My Top Ten rides of 2014

This year I cycled over ten thousand kilometres in eleven countries. I'm very lucky to have a job that allows me to spend so much time in the saddle rather than behind a wheel or gazing at a computer. 
Here's my Top Ten rides of 2014, in no particular order.

Number Ten - Adelaide beach ride
I spent two weeks working in the South Australian capital early in the year. Every afternoon, I'd leave our rented accommodation in Semaphore and head south along the beach road to Glenelg. To my right was the Gulf of St Vincent and endless miles of beaches, to my left an assortment of Adelaide beach houses, including some bluestone marvels. On return, I couldn't resist cycling on to Boat Harbour. Although it's almost all on-road cycling, there are bike lanes most of the way.

Number Nine: Lake Burley Griffin Loop, Canberra.
Mostly on dedicated cycle paths, this forty kilometre loop is one of the gems of the nation's capital. From the parks and open fields of Yarralumla to cycling past the Law Courts and the National Library on the lake foreshore, it's the best way to get around Canberra. Actually, it's the only time I don't need a GPS in the loopy streets of Walter Burley Griffin's fantasy. Also has the added advantage of a cafe within a few minutes ride wherever you are on the lake.

Number Eight: Chiang Mai to Lampang, Thailand.
Beach, lake - it's time for a mountain. From Chiang Mai - the town of many wats and temples, this route wanders along farming backroads for seventy kilometres before turning onto the national highway and heading skywards. There's a wide shoulder and the promise of an black-bean ice-block at the summit. Then it's a rollicking twenty kilometres downhill before arriving in Lampang, the cowboy town of Thailand. Horse and buggies, bicycles and Buddhas - perfect.

Number Seven - Romagny to Saint Lo, France.
The only benefit from the sad demise of the railway network in many first-world countries is that some local councils have turned them into bicycle paths. This rail trail slowly climbs through numerous villages in Normandy where the old railway stations are converted into picnic shelters and toilets for walkers and cyclists. Most of this one hundred and five kilometre section is off-road or along quiet backroads beside cow paddocks. Normandy is the home of camembert. Enough said.

Number Six: Bad Breisig to Sankt Goar, Germany.
On a bicycle beside the Rhine river is a lovely way to spend a day. This path goes through the UNESCO World Heritage Rhine Gorge, a narrow carving flanked by vine-covered steep hills. Castle ruins look down on every bend in the river and the old-world villages offer strudel and German beer. Seventy kilometres of Heaven.

Number Five: Mount Hotham, Victoria.
I didn't ride up many mountains this year. Maybe I'm getting old? But Mount Hotham wins my prize as the mountain to climb in the Victorian Alps. It's the closest thing we have in Australia to a Pyrenees-style climb - a gradient that varies from comfortable to scary with maddening downhills near the summit which turn into 11% monsters. It's hard to get a rhythm and the winds blast across the road. The view from the peak is stunning. 

Number Four: Middelburg to Yerseke, The Netherlands.
Cycling anywhere in The Netherlands is a joy. The country where traffic doesn't mean cars. With all major cycling routes numbered, it's possible to play bicycle-bingo across the country. Flat terrain, endless dykes to cycle on, cafes in the middle of forests for walkers and cyclists and a population that is friendly and bicycle-focused - the word I'm looking for is civilised.

Number Three: Brisbane to Redcliffe, Queensland.
When I was young, Redcliffe was the arse-end of the world. Somewhere I went on Sunday with my parents to stare at mudflats. Now, it's worth the forty-five kilometre cycle on bike paths, including one lovely section along Kedron Brook. There's even a dedicated bike lane on the bridge between Sandgate and Clontarf. Fish and chips for lunch, turn around and make a ninety-kilometre day of it.

Number Two: Pozemi to Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic
This route follows the Ohre river through the lovely medieval town of Cheb before wandering past farmland and small villages to Karlovy Vary, a spa town that French architect Le Corbusier described as a 'rally of cakes' - alluding to its confection of Art Noveaux buildings painted in every shade of pastel imaginable. At the end of a long ride, there are thirteen hot mineral baths available. And the Czech Republic has the cheapest best beer in the world. 

Number One: Vienna, Austria to Bratislava, Slovakia.
As a citizen of an ocean-locked country such as Australia, I get very excited at the thought of riding between two countries in one day. And why not have breakfast in the cafe slendour of the Austrian capital before following the mighty Danube all the way to lunch in the capital of Slovakia. An easy seventy-kilometre sprint with the promise of great coffee at Cafe Stur in the old town. From the west to the east in one day.

I've written three travel ebooks on my cycling adventures across Europe. They sell for between $2.99 and $3.99, depending on which currency you use. You can visit my Amazon page here for the USA; here for the UK and here for Australia