Cycling holidays – The identikit

7 simple questions to complete the identikit of your ideal bike holidays.

There are several “styles” of cycling holidays, but only one is really the special one. Yours!

Let’s figure it out together now:

Asphalt or dirt road

• Asphalt – the itinerary mainly winds on less busy secondary roads. The bike goes fast but you share the road with other vehicles.
• Dirt road – mainly dirt roads and paths. The ground is rough and dusty, but there are no cars. Nature is the protagonist.

Type of bike

• Racing or gravel bicycle – Suitable only for expert cyclists. Riding a racing or gravel bicycle requires familiarity and a body accustomed to posture (back, neck).
• Mountain bike or city bike – Simple to ride, posture is generally comfortable. Your back is more vertical and the shock absorbers (if any) reduce the vibrations of the ground.

e-bike or regular bike

• Regular bike – Physical fitness must be proportionate to the daily distance and the difference in altitude. The homogeneity of the athletic training of the group becomes crucial. In the event of imbalances, the greatest risk is frustration among the participants, who will always have to slow down or wait, who trudges with difficulty, to keep the group from waiting and not getting lost.
• E-bike – the e-bike eliminates the stress related to performance by allowing a heterogeneous group to share the experience and go at the same pace. Those who are fatigued can resort to battery assistance and enjoy the ride. Those who want to train can use the bicycle with minimal assistance or switch it off completely. Today the best bikes have a range of up to 100 km.

Guided or Self-guided

• Guided – Structured program, pre-planned route, allows you to “see and do” a lot. The chances of losing you are almost nil. Competent guides offer information on local culture and history. The guided tour has a higher cost than the independent visit. The success of the tour is strongly based on the professionalism and courtesy of the guide.
• Self-guided – Extremely flexible, both for the itinerary and for the timetable. You can make as many detours as you wish. An autonomous bike tour could cost a lot in case of unexpected events that you are unable to manage, as well as losing many things to see or try because you do not know the places.

Private or Group tour?

• Private – travel with your family or friends. The itinerary and times are customizable. More privacy. The cost may be slightly higher than that of the group.
• Group – ideal for those traveling alone or in pairs. Your travel companions are strangers. On average, a bit cheaper than the private tour. To be assessed whether the alleged savings offset the potential risks.

Itinerant or Daily rides

• Daily rides – Daily experiences that begin and arrive from the same location. Great for exploring an area in depth. Logistically simple because the overnight stay is always in the same place.
• Itinerant – It is a real journey. Every day moving by bike to a different place. Every night a different lodging. During the journey it is necessary to manage the transfer of luggage.

Luggage transport (in case of travel)

• Luggage transport by van – Bike is light; every day the baggage is transferred to the next destination. The amount of clothing you can store in your suitcase is large. CO2 emissions related to the transfer of baggage.
• Luggage transport by bike – Luggage travels with you by bike. There is a lot of space in the bags but a rigorous selection of what to bring is required. Spartan but “green” approach, zero CO2 emissions.

I hope this short guide has given you some ideas to better focus on the important aspects of your ideal bike trip. Now you can start to imagine your perfect cycling holiday in a more concrete way, more consciously.

Cycling holidays means choosing to travel at a slow pace. Exploring a territory on a bicycle, allows you to see the landscape like through a magnifying glass. Let images, colors and scents pass through you. They are subtle, unforgettable emotions.

And then the sun, the rain, the wind, will be your travel companions. You can pedal or stop, respecting their “rhythms”.

An unexpected stop under a tree, while the rain falls in the open countryside, will be a magical moment, where everything will stop, and the forgotten scents will return to enchant you. In silence, contemplation turns into emotion.

The bike, leaning against a tree, is waiting for you, ready to go to discover new emotions.

We at Tuscany Quintessence have made a precise choice to offer our customers cycling experiences, which differ in content and quality.

• We like cycling holidays on dirt roads, because being in nature is regenerating.
• We favor the use of e-bikes because we focus on sharing experience rather than performance.
• We offer guided tours because we are excited to share our knowledge, energy and experience with education and respect.
• We prefer small private groups (friends and families) because this experience unites and strengthens the bond between the participants, also helping to get to know us better.
• We love cycling holidays in itinerant mode, with bags on the bike, traveling with the bare minimum, because the sense of freedom of this way of traveling is extraordinary, difficult to describe. And then we avoid CO2 emissions.

I still remember my first itinerant cycling holiday … an overwhelming experience.

An itinerant bike trip with Lele, my longtime friend. After (many) years, we both have such an intense memory of those hours on the pedals that it almost seems to be able to relive those emotions.

Even today, every bike trip excites me. Distance or destination doesn’t matter much, but rather the spirit with which I live these little big adventures.

If you want to know more about our bike tours or if you need general suggestions, feel free to contact us, we will be happy to answer your questions. Your cycling holidays are important to us!

We want your dream of freedom to be transformed into an experience to be lived intensely, to be shared with family or friends.

Alberto

PS – “The weight of your luggage impresses you when you leave; the weight of your memories impress, when you come back” – Cyclosophist