September: Bike Travel Month!

September 30, 2011

If you are an avid touring cyclist and want an unending supply of beautiful roads with little to no traffic ... negotiate the month of September as your vacation time for the rest of your working days. Then, when you retire, simply continue this travel pattern until your legs no longer spin.

September is my favorite month to travel. There isn't a single place in the United States (or the entire Northern Hemisphere, for that matter) I'd avoid in this glorious month.

Summer vacation is over and the summer crowds and traffic that go with it have faded. The sun is angling lower in the sky, which your eyes and camera will love. The days are getting shorter, but the lack of blistering hot afternoons surely makes up for the loss of daylight hours.

Add to that the availability of camping sites and lower prices for airfare, hotels, restaurants, and just about everything else.

May might be Bike Month, but I'd like to nominate September as Bike Travel Month.

Alert the media!
 

Photos by Willie Weir

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SIGHTS AND SOUNDS is posted every other Friday. Willie Weir is a columnist for Adventure Cyclist magazine. His books, Travels with Willie and Spokesongs, will inspire you to hit the road, and might change the way you approach bicycle travel. He lives in Seattle with his wife Kat. You can read about their adventures at http://yellowtentadventures.com.