My name is Martin. Why did I decide to bike tour in Europe?
I have been bike racing for about 10 years; mainly on the road and I also raced cyclocross. Besides biking I had a sail boat for almost four years; it was Atlas a Cal 34. I should also mention that I spent the last 20+ years working in the software industry in the greater Seattle area.
I was thinking for a while about what I could do when I have a lot of free time. I wanted to do something I couldn’t have done so far, something the working and parenting life didn’t allow me to do.
For a while I was considering to sail to distant places. After getting caught in rough weather several times I realized sailing out in the open sea is not for me. After all I come from the Czech Republic a land locked country.
After I ruled out sailing bike touring was a natural choice. I knew how to bike and bike touring offered the opportunity to visit many countries and to see many people. Also the financial requirements of a bike tour are much smaller than setting up for a sail around the world.
I have relatives in the Czech Republic so starting the bike tour in the Czech Republic made sense. I was able to combine the beginning of the tour with a visit with the relatives, it was fun. I also had all the support and comfort of setting up for the tour in my brothers garage.
I wanted to avoid the summer vacation crowds. Therefore I picked September and October for the tour. I decided to go south to follow the warm weather since October can be pretty cold in some parts of Europe.
To return to the Czech Republic I plan to take the ferry from Patras, Greece to Venice, Italy and then to continue by train.
I hope I can make it all the way to Greece and bring back some positive stories to the US and Czech Republic about the people and the countries I visit. I would also like to share information about the US and Czech Republic with local people during my trip.