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A talk about the advantages of having bicycles on board your campervan while traveling. Bicycles allow access to the areas you visit. Whether you're a serious cyclist or just need a simple, easy way to get around the campground or town you're visiting, bicycles are a great solution.

Podcast episode transcript: The value of having bicycles on board your campervan

Like so many people, I started riding bicycles at a very early age. But at some point in my teens, a friend loaned me a lightweight road bike, and I became obsessed.

I worked in bike shops and I've been an avid bicycle rider of one kind or another ever since.

Especially mountain bikes. When mountain bikes came along, I really got into those and I've been riding mountain bikes for, well, let's just say a long time.

bicycles are the best way to see any area or even a wider region. If you want to get into a cycle touring, it's faster than walking obviously. But I think more importantly, it's slower than a car.

And so it gives you the opportunity to kind of look around and stopping is not a problem, you know, when we're in the van or in a car or even on a motorcycle stopping is an ordeal. Right? Well, find a place to park and, and clamor out and all that stuff.

Whereas with a bicycle, you just hit the brakes and either lay the bike down or put it on its kickstand or lean it up against something. And you're free to walk around a bit.

So, yeah my advice is bring bicycles on the van, in the van, whatever it takes, you don't have to be a cyclist or be β€œinto bikes”, you know, there's nothing wrong with a simple beach cruiser or even even a folding bike or maybe I should say, especially folding bikes.

They're so great for storing away and you take it out and in five minutes, it's reassembled and it's ready to ride around some small town or the campground or down to the beach or whatever's around and local. You can go see it without packing up the whole van and driving around without towing a car or getting out a motorbike.

The bicycle, folding bicycles, any bike, really just simplifies nearby travel. And again, if you wanna get into touring, bicycle touring or mountain biking, you can bring more gear, a more substantial bike and now you're good for many miles of travel on trails or roads all around the area that you're parked up at.

Even a simple beach cruiser is a wonderful thing. They tend to be heavy and cumbersome, but they're one gear and you keep them on a rack on the back of the van or, or tie them down to a roof rack, or if you've got a big van store it in your garage.

Another cool thing that's come along in recent years is e-bikes. If you just don't want this heavy exercise of pedaling everywhere and up steep hills and stuff like that, an eBike might be the answer for you.

The prices come down and the quality's gone way up in recent years and they're readily available everywhere and it's just a bicycle with a motor, typically pedal assisted. So when you pedal, the motor kicks in and helps propel the bike forward and how much you spend will determine how fast the bike will go.

And more importantly how much battery life or distance you have on one charge and also the weight. I was just reading about . I think it's Specialized bike company, they released an 18 pound electric road bike. Incredible 18 pounds. That's that's getting down into super light bicycle territory. So the possibilities are endless with that.

And, and I've been fortunate enough to get to ride a very powerful, full on downhill bike with a powerful motor that's good for two or three hours of climbing and it's like free shuttling without a car. So you get to the top of the hill very quickly and then you get to bomb down. It's really great.

Again, bikes