It’s time to announce the plans for my 2017 bike tour in Sweden, Norway and Finland!
This summer time I shall be taking part in a three-month lengthy biking journey in a few of Europe’s most northerly locations – lots of that are excessive above the Arctic Circle, the place the solar by no means units through the summer time months and caribou, wolves, wolverine and bear run wild in an enormous wilderness space generally known as Lapland.
My 2017 bike tour within the Nordic international locations of Sweden, Norway and Finland goes to be a tremendous journey… and I can’t wait to share the expertise with you right here on the Bicycle Touring Professional web site and within the movies I plan to publish on my well-liked YouTube channel.
So, with out additional ado, listed here are the main points for my 2017 summertime bike tour in Sweden, Norway and Finland:
Fly to Umeå, Sweden
On Might twenty fifth, 2017, I’ll fly from Los Angeles, California (in the USA) to Umeå, Sweden (in northern Europe) for the beginning of my subsequent huge bicycle touring journey. This shall be my seventeenth consecutive 12 months of bicycle touring all all over the world… and I’ll be returning to part of the world that I’ve each been to a number of occasions earlier than and completely love.
I’ve completed two earlier long-distance bike excursions in Umeå, Sweden (in 2015 and 2016)… however this 12 months Umeå will act because the home-base for my 2017 bike tour within the Nordic international locations of Sweden, Norway and Finland.
I plan to spend simply two nights in Umeå in the beginning of my journey this 12 months (to relaxation and recuperate from jetlag, whereas on the identical time prepping my new Co-Movement Cycles Siskiyou touring bicycle for its maiden voyage.) After my bike is assembled and I’m all rested up from the lengthy flight to Europe, the actual bike tour will start!
Cycle from Umeå, Sweden to Nordkapp, Norway
After a pair days of relaxation and restoration in Umeå, Sweden, I’ll start biking to the North Cape in Nordkapp, Norway – mainland Europe’s most northerly level. Over the course of the next 25 days, I’ll cycle roughly 2,250 kilometers (1,400 miles) whereas sleeping in my tent in the midst of the forest on nearly each single evening of the journey. I’ll bathe in lakes and rivers and sometimes cease at small, native libraries to verify my e-mail and add images from the journey to the Bicycle Touring Professional Fb and Instagram accounts.
The map above exhibits the approximate route I plan to tackle my bike tour this 12 months. I’ll start by touring north from Umeå, Sweden and hooking up with the EuroVelo Solar Route, which weaves a westerly path to Nordkapp, Norway. As soon as in Europe’s northern-most place, I’ll flip round and start biking south on the EuroVelo East Europe Route, which winds its approach by way of northern Finland after which again all the way down to Umeå, the place my bike tour initially started.
In essence, I’m getting into an enormous circle – from Umeå, Sweden as much as Nordkapp, Norway after which again to Umeå, Sweden.
Word: The map above is a customized map that I created for my 2017 bike tour in Sweden, Norway and Finland utilizing Google MyMaps. The yellow, blue and crimson/purple markers on the map point out the placement of libraries, supermarkets and varied factors of curiosity alongside my route.
If you wish to learn to create customized bicycle touring maps like this on your personal biking adventures, ensure to join the Bicycle Touring Professional Teaching Program – the place I take advantage of a number of detailed tutorial movies to indicate you the right way to map out protected and gratifying bicycle touring routes like this one in your pc after which switch that info to your smartphone, GPS or paper maps, so you could have an in depth and easy-to-follow technique of navigating when you get on the market on the street.
Be taught extra at: www.bicycletouringpro.com/teaching
Work for 1.5 Months in Umeå, Sweden
After I end the 25-day bike tour to Nordkapp, Norway, I’ve rented an house within the middle of Umeå, Sweden and I plan to remain there for roughly 45 days. Throughout this time, I shall be modifying the images and movies I shot throughout my 25-day bike journey to the north; I’ll be working to replace “The Important Information To Touring Bicycles” in order that the knowledge in that e-book is one of the best it could actually presumably be; and I’ll be capturing a collection of latest movies to be included with the Bicycle Touring Professional video teaching program.
Plus, it is going to be enjoyable simply to reside and work in such a gorgeous a part of the world. I’ve a number of buddies that reside and work in Umeå, Sweden, so hopefully a few of my time within the metropolis shall be spent visiting with these folks and constructing these relationships.
Bike Tour on the Baltic Sea Cycle Route
After my 45 days in Umeå, Sweden involves an in depth, my good friend Rob and a good friend of his from work are going to fulfill me in Umeå and we’re going to spend roughly 7-10 days biking north from Umeå to the close by metropolis of Oulu, Finland (roughly 500 kilometers/310 miles away). Click on right here to see a map of the approximate route we plan to cycle.
This would be the fifth long-distance bike tour that Rob and I’ve finished collectively over the past a number of years. We initially met in 2012 after we each participated within the Bike Switzerland Problem Tour. Since that point, Rob and I’ve change into good buddies and have performed three different bike excursions collectively in France, Finland and Norway.
I’m trying ahead to driving with Rob once more… and I sit up for sharing the bike touring expertise with Rob’s good friend, Doug, who’s going to be becoming a member of us on this week-long bicycle touring journey in Nordic Europe.
Tour The Western United States
After my 90 days in Schengen Europe is up, I’ll fly again to Los Angeles, California the place I’ll meet with my medical doctors once more (I’m recovering from a current most cancers analysis) and undergo a collection of medical assessments. Hopefully all the things shall be nice and I’ll be given a clear invoice of well being.
After that’s completed, I plan to spend the subsequent three to 4 months driving across the western United States in my model new Dodge Caravan. I purchased this van with the dream of utilizing it as a form of stealth bicycle touring camper van. The van is comparatively fuel-efficient, large enough to hold two bikes inside and nonetheless have sufficient room to sleep in at evening.
I’ll provide you with detailed tour of my new van in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later, however for now, simply know that this autumn I plan to spend three to 4 months driving across the western United States and stopping in among the nation’s most fascinating and scenic areas. As soon as I discover a place to park the van, I’ll load up my bicycle and take off on a number of quick 3-10 day bike excursions.
I’m already planning bike excursions in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona. In case you have recommendations on the place precisely I ought to go or which routes you assume I ought to cycle in these states, please go away a remark on the finish of this text and let me know what it’s a must to say!
The opposite hope I’ve for my camper-van/bike tour this autumn is that I will meet up and presumably even journey with a few of my Bicycle Touring Professional readers who reside in the USA. So, in case you reside within the western United States and also you wish to journey with me (or perhaps even let me bathe at your property), please get in contact!
My 2017 Bike Tour Journey Plans
So, there you could have it! That’s a fast abstract of what I’ve deliberate for the remainder of the 12 months. I’ll be biking alone throughout Sweden, Norway and Finland for 25+ days. Then I’ll spend 45 days working and enjoying in Umeå, Sweden. Then Rob and Doug and I’ll spent every week or so biking throughout Sweden and Finland collectively. Then I’ll fly again to the USA and I’ll be touring throughout the western portion of the nation in my new van and stopping at among the most fascinating factors alongside the way in which and conducting quick 3-10 day bike excursions in these areas.
I can’t wait to share my 2017 bicycle touring adventures with you… and I hope you’ll comply with the journey right here on the Bicycle Touring Professional web site and on my varied social media channels: Fb, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest and Tumblr.
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