Conditions of Participation

The BaltiCCycle 2008 “From Olympia to Beijing” is scheduled for participants having some experience in long travels. To cycle the whole Olympic Silk Road it is a new challenge. It will be many remarkable easy cycling days through glorious landscapes and towns with miraculous heritage. But it will be also hard parts of the road pushing the bike up to the high pass in mountains or against the head wind in desert. You should be prepared for adventures, extreme weather conditions and unexpected obstacles on the road. If you expect hot showers and clean toilets every day this ride is not for you. The ride is open for everybody but before signing you should think about your mental and physical capability to complete it.
Though the route is much more challenging we try to keep our organizational principles similar to the previous „BaltiCCycle“ tours. Usually the daily cycling distance does not exceed 90 km, only in exceptional cases it can overrun 100 km. The rest days are planned once a week or more often, if there are famous sights on the route. We will sleep in tents in wild nature, or in schools, parks, stadiums, football fields, sometimes in official camping sites, hostels, at farmer houses and other suitable places. Not all sleeping places are arranged in advance, and starting in the morning you do not always know where you will sleep at night. The maps with a marked day’s route will be distributed during a map-meeting every morning as well as the day’s program explained. From sleeping to sleeping place you can travel individually or in small groups. When according the program some common event is planned we will cycle in one group wearing T-shirts and other ride symbolic. The car of organizers will follow during the whole ride. In case of emergency you can call the driver.
When planning the route we try to avoid the roads with high level of traffic but not everywhere it is possible. You should be very careful cycling on busy roads because most of the drivers in Eastern countries are not minded to share the road with cyclists. The longer part of the route will go on paved asphalt roads but the quality of the pavement can be very different.

BaltiCCycle is not a commercial tour, all organizers are volunteers, and the registration fee collected goes only for covering organizational expenses. Every year the route is different therefore it is impossible to work out all details in advance. Joining the BaltiCCycle you become a part of the team. Your assistance in organizing daily program and solving all difficulties is highly appreciated.

Arrival/Departure. You can join and finish the ride at any point of the route. The arrival/departure is not included in the participation fee, and you have to plan it yourself. We can pick you up for the additional fee in the radius of 50 km. It will be possible during the whole period to contact the ride organizers by mobile phone or email. Leaving from the intermediate points of the route should be not a problem: the public transport connecting villages with big cities is available almost everywhere on the route. Though the ride schedule is already fixed but the real dates can be slightly shifted (plus/minus 1-2 days) because of bad weather conditions or other unexpected obstacles. Have it in your mind when planning arrival. Click here to find the rough recommendations where it is more convenient to start or finish the ride.

Visas. It is recommended to obtain all necessary visas individually if you have such a possibility in your country. The price for visas depends on your citizenship, and it is not included in the participation fee. If you need assistance for obtaining visas, more information will be provided together with the confirmation of your registration. As a group we will try to get a discount. Click here to read more about visas.

Ferries. We will use ferry service in Greece, Turkey and crossing the Caspian Sea. The tickets price is not included in the participation fee, and you have to pay for the tickets separately.

Catery. It is highly recommended to bring along a gas stove for preparing meal in the campsites. There will be wild parts of the route without restaurants and supermarkets. Entering unpopulated areas it will be a possibility to carry some reserve of products as well as drinkable water in our van.

Vaccination. Special vaccinations are not required, though hepatitis A and diphtheria vaccinations are recommended. For more information consult with your local vaccination center.

Necessary equipment and documents:

Children until 18. Children can take part in the ride only together with parents (one or both) or another adult who is authorized by notary to take care and is fully responsible for the juvenile.

Luggage transport. We strongly recommend to carry all necessary personal stuff in the panniers of your bike. The service of luggage transportation is limited to one standard bag 50 cm x 90 cm (you will receive a bag after arrival), and it is included in the registration fee. In case of emergency (car accident or some other unexpected circumstances) you should be ready to carry all your stuff 1-2 days on the bike. If you plan to transport any additional bag in the support bus you have to indicate when registering and pay in advance (2 Eur/day).

Registration fee. The average participation fee for the whole ride is 9.4 € per diem but it differs depending on the number of your participation days. To promote the long-term travels and support those who are going for long distance the participation fee decreases in the following way: for the first 15 days you pay 15€ per diem, for the next 16-90 days 12€ per diem and for the rest 91-171 days only 6€ per diem. There are no more difference in registration fee for “West” and “East” travelers. The registration fee will not be required from the local cyclists who are invited to support the ride and will cycle just a few days. The organizers will appreciate if local participants will purchase a package with ride symbols (T-shirts, flag and sticker, all for 10 €).
You have to indicate the number of days you plan to travel in the table of the Registration Form, and your registration fee for the whole tour will be counted automatically. To organize the whole event with fewer troubles we ask everybody who has intention to take part in the tour to fill the registration form as soon as possible.

The registration fee includes:

Discounts. For the first 90 days 10% discount is available for students and 20 % discount for BaltiCCycle veterans who cycled the whole distance in one of the previous tours: “From North Cape to Olympia”, “From the Baltic to the Black Sea”, “Around the Baltic Sea” or “From Brussels to Istanbul and Cyprus”. After 90 days of cycling the participation fee is reduced significantly, and after that no discounts are applicable. Participants who obtain potential sponsors will receive a privilege discount.

Emergency Fund. It is a recent innovation of BaltiCCycle. We are trying to organize the ride on a very low budget but for the long distance route it is impossible to evaluate all expenses. The money from Emergency Fund will be used only in the case of force majeur (for example, car accident). Your deposit is 3 Euro multiplied by the number of days you will take in the ride. The unused part of you deposit will be returned back in one month after the ride finish.
Additional paid service (optional)
booked by registration:

Resignation rules. Resigning from the tour the participant receives his money back in a way defined in

Organizers:

Partners: Latvian Cyclists’ Information Center.

Patrons: Polish Olympic Committee.

Sponsors. Sponsors are more than welcome. The participants who can organize a valuable sponsorship will receive privilege discounts.

Additional information. For additional information please contact Lithuanian organizesrs bc2008@bicycle.lt, +37068659375, or Polish ones +48 663 266 553, chiny@bicycle.pl.