Biking Archives - Page 66 of 142

Biking

ToroVerde park delivers an adventure in Puerto Rico

by Kraig Becker on Jul 22, 2010

Thrill seekers who are looking to take a break from all that sun and surf while visiting Puerto Rico now have a new option to add a little excitement to their vacation. The recently opened ToroVerde Adventure Park is ready to give them the jolt of adrenaline that they’re looking for, offering up opportunities to rock climb, mountain bike, and choose from an array of zip line tours.

Located near Orocovis, not far from San Juan, the adventure park is a jungle playground with plenty to do both on the ground and over it. With eight different ziplines to choose from, each with varying heights, lengths, and speeds, you’re sure to find a route that works for you. So if you’re looking for a leisurely glide through the treetops, you might want to try the “Red Tail Hawk Flight” line, but if you want to jump start your heart, go with the “Flight of the Phoenix” instead. But for the ultimate zip line experience, try the Beast Tour, which straps you to a special harness, and sends you sailing for more than 4700 feet through the jungle canopy.

If the zip lines aren’t enough to hold your interest however, you can take one of ToroVerde’s special tours. For instance, the Wild Bull or the Escape If You Can tours combine zipping with rappelling, hiking, and rock climbing to create an adventurous mix that will carry you deep into the jungle and up rugged mountain paths.

When you’re done exploring on foot, you can visit the ToroVerde’s signature mountain bike park, and enjoy some two wheeled fun as well. The single-track course was designed by professional mountain bike rider Marla Streb, and has been built to cater to every rider’s needs, whether they are a beginner or an expert. The eight mile ride has challenging climbs and heart pounding drops, and delivers some great views of the surrounding area along the way.

Billed as an “ecotouristic” park, ToroVerde looks to be a great mix of tropical scenery and extreme sports. For a day filled with adventure, take a break from the beach and go play in the jungle instead.

[Photo credit: ToroVerde Adventure Park]

New adventure festival celebrates South African explorers

by Kraig Becker on Jul 18, 2010

What do you get when you mix the Banff Film Festival with TED Talks in a celebration of adventure and exploration? You get an all new adventure festival called FEAT that will make its debut in Johannesburg, South Africa later this year, promising us “1 night, 12 adventurers, Seven minutes each.”

FEAT, which stands for Fascinating Expeditions & Adventure Talks, is being billed as the ultimate armchair adventure experience, and with good reason. The festival will feature 12 outstanding explorers, all of which are from South Africa, who will have exactly seven minutes, no more and no less, to share an experience from a recent expedition. This format means that the speakers will have to stay on topic, remain focused on their message, and tell their tale quickly if they hope to share these important elements from one of their adventures. What they share is completely up to them. It could be something they learned about the world around them or even something they learned about themselves, but no matter what it is, they have just seven minutes to convey that experience through their own words and a some carefully selected photographs.

Some of the guests for the evening include Kyle Meenehan, who once circumnavigated South Africa on foot and Mandy Ramsden who is the first African woman to climb the Seven Summits. They’ll be joined on stage by Pierre Carter, who is hoping to paraglide from the top of the highest mountain on each continent and Riaan Manser, who has ridden his bike around the entire African continent and circumnavigated Madagascar in a kayak as well.

Tickets for the event will go on sale Monday, August 2nd, at Computicket. The actual event will take place on October 7th at the Wits Theatre in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, and if you’re going to be in the area in early October, I highly recommend you plan on taking part in the festivities. It seems like it is going to be a fun and fascinating evening.

Obamas visit Acadia National Park this weekend

by Kraig Becker on Jul 17, 2010

Last summer the First Family spent some of their vacation time in Yellowstone National Park, one of the most popular and iconic parks in the entire U.S. system. It seems Barack, Michelle, and the girls enjoyed their visit so much that they decided to check out another one of the amazing national parks, this time opting to spend the weekend in Acadia National Park, just outside Bar Harbor, Maine.

The Obamas arrived in Bar Harbor yesterday and had a full day of activities already planned. Upon arrival, they immediately went for a bike ride along a secluded trail that had been cleared by a team of park rangers and the Secret Service. After that, it was off to the top of Cadillac Mountain, which offers spectacular views of the surrounding countryside from its 1530 foot summit. Later, the foursome would explore Frenchman Bay by boat, although that tour was cut short when bad weather moved in. The rest of the weekend will be filled with similar outdoor activities, with some quiet relaxation mixed in as well.

Acadia is a wonderful destination for those looking for an active escape. The park offers great road cycling routes, fantastic sea kayaking, and some of the best hiking in the northeast. For the more adventurous, the granite cliffs make for great climbing and the backwoods camping offers plenty of peace and solitude, even when you don’t have your own Secret Service agents to clear the area.

If the park is good enough for the First Family, it’s probably good for yours too.

[Photo credit: AP/Charles Dharapak]

Travel + Leisure picks the best tour operators and safari outfitters

by Kraig Becker on Jul 13, 2010

A few days back we told you about Travel + Leisure magazine’s picks for the world’s best hotels, which are part of their annual World’s Best Awards in which T+L readers select the very best in travel from around the globe. Other categories in the survey include selections for best cities, islands, airlines, and more.

Of particular interest to adventurous travelers are the magazine’s selections for the Top 20 Tour Operators and Safari Outfitters which shines the spotlight on some of the best adventure travel companies in the world. The selections are a result of readers ranking the various companies in six unique criteria including staff/guides, itineraries/destinations, activities, accommodations, food, and value. Respondents to the survey were asked to rate the the characteristics from 1 to 5, with 5 representing an “excellent” rating and a 1 delivering a “poor” score. The averages of the component ratings were then used to assign each of the tour operators a ranking on the Travel + Leisure list.

The best tour operators and safari outfitters in the world, according to the readers of Travel + Leisure are:

Each of those are excellent adventure travel companies with a wide variety of options, allowing travelers to visit remote and spectacular places around the world.

Take a cycling tour with Trek Travel

by Kraig Becker on Jul 8, 2010

If you’ve been watching the Tour de France this week, you’ve no doubt seen Lance Armstrong and the rest of Team Radioshack riding their beautiful Trek bikes as they’ve rolled across the Netherlands, Belgium, and of course France. Perhaps it has even motivated you to dust off the Huffy and hit the road yourself. But did you know that Trek offers cycling tours to exotic places around the globe? Tours that would put you on one of their amazing bikes, while exploring a country like you never have before.

Trek Travel offers adventurous and active cyclists a host of options to pedal their way across Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. These trips have a little something to fit everyone’s needs, including private tours, group excursions, and custom made itineraries. Additionally, the tours can be geared for families, as well as riders of a wide variety of skill levels ranging from beginner up to avid cyclists. Accommodations can be at the luxury level or a simple, no frills option to fit a variety of budgets too.

One of their most popular offerings is the Lance in France Tour which are actually going to be taking place during the Tour, as fans of the sport follow Armstrong and the other riders on two different legs, one in the Alps, and the other a ride from the Pyrenees to Paris. The highlights of those two tours include not only getting to watch the Tour de France, but ride some of the popular stages in the mountains as well.

Of course, it is too late to sign up for either one of those rides, but other cycling tours include the Tuscany Explorer which sends riders on an amazing trip through Italian wine country, and the Yellowstone and Tetons Multisport, which combines cycling and kayaking in one of the most iconic national parks in the U.S. My personal favorite would be the mountain biking tour through South Africa and Zambia.

One of the best parts of these tours is that you can be as active or inactive as you want. You decide how much you want to ride on any given day, and if you’re feeling a little tired (or hung over!) from the night before, you can take it easy on the team bus or at your next lodge, while your companions spend the day in the saddle. You’ll also get to ride some of the best Trek bikes in their catalog. The road tours will put you on a Madone, not unlike what Lance himself rides, while mountain bikers will be treated to a similar level of off road machines.

If you’re looking for a unique and active way to take a trip, perhaps a cycling tour is just what you need. It truly is a perfect way to see the sights while cruising through some of the world’s best landscapes. Check out the Trek Travel catalog for some excellent travel opportunities.

[Photo credit: Trek Tours]