Geneva to Barcelona on a bicycle

That was the sportiest vacation I've had so far. In September 2025, we (Ko, Mauri, and I) cycled 1000 km in 15 days. We ate croissants (the best ones were in Avignon) and cheese on the way. We swam in the Mediterranean Sea and the Rhône. We crossed the French Alps and the Pyrenees. Every time I thought, “This is too difficult, and I don’t know if I’ll like it,” a voice in my head said, “Then, my friend, Mongolia is not for you.” And you know what? Even when it was hard, especially in the mornings, I never disliked it.

(Mongolia, I am coming. Maybe.)

The French Alps are my favorite part of the route, and also the hardest one. After a few days of cycling, I was sure I was not fit enough to go through the Massif Central and reach Barcelona in two weeks as we had planned. In the end, we agreed that Sagrada Familia sounds cool as a finish point, and we changed our route to go along the coast, which was not only less elevation but also shorter. It included parts of ViaRhôna to get to the coast and EuroVelo 8 along it.

We mainly stayed in campgrounds, which, I feel, were easier to find along ViaRhôna than along EuroVelo 8. All of them were quite nice, but the first one with Ayahuasca retreat vibes (Le Terroir) and the one with Disney Land pictures on Google (Le Coin Tranquille) were the best. We also stayed in an Airbnb twice, and in Girona, we pitched our tents on a kids' playground at a farm. That was the only place we found through Park4Night.

We literally rolled in on our bikes to Decathlon twice. I bought a pair of gloves, but they turned out to be too small to wear them every day. Mauri got a warmer sleeping bag and has looked much happier since then. Both times, we got energy bars and gels. I never tried high-performance food (my usual energy bar was always Snickers), and it felt like magic.

We were a good team, and I am sure I would not have made it without the guys. They basically carried me over the Pyrenees after the accident.

#The accident

It was the 11th riding day. At this point I have become very confident on a bike, but also tired and less aware.

That day, we planned to cross the French-Spanish border. We rode a slight uphill for the first half of the day. At some point, we decided to have lunch and chose a pizza restaurant. The way to the restaurant was slightly downhill and only ten minutes long. Pedaling was easy, and I was going too fast for that turn. A small patch of gravel was enough to kick the front wheel underneath me.

As a result, I lost skin on my palms and elbow. And fractured my ribs. Since then, every pothole felt like someone was kicking me in the chest, and no skin situation made bike handling challenging.

Pizza was delicious tho.

Lessons learned:

- No-skin-on-palms is still the most common injury on two wheels. Gloves are an easy solution.

- Add bandages to the first aid kit. Plasters are cool, but they fall off very fast.

#Gear

On a third day I sent my solar panel back home because we were able to charge our stuff most evenings. At the end of the trip, I threw away the aerobars. They were too low to add comfort, and I used them only as sock dryers. Other than that, I used every piece of 17.4-kilo gear I had.

We talked a lot about carrying less stuff. And I would definitely survive without a chair, a harmonica, warm camping socks, a second power bank, and half of the clothing I had with me. That would make uphill more enjoyable, but the camping experience will be much worse.

Will I take less stuff with me next time? I do not think so. I think I would rather plan shorter daily distance, especially for the mountain days. Train more. And maybe lighter bicycle.

But also 17.4 kg is too much.

¯\(ツ)/¯

#No fly

One of the goals I had for this adventure was to avoid flying. On the way there, we were delayed for a few hours because our train refused to go past Zurich. And our way back, even though it took us 36 hours, three trains, and two buses, went surprisingly smoothly.

Overall, I would say it was a success.

#Stats

In 15 days, I recorded 985 km (65.7 km on average) of trail with 5003 m (333.5 m on average) of gained elevation. It felt much harder than my Lapland trip, but if you compare the average numbers, it should be the other way around.

Anyway, from now on, I will say that I rode 1000 km through the south of France with a broken rib.

#Dairy

I was not taking any notes during the adventure, and it is time to admit that I feel too lazy to write a day-by-day diary afterwards. But while procrastinating on that task, I built a GPX file render.

¯\(ツ)/¯

GPX files: