Not having visited mainline Europe in nearly 15 years, I wanted to do something special. I had some vacation time and nobody to travel with, so I thought to myself, "How can I take advantage of traveling solo in Europe? I know - I can do something that few of my friends would want to do - I'll travel hundreds of miles by bicycle!"
For those who don't know me, I'm an avid cyclist and love nothing more than riding 80+ miles on a warm day. I've heard that Europe is fairly bicycle-friendly and hey - they have lots of dedicated bike trails, too! So I started some research.
The Route
The reason so many people love Europe is that it has such a mix of geography and culture in a relatively small area (i.e. smaller than the US lower 48 states) and you don't have to travel to see quite a bit. From this map you can see that there are no shortage of dedicated cycling routes in Europe! I decided on using a trail called the Cyclovia Alpe-Adria Radweg (you can chop off the first or last word if you want to be cool and say it in either German or Italian). This trail runs through the mountains from Austria to Italy before ending at the Adriatic Sea. But of course, I wanted to visit some other places as well, so I eventually put together a trip that would take me from Austria, through Slovenia, and end in northern Italy. I factored in time (I only had a week), difficulty (how many steep hills can I climb carrying panniers full of equipment?), and interest (where did I want to go? What was worth seeing?).
I liked the idea of beginning in the mountains (high elevation) and ending at or near the sea (lower elevation) so that my ride would have more downhill than uphill, which would make it a bit more enjoyable over the course of the week.
The bike
Another issue I had to contend with was how to procure a bike.
Option #1: Bring my own bike.
Pros: -I can plan a one-way route since I won't need to return the bike to where I started.
-I don't have to pay for a rental
-It's my own equipment that I'm familiar with
Cons: -I'd have to buy a box and disassemble/reassemble the bike at each end
-I'd have to pay at least $150 each way to bring the bike on a plane with me
-I can't take the box with me on my ride, so I'd either have to ditch it and somehow buy a new one at the end, or return to where I started and figure out where to leave the box for a week
-I don't own my own panniers so I'd have to buy them, though of course I could keep them
Option #2: Rent a bike
Pros: -I can pick up the bike, ride, and drop it off. I don't have to travel to/from Europe with it.
-No wear/tear on my own personal bike
Cons: -Not many places rent good bikes, and it could be expensive
-If I break something, it could be expensive getting it fixed to their satisfaction.
I ultimately decided that for 1 week, it was best to rent a bike. If I were traveling for, say, 3-4 weeks, then the cost of rental would have outweighed the cost of transporting my own bike, and my decision would likely have been different.
The next problem I faced: Where to rent a good road bike? Lots of European cities rent "touring bikes" for exploring the city, but I needed a lightweight aluminum or carbon fiber frame with the ability to add pedals that my cleats can clip into. I needed panniers to put my clothes, food, and other equipment. (Remember, I'd be living on this bike for a week!) In the region where I planned to ride, I found only 2 places where I could rent such a bike: One in Innsbruck, Austria, and the other in Bologna, Italy. Since I wanted to begin in Austria and end in Italy, I decided to rent from Bologna so that I could finish the ride and have an easy time dropping off the bike. When there's a logistical hassle, I prefer to get it over with early while I'm still giddy about the trip, so that when I'm tired at the end, the hard work is already done.
I rented from BikeinBO in Bologna, and to my pleasant surprise, it was cheaper than I thought it would be. So cheap that I emailed asking various questions to confirm that it was indeed the kind of bike I wanted.
9 days of Road Bike rental: 145 €
9 days of rear rack/panniers: 76 €
9 days of SPD-SL pedals: 21 €
Total: 242 €
Logistics
This was the most challenging part of the entire journey, not least because I was not planning on cycling anywhere near Bologna. The general plan:
-Get to Bologna, pick up the bike
-Bring the bike to the starting point Austria
-Do the ride
-End up somewhere in Italy, and bring the bike back to Bologna
Fortunately for me, I LOVE planning logistics. I'll spare you the details of the (many, many) potential plans I came up with, and let you know what I ended up doing.
Europe has an excellent system of buses and trains, but only few allow bicycles, which narrowed my options. After alot of research, here's what I came up with:
-Fly to Bologna, pick up the bike
-Take a FlixBus from Bologna to Innsbruck, Austria. The only one that allowed bicycles was the overnight bus.
-Take a train from Innsbruck to Zell am See
-Do the ride
-End in Padua, Italy
-Take the train from Padua to Bologna with the bike and return it.
Lodging
I'd be staying mostly in smaller towns where lodging options weren't plenty, but fortunately I found some reasonably priced roomed online and also using credit card points. In Slovenia, hostels were an option so I stayed there to save some money. I carried a U-lock and cable to connect the tires so that I could lock the bike and tires securely when I wasn't using it, as I learned that even in hotels, they are smaller than US hotels and don't allow you to bring the bike up to your room. (Some had places to leave the bike indoors, others didn't.)
Weather
It was mid-September, which can be hit or miss in central Europe. Fortunately, it was generally warm and sunny weather in the forecast, which is perfect!