Anyone can participate in Bike Travel Weekend and Bike Your Park Day, whether you’re a beginning or elite bicyclist, eight or 80 years old, or whether you live in an urban or rural area. This year, it’s even easier to participate in Bike Travel Weekend and Bike Your Park Day as Adventure Cycling is promoting and encouraging virtual options. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Adventure Cycling encourages participants to organize and take part in virtual events with a limited number of in-person rides that follow safety guidelines. Get inspired with the resources below to start planning your event during the weekend of September 25 – 27, 2020.

Virtual Events

Adventure Cycling encourages virtual Bike Travel Weekend and Bike Your Park Day events in 2020. There are lots of ways to participate virtually.

• Experience all or part of Adventure Cycling’s new Parks, Peaks, and Prairies route virtually. Ride all or part of the miles of the route by December 31, 2020 solo or with a team. Ride close to home or on a stationary bike. This is a great option for people who don’t have parks close by or can’t go on an overnight. You can also participate in this challenge in addition to another Bike Travel Weekend & Bike Your Park Day event. Sign up for the Parks, Peaks, and Prairies route challenge.
• Give an online presentation to your friends about your favorite adventure (multi-day or day ride in parks). When you register your event, you can make it open to the public and invite people all over the world to join. Use a platform like Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts, WhatsApp, or Facetime to connect with people virtually. You can also use Adventure Cycling’s “How to Go on A Bike Overnight” PowerPoint presentation to inspire others to go on a bike adventure. Contact outreach@adventurecycling.org for the PowerPoint presentation and resources.
• Experience a park or public lands virtually. Visit your favorite park’s website and check out their virtual offerings. Below are some links to help you get started on a virtual park experience.
  • Find Your Virtual Park
  • Take a Virtual Visit to a National Park

In-Person Events

If you feel safe participating in an in-person overnight bike adventure or day ride through parks or public lands, please consider the following.

• Ride alone or only with the people in your household.
• Ride locally and follow your local and state health department’s and CDC’s COVID-19 guidelines. Be mindful of riding to and through Indigenous and high-risk communities. If using services along the way, wash and sanitize your hands frequently and wear a mask indoors and in outdoor spaces when you interact with people, to protect yourself and others.
• Ride self-contained, and bring everything you need, including your food, mask, and hand sanitizer. If your ride is an overnight adventure, limit your interaction with others at your campsite or indoor accommodations. This may be a great time to stay at a primitive campsite if they are available in your area. 
• If you’re visiting public lands, visit the park website to determine its operating status. Many park visitor centers are closed, but outdoor spaces may be open to cyclists. Updates about the overall NPS response to COVID-19, including safety information, are posted on www.nps.gov/coronavirus. Recreate Responsibly in your public lands. The NPS’s Trip Planning Guide includes important safety information.
• If you leave your county or state, please check with the local health department website to determine whether or not it’s safe and if they are welcoming visitors. You may need to self-quarantine for two weeks before or after your ride.
• If you feel sick, stay home. Instead, participate virtually or plan a future trip.

Register to lead an event or join an existing event and you'll be entered to win a Salsa Cutthroat bike. The first 500 people who register to lead an event will also get a Bike Travel Weekend or Bike Your Park Day patch and sticker in the mail.

Ride Resources

Get Started

If you’re new to cycling, these resources can help you get started:

• Bike Touring 101.

• Bikeovernights.org is a resource with information about how to go on a bike overnight. The website also offers bike overnight examples and trip ideas.

• Bike overnight gear checklist.

• Don’t have bike-travel gear? Make these DIY panniers.

• Give your bike a pre-trip tune-up.

• Connect with a Bike Travel Weekend and Bike Your Park Day Advisor. Local experts in your area can provide recommendations for rides in your area.

• Have a question about bike travel or an Adventure Cycling route? Check out Adventure Cycling’s forums.

• If you’re new to bicycling and bike travel, check out Adventure Cycling’s how-to resources to get started.

Trip Planning

• Find a Bike Travel Weekend and Bike Your Park Day trip on the map and join an existing ride or get inspired to plan your own.

• Plan your route with Adventure Cycling's Route Network or U.S. Bicycle Route System.

• Comprehensive planning guide. 

• How to plan your own route.

• Use international bike route networks for bike trips outside of the U.S.

• Many states have bike travel routes including Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Oregon's 14 Scenic Bikeway routes. Contact your state’s department of transportation to see if similar resources in other states.

• If you prefer dirt over roads for your tour, check out these bikepacking routes. There are also lots of bikepacking routes in Oregon.

Find Your Park

Learn about the parks and public lands near you, as well as options for overnight stays and bicycle routes:

• Find National Parks and Public Lands:  Use the Find Your Park search tool and interactive map to search by park name, scroll through a list, or click on a map icon.

• Find State Parks: Click on a state to access each state park system’s website where you can learn about individual state parks and bicycling opportunities.

• Find a National Forest: This interactive map will help you discover the Forest Service lands in your backyard.

• Find a Wildlife Refuge along Adventure Cycling's Route Network.

• Find a rail trail through the Rails to Trails Conservancy that may connect you to nearby public lands.

Overnight Opportunities

Where you sleep can range from wild camping to a five-star hotel.

• Camp or rent a cabin on federal land.

• Reserve a campsite on Hipcamp.

• Stay at a friend’s house, camp in their backyard, or stay with a Warm Showers host and follow good guest etiquette.

Bring Your Family

• Every Kid in a Park: all fourth graders and their families can get a free pass to all national parks, lands, and waters.

• Discover the Forest: A kid-friendly site that helps families connect to the forests and public lands near them.

• Kids in Parks: The NPS offers many programs to engage kids and help them discover the outdoors.

• Introduce bike travel to your kids. Kids can ride their own bike from two wheelers, bikes with training wheels, to strider bikes. Little ones can sit in a bike trailer, bike seat, or tag-along bike.

Discover Urban Cycling Opportunities

You don’t have to drive hundreds of miles to start your Bike Travel Weekend or Bike Your Park Day ride from an urban area. Explore out your front door.

• Bikeabout provides bicycle tourism information for a list of major U.S. and Canadian cities. Find routes, maps, public transportation resources, lodging, and more.

• If you live in an urban area and don’t own a bike, use a Bike Share to explore urban parks by bike.

• Bikemunk also offers a comprehensive list of bike share companies by state.

Go Mountain Biking

Turn your mountain bike ride into an overnight adventure. Make sure that biking is allowed on the trails before you ride them.

• How to tour on a mountain bike.

• Bike overnight examples on a mountain bike.

• Get familiar with the International Mountain Biking Association's (IMBA) code of conduct, Rules of the Trail.

• The Bureau of Land Management has many amazing mountain biking trails. Find maps, site information, and more on this site.

• Search for mountain biking trails in any state and find maps, photos, and other resources on MTB Project.

• Find mountain bike trails, what their conditions are, photos and videos of trails, and track your rides with Trailforks.

• 12 trails for fall mountain biking

Bring Bikes Aboard

Put your bike on a bus, train, or boat and use public transportation to supplement your Bike Travel Weekend trip.

• Amtrak has many different services that allow people to bring bicycles on trains.

• Use these planning tools to help you figure out which bike services each Amtrak route and station provides.

Be A Park Steward

Give back to your parks and public lands by participating in a service event on September 26, 2020 for National Public Lands Day when you bike your park.  It's possible to participate in both Bike Your Park Day and National Public Lands Day!

Photo by Saara Snow.