Hacker News Reader

Comment by janmo | Hacker News Reader

I have attempted twice to ride from Hannover to Berlin in a single day which is approx. 280km.

First try I made 140km. It was a hot day and the main issue I had was that I sweat more than I could drink. Also it was getting night and I was afraid of not being able to get a train anymore so I abandoned.

For the second try I started at night (2am) to make sure I had a chance to make it in time. Around 4pm after over 180km I had to abandon because the cycle path ended and it was too dangerous to drive on the road with all that traffic.

Anyway it was a very pleasant experience as you pass many nice towns and other sightseeing. I stopped countless times to take pictures. Riding 100km, or even 200km is less harder than many expect it to be.

View on HN

100km is well within the reach of pretty much everyone, assuming only mild amounts of fitness. In Cape Town every year there is a biking event that gets around 35000 participants, and is a 110ish km loop including 4 noticeable Hill climbs. Minimum age is now 12,but in the past children as young as 8 have finished, and there are plenty of older riders in their 70s and beyond. Reasonably fit folk do it with no training, often on a borowed bicycle.

Heck, I did once 180km on a mountain/cross bike. It was around Lake Geneva, normally racers do it in sub 4ish hours time, it took me 9.5h. Wind was the biggest enemy, when doing circle eventually you face it. I did little to no biking beforehand, being generally fit from hiking I managed somehow, but last 50kms was sufferfest. And last 1km very steep uphill in Lausanne I had to go down the bike 4x, but refused to take public transport.

The biggest issue, aside from general tiredness at the end was neck/shoulder pain. It just isn't healthy position to be in, and that's for mountain bike, for road bike it must be much worse. Impotence / fertility issues are also frequent for devotees from what I heard, even with appropriate saddles.

My boss had serious neck pain issues that doctors were baffled with and unable to cure. Told him to stop road biking, refused to do so. But eventually he stopped and problems disappeared for good.

Once in a lifetime experience, glad I did it but sure as hell not going to repeat it. Plus I've found more interesting sports for me.

It's not as bad if one gets a proper bike fit, and gradually increase mileage.

This is something that really bugs me: how many people I see on badly fit bikes, starting with inappropriate frame sizes but also the most painful postures and handle bars that are either too narrow or too wide for the individual, saddles set too far back or forth, cranks that are too long or short etc. This is especially weird for high end bikes: if the place you are buying your too-expensive bike from ensure that they know how to fit the bike to your body, it will make all the difference once you start riding longer trips.

100 km is doable for basically anybody, I did 100 km when I was completely out of shape and weighted 130 kg. The main problem was PITA from the seat, not exhaustion. I think doing 10-15 km/h on a reasonably flat terrain for the whole day wouldn't be a problem for vast majority of people.

I kinda agree it's rarely distance being the problem it's all the other side effects. Seat, or something wrong on the gears, or wheels, or wind or terrain.

With a well adjusted, well maintained bike on a flat lane without wind most would simple push and glide softly.

And rain... that can really demoralize, especially when combined with a bit of wind.

Well I did a few run completely soaked and somehow I appreciated the free cooling mechanism but it was 14km not 140

well, I didn't really check scientifically, but a friend said: yeah, you're heavy (110kg but going down sloowly) and you still move a bit, so clearly on flat terrain, you can just put those muscles into going forward. Where he probably has a point.

The problems start uphill - I only had a 5 gear bike and went for a simple 60km roundtrip stopping at some relatives. All went well, until I had to move up 100ms. With cramps (the bike was too small), I walked the last km.

But that hill (6% for 2km if you take it in one go) still is hard with a suitable gravel bike now (at 105kg).

I'm at about 100kg now, walking and running got much easier but I don't see much difference on bike. I mostly cycle with my wife who is much more fit and has basically perfect BMI, but has knee problems. She has more problems going uphill than me, so we walk up steeps hills.

May I suggest trying an e-bike for your wife? Even at the low assist levels you will find noticeably less pressure required on your knees and that can make all the difference. I have a close family member with knee issues and there it helped tremendously.

Tried to persuade her many times, she doesn't want one cause they are heavier than normal bikes and taking it from our flat outdoors and over obstacles in the city would be harder.

That makes good sense. Hm, let me think about this for a bit, maybe there is a way to get something light fixed up that still helps with knee injury. Because in my experience it is only the 'getting started' part where you need help, not once you're rolling.

I drove my bike through the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany. The only country with good cycle paths is the Netherlands. In France I even ended up on the highway because the road just changed. And I had the same experience as you in Germany. It's dangerous to cycle next to cars who are driving 90km/h.

> In France I even ended up on the highway because the road just changed.

What kind of GPS navigation system did you used? It can't imagine a single place in France where the highway is the only available road, since there is a lot a really small roads everywhere. (I did an almost 3000km tour of France a few years ago, and for instance Google maps is an absolutely terrible tool for this kind of use).

I never use a GPS.

But this was a long time ago. I think somewhere around Metz. The road was something like a primary road which turned into a highway. A paper map indeed confirmed the road changed into a highway.

Ah ok! Primary roads do indeed turn to highways, and without a GPS I can understand how you ended up in such road in the first place, simply by following the direction signs.

That sounds like a fun ride. I know the region well and the scenery there is quite amazing, too bad that - as you noticed - bike paths in Germany are still optional in many places. But near the bigger towns you can usually ride safely.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com