Touring and exploring a new place is always a wonderful time. While some people may opt to simply drive around and see only a handful of an area’s sights, others might claim that this is only a shallow view of the local area. One of the best ways to get around a new area and explore is through a bike tour. Bike tours allow you to visit a wide variety of sights that just simply driving around wouldn’t allow you to see, and they are also much more efficient and faster than walking tours. For example, on an Atlanta walking tour, you might be stuck walking past blocks of Atlanta houses for sale before you even get to your destination, while bike tours can allow you to easily pedal ahead. The only downside to bike tours is that cycling all day can really take a toll on your body, especially if you’re not in shape. So how can you prepare for a bike tour and ensure that everything goes smoothly? Let’s take a look.
Train in Advance
The biggest thing you can do to prepare for a bike tour is to train well in advance. It’s unreasonable to expect that your body will be able to go from not riding at all to riding all day on a tour. Due to this, you should probably have some form of cycling training regimen for several weeks in advance before your tour. Doing so will ensure that your body is in great shape and will be able to handle whatever the tour throws at you. In addition, training and getting your body in shape can help your body prevent injury on the tour. Ramping up physical activity so rapidly can lead to physical injury, so ensure that your training adequately prepares you for your tour.
Practice Different Terrains
Just simply training on your bike likely isn’t going to be good enough to prepare you for your bike tour. You don’t exactly know what type of terrain the tour will traverse over, so you better get acclimated to cycling over a wide variety of terrains. What type of terrain you’re cycling on has a major effect on its difficulty, so it’s important that you get used to all of them. For example, cycling uphill is much more difficult than cycling in normal terrain, and cycling on a path is very different than cycling on a sidewalk. You don’t want to be thrown for a loop on your tour, so it’s important that you train for all different sorts of terrains.
Be Wary of Various Weather Conditions
Another thing that you need to look out for while on your bike tour is the various weather conditions that you could have to deal with. Obviously, the weather will play a huge role in how you feel during your tour, so it’s important that you’re acclimated to cycling in all different sorts of weather. For example, if you expect your tour to occur when it is extremely hot outside, then you better prepare yourself by getting your body used to cycling in hot temperatures. It could also rain on your tour, something that could make navigation hard and the pathways slippery. Those that aren’t experienced in dealing with different types of weather are at a much higher risk of making a mistake or getting injured, so it is extremely important that you’re familiar with cycling in various weather conditions.
Take Care of Your Body
Lastly, you’ll need to take care of your body on the day of your bike tour. Before you embark on your tour, ensure that you adequately stretch and are limber enough to prevent injury. In addition, you might also want to consider wearing a helmet. While some people may think that helmets aren’t “fashionable”, if you ever fall off a bike without a helmet, then you could get some serious brain damage. As a result, if you’re not fully confident in your ability to maneuver your bicycle in large amounts of traffic, then you may want to wear a helmet. Finally, drink plenty of water and hydrate on your tour. You’ll likely be cycling for a long period of time and sweating lots, meaning you need to ensure that you drink lots of water to avoid dehydration.
