When the weather is mild, during your holidays or for a break in a business trip, why not make a bike tour to discover the area and do some sightseeing.
Cycling city tours
Bicycle city tours tend to be more and more popular in many big cities for sightseeing. The company in charge usually let bikes to a group of people who get to visit a city or an area of a city with a guide who leads the group in predefined routes. These have many advantages:
- You can go faster from one place to another- which is very convenient in big towns because you can cover a wider area-.
- you can meet new people from all over the world during this tour and practice your English,
- you will make some exercise and feel better at the end of the day: cycling reduces stress and helps manage anxiety.
- there is no need to be a trained cyclist to engage in this kind of tours, most of the time, anyone who can ride a bike can do it. But personnaly I would ask before booking a bike tour if it involves a lot of climbing, because I am not very keen of big slopes, unless electric bikes are available.
- you usually don’t have to bring any special cycling equipment, the tour company generally include the gear in the tour fare. However, it would be recommended to bring at least your own bottle of water and a back-pack to carry whatever may be useful.
As far as I am concerned, the main disadvantage of this type of activity is the trafic. Indeed, riding a bike in a big city implies a lot of noise- which can make interactions difficult-, it can be unsafe -cyclists are very vulnerable compared to car drivers-, and the air you breathe can be polluted.
If you want to read more in English about the advantages of Cycling city tours: https://thetravelhack.com/travel-tips/cycling-city-tours-why-a-bike-tour-is-the-best-way-to-see-a-city/
Planning bike touring or backpacking?
Unlike a bike city tour, bike touring usually involves a lot of planning and preparation. In most cases, bike city tour will take up to from 2 hours to the whole day while if you go on bike touring you may decide to go for several days or even several weeks, and this will require a lot of preparation such as:
- planning the route: this is definitly the core of the trip.: the roads will need to be safe, interesting… and matching your cycling abilities…
- arranging accomodation according to the scheduled stops. Don’t be too optimistic, if this is your first bike touring, you need to make sure you will be able to reach your room for the night.
- the distance you will be able to cover in one day will be a vital criteria for your organization. Many features will have to be taken into account: the weather, the tracks, every participant abilities, resupplying and unexpected problems (technical, personal …). Be realistic.
- what to bring: so many things ! Cycling gears, also including maintenance equipment is vital in this kind of expedition. But also, don’t forget plenty of water, sun cream, hats or caps… and so much more. The weight of your bags will be to taken into account in your performance calculation. The heavy weight will definitly slow you down.
Some examples of Bike touring accross Europe: https://www.freedomtreks.co.uk/blog/the-best-cycling-tours-in-europe
Regarding bike backpacking or bike packing, the preparation and planning will be even more important as in this kind of trip, you sleep in the wild or at least outside. Therefore you will need to plan everything mentionned above – except room reservations- and bring sleeping gears such as a tent, sleeping bags and check where you will be able or allowed to sleep. Obviously the weather will be even more important and affect your trip.
In this kind of travelling trip, your route will be of a different and consist of less roads and more tracks surrounded by nature.