Saturday, September 29, 2018

Bike rides - an updated analysis

After having completed the third (and final) stage of riding the Camino de Santiago (Chemin de Compostelle) by bike, I'll present here the updated analyses of my rides in Europe to date. The results are remarkably consistent and they are a useful tool for future trip planning.

Little extras you won't find in a pilgrim hostel


 The Financial Summary:


Camino part 3 (2018)
Loire à Vélo
(2016)
Camino part 2
(2015)
Camino part 1
(2014)
Food
666 (29/day)
234 (33/day)
320 (29/day)
430 (21/day)
Accommodation
552 (24/day)
287 (41/day)
317 (29/day)
308 (10.50/day)
Travel
6
0
31
247
Other
6
0
21
87
Total Cost
1,230
521
689
1,072
Daily Average
53
74
58
33

(all figures in Euros, daily averages exclude special days)


My most recent trip, the third and final part of the Chemin de Compostelle, was the most expensive. This is not really a surprise, because it was also the longest. Looking at the daily figures, which are rather more relevant, it's also not a surprise that this trip was the second-cheapest. This is mostly driven by the accommodation, and is because I tried to stay as much as possible in pilgrim hostels and refuges. The figure would have been considerably lower had it not been for a few nights spent in hotels or B&Bs (Chambres d'hôtes). The latter is a bit misleading in France, since the price can be - and usually is - quite a bit higher than a simple hotel, and they are often rather more than a simple room in someone's house. My most expensive night was, no surprise, in the rather touristy town of St. Emillion in a Chambre d'Hôtes which cost Eur121. On the other extreme, my cheapest night was nil (zero), the very  next night in Cadillac where the pilgrim refuge is in an original pilgrim "cell" in a building which today is part of the psychiatric hospital. Most municipal pilgrim refuges were around eur8 which is, of course, amazingly cheap accommodation and is in line with the prices in Spain. For the Loire à Vélo trip there was obviously no pilgrim accommodation involved and this is reflected in the daily accommodation cost, mostly staying at basic Airbnb places (in effect, more the "traditional" B&B concept of a room in someone's house.) I never camped, but that would, of course, be a way to dramatically reduce your accommodation costs, particularly if you don't stay at formal campsites.
Sleeping in a "cell" won't break the bank

The food was comparable with my previous two trips, which again is not a complete surprise because my style of eating was about the same: a basic breakfast, some fruit and snacks along the way but no formal lunch as such, and a decent dinner, generally in a local restaurant (although sometimes self-catered when staying in hostels). I tended to treat myself to a reasonably decent meal for dinner, with prices generally around eur25 with some notable exceptions.

The Engineering Summary:

Camino part 3
Loire à Vélo
Camino part 2
Camino part 1
Total number of days
23
8
14
18 *
Total distance ridden (km)
1,514
572
1,110
1,031
Total time on the bike (hrs)
95
34.2
75.8
66.8
Average speed for the trip (km/h)
15.9
16.7
14.7
15.4


Average hours ridden / day
4.1
4.3
5.4
3.9
Average distance ridden / day
65.8
71.5
79.3
60.6


Longest distance ridden in one day (km)
86.1
85.3
105.7
84.5
Shortest distance ridden in one day (km)
38.0
63.2
49.7
34.0
Most hours ridden in one day (hrs)
5.4
5.0
7.1
6.2
Least hours ridden in one day (hrs)
3.0
3.8
3.5
2.1
Highest daily average speed (km/h)
17.9
17.8
15.0
19.1
Lowest daily average speed (km/h)
12.5
15.6
13.5
12.4

* Includes one rest day

Again, these numbers are pretty consistent, and probably reflect the fact that my riding style hasn't really changed much. Four hours a day on the bike is a pretty reasonable number if you want to be comfortable, see some stuff along the way, but also cover a bit of distance. The 5.4 hours I spent on average each day for the second Camino reflects the fact that this trip was a bit time-limited, forcing me to cover a minimum distance / time each day. It wasn't an unreasonable load, but if you're not time-driven, it's better to keep the on-bike time to a more realistic figure. You'll enjoy the ride a lot more! The average speed is again pretty similar to the other rides. The differences are essentially driven by terrain, with hills obviously reducing your averages. It's no surprise that the Loire à Vélo ride, which is essentially flat terrain the whole way, has the highest average speed. The differences in averages might not seem much, but in practice they are significant.

So there you have it; some rough planning numbers would therefore be:

Distance/day: 60 km
Hours ridden/day: 4 hours
Cost/day: eur55 - eur75 depending on your accommodation.
Some tracks are easier to ride than others


No comments:

Post a Comment