The blog
From the road
Route notes from the roads we scout, guides to training for and planning a tour abroad, and diaries written by riders who came with us.
Showing 7 posts in Route Notes.
Planning a Corporate Cycling Trip: A Guide for Indian Companies
A cycling trip for a leadership team or a group of colleagues is not a club trip. How to plan for a wide spread of fitness, approvals, leave, visas and invoices, in India or abroad.
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Rocacorba and Els Àngels: Girona's Two Defining Climbs
One is the climb Girona's professionals use to test their form. The other ends at the chapel where Dalí got married. What to expect on both.
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Organising a Cycling Trip Abroad for Your Club
Someone in every club ends up organising the trip. A practical guide to getting eight or more riders to the same start line abroad: mixed abilities, money, dates, visas and bikes.
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What Gearing Do You Need for a Cycling Holiday in the Mountains?
Climbing cadence by gear and gradient, calculated for real riders. Why a bike set up for flat roads can turn a mountain week into a grind, and what to change before you go.
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Riding in Europe From India: When to Commit, and Why the Visa Decides It
For an Indian rider, the deadline for a European cycling tour is set by the Schengen visa, not the tour. How far ahead to commit, which country to apply to, and where the real delays are.
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Galle to Ella by Bike: Cycling Sri Lanka's South
Most visitors see Sri Lanka's beaches and stop. On a bike, the coast is where the week starts: past Galle Fort, inland through paddy and village country, and up into the hills around Ella.
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What a Supported Cycling Tour Includes, and What You'll Still Pay For
Two tours at the same price can include very different things. A line-by-line guide to what is usually covered, what varies, and what you will pay for on top.
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How to Train for Climbing When Your Roads Are Flat
Strong on the flat, undercooked on a mountain? How riders in India's flatter cities can prepare for a week of sustained climbing abroad, with the numbers from real tours to train against.
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How to Choose a Cycling Tour Operator: 10 Questions to Ask Before You Pay
Two cycling tours can look identical on paper and be completely different weeks. Ten questions that tell you what you are actually buying, before you pay a deposit.
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The Mae Hong Son Loop by Bike: 1,864 Curves, Give or Take
The most famous road loop in northern Thailand is usually ridden on a motorbike. On a bicycle it is 693 km and over 15,000 metres of climbing. What it is actually like, and why nobody agrees on the number of curves.
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Supported, Self-Guided or Bikepacking: Which Cycling Trip Suits You?
Four ways to do a cycling trip abroad, and what each really asks of you. An honest comparison, including when a supported tour is the wrong choice.
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A 10-Week Training Plan for a Multi-Day Cycling Tour
A cycling tour is not one hard ride. It is five or seven in a row. A ten-week plan built around what multi-day riding actually demands: volume, back-to-back days and arriving fresh.
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Flying With Your Bike From India: What to Check Before You Book
Bring your own bike or rent at the other end? What Indian airlines charge for a bicycle, how to pack one, and the checks that save you a scene at the check-in counter.
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Tuscany, Day by Day: Our First Cycling Tour in Chianti and the Val d'Orcia
Eight days of riding through Chianti, Siena and the Val d'Orcia: a little strade bianche, plenty of climbing, long lunches and the mozzarella nobody stopped talking about. Our first Tuscany tour, one day at a time.
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Sa Calobra: The Mallorca Climb You Have to Descend First
A dead-end road built by hand in 1932, a 270-degree loop that passes under itself, and a climb you can only start by riding down it first. What to expect on Sa Calobra.
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Riding a European Gran Fondo From India: Mallorca 312 and L'Eroica
Mallorca 312 and L'Eroica are two of Europe's best-known amateur rides. What each involves, when entries open, and the visa and bike questions an Indian rider has to solve first.
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Samoeng, Mae Kampong and Doi Suthep twice. Why a week of cool, dry riding north of Chiang Mai at the end of November is well timed for riders building towards an Indian season.
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Vietnam or Northern Thailand? Choosing Your First Cycling Tour
Two very different weeks on a bike in Southeast Asia. Smooth tarmac and comfortable hotels, or dirt roads, ferries and a night on a mattress in a stilt house.
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Cycling the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Central Vietnam
What it is actually like to ride the Truong Son mountains near the Laos border, and why the road most people photograph is not the trail they think it is.
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Cycling Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai
Most people cover the distance between Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai in three hours and see none of it. On a bike it takes six days, and the road is the point.
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Meghalaya Diaries
Chasing anything has its consequences, a huge build-up to the exotic Meghalaya finally materialized on Oct 10th. Beautiful clean scenery and rain joined us. We are staying in Sohra (as Cherrapunjee is called…
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Cycling Ceylon: A Beginner’s Journey
When the tour of Sri Lanka was announced, the brochure talked about riding alongside paddy fields, lakes, and fishing villages. It was very enticing, but I was skeptical. I was on a long break from work and…
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