Camino by bike?

[bill deutschman]

> Hi, all. My name is Dan Romanchik, and I've just joined the list and am
> considering a pilgrimmage next September.
>
> Being a cyclist, I think I'd like to do it by bike, but have a couple of
> questions. Are cyclists readily accepted, or are they looked down upon
> because they're not on foot? Is there a road bike route or would I need a
> mountain bike?

Dan;

My wife & I cycled from Paris to Santiago via Le Puy and then on to Lisbon
last spring.  Ten weeks and 2100 miles.  We used touring cycles but many
pilgrims had mountain bikes.  It depends on how much you want to stay on the
camino.  We were only able to ride the "real" path for about 10% of the
trip.  Much of the time we cycled along the designated roads and could see
the pilgrims walking along the "designated" camino 20 feet to the side.
There are sections that you can't cycle without a mountain bike and I'm not
sure I could cycle some of those.  We tried one section and it took two of
us to push my bike up the hill.  Three guides are very useful, the guides
from the Confraternity and A practical guide for Pilgrims by Lozano were
invaluable.  There is also a cycle guide but I can't find the title right
now.  Will send it to you when I find it.  I used local maps, which weren't
very good, to try to follow the camino as closely as possible and guess we
were withing 100 meters of the actual camino 60% of the time.  We didn't
miss any of the towns, churches, monistaries or the flavor of the pilgrimage
and it ssure was nice to cover the meseta in one short day with four liters
of water instead of two long days.

We mostly stayed in small hotels but were accepted in the refugeos when we
stopped for the night.  Some had a rule prohibiting cyclests from getting
space until 8 pm but we were early enough in the year (May & very early
June) that it was not enforced.  We averaged about 60 km per day.  Doesn't
seem like much but we "smelled the roses" as we went.  Our bigest problem
was trying to adapt to the noon to two pm siesta where everything closed
except the restaurants and bars.  We were always arriving about noon and
then having to decide if we would wait two hours for things to open or have
a short lunch and keep cycling.  Our German friends had a cell phone and
would call ahead for hotel reservations so they could stay and know they a
room for the night.  It gave them more time but limited their flexibility to
stop early.

I found a definite cast system along the Camino.  The longer your pilgrimage
the higher you ranked.  Walkers ranked higher than cyclists.  Self
sufficient pilgrims were higher than supported pilgrims.  Many groups had
sag wagons that would carry their gear, set up mid-morning and mid-afternoon
breaks as well as lunch.  At the bottom of the list were those who had a car
to speed them past the "uninteresting" parts.  We met a group from the
Netherlands that told us they started in St Jean and would do the required
100 km by the time they reached Santiago.  For example there van dropped
them off about a quarter mile from the top of the pass with the Iron Cross
and picked them up at the small refugio on the far side, total distance
about a mile.  Then they motored on to the next "interesting" section or to
their camp ground for the night.  Several men had wives that drove their
support car and did the same thing.

I believe the pilgrimage is between you and your conscious.  Only you know
if you truly did a pilgrimage that you can be proud of.  We did it slowly by
bicycle with our cooking and camping gear as we didn't have time to walk the
entire distance.  My major regret was not staying in more refugios so we
could visit with our fellow pilgrims at night.  You don't have the ability
to visit while cycling down the road single file.  I am already thinking of
walking the Camino when I'm 70 to see it in a different aspect.  Will
probably start at St Jean to conserve time.

Use whatever cycle you have and enjoy the pilgrimage.  Let me know if you
have further questions and I'll try to answer them by e-mail.  Take plenty
of tupe patches, I had about ten flats and ran out.  My wife didn't have any
but she was following me and had warning about the glass on the road.  Don't
expect to find any cycle shops open from Saturday noon to Monday around nine
am.  I had one weekend where I rode 20 minutes, pumped up the tire, rode 20
minutes etc.  Sure was glad when I found a bike shop Monday morning.

bill

bill deutschman
olcbillafireserve.net