You can ride this route as part of the Mount Tam Century or on your own whenever it suits you. But you must ride it. Our friends that are familiar with the route rave about both the ride quality of its beautiful California tarmac and the views as you emerge from the fog of the redwood forests. Loops in this area can run any length you like. We recommend the 94-mile option that includes the climb up 2,560-foot Mount Tamalpais, but whatever route you choose, you’ll likely gain 3,000 feet or more. Epic Bike Rides of the World is a fitting title for this book. Rides are graded as Easy, Harder and Epic with pretty much a three-way split of content. But the grading, of course, depends on the fitness, motivation and endurance level of the reader. I liked how the trips, while they do show a total distance, do not give any estimate of time needed to complete them, leaving the reader to make their own decision on this. Being an older rider, who appreciates the stops, more than the cycling, this feature appealed to me. I genuinely found it so interesting that I read it from cover to cover and loved spotting the Hebridean Way that runs the length of my home islands the Outer Hebrides in it :) The photography throughout the book is stunning and I loved the artwork style.

Lonely Planet Epic Bike Rides of the World: Explore the

Heaven in a road trip. This 185-mile route snakes all around the edge of Cape Breton Island, the most easterly point of Nova Scotia, in Canada. It's named after John Cabot, the Italian explorer who was the first European to sail to continental North America since the Vikings centuries earlier. (If you're thinking that John Cabot doesn't sound particularly Italian, you're right - his real name was Giovanni Caboto, but he used the anglicised version to make things easier for his patron and sponsor, the English King Henry VII). RIDING HIGHS: Leaving the Castillan plains behind and climbing up to the famed cross on the Monte de la Cruz de Ferro. RIDING HIGHS: Some of the sections of this already-challenging route call for technical mountain biking – an amazing wild ride if you’re fit enough. Arriving at the lip of the Grand Canyon on your own steam will fill you with pride. European rides include easy-going trips around Lake Constance, along the Danube and the Loire, and coast-to-coast routes; routes in Tuscany, Spain and Corsica; and professional journeys up Mt Ventoux and around the Tour of Flanders. If the very thought of a gruelling Lands’ End to John o’Groats down the length of Britain makes your thighs ache, try a shorter but no less epic bike tour across the width of England instead. The three-day, 140 mile Coast To Coast route (also called the Sea to Sea route) meanders through some of England’s wildest landscapes.Longtime Tour de France fans have heard about the great climbers of Basque Country for generations, but relatively few Americans ride there. Which is weird, because the western Pyrenees rival France with its mix of mountains, beaches, hamlets, and dining. Stage out of San Sebastian and ride the Alto de Arrate from both directions. The two-mile climb appears frequently in the Vuelta a España and annually in the Tour of the Basque Country. Think lush countryside and 10 percent grades—without the touristy T-shirt shops of France. The book covers in some detail fifty different possible cycling routes (as they call them) in thirty different countries, organized by region (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, Oceania). The number of routes per region varies widely, with all of two for Africa but nineteen for Europe and fourteen for the Americas. The rides are categorized "easy, harder, epic." For each route, there is a "tools" section that gives some information for someone who might actually be considering one of these rides, but since these are mostly not in one's neighborhood and would require considerable preparation, they are just a bare bones start at the research that would be required. The stories of the rides themselves really lit a fire in me and all of them made me want to start planning an epic ride. Maybe it was due to reading this on my 44th birthday when, I most definitely felt my middle-age made me realize that I'm thirsting for a real adventure: something that will push me and challenge me. However, I think I need to work on my fitness and battery management before taking on an epic ebike ride! I fully admit to gravitating towards this because of the cute illustrated cover and a vague desire to be encouraged to pedal around some picturesque riverside trail, while riding one of those bikes with a basket on the front containing, say, cheese and chocolate. However.... while there are maybe one or two rides like that in here, the majority seem to deal with grinding things out over mountaintops and along windswept and barren looking North Atlantic coastlines, not to mention some hard core mountain biking. I guess I knew this might not be pitched at my level when the first ride is 12,000 km from Egypt to South Africa. If you're looking for long-distance cycle routes with incredible mountain scenery that you don't have to work too hard to conquer, they don't come much better than this.

Epic Bike Rides of the World | Lonely Planet Epic Bike Rides of the World | Lonely Planet

Brent Soderberg/ Creative Commons) Vermont Gran Fondo, a.k.a. the Gaps Waitsfield and Warren, Vermont Of the Tour de France’s most famous climbs, the Col du Galibier is sketchy with too many tunnels, Mont Ventoux is windy and isolated, and the famed Alpe d’Huez is totally overrated (the top looks like a kitschy tourist shop). But the steady climb up the pass of Croix de Fer (the Iron Cross) runs some 20 miles and gains some 5,000 feet in the French Alps near Le Bourg-d’Oisans and is, in my estimation, the most scenic in France. Boulder is famous for its paved road riding. It should be known for its steep dirt. On a gravel bike, head up the Boulder Creek Path to Four Mile Canyon, then bang a left on Logan Mill and follow signs for the Escape Route, a forest-fire egress that’s steep enough to put you on the rivet. From there it’s on to Sugarloaf Road (paved and dirt) and the Peak to Peak Highway (paved). Make sure to stop at Salto in Nederland to refuel on pecan sandies and a macchiato for the big ring push down Magnolia Road to the Boulder Creek Path to complete the circuit. And this is but one of a half-dozen mixed-surface routes above Boulder that are nearly devoid of cars and feature soaring views of the Continental Divide. The format is puzzling. It isn't a coffee table book, but is large-ish format. Physically it reminds me of a high school text book.In Asia, we venture through Vietnam's valleys; complete the Mae Hong Son circuit in northern Thailand; cross the Indian Himalayas; and pedal through Bhutan. And in Australia and New Zealand we take in Tasmania and Queensland by mountain bike; cycle into Victoria's high country and around Adelaide on road bikes; and try some of New Zealand's celebrated cycle trails.