Category Archives: Great Rides

Wonder what destinations are on our radar for spring? We’ve got a few we’ve been dreaming about from the comfort of our hot chocolate and onesie pajamas. Soon, when the seasons start to change and winter’s grip is loosened with the first warm breeze, we’re breaking free of our hibernation with these three trips that bring nothing but warmth, sunshine, delicious food and good times.

1. Palm Springs

 

2. Ride Across Italy

 

3. Prague to Vienna

 

Discover why so many professional cyclists make Girona, Spain their home away from home. In less than 15 minutes you can escape the charming city’s cobblestone streets and find undulating country roads, testing climbs, technical descents of the Pyrenees, and winding roads that hug the shores of the Costa Brava. Year-round sunshine, a rich history pair, and delicious Catalan cuisine have put the region on the radar of non-pros. Trek Travel runs trips for cyclists who want to take in the sights at a leisurely pace as well as those who want to train like a pro.

At Tucson’s northeast corner, Mount Lemmon is a dream ride for many serious road cyclists and has long been a training destination for Tour de France racers who need sustained two- to four-hour climbs at a 5 to 6 percent grade. A winding, 20-mile road rises 5,500 feet from the rocky cactus desert to a University of Arizona astronomical observatory surrounded by ponderosa pines. The reward for conquering that grind is a gripping 30-minute descent.

Perhaps an even better road ride is the 10-mile rollercoaster of a loop through Saguaro National Park East. The road is one-way for cars, meaning riders can focus on the sharp, curving descents rather than oncoming traffic. Also notable among dozens of other world-class rides in the area is the rolling, 40-mile out-and-back route to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, which stretches up and over Gates Pass and features extensive views of the city. Trek Travel offers a five-day Tucson Ride Camp (from $1,299) that explores a handful of the region’s best road routes and culminates in an ascent of Mount Lemmon.

Read the full article on AFAR.com»

Like the hum of cicadas on a coffee farm at dusk, the buzz around Colombia has become almost deafening. Beat the crowds and hit the ground rolling on two wheels in this increasingly popular destination with luxury operator Trek Travel’s new six-day Colombia Bike Tour.

Calling the country “South American cycling heaven,” Trek takes riders through the Andes Mountains, the Cocora Valley, and the coffee region, tackling the kinds of long climbs that the pros train on, winding down quiet byways, breaking for day hikes, then perking up with coffee tastings. (Psst! You don’t have to bike to join. This trip welcomes non-riding friends and family of biking enthusiasts.) Scheduled departures leave in March and April, making this a great spring escape, but specialization is the name of the game with Trek: Contact them to arrange a trip on other dates. —From $3,899 per person, based on double occupancy, for six days.

Read the full article on Afar.com»

If you’ve imagined yourself spending your days riding across the countryside, tackling pro-worthy climbs and banking the miles you need to get stronger. If you measure your free time in epic climbs and KOMs then Ride Camp is calling your name.

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“Ride Camp gives guests the opportunity to experience incredible and challenging training rides in world-class cycling locations with like-minded cyclists. Get off the trainer and onto amazing routes in beautiful locations!“

These trips combine days of hiking, biking and other sports, featuring detailed all-inclusive itineraries with first rate lodging, special local experiences like museum and winery tours, and they are fully guided and supported – your luggage is moved for you, routes are meticulously planned, and guides accompany the group (or your private party, as all these companies offer a bespoke option).

They go all over the world, from Africa to the Arctic, Southeast Asia to the American Southwest. Trek Travel has a fascinating Cuba “People to People” cultural immersion trip that melds cycling, hiking and even snorkeling in the famed Bay of Pigs.

Read the full article on Forbes.com»

One of the best jokes I’ve heard in a while is, “How do you know someone is a triathlete?” “They’ll tell you within the first five minutes of meeting them.” Fulfilling that stereotype in this post–I have been competing in one or two sprint races a year for the last four years, and I love them. Prior to starting with Trek Travel, most of the riding I had done was relatively flat and easy to train for the relatively flat and easy 15-mile rides nestled lovingly between a quarter mile swim and a 5k.

 
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Type A Workouts: Most of the trips offered by top companies have options that can include daily routes up to 70 miles and some serious climbing, but a subset of more advanced recreational riders may find these trips not challenging enough. If you are training-oriented or your focus is more on the intensity of cycling than food, wine or museums, Trek Travel, a now independent spinoff of Wisconsin-based Trek Bicycles, has the answer.

While Trek Travel has the same full slate of more laid-back luxury trips to France, Italy and the like, that its peers do, it also offers unique 5 and 7-day Ride Camps, essentially training camps, where you are based in one spot, eat healthier food, and ride a lot. I previously wrote about one in Boulder hosted by thirteen-time Cyclocross World Cup Champion and the sole American female to ever take the title, Katie Compton (read it here), but these fitness focused camps are offered in several locations throughout the year, all of them road cycling hotspots: Solvang, CA; Greenville, SC; Tucson, AZ; and Mallorca and Girona, Spain.

Read the full article on Forbes.com»

We all love a good shred sesh, but what if you’ve never hit the trail on a mountain bike? Hear from Michael Flieg, a second-year guide, lifetime dirt lover and co-founder of St. Louis Mountain Bike Camps on his top tips for learning how to ditch the skinny tires and take the road less traveled.

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As the first woman to ride her bicycle around the world, Annie “Londonderry” Kopchovsky challenged world views on women in cycling and paved the way for many greats to take to two wheels after her.

In 1894, Annie was like most 19th century women, a 23-year-old mother of three, a dutiful housewife and not necessarily a cyclist or an outspoken advocate for women’s rights. But when a pair of strangers bet that a woman couldn’t possibly ride the globe on a bicycle in fifteen months, she decided to take on the challenge.

She left her home and family in Boston and began her journey in full skirts with a 42-pound bike dead set on proving that women were not only strong, physically and mentally, but that they could provide for themselves. To finance her journey she took on sponsorships–carrying advertisements on her clothing and bicycle, and even changing her name to “Londonderry” as promotion for the Londonderry Lithia Spring Water company.

As her route wore on through Europe, North Africa, Asia and the South Pacific, she acquired a lighter bike (20lbs lighter) and evolved her wardrobe from traditional women’s clothing to a men’s riding outfit. She, admittedly, loaded up her bike aboard a few steamships and trains at key points in the journey, but despite that still crushed her way through thousands of miles of rough terrain, camping outside and fending for herself every step of the way.

Eventually she made her way back to the states by way of San Francisco and returned to Boston 15 months to the day after she departed. According to Peter Zheutlin, author of Around the World on Two Wheels, “What Annie accomplished with her bicycle in 1894-95 was a tour de force of moxie, self-promotion and athleticism. Though she was a skilled raconteur and gifted self-promoter with a penchant for embellishment and tall tales, she was also, as the evidence shows, an accomplished cyclist who covered thousands of miles by bicycle during her journey.”

Upon her return, Kopchovsky went on to become a popular and vocal advocate for both cycling and women’s rights. Speaking around the country about her adventure and throwing in some fantastical tall tales along the way.

The New York World remarked in 1895 that her trip was “the most extraordinary journey ever undertaken by a woman,” and we can be sure that what started as a bet became an immeasurable impact on the attitudes about women and an inspiration to women of that time and today.