No cars, no buses, no lorries – Caye Caulker, Belize is a utopia for bicycles. A vision of a world where people get around on foot, by bike or electric golf carts.

The end result is one of the most charming, laid back destinations in all of the Americas. Couple this with endless sunshine, some of the world’s best diving sites and delicious food – it’s amazing travellers can ever drag themselves any further away than the coral reefs that hug the island. 

Cycling the entire length takes 15 minutes. At the far end, you can see the island of San Pedro. Despite being just a short boat ride away, the two islands are a world apart. 

“Don’t go to San Pedro” you’ll commonly hear fellow travellers warn. What is it that can be so different about two islands that, on the surface, seem so similar?

On a diving tour, I found out. 

Where Caye Caulker is peaceful, laid back and inviting. San Pedro is an overwhelming blast to the senses. The charm of the island has faded behind noisy, busy and congested streets. Its slightly larger size has brought about development and along with it, cars and motorbikes.

It can be argued that this is the cost of progress, but the stark contrasts show the clear differences between two visions for our towns and cities.

Walking around Caye Caulker, you see cyclists of all ages. There are dads cradling their kids in one arm and controlling their bikes with the other. There are children riding with their friends sitting on the handlebars. There are people with a box tucked under their arm. Old, young, fit, overweight. The only thing you don’t see is lycra. Cycling here is a completely normal activity. 

The bikes themselves are mountain bikes and cruisers. The cruisers in particular fit in nicely with the style of the island. When you see a cyclist pull up to a shop, they’ll just drop their bike outside. On the odd occasion you spot a locked bike, it will be secured with a flimsy lock. 

The island has a couple of bike repair shacks which are always busy. For tourists there are many places where you can rent a bike. However, I never felt the need to. There was nowhere I had to be, so I took my time to walk around the island.

Half way through my stay, my laptop decided to break. In Belize, it’s not as easy as in London to head down the shop to buy a new laptop or get it repaired. I asked the hotel owner whether I could send it back to the UK. She told me it would never leave Belize! Just as there are advantages to tiny Caribbean islands, there are difficulties. Spending a couple of hours in a hammock however, will generally help you forget them. 

Keeping Caye Caulker car-free I’m sure is partly a result of conservation efforts and also a necessity due to the tiny size of the island. The locals and the government are well aware of the importance of preserving the island and the marine life surrounding it. I don’t believe anyone here would welcome cars on to the island. 

In London we’ve long accepted cars in our city. We’ve come to expect it to be scary at times, we’ve come to expect noise and pollution and not being able to send children out on a bike ride without a fear of traffic. 

London is certainly no Caye Caulker, but it’s a shining example of how a small community can exist without cars and how great a place that can be to live. 

The post Finding a bicycle utopia in Belize appeared first on London Cyclist Blog.

Many of us have probably been on a cycling tour or two. A few of us may have even dreamed of setting up our own tour company. Today, I wanted to bring you an interview with Alex Baines-Buffery who has accomplished exactly that. Combining the experience of wine tasting and cycling, his new tour company Wine Rides, is certain to be an interesting experience for cyclists.

1. How did the idea of setting up a bicycle tour company come about? 

Cycling through the wine country in Germany, we stopped one day realising we had pedalled right in to the middle of a massive wine festival. It was an opportunity not to be missed!

We simply had to go around and sample all the local wines.

The party atmosphere and the fact that we chanced upon it by cycling to this strange place, made it all feel more magical. It wasn’t a huge leap of the imagination to see that cycling and wine really go well together. A year or two later, we went away for a weekend to Hastings and started cycling around Britain’s wine country.

The majority of our vineyards in the UK are in a part of the world called the Weald of Kent. It’s a mediaeval landscape that hasn’t changed for about 400 years. It was formerly the geographic centre of Roman iron production and was formed during the same geological period as the Alps in France. During several outings, south of London, We just found ourselves starting to gravitate towards vineyards.

Buying a bottle of wine and drinking it later with friends always made it seemed like you’d come back from your trip with a trophy. Eventually I realised that my work in TV as an Associate Producer setting up shoots, should give me the skills I’d need to set up my own touring company.

2. What are your dreams for Wine Rides?

My hope is that the experience I’ve gained setting up documentary TV shoots all over the world will help me create interesting and inspiring holidays for people here at home.

Wine Rides Ltd should play its role in getting people out of cars and onto bikes. Cyclists have already discovered the joy of cycling through the countryside, getting the full HD experience rather than a passing view from a car window. I’d like to bring that to as many people as possible.

In practical terms, that means I want to get to the stage where we’ve got four trips running at one time. Working with two pairs of vineyards, with cyclists travelling in opposite directions, will give us that real kind of festival feeling every weekend.

3. What have some of the challenges been along the way?

The biggest challenge was my own fear: leaving the work you do, is scary.

When you first have an idea, even if you’re really passionate about it, you’ll quickly find a lot of naysayers. The most amazing thing though is the transformation in people’s attitudes. When I first floated that I was thinking about building a business like this, a lot of people immediately threw up doubts. Very few people then went on to say how we could solve those problems.

The changing point is when I started looking people in the eye and telling them “I’m doing this”. They immediately have a very different response. I think when people realise that you’re actually going ahead, they must internally think: “well he’s doing it, so it must be a good idea!” When you commit to doing something, it becomes a lot easier, people start supporting you, they start telling you who they know, who you could speak to who might be able to help.

I suspect that is typical of anybody setting up a business. You just have to believe that you’ve got the ability to work around the problems. The thing that I’ve been most pleased with is that people do really seem to want this.

There is a sense of community among cyclists; we want to be taken seriously. We want more services offered to us; we want more businesses starting that are thinking about cyclists first. I really hope more people do what I am doing and have a go at setting up cycle related companies.

4. What are some of the first rides you are offering?

On 25 May we are doing a pilot ride. That’s one where everyone coming is providing their own bike and tent, and we’re doing the trip at a substantially reduced cost which includes: Two nights, 3days cycling (planned route), two dinners, 2 breakfast, one lunch, two wine tastings (6 wines each), and snacks. Instead of £275 pp for the weekend it is £95, that’s as low as we could get it without re-mortgaging the house!

I’m running that weekend with my brother who is a cordon Bleu trained chef. We are doing it at a reduced cost, because we want to get some feedback from our first customers on how we can improve the weekends. If any of your readers want to come on that and be a part of making Wine Rides a reality, then we would be delighted to have them.

There are only a few places left, if you want to register your interest for the pilot weekend, then you should email info@WineRides.co.uk. 

Our web site is: www.winerides.co.uk

5. How did you research your rides?

The British wine industry is still a really small and friendly place and these businesses support each other. I collated a list of their phone numbers and cold called all of them. I then had to go and speak to them in person and see which ones we could work with.

I’m also lucky that I worked at ITV for a short while on a series called: Ray Mears: Wild Britain. The final episode of that series was in the Weald of Kent, which is this area of the UK. It also happens to be the area of the UK where Ray lives, so was an episode that was really close to his heart. Doing that show I fell in love with this area. It is beautiful and has a fascinating history. Apparently all the Cornish pirate stories are actually based on real events with French pirates that happened on the coast of the Weald.

6. Where do you hope to expand it to next?

That’s an interesting question: I don’t think the answer is geographic. I think I want to expand into the winter. When we’ve got the summer holidays working perfectly, I think we can focus on trips which look at using mountain biking or cross-country biking as the primary activity.

7. What’s your favourite wine?

Wines are like children. You’re not supposed to have favourites, but you do. The trick is to avoid saying what it is so people don’t judge you.

Without a shadow of a doubt my favourite wine is Port. I am desperately waiting for a friend to get back to the UK so I can share a Sandeman port with him that has been aged in an oak cask for 20 years.

I recon, you can often tell where someone grew up by the wine they turn to when they have a steak. If I am treating myself I don’t want to mess it up with a bad wine selection, so I will always turn to what I know: Full flavoured South African reds. I served fleur du cap at my wedding and would recommend that as well. That wine will always have a special place in my heart.

Finally, I love to drink wine in context. I don’t think I have ever had a Lambrusco in the UK, but I have wonderful fond memories of the farmer’s wife who rented us a cottage on our honeymoon in Italy bringing me a bottle every other day. I would sit there and read The Name of the Rose, drinking the local Lambrusco and eating Parma ham, all in the landscape where they were created. You can’t replicate that at home. And nor should you. We have a deep, rich food culture here in the UK and a fantastic history. If you want to know what wines we have here in England that are worth boasting about then you will have to come on Wine Rides and sample them and decide for yourself.

Visit winerides.co.uk

The post Setting up a wine tasting cycle tour company – interview appeared first on London Cyclist Blog.

Using my best Spanish I enquired about a similar journey in El Salvador:

“Hay un autobus para ir a Sonsonate?”

Turns out a journey 1/4 of the length, is going to take the same amount of time. Also, I’ve got a plethora of options.

I can either catch the 6am bus or the 2pm bus.

Needless to say, with such excellent transport options, the bicycle reigns supreme in El Salvador.

On the route from the airport, the road is wide enough to accommodate a lane of cars and a separate lane for bicycles, pedestrians and cows.

That’s good, as drivers here redefine reckless.

On a stretch of the road with a road side fire bellowing smoke and completely obstructing the view ahead, our driver decided this would be a great time to overtake. Speeding in to white smoke, with total blindness as to what might be coming on the other side of the road.

If I was a cat, I would have just lost one of my nine lives.

Bicycles here are utility vehicles. These rusty old machines transport wood, families and animals.

A sign next to a taco stand advertised a Raleigh mountain bike for 220 US dollars. Enquiries were frequent.

Locals were busy lifting the bike to see how heavy it felt and commenting on the racks on the front and rear.

Whoever eventually buys it, I’m certain their first accessory purchase will be an old style bike horn. In El Salvador you awake to the sound of bike horns. El Salvadorians use them liberally.

Is El Salvador a good place to cycle?

That depends on your answer to the below questions..

When are you going to visit?

Is it during the rainy season or during the dry season? Pick your time carefully to avoid the most extreme of the weather.

Are you fit enough to travel uphill?

El Salvador is very mountainous. Even if you follow a coastal route, you’ll still be travelling uphill much of the time. Of course, that makes the downhill time all the more enjoyable but be prepared for a tough ride.

Keep your eye out for the teenagers on single speed BMX bikes heading up steep hills. It’ll make your knees wince in pain!

Are you okay with cycling near heavy lorries?

Cars and trucks drive fast here. There’s not many cars but there’s plenty of trucks transporting goods around the country. They travel at high speeds and are not a pleasure to be around.

In many locations the road is wide enough so that you don’t have to be that near to them.

Most of the routes are well paved so you can use a road bike or a touring bike.

Do you enjoy camping?

A lot of places in El Salvador will offer you a spot to camp. It’s also incredibly inexpensive here. A private room in a nice hostel will set you back $25 per night. If you want to sleep in a dorm room you can generally find them for $10-$15.

Can I just rent a bike?

There’s not really much of a mountain biking scene here in El Salvador and I’ve yet to spot a bike rental place.

From volcanoes to empty coves

There’s a lot to love about this little corner of the world. The dramatic landscape offers up volcanoes next to fields of sugar cane the one day and deserted coves the next.

This is a less travelled route so expect to have to use basic Spanish to get by. The rewards are many, as the locals are very friendly to talk to and will quickly open up with a smile and a little Spanish.

El Salvador is also the perfect place to take some time out of the saddle and go hiking or surfing. There are plenty of mountainous routes to explore, taking you via waterfalls and up in to the clouds.

Anyway, I’ve got to scoot, time to get back to my hammock!

See also:

• Cycling in Vancouver
• Cycling in Cuba
• Cycling in France
• Cycling in Tokyo

The post Cycling in El Salvador appeared first on London Cyclist Blog.

The first spot on my tour of the Americas for a new project I’m working on, started off in Vancouver – and no I didn’t see any bears, I didn’t have to trample through snow and I didn’t have to avoid moose traps as some friends joked.

My trip started off with a typical Canadian friendly welcome, from my friend Jordan Gray. Of course when you are being greeted by a relationship coach, you’d expect nothing less. However, it’s not relationship advice I was here for. I was visiting to checkout the cycling culture in Vancouver.

Fortunately, Jordan is connected to Vancouver cycling advocate Steph Gray, by virtue of being his sister. Steph is the Bike Hub Education Program Manager and she is in charge of getting more kids to ride safely to school. I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to quiz her on cycling culture in Vancouver.

Introducing compulsory helmets

British Columbia, the province within which the city of Vancouver resides, introduced a compulsory helmet law in 1995. Helmet use went up from around 40% in 1995 to around 55%-60% in 2010. It hasn’t reached higher levels than that in Vancouver as the law isn’t highly enforced.

According to statistics available on Cyclehelmets.org, the number of head injuries in collisions involving a motor vehicle, stayed at similar levels. In 1995 it was 12.8% and by 1999 it was 14.0%.

This was one of the questions I had for Steph Gray. She told me the law is detrimental, as it adds to the perception that cycling is a dangerous activity and it continues to dissuade new cyclists.

A cycle hire scheme “on the way”

Part of the efforts to provide people with an alternative way to move around the city involve a planned introduction of a cycle hire scheme. Unfortunately, this plan has been marred by delays. There currently isn’t a set frame for the introduction of the plan.

Dedicated cycling infrastructure

What has been pushed forward in Vancouver, is the separated cycling infrastructure. There are examples of it dotted around the city. Whilst it’s not always consistent, where it exists, it has been completed to a high standard. In particular, it’s good to see that once you reach a dangerous junction, the bike lane doesn’t just disappear.

This has often been at the expense of parking spaces in the city. Therefore, there continues to be strong opposition from local businesses. However, cycling organisations have been rallying to reframe the benefits to them and progress is being made.

The city has a “built it and they will come” attitude and it seems that with this mindset they will hit their target of 10% of journeys completed by bike.

Also helpful to cycling culture in Vancouver is that drivers are very courteous. This is noticeable as you ride round the city.

Ultimately, it’s clear that the local government recognises the benefits of cycling. In particular they are looking to reduce the levels of traffic. It will be interesting to observe Vancouver as it evolves.

See also: A London Cyclist in Portland

Images via Flickr: Markjms and Paul Krueger.

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“AMERICA! The land ruled by the car! We invented it!”

So howled a lady as I was walking towards Clever Cycles in Portland. Indeed, I thought to myself as I hurried past.

That’s exactly what I’m here to investigate. Getting here wasn’t easy. As I didn’t wish to rent a car, the journey was a four and a half hour coach from Seattle. I shared a Greyhound with convicts, fellow travellers and a large number of fat people.

It’s not a mode of transport I’d recommend and indeed it’s easy to see why most Americans who can, avoid it.

Portland itself rose from the dull highway, cranes and large billboards were the first thing to greet me. Not quite the artisan-esque, bicycle friendly mecca I had envisioned.

In downtown however, the first signs of cycle friendly infrastructure appeared. A huge bike lane had been forged out of what was previously a two lane road. It was a pleasure to ride in, but there were no signs of any physical separation from drivers. Also, much like in London, at key parts of the route, it seemed to disappear.

Reaching Clever Cycles, I had the pleasure of meeting Martina. A bike shop owner originally from Germany, who was kind enough to respond to my barrage of questions about cycling culture in Portland.

She told me to visit Velocult, Portland’s equivalent of Look Mum No Hands, read up on the ZooBombing craze and look out for the great number of cyclists using cargo bikes to transport their kids to school.

Before my trip, I’d bought myself a waterproof jacket from Zalando. Fortunately, I had no use for it, as the skies were completely clear. The perfect day to spot cyclists.

To do my bike spotting and to experience Portland by bike, Martina lent me a Dutch bike and I cycled back towards downtown, over Hawthorne Bridge.

At the end of a bridge is one of Portland’s bike counters. Around 20% of vehicles that cross over the bridge are cyclists. According to 2012 statistics from USA today, 6% of journeys to work in Portland are made by bike. That number has been steadily increasing.

In London meanwhile, according to TfL statistics from 2010, 36% of traffic over Blackfriars Bridge were cyclists. According to 2007 Census figures, 4% of Londoners now use their bicycle as their main way to get to work. If the figure is narrowed down to those based in inner London, then it rises to 7.2%. That figure is now probably even higher.

It seems that both cities won’t jump in to the magical 10%+ figures unless they step up their cycling provision.

Portland already has plans to do this and a cycle hire style scheme is scheduled to launch in the summer.

A sign that Portland takes cycling seriously, can be found on a road that had been closed for road works. Despite it being closed to cars, provision was still made to allow bicycles to pass. This stands in stark contrast over London’s way of dealing with road works which essentially involves “flipping the bird”, as the Americans would say, to cyclists.

Despite the fact that cars in America are enormous, I found riding around central Portland a pleasant experience. It felt safe and drivers were courteous. There were plenty of great little cafes to stop at and I’d easily recommend the experience to others.

I wasn’t blown away, until I started riding along one of Portland’s greenways. The Springwater Corridor Trail follows the river, out of the city. It’s amazing how fast you go from central Portland, to a beautiful rural environment. The route was packed with cyclists. From hardcore racers to this couple, riding their tandem and playing jazz music on a small radio.

This is where Portland really won out for me. It’s always been a shame that London has allowed developers to build up to the Thames river, thus preventing a consistent public path. You could see how an urban corridor like this, that ran along the Thames, would be a huge win for Londoners.

After travelling a couple of miles along the Springwater Corridor, I turned the bike around and headed back towards Clever Cycles. I consulted the bike map and decided upon a route that used bike lanes.

Unfortunately, the definition of “bike lane” once again proved wildly inconsistent. Here a bike lane was a bike with an arrow painted on to a road. In reality, this meant I was sharing a tight space with cars and it was a little unnerving. I found myself being squeezed in to parked cars and having to take an assertive position. Once again, the kind of conditions that favour confident cyclists but leave out those who feel unsafe.

Back at Clever Cycles, Martina told me she wanted to a “bike shop owner” exchange with a London bike shop. I was also interested to hear that things could have worked out very differently for Portland, had they decided back in the 70s to build huge inner city highways that blight so many other American cities.

It’s exciting to watch Portland develop and to see who will win the race to double figures for the percentage of journey’s completed by bike. I’ll leave you with this video from the famous “Portlandia” series.

The post A London Cyclist in Portland appeared first on London Cyclist Blog.

If like me, January is the month that you start to set your goals for the year ahead, then you might be considering entering your first cycling event. Sportives have become very popular over the last few years. The challenge of riding a long distance, over challenging terrain appeals to a lot of cyclists. Read on to discover 7 Sportives that you should try this year.

[See also: 10 London Cycling Events You Shouldn’t Miss Out On]

1. Evans RideIt! Gatwick

Date : 10th February – Entry Link

Route Options: Fun Route 12 miles, Short Route 30 miles, Medium Route 50 miles, Long Route 70 miles.

An early season ride through the towns and villages of West Sussex including a ride through Ashdown Forest. Excellent organisation, a fully signed route, and well stocked feed stations are highlights of all of the Evans RideIt! series of events.

2. Wiggle New Forest Spring Sportive

Date : 13th/14th April – Entry Link

Route Options: Standard 59 miles, Epic 87 miles

Run over 2 days, this is one of the biggest early season Sportives. This event has been voted one of the UK’s top 10 Sportives and takes place in the outstanding New Forest National Park. You benefit from quiet roads, stunning scenery and a relatively flat route. Excellent feed stations and a fully signed route await participants on this event.

3. Somerset Hills Grand Fondo

Date : 5th May – Entry link

Route Options: Picollo Fondo 86k, Medio Fondo 134k, Grand Fondo 192k

A real challenge taking in the epic Cheddar Gorge, the Mendip Hills and the Quantocks. The routes are full of testing climbs – 7500ft on the Grand Fondo – as well as many sharp descents.

[See also: 35 of the Best London Cycle Routes]

4. The MITE London Revolution

Date : May 18th/19th – Entry Link

Route Options : Day One 101 miles, Day Two 84 miles, or complete both

Fancy something a little more adventurous? This event takes in a 185 mile circuit of London over 2 days starting from the Excel Centre. Day One takes riders north through Epping Forest and west in to the stunning Chilterns. After an overnight camp at Windsor racecourse, where entertainment and food will be laid on, day 2 sees riders attempt parts of the Olympic road race course including the iconic Box Hill. A crossing of Tower Bridge and return to the start point close the loop.

5. Wiggle Surrey/Sussex Scramble

Date: 2nd June – Entry Link

Route Options: Standard 75 miles, Epic 100 miles

Attempt a century (imperial or metric) on the best roads and climbs the North and South Downs have to offer. A lumpy rather than hilly circuit ensures a fast and flowing ride. The June date should give the best chance of decent weather too!

6. Cycling Weekly Box Hill Original

Date: 13th October – Entry Link

Route Options : Short 44 miles, Standard 90 miles, Epic 103 miles

A sportive taking in 3 of the UK’s top 100 climbs including the Olympic road race climb of Box Hill. The event starts from Epsom race course and takes you on a circuit through the varied landscape of the Surrey Hills and the North Downs. This is a great late season event to cap off your year. This event is is very popular, exceedingly well organised and certainly presents a substantial challenge of fitness.

7. Wiggle Wight Winter Sportive

Date: 1st December  Entry Link

Route Options : Standard 43 miles, Epic 63 miles

Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean you should hang up your helmet. This sportive provides a great bit of motivation to keep going and allows you to explore the enchanting Isle of Wight. Ferry travel is included and the route takes in the best hills that the island has to offer – often allowing sea views in both directions from the top. Mince pies and hot drinks await you at the well stocked feed stations on the route. Traffic is typically light and the route options are shorter to reflect the limited hours of daylight at the time of year.

Read on: How to ride your first Sportive

Leave a comment below – Have you ever ridden a Sportive?

The post 7 Sportives you should try in 2013 appeared first on London Cyclist Blog.

If you are looking for a rather spectacular challenge for next year, then how about this?

The Deloitte Ride Across Britain is perhaps the UK’s best known long distance cycling event.

It covers 960 miles in 9 days and is open to 700 riders that are fully supported. Whether you ride for the scenery, for the challenge or just because you can – it’s a great event to get involved in.

On June the 8th, the ride will be starting off its fourth year. Covering 100 miles per day, the route takes participants from John O’Groats to Lands End.

As an incentive to be one of the first people to register, the next 50 people who sign up will get to choose between a free elite turbo trainer worth £140 or Brooks B17 saddle in either men’s or women’s style worth £65.

To enter, use the code HALFORDS2013 on the DELOITTE Ride Across Britain website:

www.rideacrossbritain.com

If you need any more inspiration, the below video will provide it:

The post 960 mile ride across Britain – registrations now open! appeared first on London Cyclist Blog.

This is a guest post by Tim Moss of The Next Challenge.

As a kid, I was always scared of cycling. I knew how to ride a bike but I could never pluck up the courage to cycle the two or three miles to my school.

But I moved to London to study at UCL and soon found myself the proud owner of a £5 Ebay road bike. It was only a few months before someone discovered that my padlock was just for show and kindly took the bike off my hands but by then it was too late: I was a fully converted London cyclist.

Cycle commuting’s fine. Fun in fact. But I wanted to try something a bit more adventurous on my bike so I came up with the idea of cycling between the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales, walking up each when I got there. I didn’t know if I was fit enough (I’d never cycled for more than a day before) or if my bike was up to it (it only cost £150 from Decathlon) but I booked some train tickets and ended up having a great time.

The following year I joined some friends on a long weekend’s ride to Amsterdam and back. By now, I was a fully converted touring cyclist.

For my next trip, I set my sights higher. I knew that my work would be taking me to the top of Norway the following summer and I hatched a plan: rather than fly home, I would cycle.

I took my old faithful Decathlon beast out with me, borrowed a small tent from a friend, packed a stove into my panniers and set off southwards from the top of Europe.

It was quite a culture shock. I was deep into the Arctic circle at the beginning and, being summer, that meant near 24-hour daylight and mild temperatures most of the time. Navigation was easy too as there was only one road for the first 150 miles or so.  I didn’t speak to anyone at all for three days after I set off – not a word – and even after that my first conversation was a brief one: Do you speak English? “Yes”. Do you have any maps? “No”. OK, thanks!

It wasn’t all plain sailing though. My stove stopped working after the first week and someone stole my shoes when I spent a night in a hostel, so I had to cycle the remaining distance in sandals eating cold sandwiches for tea. The mosquitoes up north were relentless too.

But when arrived back into London Stansted, after a short budget flight from Stockholm (I only had three weeks off work so couldn’t make it all the way on two wheels), I felt like a new man. I unpacked my bike from its cardboard box, reassembled it outside arrivals and pointed my front wheel homewards.

Since then, I’ve been on a few more tours – through France, across Wales and around Oman – and even written a beginner’s guide to cycling around the world.

If you are a cyclist, or just someone who knows how to ride a bike, then you already meet all the criteria for completing a tour. Any bike will do. As mentioned, I used the cheapest touring bike I could find but I’ve also gone long days (60 or 70 miles) on a single speed and I’m no hero. My wife’s bike, which she rides with me on most trips, cost about £300 on the cycle to work scheme. If your bike can take a rack, then you can carry more kit which makes camping easier. If not then just load up a rucksack and perhaps book a hostel.

If you ride to work once in a while, then your legs will be strong enough to pedal a bit further on a special occasion. And getting up the next day to do the same will probably be fine too. You might be surprised how quickly your body adapts.

As a start, find a train station somewhere between, say, 30 and 60 miles from your house and try cycling there on a weekend and taking the train back. If you like it then pick a hostel or campsite for another weekend to cycle there and back. If you can do that then you are already a tourer. Happy adventures.

You can follow more of Tim’s writing and adventures on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thenextchallenge and Twitter: https://twitter.com/nextchallenge

The post From London cyclist to around the world adventure tourer appeared first on London Cyclist Blog.

Well, it’s proving to be a fantastic summer of sport isn’t it? To build on the excitement of the greatest sporting event in the world taking place on our doorstep, Visit Wales is challenging people to head for Wales on holiday and have a crack at some medal-themed challenges!

There’s been a whole heap of medals won in the cycling events – both in the velodrome and on the roads – but you don’t need to know your peloton from your keirinto have fun in the saddle in Wales.

Wales offers cycling for everyone – from world class adrenaline-filled mountain bike trails to relaxed pedals through the countryside with some 300 miles of designated cycling routes ideal for all the family.

But don’t take our word for it, we’ve asked Welsh mountain-biking expert, Hannah Taylor to come up with her gold, silver and bronze cycling challenges. Fancy having a go?

Over to you Hannah!

BRONZE – Two-Wheeled Historical Exploration

Travelling through the South Wales Valleys, once a famous industrial heartland, provides a real Welsh experience. Your challenge is to take on a two-wheeled exploration of the former canal towpaths, tramways and disused railways which once bought great industrial importance to South Wales. With over 250 miles of National Cycle Network you’ll be spoilt for choice. Traverse the lush green valleys and stop at one of the many sites of historical and industrial importance along the way. Pubs and cafes can also be found to break up your journey and refuel on tasty Welsh treats.

SILVER – Rugged Riding

Back in 1997 Wales was home to the first of the modern trail centres in the UK. Since then trail centre investment has been huge and we now have lots of purpose built centres offering top quality mountain biking. One such is Nant-yr-Arian which sits high on the mountains just inland from Aberystwyth, and offers stunning high-level wilderness riding. With trails heading out into the epic scenery of the Cambrian Mountains, this is a fantastic area for those who like their riding rugged. Your Silver challenge is to take on one of the three trails on offer. You have the choice of either the black graded Syfydrin or red graded Pendam and Summit trails. If you start early in the morning and pedal hard you could be back at the visitor centre café for 2pm with a breathtaking lakeside view of the red kites being fed their daily lunch.

GOLD – Big Mountain Hike-a-Bike

For a real mountain experience your gold challenge is to get you and your bike to the summit of our highest mountain and back down again. On a sunny day the scenery on the summit of Snowdon is quite literally jaw dropping. There are multiple route options but my favourite is to ascend Llanberis path (there’s almost certainly going to be some hike-a-bike but that’s all part of the challenge) and descend via the Rangers Path and onto Telegraph Valley. Fast at the top and becoming looser and rockier before you hit some tight and steep switchbacks. You’ll be grinning from ear to ear by the time you reach the bottom. Remember to follow the Snowdon Voluntary Cycle Agreementput in place to avoid accidents. It means no cycling on the bridleways between 10.00am and 5pm from 1st May to 30th September.

Check out the Visit Wales website for more information about holiday ideas and cycling holidays in Wales.

More about Hannah 

Hannah is editor of the Visit Wales mountain biking website MBWales which means she can often be found riding her bike and travelling all over Wales. She’s also head honcho of adventure media production company Maia Media.

The post Let the Games begin! Try some cycling challenges in Wales appeared first on London Cyclist Blog.

That was the question posed to me by London Cyclist reader David. Below I post some of the classic destinations along with route suggestions where possible. Feel free to add your comment if there’s a cycling destination you often head towards from London.

London to Brighton

This well trodden route is a classic. Made incredibly popular by all the charity rides, it’s a great ride to do on a weekend when the sun is shining. The official Brighton route is easy to find. Here’s one on Everytrail. At around 50 miles in length, it can be done in 3 to 4 hours. The train back in the evening takes less than an hour.

London to Cambridge

Another hugely popular destination is Cambridge. Cycle routes are once again easy to find. It’s a fairly decent journey at nearly 70 miles in length.

London to Waltham Abbey

This is a route from the London Cycle Routes eBook. It can be followed along the canal and therefore is largely traffic free. It’s also a nice short ride from London so you can ride there and back in a day.

London to West Wittering

Once again a route from the London Cycle Routes eBook. West Wittering is one of the UK’s finest beach destinations. With gorgeous wide expanses and intricate spots dotting the coast line, there’s a really beautiful variety here to be discovered. The ride is long at over 75 miles in length, so you’ll probably want to spend an evening there before getting the train back the next day.

London to Oxford

Oxford has a popular cycling culture, spurred on in part by the many students that inhabit the area. It’s a great place to discover on two wheels. The route is around 70 miles in length and is fairly quiet passing through small towns and villages. The train back takes around 1 hour.

For more coastal destination inspiration I really recommend the Wild Swimming book by Daniel Start.

Any further suggestions? Please leave them in the comments below.

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