Soak in the atmosphere - bike touring provides the perfect speed to get to know a country. Ride at your own pace, stopping to smell the flowers and experience the local culture. Quiet backroads and macadam trails will lead you to the next vineyard, cultural hotspot and charming hotel, where you'll get to relax and experience the local gastronomy.
We had a wonderful week of cycling with friends in a private tour of the Douro Valley. The guys from Live Love Ride (Ricardo, Luis and Daniel) were excellent-they couldn't do enough to ensure that we had a great time including directing us to some fabulous restaurants for lunches. The bikes were first class and the accommodation outstanding. We can thoroughly recommend Live Love Ride.
After we were picked up from the airport and driven to the hotel, the magical adventure began. Riding the Douro Valley was just magnificent. The scenery and landscape could not be compared to anything I've seen before. Riding consisted of 35 to near 50 miles each day with elevations of 3,000-4,500 feet gain at an average 5-8% grade. On the last day of riding, the most difficult of all, we experienced a 16% grade that seemed to go on forever. Every day presented itself with great challenges wonderful pleasures and fantastic downhills that would go for 6-7 miles at speeds of 25+ mph. WOW!!
Our group was small with 7 riders plus 2 guides. The locations we stopped at were local places giving you a sense of real Portugal.
The people running the tour couldn't be better. They address every need from the group. We used carbon bikes from Scott that performed flawlessly even when riding on cobblestone which was in almost every town or village.
I can't speak highly enough about this adventure. However, that said, be sure to come well trained with lots of hill climbing under your seat because it's challenging everyday.
