to figure that out. A nice thing about the trip in 2019, is that there's a train that runs the length of our intended route (The Loire Valley), so bailing out by train will be logistically (if not technically... see "Your Rig") easy... relatively speaking.
    
    
16. Other: We’ve done our best to anticipate what folks might perceive as hardships. But we’re not you, and there may be hardships awaiting you that we haven’t anticipated.

A work friend read this list of hardships and said it reads as though we don't really want other folks to come along with us. That could not be further from the truth. We absolutely want you to come along... we just want you to do that with your eyes open, and your expectations set for reality. Clearly we love these trips, and we want you to, too!

We really want you to come along

Right Laura?  Right..... Laura??

NEW FOR 2023!

I am hoping some friends will parachute in for some of our 10-week tour in 2023, so thought I should update the Hardships List with some new things that came to light from our 2019 tour:

17. Plans Change: Although we start a tour with a specific plan, sometimes we decide to change the plan.  This may be because of weather, or unforeseen political circumstances, or we just plain feel like it.  If you decide to join us, you should be prepared with your own plans and understand that, best laid plans being what they are, we may not end up being where we thought we would be.

 18. We Like Our Plan: Although we are flexible about recognizing when we need to change our plan, we're still very invested in our plan.  I often spend tens, if not hundreds, of hours researching and prepping for a tour.  If you come along, expect us to do everything we can to stick with our plan, which means not tossing it in the trash to do what you want us to do instead.  LR, I'm looking at you here.

Homemade Tour Plan

Planning Resources

Laura scored a new map

Reviewing the daily plan

19. Hot Starts: It's a real PITA to try and transport big boxes from the airport to some kind of "staging area".  Although it's nice to get your bearings and get over the jet lag for a day or two when you arrive, we've decided that that's not how we like to do things.  Instead, we prefer to unpack at the airport, load up the bikes and ride straight from there.  Don't worry... I'm really nervous about traffic so I do my best to find a safe route straight from the airport.  Your biggest problem will be riding with the jet lag.  Ask Brent how much he likes that...  At the end of the trip we try to spend two or three days in the city of our airport to prepare to go, but the ending brings its own challenges (which I'll do my best to mitigate before we leave... watch for the copious planning e-mails).

20. Rest Days (or lack thereof): Hardship 10 above mentions "rest days", which implies that we do those regularly.  We did, in fact, plan on doing them regularly for our tour in 2019 because we were catering to the beginners accompanying us.  Our normal touring rhythm does not include regular rest days.  Sometimes we do, in fact, do a rest day, but they only happen if we get really crappy weather, or one (or more) of us feels a great need for one.  Otherwise, we are on the move (even if for just a short distance) every day.