Five Ways to Travel With Your Bike

Traveling with your bike is a great way to explore a new area, make new friends, and discover places you wouldn’t otherwise have even known existed. If you have ever shown up to a new riding area and gotten an extreme cold shoulder, chances are you could be doing better. If you’ve heard about this exciting place, so have a thousand other people. Which means the likelihood of  the area being taken advantage of is strong and the locals are having a hard time with it, understandably. They’ve poured their resources and effort into this zone, and a lot of  people are coming to hit it and quit it. The good news is, it’s relatively easy to keep the scales even, and give back as much as you plan to take in a community you’re visiting.

Here are 5 easy ways to make peace with the locals before riding the goods:

1. Park a little bit away from the trail head - Parking can be a bit of an issue for an area. Most of the time, there isn’t a designated parking lot for a trail. Help alleviate any tension by parking a little bit away from the trail head and riding in. If there are multiple cars in your group, consolidating the caravan is ideal. It might be inconvenient, but you can make it work.
   
   

2. Don’t hang around the parking area, the entrance, or the exit -  This one is pretty straight forward. Having a gear explosion, your bike sprawled out, or people crowded around, isn’t always an appealing look. You may be on vacation, but there are people who are still trying to live their daily lives and get in and out. Sometimes an area is sensitive and this is one way to draw a lot of attention. If you’re having a great time and want to extend it with your buds, head to a local brewery. You can have the same good vibes while also contributing to the area’s economy.
   
   

3. Extend your trip by one day and dedicate it to digging - If you can budget time to get somewhere and back, you can also include a day to spend digging. While it is highly frowned upon to just show up and stick your shovel into someone else’s territory, you can definitely arrange a way to help out. You could reach out to the local trail organization and offer some help. You could find a trail to simply leaf rake debris off of. Additionally, you could keep an eye out on one of your ride days for someone who can help you find a way to contribute the next day.
    

4. Offer a 6-pack -  Come prepared with a simple gesture. Travel with a 6-pack of beer, soda, or packaged herb and offer one to a local accompanied with a friendly smile and gratitude. Genuine appreciation for what you are about to ride, goes a long way.
   
   

5. Offer a ride up - If you’re in a shuttle zone, offer a local a ride up the hill. This means that you’ll have to keep one spot open when you show up to a new riding zone. A full (or overflowing) truck is a quick way to receive bad vibes.