[Originally on the Bike Friday Blog, reprinted here with additional photos]
My aim for the holiday was to drink beautiful wine, while Margaret’s was to pedal in lovely scenery. The Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of France was an easy intersection of these. We packed evening outfits, riding clothes, and our Bike Fridays. In Paris we picked up our tiny rental EV to drive to a B&B near Beaune. In the mornings we would ride from village to village through vineyards over quiet farm tracks and over gentle hills, stop for a long lunch, and then continue, ultimately to loop back.
We have often traveled in this style, and even did our honeymoon this way. It combines small luxuries with full days of riding. The happy images that stand out include sitting in cafés in medieval hill towns, walking tours of monasteries and chateaux, leisurely countryside breaks with baguettes and cheese. The gold pink sunsets were late and warm, we had a glorious time.
Some routes I mapped turned out to be more rocky and challenging than I had anticipated. When I saw that Margaret was struggling a bit with the 1.75” tires on her New World Tourist, we switched bikes so that she could ride the All-Packa. She sailed ahead easy-peasy, and then “requested” that she get to ride that bike for the rest of the trip.
Folding bikes are adventure bicycles. Travel can become multi-modal, new route possibilities open, the small folded package doesn’t offend in the corner of a cafe or in a lodging room. They are and always will be a steady part of my cycling.
