Have you been on a wonderful cycling tour and gotten frustrated with a very rudimentary procedure, route notes? The pages and pages of notes that are supposed to help you find your way around France or wherever. The constant turning of pages, especially in the 'mistral' winds of Southern France, losing pages and ending up on top of some mountain, wondering where the rest of the group is; of finally getting off the bike, enjoying a cappuccino, letting the world go by, until the guide finds you.
The answer to this problem is at hand. A small, but well established cycling and hiking company, ExperiencePlus, based in Ft. Collins, Colorado has the best idea I have encountered yet. They run tours all over the world, check out their website, www.experienceplus.com. They too wrestled with, how to get the travelers from A to B with less hassle, fun and smiles on their faces at the end of the day.
'Arrows' is the key. On their journeys, they have guides who go out early in the morning before the tour leaves and places chalk arrows on the route for the day. As the cyclist rides on, he or she spots the 'arrow' turns in the correct direction and they are on their way. Speaking with one of the principals of the company, Maria Elena Price, she said, " We want the traveler to enjoy the countryside, stop for a coffee, and not be worried about turning pages. They are not here for a map lesson, but to experience." They even have arrows that point in the direction of the best bakeries, good restaurants in little towns or a note about a fantastic sight seeing opportunity.
Simple, innovative, and certainly one aspect of your trip, you are not going to forget.
Oh yes, I did ask about, rain and what happens. The answer is, if it is raining that hard to remove the chalk, they don't ride.
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