Meet Jenn Dice. A rockstar both on and off the bike, Jenn is the Vice President of Government Relations at the People for Bikes Coalition. A mountain bike extraordinaire, you’ll find Jenn crushing the Leadville 100 or screaming down Mount Kilimanjaro whenever she’s not working hard to make bicycling more accessible.
Tell us your story in 140 characters or less:
I work at PeopleForBikes, a national movement w/ 845,000 members to make bicycling better in America. I organize the Business Network to help build political clout.
What’s the most rewarding part about your job?
Working with passionate people every day. We work to change the world through bikes.
Favorite place you’ve ever traveled and why?
Tourmalet, France. On the Trek Travel Etape de Tour trip a few years ago we got to climb the Col du Tourmalet and spend a week in France (including Paris on the final day of the Tour de France). It was mind blowing and life changing all at once. So much fun, so challenging and so gorgeous. Being a female riding a road bike in a male oriented ride was also fun. I got a lot of cheering and support.
If you were a trip designer at Trek Travel, where would you design a trip?
Argentina – I just got married and we are planning to honeymoon there this fall. Can I just pay Trek Travel to organize our honeymoon?
If you could only bring one unnecessary item on a trip, what would it be?
My French press.
What is one thing you never fly without?
Smartwool socks. Planes are freezing and I love Smartwool socks. Makes you feel all warm and cozy like slippers.
Tell us about your best day on a bicycle.
As part of a WorldServe fundraiser, I got to hike up and mountain bike down Mt. Kilimanjaro. The amazing people of Africa and 13,000 feet of downhill will change your life.
What and where was the best meal you’ve ever enjoyed?
Another hard one, you people ask tough questions. I’m a foodie and read lots of foodie blogs and magazines. I seek out hot new places in cities when traveling (which is a lot). My work takes me to Washington DC, regularly and my favorite is Little Serow. Two years ago it won a bunch of awards and it’s Thai and prix fixe. The chef brings out many dishes throughout the night which is always a great surprise. I love it when a meal is interesting, spicy, adventuresome and extraordinary.
Favorite hotel you’ve ever stayed in?
21C Museum Hotel in Bentonville, Arkansas. I am obsessed with modern art and design and you are surrounded by it in this creative, boutique hotel. That combined with world-class mountain bike trails right out the backdoor makes it pretty much my nirvana.
What is the best advice you’ve never followed?
Sleep more.
Outside of your family, who inspires you the most?
Mark McKinnon – I would love to be 1/10 as smart as Mark someday. His ability to listen, learn, interpret, strategize and communicate on any topic and issue is mind-blowing. And, his love for his amazing wife Annie. I want to be them when I grow up.
*Mark is a political advisor and Global Vice-Chairman of an international communications consultancy.
What is your personal motto or mantra?
“Be an agent for change.” That and … “Get s*&$ done.”
We talk about our bikes all the time. You hear us say how excellence comes standard on all of our trips, with our first class Trek Bikes included in the price. We brag about the Trek Domane 5.9 with Shimano Di2 Electronic Shifting. But for those of us who aren’t racers, who don’t spend free time reading gear reviews, and can’t understand the technical jargon, we find ourselves wondering what it all means.
So I’m here to break it down for you – to put into layman’s terms what makes the Trek Domane the best bike for you. It’s a top of the line road bike, but it is perfect for riders of all abilities. If you’re used to riding a hybrid, the switch to a Domane is nothing to lose sleep over. If you’re an experienced rider, the Domane will be something to write home about.
First, the Trek Domane is equipped with Di2 electronic shifting. While this may sound intimidating, Di2 stands for ‘Digital Integrated Intelligence’. The shifters will look the same as those on your road bike at home, but they will function better. Instead of having to move the lever to switch gears, the Di2 system allows you to change gears with simply the ‘click-of-a-mouse-button’. This makes it easier for people with small hands. It makes shifting effortless. It allows you to focus on enjoying the ride rather than worrying about gear malfunctions.
Secondly, the Trek Domane is an endurance fit road bike. You’ll hear shop guys and techies talk about the relaxed geometry and higher head tube. But to break it down, endurance fit simply means the Domane is a smoother ride. Rather than being stretched out and bent over, the Domane allows you to sit more upright if you wish. It is the perfect solution for long rides or multiple days in the saddle.
Lastly, the smooth ride provided by the Domane will keep you coming back for more. The Domane is equipped with an IsoSpeed decoupler. Never heard of a decoupler? Neither had I. It’s a fancy term that means the seat tube is isolated from the rest of the frame. What you really need to know is that it absorbs a lot of the road vibrations. Combined with padded handlebars, every road is instantly transformed into brand new blacktop.
Ultimately, if you’ve always wanted to try a road bike but are nervous about making the switch, this is the bike for you! Its tires are just as wide as the tires on our hybrid bike, so you don’t have to worry about stability. And I think we’ve established that its smoothness is unparalleled. Without sounding too cliché, riding the Trek Domane is as easy as riding a bike!
As for the racers who are reading this, the Domane is Roubaix-tested and race-ready. Fabian Cancellara rides the Domane and has been on the podium in his last 12 monuments. It has even been in yellow at that famous race in France during the month of July. I assure you this bike will make you feel like a champion.
And just in case you fall in love with riding this bike on one of our trips (after all, you wouldn’t be the first one), you will receive $300 off a 5 or 6 series Trek Domane or Madone, or Project One purchased at your local Trek retailer.
Julie Farrell does not consider herself a cycling enthusiast, but she has learned to embrace her ‘uncool’ cycling tendencies. By comparing bikes to designer shoes and cycling clothes to Audrey Hepburn’s fashion, Julie offers ten reasons why women should ride bikes…and we can’t help but to agree with her wholeheartedly.
Words by Julie Farrell
I recently came across some disappointing statistics on women and bicycling. It seems that the number of women considered non-enthusiasts declined by 13% from 2000 to 2010. That said, female enthusiasts, those who ride 110 days/year or more, are on the rise, increasing 8% during the same timeframe…while the same statistic for men showed an increase of 15%.
I suppose I fall in the non-enthusiast category – I ride about twice a week, sometimes more, sometimes less – but approaching enthusiast status. Those stats made me wonder though; why don’t more women ride bikes? So like a good egocentric woman, I thought about myself; why do I ride bikes?
Like millions of other American girls, I started riding bikes in my neighborhood. It was the standard mode of transportation for all the kids on our block. I had a sweet purple-flowered-banana-seat Schwinn, and Rich and Darren down the street rode green Stingrays. We clipped playing cards in the spokes with wooden clothespins to make us sound like motorcycles (or at least annoy the other neighbors), and tried to pop wheelies – I never managed one. I would pump desperately to get my speedometer up to 20 mph, particularly past the Blogg’s house, whose nasty little dog Boots had taken a bite out of my leg on one of my expeditions down our street. I remember furiously riding to the Circle K to restock our corner lemonade stand with candy that we were selling at a hefty mark-up.
Growing out of the one-speed era, we graduated to ten-speeds. Sarah and Rich scored the coveted Schwinn Varsity bikes. For some reason, my dad decided that a green ‘Tiger Cycle’ was a superior ride to the bright yellow Schwinn Varsity that I wanted so badly…I’m pretty sure the superiority lay in its price. It was not unlike the polo shirts my sisters and I received one Christmas that sported a pony sans polo rider (ala JC Penney). Stifling my pride, I slung my tennis racket in my backpack, and road summer after summer to tennis clinics on that green machine.
We dragged the green machine from my home state of Oregon down to UC Santa Barbara for college. Here I learned that not only was my ‘Tiger Cycle’ uncool, the whole genus of ten-speeds was uncool. As my mom and sister and I explored the campus, we gawked at all the bronzed surfer guys and gals coasting along on their groovy beach cruisers. Here, the more retro the bike, the hipper it was. Although the green machine got me safely home from many a late night at the library or a fraternity party, I was relieved when it was mercifully stolen from the sorority bike rack during freshman summer. I really did lock it up. My friends and I hit the garage sales that next fall, and I managed to find a vintage purple Schwinn one-speed with a basket in front…the very essence of California cool…I had arrived.
My experience with bikes thus far was similar to most girls I knew growing up. We all had bikes. So what changed? Why aren’t we all still riding bikes? I suppose those early bursts of two-wheeled freedom were overtaken by cars and life in general. We became old enough and finally had the means to own cars. They got us where we needed to go. There was no time to get there on a bike. You can’t commute 30 miles in LA traffic on a bike, nor arrive at work wet with perspiration.
Some of us became moms, some of us embarked on careers, and some of us did both. In my early 20’s, my boyfriend (now husband) and I bought mountain bikes and occasionally rode them on weekends. But for the most part, bikes were not a big part of my life, nor any of my friends’ lives. I squeezed in tennis, found squash, tried my hand at step classes (I wasn’t quite coordinated enough for Jazzercise, and besides, I loathed leg-warmers), and spent time on boring treadmills.
And then it happened. Shortly before I turned 40, we moved from Santa Barbara to the glorious Santa Ynez Valley. My new BFFs were tennis players, but they quickly introduced me to their other passion: cycling. Going downhill fast initially frightened me, particularly clipped-in to my pedals. My first real road bike had sticky gears (or possibly a crummy pilot), and I fell once or twice whilst performing an untimely and unsuccessful gear shift. The good news is I was only going about 5 mph, the bad news is it scared me and it hurt.
Two years ago my husband and sons bought me my dream road bike for Christmas. It’s a Trek Project One Domane. And guess what? It’s bright yellow. It has Ultegra Di2 electronic shifters, which means that even if you’re a knuckle-dragging buffoon, you can’t screw-up your shifting – it’s smooth as silk. To my sons’ horror, I’ve decided to ride it with paddle pedals…as in, I don’t clip in. Once again, I have positioned myself squarely in the uncool category, but this decision has thoroughly liberated me from any anxiety around being able to clip-out in time for a stop or other unexpected condition. Heaven. Riding my new Domane is like walking into a party decked out in Chanel with an Hermes handbag on my shoulder…it feels really, really good.
So why don’t more women ride? Perhaps it’s fear from not riding for so many years, or perhaps they’ve stigmatized it as some kind of hard-core super jock sport for the über coordinated. Whatever the inhibitions, I’d like to offer the reasons that women should ride bikes: 1. It’s Low Impact: At 49 I’ve had the joy of four knee surgeries all due to other sports. Cycling is actually good for my knees. 2. You Get To Be Outside: Many of my friends are into the Bar/Barre method or Bikram yoga. Good for them. Personally, as a card-carrying germaphobe with a strong sense of smell, I can’t imagine anything more unappealing than exercising in a hot room with people dripping with sweat reeking of acrid onion body odor. 3. It’s Social: Cycling allows for a variety of skill sets. You can ride, chat, and laugh with both family and friends. Ever get the giggles in a yoga class? Tsk, tsk. 4. You Can Solve Problems: Take off for an hour or two on your bike and you’ll find it to be some of the best contemplative time in your day…and it smells good too. 5. It’s High Fashion: One day you can sport the Audrey Hepburn look on a city bike replete with basket, and the next day you can harness your inner Catwoman in a sleek, all black road suit. 6. Great Shopping: Bikes are like Jack Rogers sandals; you want one in every color. From colorful retro bikes to sexy racing bikes to sporty mountain bikes, you’ll soon find yourself filling your garage the same way you do your closet. 7. Awesome Trips: What could be more romantic than a cycling trip from ancient winery to renaissance castle via the picturesque French countryside? The big bonus? No guilt devouring the baguettes, frommage, and red wine because you’ve already worked-out. Companies like Trek Travel are developing more and more cycling trips that cater to all levels of riders and budgets: from beginners to experts, and from luxury seekers to adventure mongers. 8. You Can Be A Role Model: I want my boys to see me as a contender, a participant, someone who is actively engaged in life. I want them to see that they can marry a partner, someone with whom they can have fun throughout their lives. 9. You Get Fit: After all, it is exercise. 10. It Makes You Feel Young Again: The other day I threw my tennis rackets in my backpack and rode my bike the two miles to the court. Bam! I was 13 years old again, only with a cool bike and no ugly perimeter perm. It felt great. There is something uniquely liberating about riding a bike. Feeling the wind in your face, the sun on your back, and the pavement speeding by below. There’s nothing quite like it. I’m convinced that feeling youthful inside is half the battle in this process we call aging…
Ever wanted to go on a cycling vacation but feared you’d be the slowest rider on the trip? Or maybe your travel partner is a much stronger rider than you and you’re worried about getting left behind.
At Trek Travel, we want to ease your fears. Rest assured that on a Trek Travel vacation you can choose your mileage. Part of our mission is to show people the world by bike, at their pace, every time, with unrivaled support and flexibility. Trek Travel trips are built for riders of all disciplines, fitness levels and skill sets. We understand that it is your day and your vacation, and we want you to decide how to spend it. Consequently, our trips are defined by flexibility.
We strive to accommodate the wishes of our guests, while also maintaining the integrity of the trip for the entire group. You can ride as much or as little as you’d like. You can ride at your own pace and stop for a coffee if you wish. You can opt out of any event or ask us to facilitate the addition of an event. Tell us what you’re comfortable doing, and we’ll make it happen. But how?
First, each day you will be provided with three different ride options. There is a featured ride, a short route, and an avid route. Our expert trip designers know the regions, and will never take you into uncharted territory or untested roads. Choose your preferred route in the morning based on how you’re feeling each day, but know that you can always hop in the van if your legs aren’t up to the task or add on extra miles if you’ve still got energy to burn.
Secondly, almost all trips will have two guides to support your rides. One guide will provide support from the van, and the second guide will provide support from the bike. We do our absolute best to ensure that the van driver sees every rider at least twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon. Furthermore, guides riding support are expected to “float” through the group, avoiding sticking with any single guest or group for the entire ride.
But how effectively do we provide the unrivaled support that we boast? It has been described as ‘magic’. Guests have said that every time they turned a corner, needed water, or wanted to take off their jacket, a guide was there. But we’ll let the testimonials speak for themselves:
“The guides were all exceptional, and did a great job of supporting all riders across the spectrum of ability. It was great to be able to enjoy some challenging rides and not have to think about logistics/mechanical issues/water etc. The level of support throughout the whole trip was truly excellent.” – Marta
“I felt the guides did a great job of juggling the demands of a varied group…my husband could enjoy the demands of the big days and hills while I could be shuttled over some passes yet still enjoy the stellar views on the coast. I was never made to feel I was a ‘bother’” – Nancy
“The trip design was excellent. There were several ride options each day, which allowed individuals to challenge themselves or take it easy and have a rest-day of sorts. I enjoyed the opportunity to climb some challenging “hills” and the support from the guides along the way made me confident that I could tackle any route option.” – Jonathan
Private
If a date is marked as Private, it is reserved for a private group.
Don’t see exactly what you are looking for or looking for a custom date? Call our trip consultants at 866-464-8735
What is the Difference?
Ultimate Luxury:
Savor some of the most spectacular, 5-star properties in the world. Exuding luxury and elegance, these one-of-a-kind accommodations offer the chance to rejuvenate at award-winning spas, dine at Michelin-starred restaurants, and more.
Luxury:
Enjoy luxurious accommodations handpicked for a refined experience. From signature spa treatments to delicious local cuisine, you’ll be more than provided for; you’ll be pampered.
Explorer:
These handpicked hotels provide relaxation and fun in a casual and comfortable environment. Delicious cuisine and great service mix perfectly for a memorable stay.
Combined:
On select cycling vacations, you’ll stay at a mix of Explorer and Luxury hotels. Rest assured, no matter which hotel level you’re at, our trip designers carefully select every accommodation.
Road: 1-3 hours of riding. Up to 25 mi (40 km). Up to 1,000 ft (300 m).
Gravel: 1-3 hours of riding. Up to 20 mi (35 km). Up to 1,000 ft (300 m).
Hiking: 1-3 hours of hiking. Up to 5 mi (8 km). Up to 1,000 ft (300 m).
Level 2:
Road: 2-4 hours of riding. 20-35 mi (35-60 km). Up to 2,500 ft (750 m).
Gravel: 2-4 hours of riding. 15-30 mi (25-45 km). Up to 2,000 ft (300 m).
Hiking: 2-4 hours of hiking. 4-8 mi (6-12 km). Up to 1,500 ft (450 m).
Level 3:
Road: 3-5 hours of riding. 25-55 mi (40-85 km). Up to 4,500 ft (1,500 m).
Gravel: 3-5 hours of riding. 20-40 mi (35-60 km). Up to 3,000 ft (900 m).
Hiking: 3-5 hours of hiking. 6-10 mi (9-16 km). Up to 2,000 ft (600 m).
Level 4:
Road: 4+ hours of riding. 40-70 mi (60-110 km). Up to 8,000 ft (2,400 m).
Gravel: 4+ hours of riding. 30-50 mi (45-80 km). Up to 4,000 ft (1,200 m).
Hiking: 4+ hours of hiking. 7-15 mi (11-24 km). Up to 4,000 ft (1,200 m).
What are your trip styles?
Classic - Reserve:
Savor the finer things as you relax in luxurious 5-star accommodations and wine, dine, and ride in some of the most unforgettable destinations around the world.
Classic - Signature:
Explore beautiful destinations by bike, enjoy extra inclusions, savor delicious local cuisine, and enjoy the perfect mix of accommodations.
Classic - Discover:
Enjoy a casual cycling vacation with fantastic routes and comfortable accommodations.
Ride Camp:
Train like the pros in some of their favorite riding destinations.
Pro Race:
See the pros in action at the biggest cycling events of the year.
Cross Country:
Tackle an epic adventure that takes you point-to-point across mountains, countryside, and more.
Self-Guided
Enjoy a bike tour on your schedule with just your chosen travel companions.
Sometimes it’s more convenient and comfortable to have your own room while on vacation. We understand and that’s why we offer a Single Occupancy option. The additional price guarantees a private room all to yourself
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Argentina – I just got married and we are planning to honeymoon there this fall. Can I just pay Trek Travel to organize our honeymoon?
