Conditions of Participation

The BaltiCCycle (BC) is not a commercial tour, all organizers are volunteers, and the membership fee collected goes only for covering organizational expenses. Joining the BC you become a part of the team, and we expect from you the goodwill, the right understanding of our principles and rules, as well as the offering assistance when organisers need it.

The BaltiCCycle 2010 “Around Ararat” is scheduled for advanced participants having some experience in long travels and hard roads. We will cycle through mountainous areas, there will be many high passes and lengthy valleys. The majority of route will follow the surfaced roads though of very different quality. The sleeping places will be mostly in wild camps. You should be ready for adventures, adverse weather conditions (especially hot temperature) and various obstacles on the road (for example shepherds’ dogs). Gorgeous landscapes will surround you, but 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 potential to complete it not bringing troubles to yourself and others.

Organizational principles. It is a specific expedition, but we try to keep our organizational principles similar to the previous BC tours:
•    Usually the daily cycling distance doesn’t exceed 80 km, only in the exceptional cases it can reach 100 km. Because of mountains and many historical sights aside the roads this year we have more days with shorter daily distances until 60 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 official camping sites (if available) but mostly in wild nature, or in other suitable places. Not all sleeping places are arranged in advance, the BC support car will go ahead looking for them.
•    The maps with a marked day’s route and description 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 except 4 days through Iran (in Iran you should be ready to carry all necessary camping gear and other stuff on your bike yourself because our car is not allowed to enter this country). In other countries in case of serious emergency you can call the driver asking to transport to the nearest first aid or service centre. In case of injury, sickness or other reason when participant is not able to continue cycling for more than 1-2 days the organizers can offer to transport his bike but can’t undertake any obligations to provide a passenger seat in the car.
•    When planning the route we try to avoid the roads with high level of traffic but not everywhere it is possible. The main part of the route will go on paved asphalt roads but the quality of the pavement can be very different.

Arrival/Departure. The cost of arrival/departure is not included in the membership fee, you have to arrange transport by yourself. If you are going to join or finish the ride in another place, you have to plan it yourself too.

“Our” van drives to Tbilisi from Riga, via Warsaw and can take 8 passangers with bikes and luggage. The price – 100 EUR per person.

We can pick you up for the additional fee (3 Euro per 10km) in the radius of 50 km. You have to inform us about it at least 2 days in advance.

Click here to find the rough recommendations about arrival/departure options.

It will be possible during the whole period to contact the ride organizers by mobile phone or email. Though the ride schedule is already fixed but the real dates can be slightly shifted (plus/minus 1-2 days) because of unexpected obstacles. Have it in your mind when planning your travel.

Climbing Ararat. It is a special 3 days (plus 2 reserve days) event, but not obligatory. The alternative is cycling to the Van lake and visiting some interesting places around (town Van, the Akdamar island with ancient church, fortress Hoşap). You must mark your choice in the registration form. For climbing you need to obtain in advance a special permission or visa (it depends on the country you are from) as well as to pay additionally for the service of special agency without which nobody is allowed to climb (military area!). More details about climbing read here.

Visas. It is recommended to obtain all necessary visas individually if you have such a possibility in your country. If you need assistance for obtaining visas, you should mark Visas field in the Registration Form. Click here to read more about visas.

Vaccination. Special vaccinations are not required, though hepatitis A+B, diphtheria + tetanus, typhoid fever, poliomyelitis vaccinations are always recommended.

Catering. It depends only on you. It is recommended to bring along a gas stove for preparing meal in the campsites and enough drinkable water during the day – it will be hot. If the tap drinkable water is not available in the campsite, you will find it in our van.

Necessary equipment and documents:
•    bicycle prepared for long travel (carriers with panniers or saddlebags, safe brakes, reflectors and light); click here for the recommendations how to prepare the bike;
•    cyclist first-aid kit (more medicines in the support car);
•    bike spare parts and keys to service it (some bike repair equipment will be in the support car);
•    valid passport (at least 1 year ahead) with necessary visas;
•    INDIVIDUAL MEDICAL INSURANCE is obligatory, no group insurance is provided;
•    camping gear (tent, sleeping bag, gas stove, light, waterproof and sun protected clothes, etc);
•    money for personal expenses (bicycle repair, food, museums, ferries and other expenses);
•    mobile phone.

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 recommend carrying the necessary personal stuff in the panniers of your bike. The service of luggage transportation is limited to 20 kg should be packed to a standard bag (you will receive the 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 Euro per day).

Membership fee. The membership fee for 10 Euro/day. You have to indicate the number of days you plan to travel in the table of the Registration Form, and your membership fee for the whole tour will be counted automatically.

The membership fee will not be required from the local cyclists who are invited to support the ride and will cycle less than 3 days. The organizers will appreciate if local participants will purchase a package with ride symbols (T-shirts, flag and sticker).