1
Is there now a train between the airport and Kyiv city? When I lived there, there were only the public buses, the minibuses ( take about 1 passengers) or taxies.On the bus, there would be room to slide a bicycle in the luggage copartent under the bus.
It was certainly possible to cycle into the city - with care.
I found the Kyiv and surrounding areas to be very unfriendly towards cyclists - very aggresive driving, whivch ade me a tripley defensive cyclist. I invested in a rear vision orror while I was there as there was often not much time between actually hearing a vehicle approach from behind, and having it overtake me at very close quarters.
Make sure you are always waering very visible clothing and have very good lights if cycling at mighttime.
2
We won't cycle Kiev so don't worry!Yeah I red the made a train connection for the football but don't know if they managed. Anyone?
3
OKay, I have checked a bit: there are now two airports that have international frlights. THe one I know, Boryspil, was supposed to have a train tack by now, but may not have : quoting from Wikipead: Future railway connectionIn August 2010, the Ukrainian government announced plans to build a rail link from the airport to Kiev's central station, aiming to complete this project by spring 2012, in time for the Euro 2012 football tournament to be held in Poland and Ukraine.25 Currently the government expects to use new trains of a higher speed than those typical for Ukrainian railways. In September 2010, an agreement was reached with the Chinese Government and a Chinese construction firm to fund and begin work on this project.26 The line's route will comprise an 8 km electrified spur from an existing rail line, terminating in the airport's central terminal area.27
The line will be served by a dedicated passenger terminal at Kiev's central station and will have a small number of intermediate stops (including the Darnytsia Railway Station) before finally reaching the airport, where it will terminate in a station close to Terminal D.
However, shortly after work begun on the line in December 2011 the construction was officially deferred by the government; lack of funding was cited as the reason for taking this decision, yet officials insisted that construction will resume as some point in the near future, once financial backing is confirmed and funding is in place.28 As of May 2012 there has been no further news regarding this issue.
THe other airport, Zhuliany, I cannot find details re how to get to the city centre.
4
I just returned from a bike trip to Ukraine. Have a look at crazyguyonabike.com - it's the trip called north from Istanbul.it's cheap to travel in the country. Local maps are good. Signings are very bad. Make sure you learn a few words - "pri-yemey" means "straight on" and I know other direction words too. Most small towns have got a small hotel or pension where you can stay. Camping gear is useful. People are not good about offering you a place in their garden to camp in. Go to the church at 7.20 pm and hang around until the end of the evening mass, and ask the priest if you can camp in the garden of the church.
The roads are BAD. They will definitely slow you down. Make sure you have a good sports bra! The small roads are not necessarily worse than the big ones. Ask. (I asked "uli-tse doe-bree"? and mimed bumpy roads. Dobry means "good" and is a very useful word.)
Water is pretty easy to find everywhere. I would just stop at farms or village houses and wave my bottle and ask "voda"? I never had even the ghost of a stomach problem.
I strongly, strongly recommend the following schedule. Get up at 4.30 am. Start biking at 5. Have breakfast at about 7-8 when the shops are open. Keep biking til about 11am. Have a siesta til 5pm. Bike again in the evening.
Mosquitos are a problem if you wild camp, but Ukraine seemed pretty underpopulated to me. Certainly if you aren't a lone woman, stealth camping will be easy and safe.
Ukraine would be very, very good for biking if the roads were good. Without good roads, it's only OK.
