Looks like I will be on my bike for the next handful of weeks! Doing Hamburg ~> Barcelona in 4 parts! And the crazy part is, it's work!

In July and August a team from Fab City Hamburg will travel to Fab City Barcelona via Fab City Amsterdam, Fab City Paris and the Fab region Rhône-Alpes to meet their communities.
But why such a long journey? To avoid CO₂ emissions! To travel eco-friendly and have more fun at the same time! Sound crazy? It is! We believe that sometimes we need to break out of our daily routine to imagine the impossible and desirable - and just do it!
We want to build personal connections between the fab communities and share the wonderful projects and stories we will encounter along the way.

1. Hamburg > Amsterdam | 464km | 13. - 16.7.
2. Amsterdam > Paris | 568km | 26. - 30.7.
3. Paris - Clermont Feront | 471km | 9. - 13.8.
4. Clermont Feront - Barcelona | 738km | 24. - 27.8.++

The dates at the times we are relatively sure we will be at our destinations and hold some event with the respective cities.

If you want to have a #crab-meet or want to tag along for parts of this crazy journey, DM me!

ps: the links above are not the final final route, it's just to illustrate the idea basically and it will change a bit as we progress and adopt to weather, etc.

#bikes

Sounds like a great adventure. The cycle.travel site is really cool. Looks like a lot of your route will be on cycle paths or otherwise protected from sharing the road with cars.

Are you going to take the train home? Looks like you're spending a good chunk of time at each cit which will be nice.

It reminds me of a bicycle circus caravan my friends used to do back during the anti-globalization movement. Using a caravan of bikes to raise awareness around social and environmental issues. At one point they got arrested for not having a 'bicycle license' which was odd because such a license doesn't exist.

@many cryptix are you guys using bivvy bags? What is the setup for sleeping? and for cooking? Tell us moar! :D

Very happy that I opened my laptop to see this! Are you doing this for your JOB? I have to say I'm actually jealous

I've done a couple of cycle trips in Europe (only about 800km total, in 4 rides) and I'd have to say that it's way better than riding in NZ or US because often there are bicycle paths (often through forest or along the bank of rivers or canals) it's likely you can go a very long way without ever riding alongside a busy road, but maybe on some quite roads through picturesque villages, the church steple being visible some way off

Though the pace you have planned seems a bit towards the heroic rather than the leisurely... but 4 days pounding it along the low countries without stopping shouldn't be too bad and by the time it starts to get hilly in southern France you have grown bigger legs.

I'm a little worried that with that narrow seat and low handle bars that you are gonna get a very sore butt and arms. with this style you need to lean forwards and put quite a lot of body weight on your hands, which will become quite unpleasant after a couple of days of riding. breaking up the ride with some rest days will help a lot though. Oh I see that the breaks in towns are like 10 days long, that should be plenty of wiggle room.

I eagerly await your travel reports!

500 euros fine! that is oppressive! I know they say that "it's to protect the little nature we have" sure, they always give stories like that.

anyway, it's not stopping some of my NZ friends who are currently touring the netherlands (and making a youtube series about it) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaCeRT-HaUU This is the guy who taught me you can just camp everywhere "no camping" signs be damned (way back in 2003)

of course, remember to follow Deuteronomy 23:12-14

Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee: For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, and if he stepeth in a poop thou will know he is Lord when he layeth his vengance upon thee