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Hi Wendy -
Have a wonderful camino with your friends, walking and biking.
I would strongly suggest you do wear a helmet ... the paths are loose and stony and accidents can happen anywhere - roads, country lanes etc.
The reason why I strongly suggest that you do wear a helmet is that I fell off my mountain bike last April while training for a bike camino. My shoulder and head took the brunt of the fall - I broke my collarbone and scapula and the collarbone had to be pinned and plated. The doctor in A&E told me if I had not been wearing my helmet the accident would have been so much worse - I would have sustained head injuries and I could have died. At the time, and in the months since, I have thought countless times about how lucky I was to have been wearing my helmet (it's the law here in Australia) - wearing my helmet prevented me from a much worse injury and indeed could have saved my life.
Wearing a helmet is a drag sometimes - your head gets sweaty and you get the worst sort of hat hair ever, BUT, after my experience, I would never hop on a bike without one. You'll be having a shower and can wash your hair as soon as you arrive at the albergue/hostel/casa rural/hotel anyway, so please, play it safe and wear a helmet.
A note on bike caminos generally - have your pack transported each day - as you plan to walk and bike this really is your only option.
Buen Bike and Walking Camino Wendy and best of luck with your preparations -
Take joy in every step and every pedal -
Cheers - Jenny
The Camino isn't the sort of place that you can rent and drop off bikes at random, it isn't that sort of thing ... incidentally, there is absolutely no need whatsoever to have your pack transported if you are combining walking and cycling .....why would you?
you don't say which parts of your body are affected by your arthritis ... but it is worth mentioning that, except on the flat, cycling on Camino can be much harder work than walking - particularly steep ascents and descents ..... a tricky one indeed .... if you rise 500 feet over a few miles on rough Camino your physical effort is the same as a walker except that you have the extra weight of the bike to lift up that 500 feet!!
so sorry about your arthritis - you have given up all coffee? really necessary to give up ALL coffee!! I have seen dramatic improvements when others have given it up completely.
Do let us know how you go forward on this. It could be that someone tags along with a car with a bike rack then they could be called in when necessary ?? They get the tourist stuff during the day and you all still meet in the evenings?
As for helmets - off road it is your choice. Personally I wouldn't like to take the chance of a head injury miles and miles from any help.
I'm planning to walk the Camino with a group of friends who are better hikers than myself. I have arthritis and walking is difficult. But, I can bike without any problems. Is it possible to rent a bike here and there instead of for the whole trip? Also, do I HAVE to wear a helmet? I'd prefer not to.Thanks for any tips. Wendy
Hi David -
Thanks for your excellent post here - lots of food for thought for Wendy and helpful with her planning.
The reason why I suggested to Wendy that she has her pack transported is that she mentioned that she wanted to rent a bike "here and there instead of for the whole trip". This made me wonder what she would do with the pack when she was cycling. She couldn't cycle with a large (heavy) pack on her back due to balance problems. Unless it was a small pack that she could have on the rear rack of the bike, she might find that a larger pack on the rear rack will make her unbalanced as well. Of course, if Wendy were to rent panniers as part of the bike package this would solve the balance problem and she could just have the empty pack on the rack - hopefully the balance problem would be solved. When she handed the bike in she could transfer the contents of the panniers into her pack and walk the next section.
Cheers - Jenny
Kurt - if you are on a public road - and much of the Camino Frances IS a public road - then it is mandatory for a cyclist to wear a helmet. As for your Spaniard not wearing a helmet because he was a pilgrim, well I have not actually read the Spanish road rules but I have not heard this excuse being accepted. My reasons for wearing a helmet - apart from it being the law - I like my brain and want it to go on working well for the rest of my life. also there are some very rough off-road sections on the camino!!I brought my own mountain bike and helmet...but if you mountain bike the hiking trail you don't need to wear a helmet unless you bike on the roads...but I biked a 1,000 km in Spain and never wore my helmet...also I biked through Burgos into the Meseta with a Spaniard and he did not wear a helmet either...he told me that the Police stopped him once and asked if he had a helmet and he told them he was a Pilgrim so nothing happened...we actually stopped Police in Burgos to ask for directions without helmets and nothing happened...the worst incident I had was biking over a bridge leaving some little town and the Police passed me in a SUV going the other direction honking and yelling for me to wear a helmet...so I just waived and yelled back...Buen Camino.
also there are some very rough off-road sections on the camino
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