Great, thxs for sharing, in the meantime found good reviews on them. rental
Trying to be not too repetitive here, but information on bike rentals, hotels, routes, cafes, and loads more can be found here:
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I did a trip with Altos Cycling in Colombia at the end of January. They have a week long gravel trip at the end of April. I felt it was reasonably priced and the support staff were excellent at every turn and mountain top. Once youāve left the large cities, itās incredibly hard to spend money, plus all meals are included.
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Visited Tucson, wanted to ride but didnāt. Ended up riding BWR AZ. The riding around Cave Creek (north east Phoenix) was fantastic.
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Interesting. Can you share more?. Did you go up Alto de Letras via off-road ?
Sure! We didnāt do that climb but were near it. I believe they are willing to arrange a trip to do that climb. The trip I did was 8 days, 6 days cycling (I ended up cycling 7) with stays at two main base locations. I had to disassemble my bike to cycle the extra day but they left me the tools to do that. Otherwise they built your bike, washed it each day, and packed it back up to get home.
Casa du Velo was an bit south of Pereira. The owners son was an absolute delight to talk to and he ran the place extremely well. They have a full service bike shop and wash station. The owner even came with us one day.
Our second base was in Santagueda at a private pool house. It was simple, everything was open air. You had enough space to be alone if you wanted but there were plenty of common areas to hang out.
Each day had two route options, usually loops, for our group, most everyone did the longer option each day but a few folks would hop in the sag car if they werenāt feeling it. The group also had some people there just to support their spouse or friend. I gave one of them my second gopro and it was a great idea. Not my thing, that cost full price from what I could tell, but ymmv.
Routes were 60-90ish miles each day with a healthy amount of climbing for my poor flat land legs. I didnāt have a chance to change my 53-39 to a 50-34 before I left but I brought my the rings with and two days in had the mechanics swap them.
We faired pretty well in terms of weather. It was hot and we were never rained on except the last climb on day 2. There were three support cars for 8 cyclists. They would do bottle handups if you coordinated, would drive ahead and set up snacks at the next coordinated stop. We had a designated coffee stop each day for lunch and toured a coffee farm on our shortest day.
Our local guide that cycled with us was amazing. The guy went on a week later to take third in Transcordilleras (https://transcordilleras.cc/). He had amazing energy, helped pace people on climbs, was fun to get to know. He genuinely wanted to share his country with others. Except for some busy moments in Pereira and Manizales, drivers were extremely courteous and respectful.
Food was included and each day there was someone new coming to our location to prepare a meal. From local cuisine to pizza parties, it was all so good. My only downside to this whole experience was getting covid for the first time. I didnāt realize it at the time but testing positive the day I arrived home put into clarity why I wasnāt performing well each day.
I think the trip set me back $3500 for 9 days with accommodations, about 420 miles of cycling, and four bags of coffee. Could I have organized it myself for less? Absolutely not.
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Thanks a lot for the extensive review. It sure looked like an awesome trip. Iāve done some riding down there but never in the coffee Ć”rea. I have Letras in my bucket list both tarmac and off-road.
Has anyone ever been to Cala Millor, Majorca ?
I have been there for a day trip. I didnāt really like the look of the village/ promenade.
My biggest gripe with it for cycling would be, that itās about as far out from the Serre de Tramuntana as the island allows.
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Thanks, Iāve found a cheap and cheerful deal with nice hotel and very good flight times.
Iām just looking to spin the legs in the sun for a few days.
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Youāll definitely have that. As I said, only been there for a day trip, so there is likely a lot more to CM, than just what I saw. Roads are really good throughout the island and youāll likely find a few nice climbs still.
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Through Arta nice climb to Ermita de Betlem. Go south to Sanctuary de San Salvador, nice climb to the top. MA3330 from the Arta road to Petra (nice square and cafes in centre) is āthe ever-rising roadā. MA 3321 is a nice road off the 3330 through a quiet valley to Manacor
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Just booked up for Cala Millor, Majorca, 31/3 for 4 nights if anyone is at a loose end and wants to join me/burn the legs off me for part of it iām happy to meet up etc.
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Do you see any problem taking ~700g of white powder (energy mix) on a flight/case?
Does solo traveller + white powder = rubber glove? 
You could just put a sticker on it saying āthis is not what you think it isā.
That would probably clear up the confusion.
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Iāve never had a problem taking ziploc bags of drink mix when traveling, even when divided into smaller, more āsuspectā bags.
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Three weeks ago on a trip to AZ I took four 90g ziploc bags with me. First time I was stopped going thru security. The powder was inside my bike helmet along with a couple Clif bars, gloves, bike computer, etc. Told them I was a cyclist and it was bags of sugar. The TSA inspector first tasted, and tested the mysterious white power. She joked that it tasted good LOL. Added less than 5 minutes to security checkpoint.
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Surprised theyāre allowed to tasteā¦you could have had anything.
Iām gonna put it in my case to get put in the hold, let the sniffer dogs do their stuff.
Did a quick trip with the provincial team to California a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, CA weather has been very sketchy this year with rain/wind/snow, but we managed anyway.
Stayed in Thousand Oaks and went up, down and across the canyon roads. To anyone that hasnāt been and is looking for an accessible and affordable US/Canada destination, thatās it. The riding was absolutely gorgeous, most roads are in great condition and traffic was quiet on most roads (thereās a couple main highways Iād absolutely avoid). Will definitely be back, hopefully to sunnier skies! Happy to share more info and routes if anyoneās interested.
Not exactly a winter getaway unless you live in half of Canada, but will be headed down to San Diego in mid-April for BWR. Three days of riding followed by a race, will be a great time! That is another amazing destination, though Iād say LA is a couple steps above.
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Iāve stuck it in my suit/bikecase before and have never had a problem.
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