Taking bike on plane/ bike box

fruitandveg
fruitandveg Posts: 27
edited February 2011 in Sportives/audaxes/training rides
Im making my first overseas trip with my road bike! gulp
Im traveling to Andalucia Spain just west of Granada, flying into Malaga on EasyJet Ive booked special bike carriage.
Im looking for some advice on hiring bike boxes, anyone know where I can hire one from (Im in south london).
If any forum members would be willing to hire or lend me a bike box that would be awesome, keep it in the family :wink: 30 April to 5th May 2011

Anyone cycled in that area, Im staying in Moraleda de Zafayona.
Im trying to plan routes at the moment but its difficult without local knowledge, anyone know what kind of paper map might help.
Also how are Spanish roads classified and which can I not cycle on.
Cheers
Robin

Comments

  • Gesmi
    Gesmi Posts: 35
    Hi there Fruit and Veg

    I had a long weekend cycling just east of Malaga at the end of January 2011. It's fantastic weather compared to the UK at that time of year!

    We flew EasyJet to Malaga with no problems with one soft and one hard bike bag. I borrowed a soft bike bag off a colleague and would defo go that route again although I'm sure there are plenty of forum readers with more experience.

    IN terms of riding - here are some thoughts: Road surfaces, traffic and other cyclists - much better than expected and made cycling a dream. The coast road east of Malaga is great for cruising - most traffic out of season is on the Motorway about a mile inland now. Almost as soon as you turn in land you are on superb hilly training rides with some great descents. Not like the Alps, I guess but then at this time of year you wouldn't be getting a suntan there. It's great that every village has a cafe so whenever you decide to stop there;s decent coffee (abouit a euro a cup) and a 'loo available.

    My top tip though would be to get a map at all costs. It's not as easy as in the UK but they are available. I thin kthat Spanish maps were all originally prepared by the military so the depiction of a "road" on the map may well mean that it is passable by a tank but not on your race bike. I would recommend sticking to "yellow" roads - which given the lack of traffic is fine. I'll try and find out the names of the maps we used - I got a colleague from our Spanish office to buy them for me......

    We cycled to Frigiliana for lunch stop a "white village" in the hills is a good target destination I think.

    Have a great time

    G

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