The BR-Radltour is an annual

bicycle tour Bicycle touring is the taking of self-contained cycling trips for pleasure, adventure or autonomy rather than sport, commuting or exercise. Bicycle touring can range from single-day trips to extended travels spanning weeks or months. Tours may be ...

for recreational bicycle riders that was established in 1990. It is organized by the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation (

Bayerischer Rundfunk Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR; "Bavarian Broadcasting") is a public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD consortium of public broadcas ...

). The inventor of the BR-Radltour, Thomas Gaitanides retired in 2013 after his 23rd tour. Normally the BR-Radltour has six leads through the Bavarian countryside. It is no competition but an event for people who prefer healthy sport and the community spirit with fellow cyclists. The BR-Radltour is supposed to be the largest bicycling event in Germany. This is only accurate for the number of participants for the whole tour, which is mostly between 1,000 and 1,300. Bicycle tours that also allow one-day participants might have several thousand more.

Registration and participation

The tour is announced in April on the internet pages of the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation. Participation is only possible after an application and winning a vacancy in the following draw. Cyclists who sneak their way into the tour will be expelled. One-day participation was re-introduced in 2016. The tour can handle some 1,000 to 1,300 cyclists. The number of participants depends on the number of available overnight quarters.

Start

The BR-Radltour mostly starts on the first Saturday after the beginning of the summer holiday in Bavaria. This is in the last week of July or the first week of August. The tour ends on the following Saturday.

The tour

Sequence of events

The first day of the tour is reserved for the check-in. The

German railways The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the ...

provide several special trains for the cyclists. The tour itself starts one day later. One lead has a length of 60 to 100 km (40 – 60 miles). There are one or two water breaks and a longer break for lunch. The tour has six or seven leads, so it will arrive at the tour destination on the following Friday. The next morning the cyclists return home, mostly on special trains. Every evening an open-air concert with disco takes place on the local fairground, mostly with well-known international bands.

Service and support

The cyclists stay overnight in sports halls on mattresses that were borrowed from the police or army. The tour is supported by the "

Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club The Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club (ADFC) (German Cyclist’s Association) is a registered cycling association and club for cyclists in Germany. The founding meeting of the ADFC took place on 27 September 1979 in Bremen, after the idea to e ...

" ( ADFC), a German association of hobby cyclists. The ADFC provide a mobile workshop for fast bicycle repairs. The most important supporter is the "

Technisches Hilfswerk The (THW, English: ''Federal Agency for Technical Relief'') is the federal civil protection organisation of Germany. It is controlled by the German federal government. 99% of its 79,543 members (2019) are volunteers. Tasks The tasks of t ...

" (THW) that transports the luggage and the mattresses for the overnight quarters and prepares the quarters (mostly gym halls). "

Adelholzener Alpenquellen Adelholzener Alpenquellen GmbH is the largest mineral spring in Bavaria and is situated in Bad Adelholzen, a district of Siegsdorf. The largest and only shareholder is the Covenant of the Merciful Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul and the company bo ...

", a supplier of mineral water, sponsors the drinks for the cyclists.

BR-Radltour 2015

The 26th BR-Radltour started on 2 August 2015 in Weilheim and ended in

Mellrichstadt Mellrichstadt is a town in the district Rhön-Grabfeld, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 17 km southwest of Meiningen, and 13 km northeast of Bad Neustadt Bad Neustadt an der Saale, officially Bad Neustadt a. d. Saale and often sim ...

(

Lower Franconia Lower Franconia (german: Unterfranken) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia. History After the founding of the Kingdom of Bavaria the state was totally ...

). It covered 483 kilometres (300 mi.)

BR-Radltour 2016

The BR-Radltour 2016 started on 30 July 2016 in

Marktredwitz Marktredwitz () is a town in the district of Wunsiedel, in Bavaria, Germany, close to the Czech border. It is situated 22 km west of Cheb, 50 km east of Bayreuth and 50 km south of Hof/Saale. Marktredwitz station is at the juncti ...

and passed through

Neustadt an der Waldnaab Neustadt an der Waldnaab ( Bavarian: ''Neistodt an da Woidnaab'') is a municipality in Bavaria, Germany, and county seat of the district Neustadt an der Waldnaab. Sister cities Neustadt an der Waldnaab has one sister city: * Hays, Kansas ...

Neunburg vorm Wald Neunburg vorm Wald is a municipality in the district of Schwandorf, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 21 km east of Schwandorf on the river Schwarzach, a tributary of the Naab. Mayor The mayor is Martin Birner (CSU). He was elected in 20 ...

, Viechtach and

Vilshofen Vilshofen an der Donau is a town in the German district of Passau. Demographics Religion The population of Vilshofen is predominantly Christian. In Vilshofen there is a Catholic Church, a Protestant Church and a new Apostolic Church. 78.3 ...

. It ended on 5 August 2016 in

Burghausen, Altötting Burghausen is the largest town in the Altötting district of Upper Bavaria in Germany. It is situated on the Salzach river, near the border with Austria. Burghausen Castle rests along a ridgeline, and is the longest castle in the world (1,043 m ...

. In 2016 there were only 1000 participants, and the tour covered only 430 km (267 mi.)

BR-Radltour 2017

The BR-Radltour 2017 started on 29 July 2017 in

Gunzenhausen Gunzenhausen (; bar, Gunzenhausn, link=no) is a town in the Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Altmühl, northwest of Weißenburg in Bayern, and southwest of Nuremberg. Gunzenhausen is a nation ...

. After a round-trip to Ellingen and back the tour passed through

Nördlingen Nördlingen (; Swabian: ''Nearle'' or ''Nearleng'') is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, with a population of approximately 20,674. It is located approximately east of Stuttgart, and northwest of Munich. It was b ...

Gersthofen Gersthofen () is a town in the district of Augsburg, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the west bank of the river Lech, approx. north of Augsburg. Gersthofen is divided into five districts (German: Stadtteile): Batzenhofen, Edenbergen (wi ...

, Landsberg and

Memmingen Memmingen (; Swabian: ''Memmenge'') is a town in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is the economic, educational and administrative centre of the Danube-Iller region. To the west the town is flanked by the Iller, the river that marks the Baden-W� ...

. It ended on 4 August 2017 in

Sonthofen Sonthofen is the southernmost town of Germany, located in the Oberallgäu region of the Bavarian Alps. Neighbouring Oberstdorf is situated 14 km farther south but is not classified as a town. In 2005, Sonthofen was awarded "Alpenstadt des ...

. There were 1100 participants, and the tour covered 460 km (286 mi.)

BR-Radltour 2018

The BR-Radltour 2018 started on 28 July 2018 in

Mühldorf am Inn Mühldorf am Inn (Central Bavarian: ''Muihdorf am Inn'') is a town in Bavaria, Germany, and the capital of the district Mühldorf on the river Inn. It is located at , and had a population of about 17,808 in 2005. History During the Middle Ages ...

. The tour passed through Landshut, Bad Gögging,

Berching Berching ( bar, Bacham) is a town in the district of Neumarkt in Bavaria, Germany. Berching is a historical town with a fully preserved town wall and low streamlet. The first settlement was registered in 883, so it is more than 1100 years old. ...

Baiersdorf Baiersdorf is a town in the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt, in northern Bavaria, Germany. Geography Location The major part of Baiersdorf is idyllically situated on a terrace which preserves the town from being flooded by the close Regnitz rive ...

and

Kitzingen Kitzingen () is a town in the German state of Bavaria, capital of the district Kitzingen. It is part of the Franconia geographical region and has around 21,000 inhabitants. Surrounded by vineyards, Kitzingen County is the largest wine producer ...

. It ended on 3 August 2018 in

Marktheidenfeld Marktheidenfeld () is a town in the Main-Spessart district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany and the seat (but not a member) of the ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' (municipal association) of Markth ...

after covering 480 km (298 mi.). The weather was dry and very hot, with only a short rainshower. 1100 participants joined the tour.

BR-Radltour 2019

The BR-Radltour 2019 started on 27 July 2019 in Bad Staffelstein with 1100 participants. It began with a round tour to Seßlach and back before passing through Hollfeld,

Lauf an der Pegnitz Lauf an der Pegnitz (; Northern Bavarian: ''Lauf an da Pegnitz'') is a town to the East of Nuremberg, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nürnberger Land, in Bavaria. It is in the valley of the River Pegnitz, which flows through the tow ...

Schwandorf Schwandorf is a town on the river Naab in the Upper Palatinate, Bavaria, Germany, which is the seat of the Schwandorf district. Sights * Catholic parish church of St. Jakob * Kreuzberg Church: Catholic parish, monastic and pilgrimage church of ...

Deggendorf Deggendorf () is a town in Bavaria, Germany, capital of the Deggendorf district. It is located on the left bank approximately in the middle between the Danube cities of Regensburg and Passau. The Danube forms the town's natural border towards ...

and ending in Bad Füssing. On the last day there was another round tour to Bad Birnbach and back. The Radltour was one day longer than usual because it was the 30th tour. It covered 567 km (352 miles) in total. The two round tours were open for another 1100 participants.

BR-Radltour 2020/21

The BR-Radltour 2020 was planned as a six-day tour from

Cham Cham or CHAM may refer to: Ethnicities and languages *Chams, people in Vietnam and Cambodia **Cham language, the language of the Cham people ***Cham script *** Cham (Unicode block), a block of Unicode characters of the Cham script *Cham Albania ...

. It had to be cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The 2021 tour will not take place for the same reason.

Literature

* Lutz Bäucker: BR-Radltour – Unsere Lieblingstouren: Mit Karten und Tipps, vielen Fotos und Anekdoten. Die schönsten Tourenbeschreibungen, Bilder und Geschichten aus 25 Jahren BR-Radltour. Bruckmann 2014, (in German)

References

{{Reflist

External links

* Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation
BR-Radltour
(in German) Cycling in Germany Bicycle tours