Probably not the best, but extremely enjoyable routes along river Ruhr and river Rhine from Cologne to south. Very beautiful places, excellent cycling infrastructure and many camping places.
Blue Ridge Parkway particularly in North Carolina and Tennessee - epic climbs (especially in March when the roads are closed to motor vehicles but open to cyclists), beautiful views, and nice cabins if you decide to stay in the mountains such as Mt. Roan.
I didn't realize the BRP was still open to cyclists when closed to autos. I've ridden the entire thing before, and did it the week of Memorial Day. .and yes, It's a beautiful road to tour.
Can’t believe you missed out Taiwan! Cycle-friendly roads all the way around the coast, amazing scenery, brilliant food and, to cap it all, the Taroko gorge climb. It’s a must.
The canarian islands are great! If you pick your route carefully you'll have some great quiet roads what absolute epic climbs! There is a lot of cycling toerism so renting a bike and going on group rides is an option on all the islands. The weather is really stable year round, a round 25°c all year, ideal for riding! At only 4hours of flying away from home, the best cycling destinition there is, in my opinion.
Yes, it wouldn't be high on my list of best cycling destinations, because Australia is one of the most anti-cyclist countries in the world. I can't wait until September, when I temporarily leave Australia to visit the Pyrénées again.
Burgundy, France. Did a weeks cycling there last September. Roads are beautifully quiet and in great condition. Not the most massive climbs but they all add up on a long ride. And the best thing is you can load up the car with wine from visits to the local vineyards!
Central Switzerland is awesome for riding in June & July, especially around Lake Lucerne (Vierwaldstättersee). There are scenic roads and trails around the lakes, as well as a range of medium to hard climbs up some alpine and sub-alpine passes.
Most underrated cycling ground in the USA is the Driftless region of SW Wisconsin. Anywhere W of Madison or S of Lacrosse or N of Dubuque/Galena is a good base. Fantastic roads with very little traffic. Endless rollers with lush countryside. Great training and the beer/food is superb and simple.
Having just come back from Italy having done the Stelvio Gran Fondo, Bormio is a must. Amazing town, and a stones throw from the Stelvio, Gavia and Foscango passes, all iconic Cicli Coppi climbs in the Giro. Roads aren’t busy and everyone’s friendly. A favourite of mine is Gran Canaria or Tenerife which is great winter training grounds.
Located in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, I suggest riding around Riccione, Italy (near Rimini). There are a few "bike hotels" where in the late spring they are taken over by cyclists. One is Hotel Sarti, where you can be lead out for daily 100+km rides by former national champions (ok they are in their 70's now, but they will kick your butt). You'll see a hint of Tuscany, and many castles and even visit San Marino, all in one day.
Around Boulder and Denver It takes a while to acclimatise to the altitude and being super dry atmosphere due to the altitude again makes it easy to dehydrate under suffer mountain sickness so you need to manage this in summer. It is a great cycling destination and a beautiful part of the world. But it’s Radelaide for me as I am biased and it’s my country so of course it’s the best.
Enjoy. I graduated from CU awhile back. Rode my bike all over those 4 years. Waking up early tomorrow for the first day of the Courage Classic Tour (Copper to Leadville to Vail to Copper)! You’ll love it here.
Nice, France. Beatiful surroundings. Lots of climbs, but nothing too extreme. Great weather. Close to the airport. Lots of stuff to do on the inevitable rest day.
San Diego, California. Fantastic hill climbs like Mt Palomar (climb to 5500ft up constant switchbacks with spectacular views), up to Idelwild from Hemet, or along the road past Mt Laguna, looking down 3000ft into the desert. In all you'll be climbing from avocado and orange orchards to firs and pine at altitude. Dramtic scenery, good quality roads and and generally very polite and courteous drivers. Ride in short sleeves all year round, even in the middle of winter, where daytime temperatures still consistently reach mid twenties Celsius! Or, cruise along the coast from Oceanside to La Jolla, enjoying cafes long the route and a swim in the surf afterwards. The mountains and inland valleys can be very hot (30 - 37 Celsius) in the summer, but midday temperatures along the coast are a generally pleasant 18 - 25 degrees all year round. Rain - forget it. Maybe 10 days a year, and when it rains in southern California it pours, and no one bothers to ride those days...
Boulder: superb but you'll need a day or two prep to get acclimated to the thinner air up there, so please factor into you're planning if you're thinking of going: ie: do your higher altitude climbs towards the end of the week to avoid suffering from altitude sickness, typically above 7,500 ft.
Gran Canaria. Great climbs, fantastic scenery, super roads, always good weather, .... need I say more. Oh yes, also all the logistics support you ever need.
Bright in Victoria Australia is surrounded by amazing climbs which host fantastic events such as the alpine classic and 3 peaks! Snow in the winter = Cycling in the summer.
Le Freney-d'Oisans! Just a stone's throw from Alpe d'Huez, Galibier, and Croix de Fer. I spent a week there with some great friends a few years ago...should...must go back!
Not sure about the Flanders recommendation including fine weather - after all there's a design shop here in Brussels that in its range of paints has a foreboding grey called "Belgian Sky! (Agree about the beer though) Another destination I'd add though is the Côte d'Azur. Nice to Menton as a base gives access to amazing rides (that GCN have covered in the past) including the Col de la Madonne, col du Braus and col du Turini. You can also get there by train (even from the UK via Eurostar with a change in Lille then direct by TGV all the way to Nice!) I'll be in there (again) in Roqubrune-Cap-Martin in July :-)
Hi GCN, myself and a few friends are heading to Andorra in September the week after the last stage of the Vuelta. Andorra sits 3000ft above sea level with some fantastic climbs in the Pyrenees, I'd like to hear if anyone else has been here an any tips would be great. Maybe GCN could do something there.
I've been to Boulder, it's wonderful indeed, for cycling and hiking. I hoped gorgeous Colorado would stay my little secret but. Adelaide ?? urghh. Would be afraid to stumble across D.......r ! Plus, it's far, like... real far.
But be careful on the roads - ironically its often better on the main roads where there's space or sometimes a dedicated bike path rather than smaller 70km/hr limited roads that can be rather narrow (well at least in Bohuslän this is my experience)
Hey peeps: you have been really lazy with the training videos recently; I have been waiting since march for a ride-along upload, sort it out lads! Get on your bike and cycle through the Sahara and make a training video form it. I say that you owe the GCN community at least 1 video per month since March … lets make it TWO so that you do not get lazy with the train with a GCN presenter in future! Many thanks peeps :) Peace :)
Hi everyone, I live for 2 Years in Taiwan (Taichung) and I ride the bicycle every day to work and also on weekends I ride around the country, the epic climbs are countless and so are the decent's, cyclist are very welcome and there are so many destinations you can ride to that it is worth planning a trip. Coastal roads or mountain roads anything you wish for. And for some of you who like to do a long climb, there is a chance to the mountain pass of Mount Hehuanshan (3275M), the highest mountain pass in Taiwan where also the KOM challenge takes place once a year.
You should come to Medellín, Colombia. Great weather all the year, great mountains all over the place. And the oportunity to ride Letras: 80 km in one climb, the colombian Mauna Kea, and many other great places!
Some inspiration for riding on the road in Crete: mirabellogf.gr/index_en.html dulachotel.gr/cycling-in-crete.html www.tourofcrete.gr/site/index.php/en/
Having just come back from Italy having done the Stelvio Gran Fondo, Bormio is a must. Amazing town, and a stones throw from the Stelvio, Gavia and Foscango passes, all iconic CimaCoppi climbs in the Giro. Roads aren’t busy and everyone’s friendly. A favourite of mine is Gran Canaria or Tenerife which is great winter training grounds.
Did the Stelvio Gran fondo last year. Totally agree with Bormio and I'd add the Hotel I stayed at "got" cyclists like no other I've been to. Dedicated bike storage with a full range of tools, workstands, track pumps and even a bike shower in the hotel basement!
In the winter there are few places nicer than Tucson Arizona for cycling, there are lots of options here including 100+ miles of car free paths, Mt Lemmon climbs and it's the only UNESCO City of Gastronomy in the US. Please visit!
What about Croatia, close to Rijeka? Ucka Vojak is not a small mountain with it's 1401m height with paved road to the peak. And for motorcycle fans like me, we have the historical Opatija Circuit there to do some laps around the track with a non-motored bike. Finally of course if you are exhausted by cycling, you can join other, non-cyclist holiday people and go to the beach, to fabulous restaurants at night to have an excelent dinner or anything what a mediterranean beach can offer. And yeah, it's not that expensive. :)
Chautauqua County with Chautauqua institution is an unknown cycling paradise with a small active cycling community, wonderful climbs and descents, with vineyards and blue water views that rival seaside descents. In the summer months the cultural scene/ acres bike activities are unparalleled. Kent A Lieber MD
I'm from the UK but live in Colorado so I'm biased and agree Mount Evans is good, it's not that steep just a constant slog and gets tough when you reach the higher altitude e.g. the last mile. Boulder is good, don't rule out Utah, it is a beautiful state. Further west in the Colorado mountains is great too, e.g. Durango, Gunnison, Fruita (Kokopelli Trail), Monarch Crest (Salida). Buffalo Creek (Pine) is a common favorite for Colorado. Arizona's good for some winter sun. As for Europe, Club La Santa in Lanzarote and Mallorca (Sa Calobra, Lighthouse in the North Eastern point & so many more).
If you want to go somewhere with amazing cycling, car free roads, an abundance of spectacular and varied views, plus some of the best local food in the world, try the Cevennes Mountains in south-central France: www.445cyclingtours.com/product/highroad-cevennes/. The best part is, you'll be among the rare cycling breed who knows about it.
San Diego, California. Fantastic hill climbs like Mt Palomar (climb to 5500ft up constant switchbacks with spectacular views), up to Idelwild from Hemet, or along the road past Mt Laguna, looking down 3000ft into the desert. In all you'll be climbing from avocado and orange orchards to firs and pine at altitude. Dramatic scenery, good quality roads and and generally very polite and courteous drivers. Ride in short sleeves all year round, even in the middle of winter, where daytime temperatures still consistently reach mid twenties Celsius! Or, cruise along the coast from Oceanside to La Jolla, enjoying cafes long the route and a swim in the surf afterwards. The mountains and inland valleys can be very hot (30 - 37 Celsius) in the summer, but midday temperatures along the coast are a generally pleasant 18 - 25 degrees all year round. Rain - forget it. Maybe 10 days a year, and when it rains in southern California it pours, and no one bothers to ride those days...
What are the odds? I was just going to request you guys start a series on this topic. I'd like to visit wherever it was that Emma filmed her comfort during climbing video that posted recently? Thank You!
Definately agree that Boulder is a great place to ride with the altitude, though I think that you should always be warned that you are going to need a day or more to get used to the higher altitude and its gonna take a while to adapt to climbing at such high altitude. Alta Badia looks great although I have been captivated by the Appenines in Italy along with the Austrian Alps, not somewhere that gets a lot of exposure but somewhere different also exceptionally good for climbing. On that note never seem to get a lot of love for Turkey, increadible country and some really mixed terrain, plus the weather stays good for a large part of the year..
Jeff K I wouldn’t be able to tell you, but you seem to have a lot of experience doing drugs... how about you stick to writing useful comments and read a book every once in a while
Aotearoa New Zealand! Land of the long white cloud and home to beautiful vistas to cycle through. Tour Aotearoa features 3000km (and over 44000m of elevation) of sealed roads, gravel, cycle paths and trials through parks, beaches, forests, and mountains.
Maui HI, there's Haleakala to climb, the West Maui Loop, and the Road to Hana. There are some dodgy bits on WML and RTH, where the road gets very narrow, but the scenery is amazing and the weather is very consistent.
Dear @GCN you are or were my holiday cycling sportive... not other than the dragon ride in Wales as a very early post of you put it into my bucket list... I've ride all the 300km in one day and also over 500km more all around Wales... am still in UK wondering... could we ride along?
In december, january and february, you could also come to ride to Colombia, we've got the routes where some of the best climbers in the world train (Boyacá Region where Nairo Quintana lives, or Antioquia, where Sergio and Sebastián Henao spend all their time), we also have one of the longest climbs in the world "Alto de Letras"
Been to Tenerife and the French alps (Bourg d'oisans) before and they were both amazing. Mount Teide is a must do as are all the TDF climbs in the Alps. Looking forward to visiting a few of the places in this video in the next few years.
Not big epic rides, but amazing scenery and challenging rides can be found on the San Juan Islands in the state of Washington in the United States. There are four primary islands that the ferry goes to. Once on the islands, cyclists can use the ferry for free. None of the islands are flat but have some rolling hills and Orcas Island has a challenging climb up Mt. Constitution. The islands show up in several lists as one of the best cycling destinations.
Portugal as very nice road to ride particularly in north and center. and you can't miss the serra da estrela with a massive climb. I've done a GF sera da estrela last year, the final climb was terrific !
