A month and a half ago, I decided to book a trip to Peru. I’ve been lucky enough to have travelled internationally with my bike a few times now, and each time, I had planned well in advance and had a lot of preparation time. This time is completely the opposite. It was a relatively last minute decision to book this trip, and I’ve been slammed with work travel for pretty much the entire time since booking up until I leave!
The first time I went on a mountain biking holiday was the summer of 2011 to Switzerland with Big Mountain Bike Adventures. After that I was hooked! The best part about going on an organized mountain bike trip is that I know we’re going to be riding some stellar trails, see some fantastic scenery, and generally have an amazing adventure.
So here we are, it’s now two days before I fly out, and I have a million things to do! (how many chamois to bring? gotta get some bars! spare parts… do I have any laying around?! what do I need to buy? etc, etc) It’s not like me to be disorganized, but I just haven’t had the luxury of time unfortunately! Luckily Big Mountain sent along a ton of info, (including a packing list) making my preparation a bit easier!
This weekend I finally got around to thinking about my bike. I decided that I would really prefer having my own bike on this trip. (sometimes it’s more economical to rent, depending on how many flights and airline baggage fees, plus any additional travel on trains / buses, etc), but for the Peru trip, the guide does the airport pick-up and transfers to the hotel. I’ve used my EVOC bike carrying case several times now and have the “taking apart and putting back together” system pretty well down. The last time I flew with my bike (from Seattle to Sun Valley ID) the airline charged me $75 each way, but the time before (from Seattle to Tampa, FL) they checked it for free (same airline!)… although I’m hoping for a freebee again, I’m anticipating for an international flight to be around $200.
Tonight I had dinner with fellow Muddbunnies Ambassador, Emily Sabelhaus, who did this same trip two years ago. I picked her brain on all sorts of things, but generally it was a stoke fest, because the trip is just around the corner, and I’m going to be riding my bike for 10 days and not working!!!! Knowing how much she enjoyed the trip has definitely put my stoke factor over the top.
People often ask me what it’s like to do international bike trips, so I’ve decided this time to keep a blog. I’ll do my best to post up every few days while I’m there 🙂
The owner of Big Mountain, Chris Winter, has been a supporter of the Muddbunnies for many years. (Club Members even get a special perk!) If you’ve been thinking about doing an international bike vacation, make sure you check out the amazing list of destinations they offer! (Italy has been on my radar for a while!)
The next post from me will be from Peru!
by Muddbunnies Ambassador Diana Walker
Next blog post here: Seattle to Lima, then Cusco
