biking in late june, early july

[joemontana16]

i am planning on biking the camino beginning on june 28, 2013 from roncevalles and reaching Santiago de Compostela on july 6, 2013. is there anyone else who is planning on cycling the camino at the time frame? i would enjoy having some company along the way. my plan is to do 80-100km per day.

if interested, you can reach me via email at joezackley1982@gmail.com

gracias y buen camino!

 

[newfydog]

Are you planning on 100 km per day on the trail? You might want to do something besides cranking out the distance

 

[joemontana16]

i figure on about 8 hrs a day in the saddle -- that equates to 12km/hr, which is a fairly slow pace and should give me plenty of time to stop along the way. what do you know that says this is too aggressive?

 

[newfydog]

Well, the Camino Frances rolls pretty well, so that is very possible. The second time we did it, finishing off the trip from LePuy, we averaged 79 km a day for the last week. However, on most of the trails, particularly trails we are seeing for the first time we do more like 40-65 km a day. We tour the towns, go into the cathedrals and look for St Roch's dog, have a beer, take pictures and meet some locals. My GPS records stopped and rolling time, and we find that while we are off on the bikes from 9-5, we roll about 5.5 hours.

You might find yourself in a town fiesta, or meet a guy in wooden shoes who wants to tell you about the route options ahead.

9-5 you might ask? You will be out there during the busy season. The trail will shared with many hikers. They tend to peak from 6am- 2pm. We let them get spread out while we have a good breakfast. Many albergues don't take cyclists until 5, so the afternoon is good time to be on the trail.

 

[dariosilva]

My wife and I (58 &61) plus three kids in mid twenties bicycled from Pamplona to SDC las may 18 to june 2. We rode 40 to 50 miles/day. Took a one day off our bikes every third day. Rested I Burgos, Leon, Porto Marin. The mountains out side of Pamplona and once you start climbing the costal mountains are pretty tough. I would suggest you not make your pilgrimage a race. We had no problems getting into an Alberga. We actually got started late in the morning, around 9. Getting five people rounded up in the morning and getting breakfast was slow going. Rode to about 12:30 to1, had a long lunch and rode from about 2til 5:30 or 6. Wish you a buen camino and take it easy, enjoy the camino try not to conquer it. If you want more info, send me a message. silvaphd@msn.com.

 

[joemontana16]

both replies excellent. great information. much appreciated. you both rolled out around 9am. i'm an early riser, usually on the road by 5:30am, so for the camino it woudn't be a stretch for me to be out around 7ish -- get some distance in before it gets really hot. taking your advice and probably ride till noonish, the have a nice long lunch and do some touring where i stop, then ride for a couple more hours after 2. great advice about albergues not taking cyclists until after 5pm. finally, you mentioned that you did 40-50 miles a day with 5 people in tow. me, flying solo, shouldn't have much trouble doing 60 miles per day.

 

[newfydog]

flying solo, shouldn't have much trouble doing 60 miles per day.

I don't doubt that for a second. When I was young and restless I would crank out absurd long days. I'd say the best day I ever had on the camino, however, was one where we stopped for lunch, one beer lead to another, and by mid afternoon we had negotiated a room upstairs, We then took the bartenders dog for a hike up to the castle above the town. Be flexible, and have a good trip.

ps On our first trip, we met the nicest Spanish girl when I stopped to fix her bike. She did 50 -70 km a day, and we saw her every few days. I tried to get her to come to the states to fix her up with some of my single friends who would have loved an adventurous sportive woman like her.

just sayin'