Bicycle Touring Has Come of Age Worldwide

We are on two wheels near the tip of Cape Meares beside the Bay of Tillamook.

From here the Three Loops Road follows the Pacific coastline to Cape Lookout and Cape Kiwanda, overlooking the grandeur of seascapes accented by lighthouses, sculptured cliffs, sand dunes and hideaway beaches.

Our two wheels belong to the tandem bicycle that was tucked into the back of our station wagon as we drove north through Oregon on the Interstate 5 route toward Expo 86 in Vancouver, Canada.

A friend in Eugene had advised us: “Turn off to the coast and U.S. 101 before you get to Portland. You won’t want to miss biking for a few hours around Tillamook--after you sample that fabulous local cheese at the Tillamook County Creamery.”

In Keeping With Expo

The experience of Tillamook and the Three Capes Loop is just one of many possible two-wheel side trips that will tempt cyclists to tote along a bike on a drive up to Expo.

A bicycle fits neatly into the Expo theme focusing on the history and future of transportation and communication. In turn, Expo has taken center stage at a time when “bicycle touring has come of age,” to quote Backroads Bicycle Touring of San Leandro, Calif., a travel company that has scheduled 132 bike tours this year, ranging from California and the West to Hawaii and New Zealand.

Euro-Bike Tours, based in De Kalb, Ill., links the bicycle to communication as well as transportation in its offering of tours through Europe: “The bicycle gives Americans a chance to interact closely with the people of other nations--to become an active part of the environment instead of watching the scenery pass through the window of a car, train or bus.”

The People’s Republic of China, which is helping to make history by participating in Expo with the Soviet Union and the United States, has opened the door to more bicycle tours than ever this year. Four of the new tours are sponsored by China Passage of Teaneck, N.J., offering such cycling destinations as Peking, the Yangtze Valley, the Great Wall, the ancient villages of the Pearl River Delta, and Yunnan Province, “Land of Eternal Spring.” You can rent a bike or take your own.

Kao International of Los Angeles, a pioneer in bicycle touring of southern China, in cooperation with United Airlines has put together a variety of 10- to 20-day packages for cycling some of the most historic and scenic areas in the south of China, with frequent departures through 1986 and 1987.

They include air transportation from the West Coast, all hotel accommodations and meals in China, guides and interpreters, cultural activities, sightseeing and bicycle rentals. Prices start at $659 for the 10-day tour out of 2,000-year-old Guangzhou (Canton), plus $910 for the air fare. Contact Kao International Inc., 1007 Broxton Avenue, Los Angeles, Calif. 90024. (213) 206-6001.

McBrides Earth Adventures, headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind., has seven new bicycle tours between Paris and Pompeii for this season. They vary from “Renaissance and Historic Italy” to “Biking and Ballooning--all across Burgundy.”

Domestic and Foreign Tours

The Bicycle Adventure Club of San Diego has put together eight tours covering the United States from California to Maine, and five foreign two-wheel treks to destinations including the Cotswolds of England, Peru from Lima to Machu Picchu, and Israel from the Mediterranean coast to the Red Sea and the Golan Heights.

Pacific Adventures of Irvine, Calif., is ready to take you on three-day bike tours of Yosemite, Napa/Sonoma wine country and Monterey/Carmel.

Vermont Bicycle Touring, which is sponsoring America’s first bicycle-schooner vacations this year, has summed up what is happening: “The word is out. Bicycling is in. ‘Doonesbury’s yuppies ride bikes on the cover of Newsweek. Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward take their family vacations with Vermont Bicycle Touring. For 10 years, Americans have purchased more bicycles than autos.”

If you aren’t driving to Expo and would like to get into bicycle touring, there’s sure to be a bike tour tailored to your interests and expertise.

Of the 132 tours offered by Backroads Bicycle Touring, one heads for Tillamook, its cheese sampling and the Three Capes Loop Road. Participants also bike through Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River, where the Lewis and Clark Expedition wintered in 1805-06, then pedal inland to the heart of the Oregon wine country for a night at the Flying M Ranch. Cost of the five-day tour is $450 per person, including lodging and meals.

Backroads expresses the philosophy of contemporary bike travel and the approach we take in our own bicycle treks. My wife, Elfriede, packs the appropriate lightweight clothing so that we can dine with candlelight and wine after a day of pedaling. Backroads puts it in these words: “This sure isn’t roughing it!”

Gourmet Cycling

Even when camping, you “ride into camp and relax. Swim, rest or just get comfortable while the Backroads crew prepares dinner. Enjoy hors d’oeuvres, wine and a leisurely meal on a table that has been set with candles and real china.” The dinners will surprise you with such gourmet items as barbecued chicken, spinach lasagna, Greek salad, sangria and pineapple upside-down cake.

If you are a beginning cyclist, your orientation can be as basic as learning how to shift gears. The daily routes cover different distances for beginning, intermediate and expert cyclists. A van is always ready to give a lift as well as carry the luggage.

Average age of cyclists on a tour is between 23 and 55, but 75-year-olds have enthusiastically participated, and so have families with small children. Among 1987 Backroads itineraries are five-day Death Valley tours, starting March 25 and April 5. For information on all its trips, contact Backroads Bicycle Touring, P.O. Box 1626, San Leandro, Calif. 94577, phone (415) 895-1783.

The new Sail ‘n’ Cycle vacation created by Vermont Bicycle Tours is based on sailing, sleeping and dining on Lake Champlain aboard the Homer W. Dixon, a 110-foot gaff-rigged windjammer schooner.

The windjammer can accommodate up to 23 participants. Each day they go ashore to cycle around the lake and through a different part of Champlain Valley’s picture-book farms, apple orchards and historic villages.

At the end of a biking day, guests reboard the windjammer and sail out across the lake. Family-style dinners feature roasts, fish and fresh vegetables. There’s always Vermont maple syrup for morning hotcakes. Dining is in the cherry-paneled galley. Sleeping is in cozy cabins. The five-day tours cost $595 per person through September.

Bikes and Boats

Another new tour combines cycling along the Connecticut River one day with canoeing down it the next day. Vermont Bicycle Touring offers 21 weekend tours, 12 five-day vacations and a trip-planning service for independent cyclists. Unless you’re living aboard a windjammer schooner, accommodations are in country inns.

Since 1972, 40,000 cyclists from every state and many countries have pedaled more than 4 million miles on VBT tours. For a free brochure, contact Vermont Bicycle Touring, Box 711-PX, Bristol, Vt. 05443, phone (802) 453-4811.

We’re also intrigued with the tours offered by Vermont Country Cyclers, which this year has expanded its tours to include the coast of Maine as well as a 12-day castle-to-castle cycling trek in Ireland. Ask for the brochure from Vermont Country Cyclers, Box 145, Waterbury Center, Vt. 05677, phone (802) 244-5215.

For details about other two-wheeler trips, contact:

Euro-Bike Tours, P.O. Box 40, De Kalb, Ill. 60115, phone (815) 758-8851; China Passage, 168 State St., Teaneck, N.J. 07666, phone (201) 837-1400; McBride’s Earth Adventures, 6608 St. James Drive, Indianapolis, Ind. 46217, phone (317) 783-9449; Bicycle Adventure Club, 3578 1/2 Bayside Walk, San Diego, Calif. 92109, phone (619) 488-7895; Pacific Adventures, 2691 Richter Ave., Suite 133, Irvine, Calif. 92714, phone (714) 474-1122.

A personal recommendation for getting in shape for a bicycle tour: Work out with the Los Angeles Wheelmen Bicycling Club. Weekly rides to test your capabilities start from the club’s Griffith Park Rendezvous. Write to the club for details at 1010 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, Calif. 90266.