Bike+Holidays...

[agentgreen]

So here is a question i'd love to see answered...where is the best place ( NOT IN SOUTH AFRICA ) to take a holiday and do some biking? Yes, the global economy is *** and so in all probability most folks keep things on home soil, and with good reason, we do have brilliant terrain for biking in South Africa, but i'm curious as to where you all have gone and would like to go in the world to get in some great riding and do some travelling?

Edited April 8, 2011 by agentgreen

[kosmonooit]

Are you talking touring with panniers?

 

I have done Ireland and a little bit of France, had a amazing time. Village every 30 k's with coffee and in the case of Ireland, a Guinness & smoked salmon sandwich. Would love to do Spain & Italy. Go in summer, pack a tent and hope for good weather. Loads of back roads, can train it between the boring bits or places of interest, I go solo and just blow with the wind, it's a fantastic way to travel. But there are lots of organised options out there, like in Italy and Vietnam.

 

Currently planing a Philippines trip, where I can combine some scuba action as well.

[ccc2]

Southern East & South France , i stayed in Marseille and Montabaun (40 kms outside Toulouse). most of the roads are in good condition with dotted lanes for cycling in/on. plenty of small villages to replenish and rest. it can get very hot in summer.

[Palaeodom]

Are you a roadie or mountain man? I would recommend NZ for both. The roads are small but you can literally pack a little tent and just camp on the side of the road, or on some oak's field. For mountain biking too, rotorua right in the middle of the north island is insane with more single track and DH than you could ride in weeks.

I spent a 6 weeks in mountain bike parks on the north island and it was great...if you're used to tokai then its very similar just mover a much bigger area...and for those people who don't like to pedal too much there is a really cheap shuttle with an enormous bike trailer that goes straight to the top through the day.

Edited April 9, 2011 by Palaeodom

[Klaus]

Anywhere in Western Europe is great after March/April

 

You do anything there - wine routes, mountains, beach resort towns etc.

 

I'd say a must ride is Verdon Canyon in South of France (stay in Castellane) Really beautiful place. Just up from Nice (where a lot of the pros like to train)

 

I want to ride the big sur in california soon. Runs along the coast between Monterey to LA. Drove down it a few months back, beautiful and packed with cyclists. Wanted to dump the car and get a bike ! Next time

[Yellow Zebra]

roadie or mtb?

 

The Karakoram Highway (part of the Silk Route) is a cycle-tourer's 'rite of passage', cycling from Pakistan Highlands to far western China in 3 weeks (one way), then take a jeep back. Snow-capped mountains in summer, worlds highest paved road, and swiss-style choclate box views, just remember to change from LEFT of road to RIGHT of road a the border!!!...tick!

 

Or else cycle accross Norway, (3 weeks) up the Lafoten Islands (where it feels like time stood still), and up to Nord-Cap, to see the Midnite Sun (it does not set, just 'brushes' the horizon), remember to take your SAA 'eyepatch' with to keep out the sun at 3am!..... tick!

 

Or around Ireland, starting in Cork, then around the bottom part, then Dingle Peninsula and around the famous Ring of Kerry, with a pub lunch and a pint of Guiness EVERY lunchtime, and great Irish hospitality....tick!

 

Leh-Manali?

Brisbane to Cairns (tick)

Vietnam/Cambodia

 

 

tick!

[GuyP]

Quebec, like France, but somehow it's a more intense version

[Klaus]

If you only looking for a short time then the Isle of Man is also an awesome place to ride. You can follow the TT route for a good tour of the island or stick with the coast road from Douglas through Laxey and then around the other side down to peel then calf of Man

 

Point of Ayre is a must see, really puts things in perspective and there is an awesome route with switch backs and forests that cuts south of Snaefell. Awesome road ride !

 

For Mountain bike follow the abandoned railway line from Douglas to Peel and then pop down the Glen Maye for some forest fun and a great pub lunch at the local. Very festive in summer.

 

The end-to-end MTB race is also quite something, takes you from top of the Island to the bottom pretty much as the crow flies. Only +-75Km race but there is lots of portages, farm walls to scale, big climbs and serious mud. Can't remember my time but I was very happy to see the end. They say it takes the average rider around 5 hours to complete End to End

[cat-i]

lhasa to kathmandu. total budget last year (incl flights) was less than cape epic would have been - and it included a flight from kathmandu to lhasa over everest

(organised tour; easier to get alein permits & access to tibet)

 

or fly to london, take a train through wales to holyhead, ferry over to dublin (or fly directly to dublin) then cycle around ireland. if you have time, take a ferry from belfast over to ... stranraer i think? then train or cycle up to fort william. if you still have mnore time, cycle the great glen way. if there's still more time, down to newcastle, and a ferry over to holland where you could continue or come back later (panniers)

 

or fly up to amsterdam and cycle down to paris. (panniers)

Edited April 9, 2011 by cat-i

[cat-i]

oh, and still on the list:

 

- paris to marrakesh, some of it on the el camino if possible

- iceland

- canada

Edited April 9, 2011 by cat-i

[cat-i]

does lesotho count as 'not south africa'?

cos the trans-lesotho trail has some great potential. the thin air challenge is also coming up, dont know if they still have space ... then there's swaziland, some good MTB there too.

[agentgreen]

WOW...great to see so many replies...keep them coming with cool routes and places to go...

Road or mtb?

To answer that question...EVERYTHING! got a road bike back home in S.A. (it is chilling out with my XC bike) and currently have my 26" DRD street trials (for cities) and Corsair Crown DH rig with me...If I want to do any cross country stlye cardio training I just take one of the bikes at work (working as a guide in the Peruvian Andes) for a whirl...

 

The main reason I had asked this question is because I was doing a search the other night for trails in South America and literally nothing came up (apart from GravityBolivia, the sister company of the company I work for who have web domination-but really only take gap year kids and backpackers down the "camino de la muerte" (worlds most dangerous road, as seen on bbc's Top Gear)

I have done some time in La Paz with them and feel sorry for their guides, as they work hard but pretty much exclusivley do this route, which is a bit of a yawn to be honest...

Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador have some of the most spectacular riding avalable, not just the scenery, but the trails also are beyond belief...not quite like bike parks of North America, which are lush, well maintained and silky smooth, Or the Perfection of Switzerland these trails are rugged and challenging and just mind blowing (did a 20km DOWNHILL this morning from the base of the glacier on Mt Veronica, through the middle of a recently discovered incan terrace, down into the sacred valley, for example-which is a almost daily ride for me now) and if I had my road bike with me (would prefer a cyclo cross bike for Peru though) I'd be able to do the 58km climb up to the same pass....any kind of riding you can think of is here, and yet the rest of the world just want's to do Europe or Bike parks?

 

I guess it just strikes me as rather odd, that people complain about the recession, the global economy and all that but one of the most economical biking holiday's you could do (without a doubt WAY cheaper than Europe or North America) is a literal unknown!!!

 

Like I said, I'm not on a soapbox here, really just curious as to where you all like to go and why...

 

Oh, yeah, AND Lesotho does not count as S.A. and is a damm fine place to ride!!! (wish I could be there for that one!)

[covie]

Are you talking touring with panniers?

 

I have done Ireland and a little bit of France, had a amazing time. Village every 30 k's with coffee and in the case of Ireland, a Guinness & smoked salmon sandwich. Would love to do Spain & Italy. Go in summer, pack a tent and hope for good weather. Loads of back roads, can train it between the boring bits or places of interest, I go solo and just blow with the wind, it's a fantastic way to travel. But there are lots of organised options out there, like in Italy and Vietnam.

 

Currently planing a Philippines trip, where I can combine some scuba action as well.

 

Summertime in europe go do the Alps mate they turn the ski slopes into downhill/mtb tracks. Lift right to the top and zoooooooom all the way down. Wales also have some pretty fantastic trails

[GLuvsMtb]

http://www.mountainbikingspain.com/

[cat-i]

awwwww NO ... agentgreen see what you did now .... another 20 destinations added to my bucketlist, when will i have time to tick all of THIS off?

 

nice thread

[besso]

Allistair Humphreys, who cycled around the world in 4 years and through 60 countries had this to say about his favourites.

 

 

Favourite city?

 

Cape Town, San Francisco, Istanbul

 

Favourite country?

 

An almost impossible question as everywhere had fascinations. Out of the 60 countries I visited though I can narrow down to South Africa, Sudan, Russia, Colombia, America, Georgia

 

Favourite bike rides for people wanting a cycling holiday?

 

Lots of Europe was gorgeous, notably the Danube River, the Garden Route of South Africa, the Carreterra Austral in southern Chile, the coast of California, Kyrgyzstan and the Yorkshire Dales!