The Cycling Vacation Combines

Fitness And Pleasure

Country-Adventures cylcing vacations - get away from it all and introduce your faimly to the beauty found only in nature.  Click here to choose your cycling adventure.

Perhaps the best way to explore the vast expanses of the USA (as well as the rest of the world) is on a cycling vacation. After all, the entire allure of travel consists of the promise of constant novelty; yet, monotonous travel time constitutes a surprisingly large proportion of many vacations. Cross-country trips to faraway places take a long time, and much of that time the traveler is simply waiting to be somewhere else--rather than already there.

Of course, reading a book on a plane, or in the subway between different sightseeing destinations may not be monotonous. However, one can just as easily read the book at home. While reading, you may be seeing new places in your mind, but one of the ostensible purposes of travel is to see new places in the physical world. The best way to have a US vacation that truly involves seeing something new at virtually every moment is to go on a cycling tour of the USA.

The Cycling Tour Is A New Way Of Sightseeing

Even everyday sights look different from the seat of a bicycle going 20 miles per hour, with a gentle wind coursing against your face, than they do from on foot, or from behind the window of a car. Someone who is used to walking or driving everywhere in his or her native city will see a subtly different city when he or she climbs on a bike and starts riding. The person's sense of distances will change, as will the person's sense of how the streets and buildings and rivers in the city connect to one another. The person will become more aware of the textures of sidewalks, and of the patterns of movement among pedestrians.

The same is doubly true of the American countryside: it looks immensely different from atop a bicycle. Only on the bicycle is it possible to get a true sense of the vastness and expansiveness of the countryside. A hiking tour of the mountains will let you smell the fresh air, but only on a bicycle will you feel just how steep its slopes are, and how precarious. On a long car trip, the countryside seems to zip by yet never substantially change, because you are moving so fast and are so insulated from the outside. On a long walking trip, the countryside seems to stand still, because you are moving too slow. Only on a cycling tour is it possible to appreciate the "true" scale of the countryside.

Train For A Cycling Tour With A Hiking Tour?

The most important preparation to make for a cycling vacation is physical training. The longest bike rides tend to be the most rewarding; plus, the experience of riding through the countryside is more enjoyable if you are not constantly aching and short of breath. The best way to prepare for a long bicycle trip is to bike on a regular basis, preferably on the same bike you intend to use during the big trip. Hiking and running help to a point, as they improve cardiovascular health. However only actually riding a bike will work all the same muscles. If you are out of shape, don't be embarrassed to start with short rides. Simply train, until you are able ride for a longer and longer time. After a few months of training, you should have no problem spending a day on a bike.