I like biking. My husband LOVES biking. He does Century Rides and I sign up for the 15 mile shortened version, get lost and do 36 miles instead. That’s how I ride! He mountain bikes across the state of Florida from East Coast to West Coast non-stop and I am the “domestique” …in a car.
Last year, we did a biking and hiking tour of Yosemite National Park through a great company called “BackRoads”. This was our second experience with them and they did not disappoint. Varying length bike rides and hikes were offered and the support team for all these activities were knowledgeable, helpful and talented. The food and snacks were fresh, healthy and plentiful based on each guest’s preference. They even offer different levels of sleeping arrangements from casual to more upscale. Great company, especially if you want to be spoiled on your active adventure vacation.
One thing that we always try to do when we are visiting a new city is to see if we can rent bikes somewhere. Our most recent adventure has been a cruise through the inner passages of Alaska. We usually try and plan our trips so we can squeeze in some additional recreational activities on actual travel days. So we arrived a day early in Vancouver and biked the world famous Stanley Park. At one of the cruise ports, instead of doing an escorted excursion. We rented bikes in Juneau on our own and biked from downtown Juneau to the Medenhall Glacier. Super fun. Renting a bike even for an hour or two is one of the greatest ways to get an experience that you can’t get on a tour bus or driving around. *Note- most bike places will even rent you a bike rack so you can put it on your rental car. Usually we were given a decent Trek bike.
We did the same thing when we went to Yosemite. We arrived in San Francisco a day early. This gave us ample time to explore the city on foot and rent bikes at the Fisherman’s Wharf so that we could ride over the Golden Gate Bridge. We have gone several times to Utah to visit Bryce National Park, Zion National Park and Kolob National park. We not only hiked our butts off, we also rented bikes so we could experience the town of St. George and the awesome bike paths near our lodging at Red Mountain Spa. (This is a very enjoyable place to stay with awesome food, and lots of recreational amenities that included complimentary bikes.)
I mentioned earlier our different levels of endurance, competence and desire (when it comes to biking). We address these differences in three ways. The first is called the “Destination Ride”- If Keith thinks I won’t get lost, he rides on ahead at his own pace and I putter behind at mine. When he reaches the destination, he comes back to wherever I am and rides at my speed the rest of the way with me. I personally like being able to ride at my pace and take in the sights. The second way, I call the “Time Frame”. We agree to meet back at a certain spot in an agreed amount of time. This is great for when we do single track mountain biking or we are biking in big parks. I know this isn’t a style that works for everyone but both of us like a little bit of free roaming time without boundaries on our bikes. Lastly, “the old school way” we ride together, always fun and usually combined with the “time frame” approach.
We would love to hear about your biking adventures and how you do them on your vacations. Bike on!
