In 1950 my grandfather, his brother in law and a group of lads cycled all the way to Rome from Dublin. It's something I have wanted to do since I first heard about it as a young lad. Unfortunately my grandad passed away in 2000. Anyway I have decided to stop talking about it and put a plan in motion. I am wondering if anyone here has ever attempted a colossal cycle like this before? The most I have ever done in a day is about 30km, this trip is over 2,000km. I am also entertaining the idea of cycling back, which they didn't do on the original trip. After a few days research I have decided that I'll probably need to put this off til 2014.
If anyone has any advice on the following I'd be grateful
- How much a fit man can reasonably cover in one day on a bike
- How often a days rest would be required
- The most sensible route over the Alps
- How much one person can reasonably carry that distance while on a bike. (Clothes, backpack etc, maybe a tent)
- how to get by for a month in a foreign country with no language, and little money.
I came across this site and have tried to contact the guy responsible, I suspect his father was part of the same trip, unless cycling to Rome in the 50s was in vogue.
http://www.dublintorome.com/. My grandad's brother in law is still alive and I hope to talk to him about it soon.
The reasons for doing this are 1) I am not a fit man, I need a challenge to get me motivated 2) nostalgia, I was very close to my grandfather and 3) Travel on the cheap - I have unstable employment and have not done much travelling so far. Trying to take in a number of countries on the one trip. If it works out well I'll cycle back via switzerland/austria and germany.
So essentially any help on cycling long distance and traveling in continental europe would be great. Cheers.