What is Beercycling?
beercycling \ bir-si-k(ə-)liŋ \ verb 1: A leisurely, healthy activity which involves traveling on bicycles to establishments that serve and/or brew beer for public consumption. This is done for the pleasure of the journey and the enjoyment of tasting exceptional beverages rather than through the need to race or become inebriated. 2: A contemporary, active alternative to the trendy activity of wine tasting. 3: The most fun you’ll ever have exercising.
So, what is beercycling all about? This is a great question. Simply put, we combine (in our opinion) the two greatest things on the planet: beer tasting and bicycle touring. The craft beer industry is booming, and as a result there are so many new and exciting options for consumers. From seasonal and limited releases, brewery tours and events, dinner beer-food pairing parties, to easier accessibility to it all via social media. People are becoming more keen to the idea of beer as a gourmet beverage, like wine, as opposed to “something cheap that gets you drunk”. Tours to vineyards have been popular for years, but brewery tours are becoming more and more common as well. This makes it easy for anyone to plan a trip to taste their favorites right from the source!
But when it comes to planning a trip, there are lots of transportation options. Our favorite is by bicycle! Why bicycle touring? Well, first of all, it is great exercise! Health and fitness should be a major part of everyone’s life. There are so many positive benefits from exercise, it’s fun, challenging, and just makes you feel plain good about yourself at the end of the day. Anyone can drink a beer, but by beercycling you truly “earn” it. There is nothing like the taste of a cold, refreshing pint of craft beer after a long ride. And you won’t feel guilty about the few extra calories either! I may be drinking the same beer as the guy next to me at the bar, but after 40 or 50 miles, I can guarantee you, my beer tastes better than his. This is exactly how we can give back to and improve on the already awesome craft beer community. We call this “thinking outside the glass” and encourage (or even challenge) everyone reading this to try it out for yourselves. Beercycling is fun in that it can be done at various degrees for all skill levels. Start out by planning a day ride around your town, as far as you are comfortable going, and then end at your favorite local brewery. Once you feel more comfortable on the bike you can go further distance-wise, eventually planning overnight trips with us! Bicycle touring ends up being the perfect pace to absorb your surrounds. You tend to skip over a lot of territory in an airplane or a car, and while hiking is nice, you can only cover so much ground. A day on a bicycle is an amazing feeling, allows you to discover off the beaten path locations, enables you to cover a fair amount of distance per day, and ends up being affordable. Instead of filling your days finding things for to do for entertainment, your entertainment becomes just being on the bicycle. It’s free and addictive!
Most people we give our business cards to respond with, “Oh, so you ride your bike around drinking and getting drunk?” Not the case! Pub crawls have their time and place, (like perhaps being in a frat house in college) but a bicycle is still a vehicle which requires alertness and balance, we do not promote drinking and driving! Beercyclists know the meaning of the “quality over quantity” principle, and know that staying super hydrated by drinking water along the way is essential for completing any trip. Plenty of stops and recovery time are required on our trips.
We’re happy to be able to share this great travel idea with everyone! Look forward to seeing you on a future trip!
Cheers, -Beercycling Staff