Mere hours after the award of CMWC 2001 to Budapest, Hungary, talk had already begun of possible converging rides to Budapest from all over Europe. Based on the inspirations of 2000's Metropoloco, 1999's Cyclassix and the 1999 messenger meeting at l'Alpe d'Huez, this page is intended as a resource for those of us planning to make our trips to CMWC 2001 more than just a long weekend in Hungary.

The focus of this page is likely to be on routing for those planning to ride from mainland Northern/Central Europe to Budapest - I'm assuming most riders from the British Isles and Scandanavia likely have an idea of how theyre going to get to the European mainland, and most of the group rides are likely to occur on the main European landmass. That being said, though, routing through non-mainland Europe certainly won't be excluded! I'd be lying if i didn't think messengers cycling across Russia from Asia to get to CMWC wouldn't be the coolest thing ever... There's also some stuff here directed at people looking to make a trip out of the ECMC in Rotterdam as well.

As you can see from the event/idea listings below, there's potential for some epic trips here - it'd be beautiful to see groups of messengers from all over Europe starting out from various points, and gradually converging at various points, all heading to the big group meetings in Vienna and Warsaw the weekend before CMWC 2001, group rides from both cities joining in Bratislava and then riding to Budapest en masse. Ivonne and I spoke some in Philly before we left about working to coordinate routes and plans, and come up with some suggested maps - there's so many bike paths and small side routes throughout Europe that travelling on nearly car-free routes is very possible!

Wendy Fallin from Philly is possibly working with a travel agent there to obtain some sort of group purchase arrangements for North American couriers. If you're interested in the possibility of group travel arrangements, think about these questions - Would you be willing to fly out of Philadelphia? New York? Would you be willing to go simply for the race, meaning not many extra days? How much is too much to spend? - and email Wendy

I'll be starting to plan my own route in greater detail, and buy good maps in the coming months - which will inevitably be followed by me posting further route details for my travels as they come into focus. This page, however, shouldn't turn into an exhibition of what I think people should be doing with their vacations - instead, it should be a tool for other messengers who are interested in planning an ambitious vacation of their own. Any such individuals should feel free to email me with any route or event information that might go well on this page!

I should note that the routes listed below are suggested rough outlines of routes. Most of them, you'll notice, are routed along rivers and river valleys - this is simply because rivers are insanely easy to follow, generally don't involve much climbing, have good odds of a nice cycle path beside them, and always have towns near them. But don't take this to mean that these are the only ways to get places! The beauty of cycle touring is that you can alter your plans at will - with good maps, you can practically route yourself as you go from day to day. Most of the touring I've done has only been planned in the roughest of senses - I create a framework of a route, know the time i have available, and alter my plans as neccessary to make the stops that catch my eye. I firmly beleive this is the best way to structure a tour.

There are some very tentative plans for group travel purchase arrangements for North American messengers - I'll keep this page updated here as information on that becomes available, assuming the arrangement happens.

• Mokumpoloco, Amsterdam - ~26-30 May - Way early for CMWC, but the A'dam messengers are planning this pre-ECMC event with goldsprints, a three stage alleycat/race in Amsterdam and Haarlem/Zandvoort, obstacle delivery sprints, keirin style messenger sprints, camping in Zandvoort, an alleycat in Den Haag, and a ride to ECMC 2001 in Rotterdam.

• ECMC 2001, Rotterdam - 2-3 Jun - Yeah, it's a bit early in the scheduling, but especially if you're coming from North America, why not make an epic trip of your CMWC vacation?

• Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré - 10-17 Jun - An early June stage race for the cycling fanatics - a traditional warm-up for the Tour. This year's route is due to be announced May 10 - it's typically centered around the Rhone-Alpes region, readily accessible from Grenoble.

• Global Gutz II, Worldwide - 15/16 Jun - Luk and Valerie from Zurich are organizing this again this year, and surely you want to organize your travels so that you're in a city participating in the event at this time!

• Tour de Suisse - 19-28 Jun - For the really ambitious! This year it's starting in Rust (in Germany, just north of Freiburg), continuing clockwise around Switzerland, and ending in Lausanne.

• Tour de France - 07-29 Jul - The TDF this year starts in Dunkerque, heads into Belgium for 3 stages, and then continues clockwise around France - notable highlights for people going to CMWC might be the Belgian stages, the stages near Freiburg (see below), the team time trial on 12 Jul, and l'Alpe d'Huez (see below).

• Paris > Budapest - early/mid Jul - Ivonne Kraft and David Milliere are planning a ride through France, Germany and Austria that will likely include any pre-CMWC events on the way, and may even catch the Tour de France - more as I hear it.

• Cyclassix II, Freiburg - 14-15 Jul - alleycat, critical mass, uphill time-trial, lakejump, and ride to see the Tour de France in Colmar! From there, there'll be a ride from Freiburg to Donaueschingen, and then along the Donauradweg all the way to Vienna..

• Tour de France messenger meeting - 17-19 Jul - camp out on l'Alpe d'Huez, watch all the big names go by - ask anyone who went in '99 - you won't regret it!

• Polish Car Killer Championships, Warsaw - 20-22 Jul - alleycats and ride from Warsaw through Krakow, meeting up with the Vienna crew in Bratislava, and riding on to Budapest.

• Bixs Traxs + Resistance, Vienna - 20-23 Jul - a la Freiburg/NYC/A'dam - alleycat/parties/uphill time trial/etc - followed by a ride along the Danube to Bratislava, where it'll meet up with the ride from Warsaw, and then on to Budapest.

• Amsterdam > Budapest via van - ~20-25 Jul - Kamaal is working on caravan plans - get in touch with him if you're interested.

• CMWC 2001 Budapest! - ~27-29 Jul - Well duh!

• Ronde Van Nederland - ~28 Aug - 01 Sep - ok, so maybe you won't be around this long, but I will be, so it's here.

• EuroVelo - European cycle network homepage.

• Cycletouring in Austria -Brief descriptions of all major cycle paths through Austria, including cyclist hotels on the routes. (German; English)

• VeloLand Schweiz - homepage of the Swiss national cycle path network - in (German, Italian, French, Spanish and English)

• GR-LF webpage - Flemish/Dutch page documenting walking (GR routes) and cycle paths (LF routes) in Flanders (Belgium) and the Netherlands.

• RAVeL - Cycle paths in Wallonia (The other half of Belgium) - counterparts to the LF-routes in Holland and Flanders. (French; Dutch; German; English).

• Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club - German national cycling organization - their pages are all in German, but there's individual web sites for each of the provincial organizations, and they're chock full of info if you can read German.

• Association FranÁaise de dÈveloppement des VÈlos et Voies Vertes - French language page concerning development of cycle paths in France.

• Map of the French canal system - useful if you're planning on using rivers and canals for routing through France.

• Trento bike pages - excellent online resource made up of narratives of other people's bike tours.

• Online train timetables - for all of Europe - check details for travelling with a bike, though.

• Bike touring packing list and general advice - What I take on a 2-week bike tour - will work quite satisfactorily for longer tours. Also some random bits of touring advice.

• Advice on flying with your bike - Check as baggage or ship ahead? How do I avoid paying airline fees for my bike?

• Hungarian Language course - Online, would you believe it! 9 lessons, directed at those with no previous Hungarian experience.

• English-Hungarian dictionary - You type in a word, it gives you the Hungarian equivalent.

• The Alternative Hungarian Dictionary - So, you want to swear in Hungarian?

• Tourism Office of Budapest - standard tourist-type info, still useful, though. (English; German; Hungarian)

• Currency converter - One of several available, covers plenty of currencies.

• Basic maps of European countries - for general route planning:
  Austria | Belgium | Czech Republic | Denmark | France | Germany
  Hungary | Netherlands | Poland | Slovakia | Switzerland | Ukraine

Those of you who aren't as into maps as I am may prefer to carry the larger full-country or sectional maps published by either Kummerly + Frey or Michelin - the Kummerly + Frey maps being preferable, simply because the Michelin country maps don't reliably show bike paths! The Michelin maps, however, are more readily available in the states, and are just fine if you're planning on using main roads for travel anyhow.

If you're in the US, a good source for almost all the maps listed below (which are sometimes not as easily available in the states) is a company by the name of Omnimap - they have map indexes online, so you don't have to wonder which maps cover the area you're planning to ride through. Any well-stocked travel or map store should be able to get any of these maps, though - you might have to special order, but they're not unobtainable. Maps are typically going to be anywhere from 10-50% cheaper in the country of origin - the maps of Switzerland I like cost $15.50 there, but $25 here in the US - if you've got a basic route planned already, it may be more cost-effective to buy maps and plan exact routing when you get where you're going.

If you want a resource for basic route planning, and don't want to buy big maps, I'd suggest making use of the Univ. of Texas map collection - it's online, and has all kinds of basic maps. The best ones to use are the one labeled "shaded relief" - they show a fair amount of cities and rivers, with enough relief to give you a basic idea of mountains.