Because sharing is caring

General tips on long-distance bicycle rides:

  • If you are planning a multi-day trip in the Netherlands, I highly recommend Vrienden op de Fiets. This is a foundation that brings people together who enjoy cycling, and understand that it is nice if you have a good place to sleep at the end of the day. These families open the doors of their homes one night for you, so you can continue on your bicycle tour the next day. You get to meet cycling enthusiasts, mingle with the locals and save some money on a hotel!
  • If you are looking for rides, routes and events to cycle in the Netherlands, check out fietssport.nl, which is a site that lists all upcoming organised rides. If you fancy a sportive, NL Tour Rides organises them on an almost weekly basis.
  • Tom’s bike trip: I especially like this one
  • Looking for long-distance routes through Europe? I’d recommend checking out EuroVelo, a foundation that has a grand total of 19 certified long-distance cycling paths through all of Europe.

Some ultra events I like to follow

  • London Edinburgh London (LEL): 1530 kilometres (950 miles) of cycling fun which have to be completed in 128 hours
  • Race Around the Netherlands (RATN): 1950 km with 6800 hm which have to be completed in 202 hours
  • Northcape 4000 (NC4K): A total of 4000 km that has to be completed in 528 hours (22 days). The route crosses through 7 countries and goes from south Europe all the way to the Arctic Circle!
  • Trans Am Bike Race (TABR): Non-supported coast-to-coast bicycle race in America, covering a whopping 6800 km (4200 miles). There is no time-limit, most winners complete the route in under three weeks.
  • Swiss Ultracycling Challenge (SUCH): Non-supported bicycle race through all 26 cantons of Switzerland. You make your own route but it has to pass through several check-points

eTrex resources:

  • General Garmin (eTrex included) settings for cyclists: Website of Francis Cooke
  • Curious if your eTrex will pair to your new gadget? Check out this massive database of devices that pair with each other over ANT, this is the page for the eTrex 30, and this is the page for the eTrex 35.

Free downloadable Garmin maps:

  • Garmin OpenTopoMaps is what I use nowadays, because it provides a TYP file, which I can edit to my liking
  • Another great alternative: bbbike.org allows you to extract an area of your choosing