Guide to Cycling Vacations

Cyclers looking to combine their favorite activity and a family vacation can find the solution in a family cycling vacation. Although the primary activity on such trips is cycling, the vacation also includes activities that the family will enjoy. These family activities are used like themes and dictate the itinerary. The trips are all-inclusive and offer a little nontraditional getaway for the family.

Themes

The vacations are designed around themes to tie in the cycling and various tour stops. The wine country theme, for example involves cycling between wineries affiliated with the tour. The meals are all gourmet and highlighted by a featured wine. The inns that the cyclers are also inductive of the wine country. Such a vacation is a way that cyclers can experience the wine country without giving up their love of cycling. Other thematic vacations fit this bill as well. Acadia Mountain tours have special stops at natural and historic spots in the area. Meanwhile, the Sonoran tour explores the art, history and natural desert setting through a tour of museums, restaurants, flight demonstrations and other activities that give cyclers an idea of the things one can do in the American Southwest.

Locations

Vacation locations are designed to complement the vacation theme. Wine country vacations run through the famous vineyard locations in California, while mountain trips explore the Appalachian and Arcadia Mountain systems. Desert cycling vacations such as the tours that run through Sonora in Arizona are available as well as cycling trips on both US coasts.

These locations also dictate the difficulty level of the trip. For example, mountainous locations are naturally more tedious than the ones located in the flatlands of the Midwest. However, the Alaskan and Sonoran cycling tours come with their own challenge-the climate. So, when planning your cycling vacation, consider your family members and choose a location that everyone can navigate comfortably.

Distances

Families that choose a cycling vacation need not be an extreme cycling enthusiasts. Many of the tours only include a few hours of cycling between locations, and the bulk of the time is spent sightseeing and experiencing the locations that you visit. There are trips for the cycler, however, with up to a 100 miles of ground cycled each day. The leisurely tours are considered easy to moderate, while the longer trips through harsher terrain are considered difficult. For the easy trips, expect to cycle up to 10 miles but less than 20 miles per day.

Support

Read the tour's website carefully before booking. A good tour should have a support staff that follows in a vehicle equipped to carry cyclers and their bikes in case of breakdowns or exhaustion. The support vehicles on most all-inclusive tours also carry lunch and snacks for the longer trips, with dinner and breakfast served at restaurants or the inns you stay in along the way.

Self-guided Trips

For families who want to do it themselves, there is the self-guided tour option. Just use a resources like the Adventure cycling Association's Cyclists' Yellow Pages (CYP). You can search the CYP online free of charge, but membership is required to download it. The CYP and resources like have a listing of attractions bike shops, trails, lodgings and maps to help you and your family plan your own cycling vacation.