The joy of riding - Is a cycling holiday for me?

When I first bought a road bike, it was not my thought to spend several days, travelling with my bike. In my (sports-minded) environment, friends and girlfriends went to the Alps Whether the Pyrenees. With a tent, in an apartment or luxurious in a hotel. Bikepacking was not hip back then. I first heard about the existence of 'La Marmotte' and 'the Maratona'. When they asked me if I was going along, I invariably replied: 'I'm not crazy, am I?' How different it is now.

So I thought: is a cycling holiday for everyone? Why would you want to? And how do you go about it? In brief, I explain how I approach it and give you some handy tips. Read along?

Text: Sander Kolsloot

The joy of riding - fun is number one

The single most important thing I want to pass on to anyone thinking: 'is a cycling holiday for me?' 'The joy of riding' is the single most important reason to go in the end. That seems logical. After all, you want to do things you enjoy and/or like on holiday. This immediately answers the most important question: if you like cycling, then a cycling holiday is for you. Now you just have to decide what 'cycling holiday' means for you. I will give you a few more tips that will take you a step further 'in the process'.

Many shapes and sizes

Cycling holidays come in many shapes and sizes. A long weekend to the Luxembourg Ardennes, a week in Basque Country or Switzerland, a winter training camp at Tenerife or a bikepacking trip for however long you would like. Anything can be a cycling holiday. You can think about the following options:

• Do I want to cycle every day or do I want to cycle, say, 40% of all the days, or maybe just a few days total?
• Do I want to cycle all day? Or, for example, do I want to go for a ride in the morning and do something else with your family in the afternoon?
• What is the purpose of the holiday? Is it a training camp or is it a holiday for fun?
• Do I take my bring your own bike or hire one?
• Will I fly, train or car? Or by bike?
• How long am I actually going away for?
• Mountains or flat? Along the river, through hill country or island hopping?
• With friends, with your partner or family?
• Do I stay in one place or move from hotel to hotel (or campsite to campsite)

This overview already shows: all variations on a cycling holiday cannot be captured in one term. So with that, you can go and see what suits you. Because no matter how you look at it, this way everyone can find a cycling holiday for themselves. The question: is a cycling holiday something for me, you can then answer with 'yes'!

Here are the main tips

• Going on a cycling holiday for the first time? Then start small. Don't go cycling every day for a week. Go for a long weekend, for example, or if you do go for a week, take rest periods. You will benefit from this
• Going to fly to Mallorca or a Canary Island? For your first holiday, just take a rental bike. There are lots of good providers in these regions. You won't go wrong there easily and it saves a lot of hassle with bike cases, mounting and dismounting the bike and more
• Preparation: when you pick a place to cycle, check the map to see if there is a flat route. If you sit at 1,200 metres in Vaujany or Crans-Montana, for example, it's very cool, but you ALWAYS end up with a climb. Then you're better off in the valley.
• What do YOU like? Just want to cycle for an hour and then have a coffee? Do it! Want to go on a pro training camp? Do it! but choose what YOU like and not what the group does but which you are not comfortable with.

Starting small

For me, the cycling holiday bug has slowly crept in. How that came about? I started small. After a long period of little or no cycling, I picked up cycling again in 2014. I was then pulled along by a good friend who had caught the cycling bug. From a round of tank track came a big round of Utrecht hillside and suddenly there was the 'MTB weekend' in the Belgian Ardennes. Three days of cycling abroad. My first 'cycling holiday'. The ingredients were clear: cycle during the day, drink the light out of my eyes at night to go again the next day. Not a success for my body. The following year I went again, not on the MTB. The road bike came along and so I rode some famous Liège-Bastogne-Liège classics on my own, such as the Stockeu. A year later, a few days in the Vosges and then the spark was over.

Habituation

The first time you go cycling on holiday will be different from back home. You have more time on holiday than in everyday life with work, family and social commitments. Chances are you will cycle more than usual. Or that you think: what the pro riders can do, I can do too. Habituation is the code word. If you are not used to suddenly cycling 150 km and 4000 altimeters a day, then 'The Ride' or a week's training camp is not for you. So keep that in mind as well. Also check our tips for riding in a group with level differences. It helps a lot.

Get ready

The success of a cycling holiday hinges on preparation. That starts, of course, with bringing the right things (check our basic packing list for that). But even if you have never cycled in the mountains before, it might be useful to find a place where you can also do a 'coffee round'. For example, if you are going to Mallorca goes, then it is advisable to choose a place by the beach to stay, such as Palma, Alcudia or Port Pollenca and not sit in Soller. Soller is gorgeous, but you can only 'go up' there. The same goes for Crans-Montana or Tenerife. Beautiful destinations, but a coffee round often includes several hundred altimeters. So then it is advisable to choose another destination where you also have a 'valley ride'. Or as in Crans-Montana: downhill and then up by gondola.

Nothing is required, everything is allowed

What I have noticed in 15+ years of cycling: everyone has an opinion on everything. About equipment, about clothing, about hours on the bike, about speeds. Thanks to Strava, a whole subculture has emerged in which KOM/QOM, averages and other non-trivial things matter. I mean: does it really matter whether you cycled 99.9 or 100 kilometres? Unintentionally, it deters. That while cycling in all its forms is fantastic. If you want to go on a cycling holiday, then it is very important to remember: nothing must, everything goes! Strava is nice for reference. Averages don't matter otherwise. Anyone who is into that, be my guest. But don't bother others with it. That you can keep up with Robert Gesink at 100 metres once, good for you. He passes you backwards on Alpe d'Huez. And that for 3 weeks.

Choose what suits you

As I said earlier: choose what suits you. Want to go from Utrecht to the Eifel in ten stages? Why not? Want to do it in 1 day? Let's go! Do you want to go from North to south Portugal Like Pedro? Go for it. Discover all the splendour of the Wadden coast? You can. Micro adventures for a day, it's great every time. When I go on holiday, my bike comes with me. Out of seven days a week, I cycle four at most. When I go out for Cycling Destination, that ratio is different, about five to six days. If I'm on holiday with my family myself, I might cycle in the morning and be with my children in the afternoon. Or I meet my family at a lunch spot. I also do a coffee round of 35 kilometres or less. The pleasure of cycling is the most important thing.

But what should I do now?

First of all: you don't have to do anything. But if you think: I just want to cycle 'for a few days' in the Netherlands or abroad, think: I will do what I feel like doing and then it will be fine. Above all, don't let what others do get you off track. Especially not the one neighbour who has been going on cycling holidays for 35 years, or the group of friends who are always chasing each other off. Think about what you like yourself and go for it. Here are a few more handy tips

• This is our basic packing list. Here's everything you should need to get off to a good start
• For route planning, use the functions of Komoot. We are not paid for this, but we are just fans of this app. Always pay attention to the 'you can't cycle here' warnings.
• Choose a place where you can ride a nice variety of routes. In Netherlands goes quite easily, but abroad and especially in the high mountains it can be an issue.
• If you bring your own bike, always have it checked before you go. If you rent a bike on location, check your measurements (especially the stack and reach) or at least your saddle height (measured from centre of bottom bracket to saddle). At least then you will always know you are sitting correctly.
• Check with a local landlord or coffee shop to see if you can hook up with a group. You can also use apps like Cyql or Linkmyride use. At a coffee ride/club ride/social ride, the speed is adjusted to the group, you meet new people and you don't have to think about the route. Lovely!
• If you don't want to plan a holiday yourself, but want to join an existing offer, you can go to, for example Roadbike holidays watch, or to BikeVillasTravel. For the novice cyclist Amateurcyclist.co.uk a very fine organisation.