Cycling vacations
 

Hey guys just wondering if any of you guys have gone overseas to ride your bikes. I recently got back from my third trip from riding in Colombia, I have family down there which provides a good excuse to go. it is a very good place to ride. The roads are excellent and there are always other cyclists on the road. Other riders like Santiago Botero and Maria Luisa Calle train in the same region that I ride in and it is cool to see them riding. If anyone else takes their passion for riding along on their vacations i would love to hear about it.

I am going to have a bike tour as part of my honeymoon in Alaska. We are renting mountain bikes and riding through parts of Denali National Park. I thought about shipping my bike but it wasn't worth the risk...

Going to Cumberland Island, GA soon. Not that far from where im at. Not really a major vacation or anything for us but should be fun.
No cars allowed on the island. Bikes only. :)

French Alps baby! Went to see the tour the france the last 2 years. Did all the big climbs over there. It's just great. The Italian alps and dolomites are great too. The mount Stelvio is worth to cross the atlantic ocean for. I'm lucky i'm living in europe. 27 kilometres of torture!

But not as great as the Col d'Iseran. A 50 km climb with the greatest scenery ever. I'm lucky my girlfriend is into cycling too. She whipped my ass last year... Small people and mountains are just not a fair combination!

are there paved roads? i used to live near an island like that in sc. you could only get to it by boat. it was a pretty cool feeling going to the beach every weekend and not having to see another person. the trails through the island would suck though. you'd get eaten by massive mutant redneck bugs.

I heard they were paved but i havent been there. Not too many bugs right now. Soon, itll be hell though.

I'm hoping to get to Cuba for some riding one of these days. The owners of an LBS go every year for a month and absolutely love it. I would also love to ride/watch some Tour stages. I hear they throw vials of EPO and HGH to the crowds as souvenirs...

i've been thinking of just kind of becoming a transient and traveling across the country by bike with just a few pairs of clothes and some money and just kind of bumming it for awhile.

I guess not so much a vacation as me become homeless, but i guess it's close.

You wanna talk overseas Bike & Vacation? You gotta have the Netherlands on your agenda. They have the most comprehensive cycling network in the world, the tourism infrastructure (http://www.vvv.nl/fietsen.aspx?acctype=fiets) and the social culture to go with it.

The Dutch have an equivalent to the AAA/CAA, the ANWB and they have a cycling division which provides bike route maps and bike guide books:
(http://www.anwb.nl/published/anwbcms...e.sigs.fietsen).

Much of the tourism material, however, is in Dutch. I learned enough using an Assimil method to be able to navigate through most of the litterature and get around the country with not too much trouble.

Cheers,
Ron

I've biked on two vacations, neither was a vacation for the purpose of biking. When I was at a friend's wedding on Mackinac Island, MI I rented a bike to get around because there are no cars on the island (similar to Cumberland Island in GA), and when I was in Japan I rented a bike to get around Kyoto.

I stole a bike while I was in ireland. that was pretty cool
http://stupidhurts.org/gallery/album...d/IMGP2780.jpg

My next vacation is in May, and I am going to do a 4 day self supported bike tour of the outer banks of NC. Last year I went to Belize, rented a bike for the week and rode everyday. It was a coaster brake cruiser on an island with no cars or paved roads, tho'. Longest was a 3month tour of Europe in '97.

mmm outer banks. bring a board.

I was in Napa CA last November. I shipped my bike to the hotel and then shipped it back home from a Fedex store. I could have rented but I saved money and had my own bike.

I loved Napa. The valley is totally flat and very easy riding. The whole area is very bike friendly. You can can also go do some serious climbing if you want. Being drunk the whole time doesn't hurt either!

At the Grand Hotel? That place is really really nice. Good riding too, about a 5 mile circle around the island that's a fun ride. Assuming you don't mind dodging the horse **** that is all over the place.

Yeah, the wedding was at the Grand Hotel. I stayed at some cottage a mile or so away to save some cash, though. Everything on the island was overpriced, though. The horse **** and all the flies were pretty annoying, but at least the ride was nice.

Take an MTB, not very friendly to that track bike you ride around the SAV.

I'm about 2 weeks into a 3 month cycling vacation in Amsterdam. Having an amazing time of it. Everyone here rides 50 lb. cruisers. I pass them like they're standing still. My quads are about twice as big as they were when I left home.

noice dewd. quads r hawt.

Now I'm jealous!!! Lucky you! Looks like your enjoying the experience.

If you go ride out of Amsterdam on weekends, you'll run into a little bit more competition, or company. Many Dutch put their cruisers away in the shed come the weekend and pull out their road machines.

Cheers,
Ron

beautiful!

Talkeetna's a real friendly town.

I actually got a taste of this today. Riding from Utrecht back home to Amsterdam I was put to shame by an old man that looked like he couldn't have been less than 70. His bike couldn't have been much younger.

On sunday mornings at 11 o'clock there's always a group of students riding on their roadbikes from 'Het Kalfje', a cafe a bit out of town next to the 'Amstel' river.

My girlfriend lives in Amsterdam but she's over at my place the next couple of weekends. If i'm in Amsterdam i'll let you know, maybe we can do a nice ride! Have you got a fixed or geared bike with you?

i'm gonna shoot to hit both NACCC and CMWC this summer. i already live in chicago so that's not much of a vacation but i will be draggin' my wheels to toronto for the second event.

Awesome, I'll have to check that group ride out.

I do have my fixed gear with me, and I'm also poking my head into every little bike shop hoping to find a good deal on a nice, old, steel road bike.

If you are around, and would like to ride, please do get in touch!

i love the outer banks. ocracoke is beautiful and less crowded (last time i went), but hatteras is usually where it's at for surfing.

A trip we've done a couple times is the Way to St. James which has a number of routes that all end in N/W Spain. Some cool features are that you can alternate between paved and dirt roads. Also one route in particular that winds through northern Spain is set up with "pilgrim" lodging or "albergues" for hikers and cyclists alike every 20 km or so. It costs next to nothing to stay in one and the landscape goes without saying. All told it takes about 2 weeks to do it if you start in southern France.