After pitched battles among activists, trucking interests and the Ohio Department of Transportation over the past decade, dedicated bike paths have been installed on the Detroit-Superior and Lorain-Carnegie bridges.

Regional trails are weaving their way into the industrial Flats alongside the Cuyahoga River and are within striking distance of the lakefront.

Because of the city’s efforts, cyclists touring the city are exploring and re-discovering the beautiful historic buildings and open spaces in downtown Cleveland.

From the 1970s through the early 2000s, the city and various partners fought to save downtown by renovating the historic theaters at Playhouse Square and building attractions such as the Gateway sports complex, Cleveland Browns Stadium and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

Streetscapes and parks received little attention back then. The result: a downtown with great attractions and beautiful historic buildings separated by garages, surface-parking dead zones and acres of concrete that discouraged walking and cycling.

The cultural shift in favor of bikes and pedestrians echoes a rising national trend inspired by the new popularity of urban living and growing proof that the nation’s obesity epidemic is rooted in part in suburban lifestyles centered on the automobile.

Cleveland’s shift in attitude toward a more bike-friendly downtown is resulting in new bike tour offerings for locals and out-of-town cyclists. We’ve listed three Cleveland bike tour operators that offer city bike tours of Cleveland and some of the surrounding suburbs.

Cleveland Bike Tours

Bob’s Bike Tours

Cleveland Cycle Tours

Great Lakes Tours Company

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Detroit Bike Tours

Wheelhouse Detroit – This bike shop and tour company emphasizes community-minded outings, including Murals of Southwest Detroit and Underground Railroad. (Detroit served as the final stop before escaped slaves crossed into Canada.)

Tampa Bike Tours

City Bike Tampa – A sponsor of monthly Urban Restaurant Tours, which lead two-wheeled tasters to a handful of downtown and Ybor City restaurants.

Los Angeles Bike Tours

BIKES AND HIKES LA – This outfitter proves Los Angeles isn’t only for cars. Offerings include LA in a Day, Legendary Homes, and Hollywood, which departs from the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Brooklyn Bike Tours

Get Up and Ride – Launched last summer, this New York outfitter takes riders through Brooklyn neighborhoods, also stopping at Brooklyn Grange, a working farm with one of the world’s largest rooftop gardens.

Chicago Bike Tours

Fork and the Road – Experience Chicago’s neighborhoods on themed tours, such as vegetarian-friendly Oven Lovin’, which visits global bakeries, to Cure-ious, a meat-centric ride. Tours start near bike-rental facilities

The post 5 City Bike Tours Featured in the Boston Globe appeared first on Bicycle Tour Finder.

This bike and hike tour from Freewheeling Adventures is a great way to visit some of the best and most notable sites in Israel. The bicycle tour travels paved and unpaved roads, with brief hikes throughout the open and lush landscapes of the north. Some highlights on this tour include:

• medieval Crusader fortresses,
• Israel’s most extensive archeological sites at Beith’ She’an,
• the beautiful lands surrounding the Kinneret,
• the vibrant city of Nazarath, and
• several small and less-traveled villages.

On tour, riders encounter what’s left of the burned out tanks from the 1967 War, and learn about the conflict on an educational and historical ride through the hilly valleys of the Golan. The Druze Arabs – who have a very friendly relationship with Israel, behold a unique belief about the Messiah, and where rather baggy pants, welcome cyclists to the region.  The ride over the Upper Galilee mountains is on excellent roads with lots of vistas, climbs and descents, and plenty of opportunities to taste local wines, delicacies and cuisines in a number of small villages along the way.

The bike tour of North Israel from Freewheeling Adventures is a great way to blend biking, hiking, culture, history, and local cuisine into eight days of cycle touring fun.

Bike Tour Quick Facts

Duration: 8 Days
Start: Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv, 14:00 day one.
Finish: Tel Aviv 14:00, Ben Gurion Airport 15:00 day eight
Guided Cost: $3995 (per person, includes 8 days, 7 nights, 7 breakfasts, 5 lunches, 6 dinners, entrance fees, luggage handling, van and guide support, maps and route notes)
Self-Guided Cost: Not yet available
Single Occupancy: $1635
Bicycle Rental: Hybrid: $195 (Road bikes are not available)
2013 Guided Dates: Apr 20-27; May 5-11; Jun 2-8; Aug 11-18; Sep 22-29.
Additional Options: Add your own dates (learn more)

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She told Marie Claire magazine:

Last time I went to Amsterdam I spent a lot of time riding bikes from one bar to the next, drunken cycling!

Now maybe drunken cycling is not the safest activity for bicycle tourists, but Amsterdam certainly is a great destination for city bike tours that include taking a barge and absorbing the rich culture and history of the city. There also just happen to be plenty of stops where riders can take a break and refresh with a pint of beer, glass of wine or something a bit stronger.

The post Bar-hopping on bike in Amsterdam appeared first on Bicycle Tour Finder.

Here are a few highlights.

Sardinia – The Costa Verde Singletrack tour is a singletrack mountain bike tour lasting 8 days that takes riders on limestone trails all day and then lets them refuel with tasty Sardinian food and swims in the Medditeranean each evening before doing it all over again.

Italy – Liguria – Riding the Riviera is another one of their singletrack bike tours, but in Italy. This tour is unique. Instead of riding Italy’s Dolomites (a fantastic but typical destination), it takes place in Finale Ligure – the heart of the Italian Riviera. The tour can last between 4 – 7 days.

Portugal – Atlantic Trails is 8 days of cross-country and mixed terrain style mountain biking that traverses Sintra and Arrabida, and of course, offers fantastic Portuguese cuisine and relaxing accommodations after each day of riding.

Montenegro – Lakes, Views & Coast is 8 days of less technical riding and amazing views of the Adriatic Coast from atop mountain trails in culturally rich Montenegro, which just happens to be one of Europe’s youngest countries.

Spain – Camino de Santiago is a world famous destination for bicycle riders and travelers afoot wanting to traverse the historic route. For those wanting to make a pilgrimage to or just the ride legendary Camino at an easier pace, then this tour, which takes you from Astorga to Santiago de Compostela in 8 days might be for you.

Turkey – Delights of Dalyan explore the famous Turquoise coast in 8 days with easy mountain bike riding and  relaxing Turkish baths at the end of the day.

To see all of Saddle Skedaddle’s mountain bike tours in Europe this year, please visit their website below.

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However, in 2011 Mexico had its highest ever number of tourists, 23 million foreigners.

Most of the drug related violence occurs in a few specific areas, which Tour d’Afrique clearly states their route avoids. Their tour travels through the tranquil town of  San Blas (a rural community located in the municipality of La Paz) on the Baja, world-famous Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific coast, and then on to Mexico City. The route is carefully planned to ensure safety as well as a great bicycle tour.

Luis Palacios, Director General of Baja State Tourism Board backs Tour d’Afrique’s claim about Baja, Mexico by stating:

Cyclist and tourist love Baja California Sur in particular for the amazing contrast between the ocean and desert that is hardly matched worldwide. Located in the Southernmost tip of the Peninsula this State is the youngest of all states in Mexico and has always been distinguished as one of the safest places to visit in the country and Latin America, actually the capital name of the State named La Paz or The Peace lives by its reputation as a great place for families and tourist to enjoy the marvelous sunsets and long walks along the malecon or Sea Stroll of the City…

If a bike tour in Mexico, especially the Baja, is on your bucket list, Tour d’Afrique may be the bike tour operator to ride with.

The post Mexico, still a great bicycle touring destination appeared first on Bicycle Tour Finder.

Discover UTRACKS’ Europe bike tours that are on sale this spring.

Book before March 8th to save 10% on all bike tour departing before May 2013.

The post Spring Sale on Europe Bike Tours appeared first on Bicycle Tour Finder.

FERRY!  What’s that?

The quintessential experience on Lake Nasser was that of the very first year, when the riders biked 270kms along a controlled-access, paved road from Aswan to Abu Simbel,  through a part of Egypt that few tourists get to see.  We then loaded everything onto a barge that was towed by a tug to Wadi Halfa.  I recall the tug broke down after we had barely covered 5 km, and it required the concerted efforts of African Routes staff Rory and Eddie to fix the engine and get it running again.  During that time, the riders had a superb view of the relocated Abu Simbel temples across the water, tempered with concerns about how long we would be drifting aimlessly on the world’s largest hydro reservoir (at the time).   There was just us, the bikes and one African Routes truck on the barge, and as the day progressed it got hot.  Some sought shade by crawling under the truck, a tried-and-true sun-avoidance tactic in Africa that was to be repeated many times in upcoming days.  We arrived in Wadi Halfa just as the sun was setting and the experience of stepping onto Sudan soil was unreal.  Nothing says you’ve arrived in Africa like this.

Paul Davison TDA 2003

Paul wins a copy of our beautiful book – http://tourdafrique.com/book/ – for this submission.

Thanks to Michael Kennedy for the photo.

Have a great memory of your experience on any one of our expeditions and want a chance to win a book? Send photos and text to mike@tourdafrique.com

Source: Tour dAfrique

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Periodically between day dreaming about new tours and frantically dealing with the latest geopolitical crisis, we think about how to create a friendlier bike environment. Our latest brilliant idea is that we think it is time to create the Bicycle Index. There are many ways to measure the well-being of a country. Of course, everyone is familiar with the GNP measurements. Less known indicator is the Gini Index, which measures the income distribution of a country. There are other indexes out there. One that has been getting more press in the last few years is the Gross National Happiness index which attempts to measure quality of life in various countries. This one originates in Bhutan, a country that seems to care more about its environment than any other nation in the world. Another well known one is the Economist magazine’s the Big Mac Index which is used to measure the PPP – Purchasing Power Parity between nations. Why Bicycle Index? Well for obvious reasons. We all know that bicycle makes you healthier and smarter. Riding bicycle leads to a longer and happier life and rumour has it, cycling even guarantees a better sex life.

So what may you ask is the Bicycle Index? Well we don’t know yet. We have some silly ideas – that the index would correlate a variety of scientifically measured indicators such as how many kilometers (miles for some of you) of bike paths, roads and bike trails there are per capita in a country; how many bicycles there are per capita; how many children ride to school; how many bicycles accidents there are in the country; how many people over 80 ride a bike regularly; how many bike shops the country has; the amount of pollution the cyclists have to breathe on their cycling commute and so on. You get the drift. Why do we think this should be done? For one, it could employ a few more bureaucrats and we all know that every government is obsessed with creating employment. For another, it will give cycle tourists a good indicator where they can find Nirvana. But mostly we think that, once it is created, innovative minds will find a proper use for it. To paraphrase an old expression, ‘once you build it they will use it’. I, for one, would be really happy to create a new app for it. Of course the index can be used not only for countries but also for states, provinces, cities, counties and all other administrative territories. Unfortunately we here at TDA do not have the skills to create such an index (no PhD candidates around here), we are throwing this out into the ether hoping that it will land on someone “to do” list. And once the bicycle Index is created we think that another Index called ‘Bicycle Happiness Index’ needs to be created.

Cyclists know that cycling makes us happy. But government officials, tourism consultants and drivers who do not cycle are a bit challenged on this. So a Bicycling Happiness Index will give them a quick tool to help them understand. And what would be the parameters that would need to go into Bicycle Happiness Index? Well, such good indicators as the smoothness of the road surface for the roadies, the frequency of maintenance on the trails, the amount of elevation that need to be conquered, the amount of sunshine per year, the amount of wind behind one’s back, the frequency of wonderful pit stops whether that would be wonderful Italian Frappuccinos (or whatever it is called) or a great beer, the number of hotels with bike friendly hosts, the number of traffic jams you will bypass and so on.  And for all of you cyclists out there who have no need for bicycle “Happiness Index” remember the old adage – money can’t buy happiness, but it sure can buy you some great transcontinental tours.

Source: Tour dAfrique

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Submitted by: Daina Kalnins, Build Your Tour

Build Your Tour plans the bike tour you want

Recently founded Build Your Tour LLC (Denver, CO) focuses on personalized planning for active, fit travelers – especially cyclists.

In today’s world of economic uncertainty and instant gratification “apps”, Build Your Tour introduces a “return to service” for planning bicycle vacations so cyclists experience exactly the joy-filled bicycle tour wanted. This dedicated team of cyclists delights in providing alternative plans, when customers find “group tours” are:

• Out of their price range;
• A mismatch to their geographic interests or fitness level;
• Scheduled at inconvenient times;
• Or just difficult to find in the plethora of websites.

How Build Your Tour Works

The active and vibrant team at Build Your Tour individually and personally inspects each profile submitted through www.buildyourtour.com. Starting with the region of the world to be explored; the number of days available; the type of lodging accommodations preferred and similar characteristics, a preliminary itinerary is developed. A Build Your Tour director reviews the itinerary with the customer allowing for modifications and changes. Then, the Build Your Tour team returns to the world wide web to gather and condense all the detailed information to provide the personalized, unique Build Your Tour Plan containing:

• Arrival and Departure Information
• Accommodation options for the evenings
• Route descriptions for bicycle touring
• Logistics to transfer between points
• A sample calendar
• Budget estimates

At Build Your Tour, “We produce your PLAN. You book and travel.”

Build Your Tour develops and provides plans for cyclists, and other active travelers wanting a customized, independent, self-supported vacation or extending their guided tour with extra days. The Build Your Tour team will also search the web for the “best-match” guided trip too! Tours or trips may be developed for any number of nights/days (minimum purchase is 4-night plan) and for any region. Route maps, personalized websites and photo book designs are add-on options. Watch www.buildyourtour.com for new product announcements!

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