Travel Tip 113
How to plan bike travel
Lima is flat and not very windy, but you have to plan bike rides along the coast where there are bike lanes.
It’s almost fall in the northern hemisphere, and almost spring where I am in South America, so this is the perfect time to start planning bike travel!
I’ll admit I haven’t done any long distance bike travel or ever owned panniers, but my mom did a lot of bike travel and I’m sure I’ll have the opportunity eventually. For now, I’ll keep planning bike travel - and helping you plan!
If you live somewhere that you can leave from home on a bike trip, that’s amazing. Some of my mom’s trips started at home. But what if you want to go somewhere farther away?
Salvador, Brazil has great bike lanes along the coast and bikes so cheap they’re almost free.
Here’s my top three tips for picking where to go.
1. Are you sharing the road with cars?
Some places have fantastic bike trails, especially islands like Mackinac, Michigan and the Princes Islands, which I visited often when I lived in Istanbul. Some places have wide bike lanes, or such wide shoulders on the roads that it might as well be a bike lane. Consider how comfortable you are driving by cars before you pick a destination.
2. How far do you want to bike?
Do you want a home base, either campground or hotel, where you can do different bike rides every day? Or do you want to bike from town to town, staying in hotels but otherwise taking all your stuff with you in panniers? Consider how many miles (or kilometers) you want to bike each day and how much stuff you want to carry with you on your bike.
Lots of lodges in the Amazon rainforest, like Manu Biolodge, have bikes so you can see the jungle on wheels.
3. How flat or hilly is it?
Biking in the Netherlands or in the Alps is as different as vacationing in Florida or Alaska. Consider how much you love climbing hills and coasting back down, and how much you love biking on flat ground most of the time. You cannot pick a destination until you’ve answered this question! Also, consider how much wind you want to deal with because some flat destinations are very windy.
If you want inspiration from an expert, check out Amy McPherson, travel writer, bike travel extraordinaire and one of my favorite people to follow on Instagram. You can also consult this city guide for how bike friendly US cities are.
Pope Leo XIV preached in Chiclayo’s cathedral when he was Bishop Robert Prevost.
Blog
Last week I went to Chiclayo, on Peru’s northern coast. It’s relatively flat, so it could be fun to bike in if they made bike lanes in town. Currently, bikes are mixed in with traffic – but that’s not why I went there! I went to see where Robert Prevost was priest and bishop, before he became Pope Leo XIV. Click on the blog title above to see why the Pope loved Chiclayo so much that he got Peruvian citizenship.
You don’t have to bike from North America to enjoy biking around Ushuaia - there are plenty of bike rentals.
Article
Best Things to do in Argentina
If you are a serious long distance biker, you’ve probably considered biking to Ushuaia, Argentina. When I was in Ushuaia I saw dozens of groups of bikers, most of whom had biked from Alaska or Canada. If you’re considering a trip to Ushuaia, also check out my blog on 20 Free Things to do in Ushuaia.
