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Featuring posts about cities, scenic vistas, gear reviews, bicycle friendly businesses, family travel tips, transportation challenges and first class experiences.
Many cities who operate bike sharing programs pack up their kiosks for the winter months, rather than operate through potential snow and ice. Some cities, however, have decided to keep their bike share systems open and running during the winter months, which means that visitors coming in for the holidays have an easy option for getting around town.
Throughout our travels, I’ve had the opportunity to bring my own bike (folding and full sized), I've rented bikes once I arrived, and I've used bike shares. For most people traveling somewhere far away, the decision usually boils down to one of the last two: renting a bike there, or using that city's bike share program. This week we will offer our thoughts on the goods and the bads of both scenarios, and why making the decision isn’t really as simple as it sounds.
If you’re a bike shop who offers rental bikes, there’s good news: You are the “default” model for people who come to visit your town and want to borrow a bike. That’s a big advantage over your emerging competition, namely bike shares like Citibike (NYC), and online “new economy” sharing services like Spinlister.
With National Bike Month (May) right around the corner, now is the perfect time for curious lodging to make the leap into the bike tourism community. Its all about the experience these days and nothing simultaneously gives the gift of elation, independence, efficient sightseeing and adventure like the bike does. Here are 5 tips on how you can provide guests with a biking experience of a lifetime.
When you have kids under a certain age, you tend to spend a great deal of time at playgrounds. It's a perfect mid-day diversion... the kids gets to run wild, everyone gets some fresh air, and when it's done you feel you've all "earned" an ice cream. With all that time to sit and contemplate your surroundings each time, it's natural that many parents begin to form opinions about what makes a good playground. Here are some of our favorite playgrounds from our travels, and more importantly, why we liked them so much...
Bikabout.com has curated this list of museums because they roll out the red carpet for people biking, they are located along a scenic and comfortable route or they're just cultural landmarks not to be missed via two wheels or otherwise. Locations include Chicago, Madison, Milwaukee, New York, San Francisco and Vancouver.
It’s Thanksgiving. You’ve probably traveled. Even if you didn’t descend upon someone else’s house, someone probably descended upon yours. The result is always the same: Come Friday after Thanksgiving, you’re ready to get out of whatever house you spent the prior day over-indulging in, and go do …something. Traditionally in America, this has meant waking up at an obscene pre-dawn hour to go wait in huge lines at big box stores to get a discount on a flat screen tv you didn’t exactly need. We at Bikabout feel there’s a better way to spend Black Friday.
I am seriously biased when it comes to Madison WI because I was born in the Emerald City, also known as "X square miles surrounded by reality." This city is jam packed with everything a Midwestern girl could want: laid back ladies, farm-to-table food, theatrical thunderstorms, tasty beer, a decent Big 10 athletic department and most importantly, the lakes.
