bike trips

A Painting in Prague

Posted on October 9, 2012 - 9:00 am by keith_ritter

When my husband and I were planning our fifth Trek Travel vacation, we knew exactly where to go to celebrate this milestone. So together with our 23 year old daughter and my 78 year old father-in-law, we signed up for the Prague to Vienna vacation.

This trip was especially meaningful for us because my family has a historical connection to the great Czech painter Alphonse Mucha. My great grandfather was a diplomat and art patron who helped introduce Mucha to America, and commissioned him to paint a portrait of my grandmother which now hangs in the National Gallery in Prague. Of course it was a priority for us to see the painting, so we arranged to arrive in Prague two days before the start of our Trek Travel trip.

The colorful Czech village on the Trek Travel's Prague to Vienna bike tour.

This is when Trek Travel went the extra mile.

We contacted the trip designer to see if she could help us make the most out of our time in Prague. She put us in touch with a local tour guide who became our resource for all things Czech. Not only did he get us into the National Gallery, and made sure we would be able to photograph the portrait of my grandmother, but he also knew the Mucha family and was able to arrange a visit with Mucha’s daughter-in-law. She graciously gave us a tour of her family home, which was full of original artworks, and talked to us about Mucha’s life and work. This was an amazing experience we never would have found on our own!

The rest of the trip was equally grand, with beautiful scenery, great bicycling, fabulous food, wine and beer, and lots of quality family time. The chance to see the Czech Republic as it emerged from behind the Iron Curtain, and to hear about that transition from locals, was quite amazing. The guides were adept at dealing with changing circumstances, from finding a fabulous restaurant with a private room for lunch when rain would have made picnicking difficult, to arranging for travel by riverboat on the Danube when the weather was a bit wet for a few of us “fair weather” riders. Especially for my father-in-law, who does not ride a bike, this cruise became his favorite part of the trip!

For myself and my family, it was these experiences not on the itinerary that became the highlights of our trip. We still reminisce about that serendipitous meeting and unexpected wow’s many years later.

– Peggy Timmerman

Longing for a little Tour excitement

Posted on July 7, 2012 - 10:00 am by keith_ritter

The past couple of years have been different for me with regards to the Tour de France. I am watching this exciting race from the comforts of my own home. I can pause it, rewind, slow down the spectacular crashes, and fast forward to the bunch sprint at the end. It is undeniable awesome! Not to mention I have endless coffee and can multitask and get some work done during the 200km plus stages. Really, can it get much better?

Well…I think so. See I have been a guide for Trek Travel for the past 6ish years and recently became our full time marketing manager, so I don’t get out guiding much anymore. I have guided the Tour 3 times over the years and loved it every time. But it’s insane, from a guide perspective.

Let me explain a little about the 3 weeks at the Tour from a guide perspective. Bump the hours worked any given day to about 15 or so. Make sure you have your headlamp to work on bikes each night after all the guests have gone to sleep after our Michelin starred meal and exquisite wine tasting. And just hope it hasn’t rained that day because then your doing a hefty amount of cleaning as well;) Now right about midnight or so when you are about to wash your hands of the grease, your logistics team calls your cell and says the road you were planning on riding with the group the next morning at 10am, is now closing at 7 am. Time to wake up every guest with a phone call and explain we have to catch our shuttle to the ride start at 6am and breakfast will be at 5am. Then call the shuttle company, the breakfast staff, and check out that night. Perfect, now go to bed at 1am, and wake up at 4am so you can get the bikes loaded up. You get the idea. That’s a pretty normal experience at the Tour. Probably have at least one of these days each week of the race.

The funny thing about all the stress a guide faces is it’s addicting. We get to ride epic mountain stages in some of the most stunning mountains in the world. We get to have dinner with our guests and have Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwen stop and say hi. We get to drive our vans up Galiber while the Etape du Tour is cycling on all around us. We get to visit incredibly old Chateaux’s that I now watch helicopters fly by on TV. And of course we get to experience the indescribable feeling of watching 200 professional cyclists pedal past at over 30 miles per hour, with thousands of hungry cycling fans from all over the world. It’s something I just can’t replicate from the confines of my home. It gives me a little pang of sadness when I see the craziness now from my screen. But it also gives me motivation to get back there, to feel the stress that we might not get our guests to the top of a mountain pass, even though I’m sure we will figure it out in the end. I can’t wait to share the streets with my fellow cycling crazed fans.

So enjoy the Tour on TV this year. But if you can, find a way to go there in person and see it for your own eyes. You won’t regret it.

The Birth of the Ride Camp

Posted on January 27, 2011 - 8:01 am by keith_ritter

A few years ago I was heading out for a ride and ran into my neighbor. He asked if Trek Travel had trips in Mallorca (we did not at that time) and went on to rave about his own trip to Mallorca that he did earlier that spring with his local cycling team. They rode for 6 days to build their early season base miles in what sounded like ideal terrain and a climate that was significantly better than Madison, Wisconsin! He suggested Trek Travel do a trip there and after his glowing review of the area I was convinced.

In 2009 we added a Classic Climbs of Mallorca and a Luxury Mallorca trip to the roster. Similar to my neighbor, the guests give glowing reviews. The more I thought about the conversation I had with my neighbor the more I realized that we needed a trip that focused even more on the riding. A trip that, like my neighbor mentioned, focused on building base miles, and one that was also at a price point that was affordable for even young teams. I knew Mallorca was known as Europe’s biking destination but did not realize how many people go there to train. It is a cyclist’s paradise! You can go during the winter, have great weather and awesome riding in a beautiful place. I looked at a bunch of companies that offer a wide variety of trips and thought we can do this better. A lot of the companies offer trips at a low price but don’t include the use of a bike and have a lot of additional costs once you are on the trip. Most importantly, they don’t have the customer service for which TT is known. Mallorca was an obvious choice in Europe.

I know a lot of people in the U.S. who would love to go on a trip like this but heading across the pond is not an option. We need to have a place like this in the U.S.! Solvang jumped to the top of the list. This is the place American pros like to go in early spring to get in some miles and big climbs. The riding is spectacular and the weather is perfect for training from late winter into late spring. Even the Amgen Tour of California has held the Individual Time Trial in Solvang 3 times and is featuring Solvang again in 2011. Solvang was the winner.

I am really excited about our new Ride Camps, they give a big group of cyclists exactly what they are looking for—great riding in an awesome place without the hassles of planning on your own. I think the best two things about our trips are the free use of a Trek 5.2 Madone and the fact that like all of our trips, Trek Travel takes care of all of the details so all you have to do is ride!

One of the sweet roads in Mallorca!

Tag: bike trips

A Painting in Prague

Longing for a little Tour excitement

The Birth of the Ride Camp

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