The PezCycling Travel & Tours section hosts our own personal accounts of cycling travel, top rides and places we've visited, places to stay, eat & drink, compiled over more than 14 years of road cycling in the world's best places. Be it a Classic, the Giro or Tour, the Worlds or a national Tour, riding your bike on the same roads as the pros is a luxury that sets cycling apart. Let us know if you've got a Top Ride or Travel story worth sharing with other readers at [email protected].
TRAVEL: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to cycle the famous cols in the Pyrenees? For 12 years Allan Reeves has led a leg-crushing and ego-boosting trip across the Pyrenees most famous peaks that spans 1000 miles and climbs 100,000 feet in 12 stages. Here's what riders can expect on this the trip of a lifetime with France From Inside cycling tours.
Most PEZ Readers know a bit about the 'bike hotel' concept, and many of you have enjoyed staying in one location, hospitality by gracious hosts who know the best rides, food and wine, all in a cycling dreamland like Italy. The Garda Bike Hotel was one of the first to cater to road cyclists, with over ten years experience, it's no wonder they've become THE place to stay at Lake Garda.
Any ride is generally a good ride but what separates a good ride from a Top Ride? Well usually it's the location but it could be your riding partner, your equipment or even the rest stops. This past summer our own Chris Selden discovered a truly top ride cycling in Piedmont in Italy where he had the perfect combination of everything.
Last week I rode my favorite climb. Not at all unusual I know, but in this case it was my first “real” ride in almost two months thanks to a recurring injury that kept me off the bike and largely on crutches. I rode it because a favorite climb is like an old friend and I needed the comfort of a friend to ease back into regular riding.
The preparation for any new tour requires a lot of planning and ground work. Scatto Bike Tours' EROICA/GF Roma is their newest trip and this last weekend they drove from Vicenza, their home base, to check out the EROICA event and sort out some of the logistics and details. This is what they found.
Lombardia Ride: Sometimes you gotta point the car at the cliff and give ‘er some stick. Okay, maybe heading out for an awesome solo ride may not be quite the same... but sometimes heading into the unknown is best approached with a ‘give ‘er’ attitude, and as I once again learned on this awesome ride around Lago di Como, the rewards can be worthy of a lifetime.
A 4 star cycling hotel with the cycling operations run by ultra-experienced Larry and Heather from CycleItalia in the magnificent region of Piedmont in Northern Italy? Yep, we just knew it was going to be good. Our own Chris Selden managed to get away for a few days this summer to go and check it out for himself.
The ErgVideo team not only builds great software, but they travel to famous cycling destinations with a whole team to create their unique content. Their trip to some of cycling’s monumental climbs in the French Alps resulted in some of their best-ever ErgVideo editions.
Cycling in France, it's a dream for many and has been a dream come true for our Australian PEZ man in France, Chris Selden who has been living in various parts of France since 2008. Now Chris is sharing his dream with others after he has bought and renovated a beautiful old house in the South of France that he is renting out for visiting cyclists.
Negroni Week on PEZ wouldn't be complete without homage to a true maestro of mixology. I speak only of Marco - proprietor of the legendary Barolino in Levanto Italy. I vowed after first discovering his bar at the 2009 Giro to return one day with Mrs. Pez - and order two of his finest Negronis.
With more than 25 years of racing experience around the world under his belt it's fair to say that our man in France, Chris Selden has ridden up a lot of climbs in his life. His choice of a favorite climb amongst the thousands that he's done though is a bit of a surprise, the Col de la Roquette in the Hérault Valley in France.
As part of our stay with Garda Bike Hotel for the Pez 10th Anniversary, we signed up to ride the GF Damiano Cunego in nearby Verona. Our hosts Nicola & Alberto know the region, the people, and handled all the details for our stay in Lake Garda, which left nothing for us to do except enjoy the ride.
The Carpegna climb is best known as Marco Pantani's favorite training ground - and at 11%+ grades for 7km - it was a perfect place for the late climbing sensation to hone his legendary skills. I'd long wanted to ride it for myself, and got the chance this year while visiting the bike Hotel Lungomare in Cesenatico.
France From Inside Tours offers some of the best cycling trips in the Pyrenees in southern France, and one of their best is the epic Conquer the Pyrenees: 12 days riding 1000 miles from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and back, climbing over 100,000 feet. The company owner and lead guide, Allan Reeves, explains why this trip is so popular, it's back for the 13th year.
Cycle a Mediterranean island, watch the TDF in the French Alps, or let a famous chef prepare your meals in Tuscany—Grand Tours and cycling vacations are as abundant as cols in Europe, and the options for this year’s big biking trip can be overwhelming.
TOP RIDE: The riding on Italy's Adriatic Coast has long been a favorite of Europeans. Rolling hills, big mountains, and gorgeous coastal flat roads make it ideal for all types of riders. One of the best places to stay is the family run Lungomare Bike Hotel in Cesenatico, a perfect base to explore the region, enjoy the beach, and experience a different part of Italy.
Great scenery, a spectacular climb and a twice as long descent, the Col de la Madone climb along France’s cote d’Azur is must do for any fan of great rides. The capper was meeting up with a PEZ-Fan who lives nearby for a great day on the bike.
One of the best reasons for choosing a good bike hotel is their skill to show me the best their region has to offer - like routes, rides, food & drink that I simply could not find on my own. This ride (and subsequent wine tasting) never would have have happened without my guide from Garda Bike Hotel leading me on a relaxed ride through the hills of valpolicella and an even more relaxed stop at the Santa Maria Valverde winery.
How's this for something completely different - a mid-winter trip to Minneapolis to ride stud-tired commuter bikes around the city's vast network of bike paths? It was part of the new bikes for guests program by Le Meridien Chambers Hotel featuring Priority Bicycles.
It was planned to be 3 days of riding and exploring the best rides around Ventura, followed by a couple of days in Los Angeles to see if I could find something real in the City of Angels. But the SoCal wildfires changed it all overnight, but what I got was a week's worth of experiences I could never have imagined. Sometimes you gotta roll with those punches
