2015 Educational Tours

October 28, 2014

“Education is a continual process; it's like a bicycle ... If you don't pedal, you don't go forward.”—George Weah

In 2015, we have a total of 16 Educational Courses to offer. Here are my suggestions for what’s new and exciting:

Intro to Road Touring

This year we have expanded our IRTs to include nine unique courses spread throughout the U.S. There will be five traditional IRTs: IRT Florida (Tallahassee), IRT Virginia (Williamsburg), IRT Wisconsin I & II (West Bend), and IRT Oregon (Eugene). These courses have started to fill up already, so if you are interested, please don’t wait as they are immensely popular and they do fill up fast!

Under 30 and Women’s Only

These are definitely new and exciting this year. We have added tours for participants under 30 and women-only courses. These are courses that have been recommended to us by our participants via surveys and suggestions. We have responded this year by adding Under 30, IRT - Florida (Tampa) and Under 30, IRT – Texas (Richards, TX), and Women’s IRT, OR (Eugene) and Women's IRT, VA (Williamsburg). Although these two course types are not for everyone, Adventure Cycling has been looking for ways to provide more entry points into our guided tours for women and younger participants so that we can truly represent the cycling community as a whole. The demographic-specific tours are geared to meet the needs of these demographics without sacrificing content or our mission. We have had demographic-specific tours on our slate of tours for almost eight years now with our Family Fun tours format that is aimed specifically at families. The response has been very positive and rewarding for those participants and touring families that are looking for ways to tour together with Adventure Cycling.

Intro to Dirt Touring

For those looking to expand their mountain-bike touring knowledge and skills, our Intro to Dirt Touring courses have been expanded this year to include an East Coast option: Intro to Dirt Touring - Maine (Portland, ME). We are also offering our participants' perennial favorite, Intro to Dirt Touring - Montana (Whitefish). 

Leadership Training Courses

This year we are offering a wide variety of Leadership Training Courses! New this year are Leadership Training, IN (Laconia) and Leadership Training, OR (Portland). The other LTC locations for 2015 are  Florida, Massachusetts and Texas. I participated in the LTC in Missoula, MT in 2013, and I highly recommend the course for learning more about our touring philosophy, useful gear and logistical instruction as well as leader role playing. My favorite part was connecting with other like-minded, tour leading, cycle-loving types from all across the country. The leadership experience and the depth of knowledge imparted to you by your LTC advisors and instructors is always top notch, fun, and entertaining.

We hope you will consider joining us for an educational course in 2015. You can compare tours and filter for intro or educational, sort by date, etc. and see what appeals to you!

Post by Darrah Rogers

Photos 1-3 by Ruth Miller | Photos 4 & 6 by Mandy Hale | Photo 5 by Darrah Rogers

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ON THE ROAD is written by the tours team — Lydia, Darrah, Mike, Mandy, and Arlen — tours specialists and intrepid bicyclists, covering all things related to the Adventure Cycling tours department. Check out our 2015 Guided Tours today!