As we prepare for our bike tour in Italy, we’ve been catching up on expert opinions and industry news about touring by bicycle. This is a relatively new form of travel for us; our first bike trip was just last year. Since joining the Adventure Travel Trade Association, we’ve learned bike tours are one of the fastest growing segments of adventure travel. We're living proof that biking's popularity extends across a wide range of ages and ability levels!
So we chatted with Jim Johnson, of Biketours.com, to get a sense of what the appeal is, and how to plan and prepare for your bike tour. Then we were interviewed by Travel Writers Radio about our upcoming plans, and incorporated some of Jim’s quotes.
This post is part of our Italy Travel Guide for Travelers Over 50 — including our complete guide to cycling through Puglia and active travel in Italy.
We hope the 12-minute episode here conveys some of the wonder of slow travel by bike, and also encourages you to give it a try. From experience, we can assure you that our little doubts and reservations about fitness and preparedness quickly gave way to the easy pace, close-up sight-seeing, and culinary stops along the route.
We call it active travel instead of adventure travel, because bike tours like this are accessible to a range of ages and abilities. Even better, the rewards of visiting your destination are heightened with that healthy feeling of accomplishment.
You can refer to our earlier posts, too, if you prefer to read. We wrote about how and why we decided on our Italy bike tour, and we outlined our, ahem, training program to prepare for the ride.
Interested in more podcasts about our travels? We contribute regularly to Travel Writers Radio (out of Melbourne, Australia) and you’ll find Kris’s episodes here on Soundcloud. Browse through all sorts of travel news, reviews, and features by following Travel Writers Radio.
