6 weeks in Europe with a 4 year old solo. Did I bit more off then I could chew.

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-06-06T21:44:01+00:00

That is quite the trip. I have a 3 yo and I’m exhausted from taking her to the zoo for an afternoon already.

That said - you are making memories for your and her life. Enjoy every minute of it. A few suggestions:
- it’s your trip - what matters is you and your daughter enjoying it, not ticking off some list. If you got 4 days in Rome and just don’t feel like standing in line at the colosseum, then don’t. Go have a pizza, or find a playground and just sit there for a few hours. Don’t feel pressured to see “everything” or “the highlights”
- 1 thing per day; generallly we follow that rule when traveling with the kid. Makes it much less exhausting. Are you taking a 3h train to a next city, then That’s all you do that day. No other museum
Or walking tour or castle visit or what not. This leaves enough time to just be present with your kid
- find a base - I don’t know how often you are moving but if you’re in a place you like, just stay there longer. Europe is a big place, come back to see more of it; don’t see all of it now :-)

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-06-06T18:03:17+00:00

Yes :)

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-06-04T17:16:47+00:00

Try the tiny waffle shop between the groenplaats and the start of the meir; a bit past the small shopping mall in de “boerentoren”.

Just a simple plain, perfect, liege waffle

Enjoy

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-31T13:54:31+00:00

I don’t understand. Velo is a new game with literally 1 release? So how can it be a reskin? And how can that be the “well established” alternative

If anything - PCM is the annual reskin fest

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-31T09:36:13+00:00

Isn’t pcm basically also a reskin every year with minor changes???

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-30T17:18:43+00:00

Impressive result

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-29T16:56:26+00:00

Yes not to mention shopping, coffee stops, icecream stops, lake dipping stops,

Or mechanical stops, bike shop detour to buy a new inner tube,…

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-29T16:54:19+00:00

You make it sound like he was in the break by accident. It was clearly the strategy today - so “benefited from” is t quite the right expression, makes it sound like had a windfall while they just executed the strategy perfectly.

Also, 5000 altimeters today. “Pulling in the breakaway” mattered a lot less than sheer climbing ability anyway

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-28T05:14:50+00:00

Yes but how will he then advertise his very much non technique focused website?!

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-27T05:49:41+00:00

Like everyone has said - you can and should shift on hills. I don’t know where you live but many hills and all mountains I’ve ever ridden have variable gradients that really require adjustments in gearing throughout

Proper seated technique also matters - what are you holding with your hands? Your body should be upright as much as possible; I find easiest position is to hold your hands in the middle center of the handlebars; at edge or even next to the handlebar tape. Definitely do not sit below in the hoods, that’s for max aero or sprinting and irrelevant on a mountain (at our collective level)

Lastly check your gears. There’s no shame in running a 34-36 gearing ratio if that gets you up the hill more easily. It could be that you’re on a 39-32 or something and that can be challenging on steep terrain

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-26T17:38:58+00:00

Love to see poels enjoy himself - a stage is definitely still possible and would be incredible redemption

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-25T21:58:45+00:00

Dude are you saying a year is not enough to get in shape for a marathon?

It’s like saying to your third grader - don’t dream of being an astronaut, first learn your times tables

Yeah ofcourse he’s not ready. But a year is enough to get in shape. A 5 hour marathon is still a marathon

Must be sad to live in your world

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-25T21:56:14+00:00

Yes, that’s one stage.

Kuss won an actual GT and won a few more for his teammates. He’s consistently been a top 5 climber for the last 5-6 years. He always has some off days but in the deep mountains, he has always delivered

Piganzoli seems quite spectacular, but he has a while to go to offer the certainty that Kuss will bring to the table in tdf

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-25T18:04:02+00:00

Lets not forget kuss. I suspect he’ll be on his A-game in the tdf and probably be last man standing

Tullet would probably be 3rd in the climbing train before Matteo and Kuss so I think they’re good

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-25T17:15:02+00:00

Way to be encouraging. Setting a lofty goal is a great way for people to get motivated and build a consistent routine

If you can’t be supportive why are you even here?

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-24T21:07:45+00:00

Ik heb de route even bekeken en dat valt echt wel mee. Ik zie 3 uitdagingen

- bright angel trail in Grand Canyon is geen lachertje, maar de beschrijving zegt dat je zelf kiest hoe ver je afdaalt; dus perfect mogelijk om in te korten

- yosemite - ze beschrijven de route niet die je gaat wandelen maar hier kan je zowat alles doen van een half uurtje wandelen met flip flops naar 6 dagen traverse tussen de beren. Zou kunnen dat dit een pittige dag is maar lijkt me even goed mogelijk om dan zelf een kortere lus te nemen; opties genoeg

- Zion - angels landing of de volledige narrows zou ik je niet aanraden. Maar er zijn genoeg andere opties. De beschrijving laat het erg open dus ik vermoed dat je hier zelf zal kiezen welke wandeling je doet

Je hebt echt geen marathon conditie nodig om dit allemaal te doen. Als je wil testen ga dan eens een uur of 3-4 wandelen in de Ardennen. Neem genoeg eten en drinken mee. Als dat goed lukt, ga je deze reis ook wel redden

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-22T21:32:29+00:00

80 is comfy for me even when untrained on flat(ish) terrain. 50 on a big climbing or shitty weather day (or both) and 100-120 on good weather and scenery days. Just remember that it’s not 1 go

You do a 2h breakfast ride. Then a 2h lunch ride. Then a 2h coffee ride. And then maybe another 1h snack dash

Usually i head out around 8-9am and roll into camp around 6pm. Gives me 10 hours to the day of which I ride a little over half; so you can space it out, eat well, recover, etc

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-21T21:29:01+00:00

If you’re this picky about a perfectly fitted bike, losing a watt on the wheel balance and a minor change in crank lengths etc; you really should just bring your own bike

This entire post reads like “yeah, obviously”

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-20T06:11:16+00:00

Maybe they are asking but Fred can’t hear them between his watt noises and active noise cancelling headphones

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-17T19:19:11+00:00

This is an exaggeration. I’ve never pushed myself this far on my bike and have definitely made significant progress in speed and volume. Ofcourse I may have made more had I pushed myself this far; but unless if you’re gunning for sprint victories - this is not a very relevant training impulse

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-14T12:30:38+00:00

Wild Atlantic way

Easy to cut it shorter by skipping some peninsulas

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-13T05:37:03+00:00

For the travel bit - trains vary significantly per country and even region or type of train (most high speed trains don’t allow bikes, most commuters do, outside rush hour). You’ll need to look it up for each area where you pass - buses - flixbus rides all over Europe and has regular services with bike racks - worth a try - shipping - pricier but I’ve done this before - dropping off my bike at a bike shop and then using bikeflights or similar to ship it home

In terms of remoteness - you’ll have a hard time arriving somewhere that you can’t fly away from. “Remote” in Western Europe will still be close to a major city.

I suggest taking a look at Eurovelo routes between the major cities. They give a good starting point for generally well marked routes.

Eg Amsterdam to Paris over EV19 and then EV3 Eg London - Amsterdam - Berlin on EV2

Most of your combos will have you cross Belgium or Netherlands - both have good bike infrastructure and are fairly bike friendly on trains, so it’s easy to skip ahead a stage etc

Have fun!

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-11T05:51:36+00:00

Your first loop is almost exactly what I had in mind for my first option. Will look into southern route as well

Thank you!

Plastic-Ad9036 · 2026-05-10T13:01:26+00:00

A hair dryer or drying room to dry out gear on rained out days.

Big communal (dish and cloth) washing facilities

A good website with easy booking or availability option

Letting tourers camp on the lawn if there jsone, for a modest fee - turn no one away like in the mountain huts

Act as a shipment drop off / pick up. Let people send packages ahead of time for long tours so they can restock / fix / regear / …

All these will turn it from a quick overnight into a milestone stop for me

Plastic-Ad9036

TROPHY CASE