This is one amazing story which just had to be shared…and thankfully it was done with our very own Bike Friday Haul-A-Day bikes. Enjoy and be inspired!
By Christian
We “just” (ok – it’s been a month) got back from 2 months cycle-touring around Europe. We toured through Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany (with a few flights, ferries, and trains in there). We took it easy in terms of distances covered, averaging about 40 km per day, so that the kids would have lots of time to play. But we still had some long days, and several days with elevation gains approaching 1000 m. Trip reports to come (spoiler – it was incredible)… but most questions are about the logistics and equipment, so let’s start there!
Our youngest daughter, N, rode in the chariot bike trailer all the time. Our oldest daughter, F, had the option of riding her own bike, sitting on the back of my cargo bike, or sitting in the chariot. I would say that she rode her own bike about 25% of the time. Not surprisingly, she had a strong preference for sitting out all of the long uphills. She also never really went into the chariot unless she wanted to sleep or it was raining. Usually, I would tow the chariot and we would just strap F’s bike sideways across Line (mom)’s panniers. If we anticipated a lot of switching back-and-forth Line would tow the chariot and I would use the cargo bike to tow F’s bike (riderless) as this was a faster transition. If I was already towing the chariot but needed to take F’s bike as well, I could also stick it vertically on the back along with all our stuff, or sideways on the front rack, but both of these took more time to set up than towing. So we had a lot of options.
All the listed weights were “typical underway” weights in the middle of the trip (specifically, when we weighed everything just as we left our friend’s house in Zurich). We weren’t carrying very much food/water at the time – only a day or two. Sometimes we carried for up to 4 days. We could definitely feel the difference. You can add up all the weights below, but I’ll save you the trouble – all the stuff and kids together weighed in at 343 lbs being hauled around by 303 lbs worth of parents.
Read more of the story here: – Click Me –
