Since the CDC issued new guidelines on he 7th May, anyone travelling back to the United States can now use certain self-administered tests to satisfy the requirement to show a negative COVID-19 test result. The test need to be taken within 3 days of the return flight. We’re currently recommending the Abbott’s BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag At-Home Rapid Test Kit , and would advise ordering a pack of these self-admnistered tests at least two weeks before departure.

How to purchase and use a self-administered test to satisfy testing requirements on return to US.

BEFORE TRAVEL
Order your test kits before leaving the USA:

We would advise ordering your tests at least a week before your planned departure date, as shipping will take around two days within the US. A pack of 6 tests costs around $150, and allow around $15 shipping costs. You will need to bring your own test kit on tour with you.

When ordering, you will fill out a brief form giving your reason for ordering tests, for which you would select the option “To obtain pre-departure COVID-19 test results for re-entry into the United States as mandated by the CDC“. The site will approve the prescription – individuals only need prescriptions to purchase a pack of tests, but results are valid with or without a prescription. The tests will have an expiration date, but usually have a 9 month shelf life.

You can pack your tests in your carry-on or checked luggage.

Download the App
To take the test during your trip you will first need to download the NAVICA app, which should work on almost all iOS and Android smartphones. Downloading the app and creating an account can be quite time conusming, so we strongly recommend that you do this before departure. Once you have taken your test, the NAVICA app will save the result and create a timestamp, whch you will then need for departure check-in. Everyone in your group will need their own account in the NAVICA app.

DURING YOUR TRIP
Taking the Test

You will need to take the test within three days prior to your flight home.

To take the test go to the eMed website and click “start test.” You do not need to make an appointment, and the service is available 24/7.

Two devices are required to complete the test – the first is the smartphone with the NAVICA app installed, and the other will need a webcam and browser so that you can connect with a doctor. The second device can be a phones, tablets or laptops – we can help with this, so do ask us.

A doctor will connect with you via video chat to confirm your identity and to validate your test result. Anyone with their own personal NAVICA app account can use a self-administered test, and verify their results via eMed website.

Travelling back to the USA

Simply show your NAVICA app at the airport to confirm your certified negative test result.

Michael Lister lives in a place called Paradise Point in Queensland, Australia. No doubt hard to leave ‘Paradise’ but when he does, his bike ride of choice takes him on a tour of the Gold Coast. Here’s the Strava link to the ride – https://www.strava.com/activities/4777672956

My soul ride takes in the Gold Coast hinterland and our beautiful beaches. I love the crisp clean air and no traffic before heading back to the golden beaches with a view up the coast. My ride starts with the “7 humps”. A series of rolling hills and what’s popularly known as “the wall”…but I ride down the wall so that’s OK.

Lower Beechmont is a popular climb with the locals. It climbs for 10km up to the bus stop. You’ll nearly always find riders sitting having a chat…and contemplating whether to head back down or continue the climb to “the roundabout” (12km) or Binna Burra (23km) with a nice little 1.5km, 15%er at the end.

This is a single day’s ride of 143km if I only go to the bus stop. But I sometimes make it shorter or longer but detouring, at any stage, to explore further or head home. There are many skyscrapers in the distance and plenty of beautiful people in the surf. There are many, many cafés and coffee shops along the coast. Popular with cyclists is Picollo at Miami, Caffene at Lands End. And they are both far enough apart so I can ride off whatever has tempted my taste buds.

Our fideli Jim Cox tells us why he considers the Skyline Drive (and the Blue Ridge Parkway) to be a soul ride for him.

Did you know there is a great cycling road that stretches 575 miles (925 kms) along a beautiful, lush mountain range? A road used by very few cars (no trucks) with no business traffic or commuters. Speed limits of 35 to 45 mph. And what if there was only one (that’s ONE) Stop sign over the entire 575 mile route, would that appeal? Sound like paradise?

Such a cycling paradise exists – in the US – and it’s called the Skyline Drive (105 miles; 169 kms) and Blue Ridge Parkway (469 miles; 756 kms), which are separated by only one Stop sign.

There is no highway more ideal for bicycling in North America than the Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway, a road built along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, one of the oldest mountain ranges in North America.

On the Appalachian Epic Ride, you will experience the beauty of old forests, the serenity of a road essentially reserved for you and your cycling friends, and abundant wildlife, including black bears, white-tailed deer, red fox, gray fox, bobcats, wild turkeys, and much more.

Stretching from Front Royal, Virginia, south to Cherokee, North Carolina, the Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway have a fascinating story. Most of the roadway, observation overlooks and park lodges were built during the Great Depression in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, which provided jobs for building infrastructure projects across the US. Climbs are never steeper than 8%, the maximum that cars could handle in the 1930s, and there are lots of them.

From the lowest elevation of 649 feet in Virginia to the highest of 6,053 feet in North Carolina, the Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway provide challenges – and rewards – every year to thousands of cyclists. Why not add this “wonder” to your cycling palmares!

Ride safe, Jim

PREPARING FOR YOUR ADVENTURE

Appalachians – Maine to North Carolina

GENERAL TOUR INFORMATION

CLICK HERE FOR GENERAL DETAILS OF HOW TO PREPARE FOR YOUR UPCOMING CYCLING ADVENTURE

MEETING POINTS & TOUR SPECIFICS

STAGE 1 | BETHEL, ME to GETTYSBURG, PA

(Sunday 30th May – Saturday 12th June) 

For Stage 1 the official start point is at the Bethel Inn in Bethel, ME at 1400 on Sunday, May 30th.

From the airport, we can also pick you up from downtown Portland on the way to Bethel if you arrive earlier. Our recommended hotel in Portland is the Hampton Inn Portland Downtown – Waterfront . The travel time to Bethel is 90 minutes.

The nearest airport for the tour is in Portland, ME, and we have a pick up from there at 1200 on May 30th. We’ll meet you in the baggage claim area.

The stage end is in Gettysburg after breakfast on Saturday, June 12th. Our final hotel is the centrally located Inn at Cemetery Hill. We have a shuttle to the Dulles International Airport on the morning of the 12th. The journey time is around 90 minutes.

STAGE 2 | GETTYSBURG, PA to ASHEVILLE, NC

(Saturday 12th – Saturday 26th June) 

The meeting point for stage 2 is at the Inn at Cemetery Hill at 1500 on Saturday 12th June. We have a pickup from the Dulles International Airport at 1200 for those that fly in on the day. The journey time is around 90 minutes.

Please note that whilst we suggest bringing lights for the entire tour they are imperative on the Blue Ridge Parkway which has a series of tunnels that we need to pass through.

TOUR CONCLUSION | ASHVILLE, NC

(Saturday 26th June) 

The riding part of the tour ends in Cherokee, NC around lunchtime. From here we shuttle you back to the vibrant town of Asheville for our final night. The last hotel is Four Points by Sheraton in downtown Asheville. After breakfast on Saturday, June 26th we will have a shuttle to Asheville Airport which is around 30 minutes drive away.

Setting up our Epic Adventures is very much a process that evolves over the course of time. Generally, it starts with a conversation about how cool it would be to follow in the footsteps of a particular historical figure to then poring over maps as to the feasibility of doing it on a bike! If the idea strikes a chord we then find ourselves conceptualizing a route and then trying to join the dots between places of interest along the way. Before we know it the trip specialists are searching out the road less travelled, visiting possible lodging options and searching out eateries that give a sense of the place we are visiting.

With our Marco Polo Cycling Tour the process was very much assisted by the fact our trip specialist Marcello had been running tours down the Dalmatian coast for many years and had studied in Venice over 2o years ago. The tour was very much a realisation of a personal dream to create a tour with Marco Polo at its core and we were more than happy to make it happen. However, there was still a need to test some of his recommendations before we added them to the roster. This was the case with a family-run restaurant in an abandoned village on the island of Hvar that Marcello thought would work well on the tour. It is fair to say Dylan didn’t object too strongly when asked to try it out when on a family holiday in Hvar!

The test run was a resounding success and everything about the experience fitted with our desire to sample local fare and get a sense of place through doing so. Our host and chef Berti took the time to introduce us to his family and explained how he ended up running a biodynamic restaurant specialising in ‘peka’ in an abandoned village on the island of Hvar. It was clear that this dining experience had all the ‘ingredients’ to be added to the list of culinary highlights across the tours we run and our visit there in September proved that to be the case. The meat and seafood peka dishes served up were sublime and so we thought we thought we’d give you more of an insight into what ‘peka’ actually was.

The peka is a traditional dish from the Dalmatian region of Croatia. It’s a relatively simple dish of meat and vegetables, placed in a large pot or pan with a metal lid called a cripnja, and cooked for several hours in the embers of a fire. Much of Croatian cuisine celebrates cooking over the fire, with its grills and skewers, and the peka is part of this great tradition. What appears a fairly rudimentary cooking method produces the most succulent results, and over the generations, the process has taken on its own ritual, with many older homes having a specific place where the peka is prepared. It is often served when there are guests in the house, and restaurants in the area will typically have several versions on the menu, with different choices of meat and fish.

The Peka recipe

– Light the fire at least an hour before starting to cook, and place the cooking pot near the fire to warm.
– Cut the meat or fish into large pieces and place in the pot. Lamb and veal are often used, as is fish and octopus.
– Cut the potatoes and any vegetables you wish to use into large pieces and nestle them in the pot along with the meat.
– Season with olive oil, salt, pepper and a little paprika.
– When you have plenty of embers in the fireplace move them to one side using your fireside shovel, and place the peka pan directly onto the hot stone, making sure the lid is securely fitted.
– Then shovel the embers over the top of the pot and cook until the potatoes are golden and the meat tender and juicy, which will take an hour for fish dishes, and longer for tougher cuts of meat.

The right amount of seasoning and perfect cooking time comes with experience, like so many things in life!

As is often the case the best accompaniment to a dish that is very much a part of its local culture, is a local wine. Here are a few of Croatia’s most fabulous reds and whites. We were very lucky to have our newly qualified sommelier Marcello on the tour to manage the wine kitty 🙂

Dingač is known as the ‘King of Croatian wines’. The Dingač region is on the Pelješac Peninsula in the Dalmatian region and was the first wine-producing area in Croatia to become a protected zone in 1965. The Plavac mali grape, that grows on its steep southern slopes, creates a wine that is dark red, full-bodied and generally strong, typically with an alcohol content of 15%.

Pošip is a robust white wine, golden in colour, and a great accompaniment to fish Peka, including the fabulous octopus peka. The grape is grown mostly on the island of Korčula, and also goes well with the light cheeses produced in the area.

Plavac mali is a ruby red, rich and velvety wine. Its excellent quality has made it one of Croatia’s most exported wines, and a popular choice to pair with game and meat dishes.

Faros is another a top-quality wine produced from the Plavac mali grape. The grapes used to create this dry red are grown on the island of Hvar, the variety having been originally cultivated in the area by the ancient Greeks.

Bogdanuša is a variety also grown almost exclusively on the island of Hvar, producing a dry greenish-yellow white wine. It has a fresh taste, with fans detecting the presence of the lavender that grows alongside it on the Stari Grad Plain.

Prošek is a sweet dessert wine produced in the south of Croatia, predominantly Dalmatia. Because of its production method that requires seven times more grapes than other wines, only a few hundred litres are made each year, making good quality versions more expensive. In Croatia it often makes an appearance on special occasions such as weddings and christenings, but don’t fall into the trap of confusing it with Italian Prosecco!

Our Strzelecki Tour takes us across the Great Dividing Range from the Pacific to the Southern Ocean and takes in Australia’s most iconic climbs. But who exactly was Strzelecki?

Sir Paul Edmund de Strzelecki, to give him his full title, was a Polish-born explorer, scientist and nobleman. Prior to landing in Australia in 1839, he’d briefly served in the Prussian Army, and was an experienced explorer with several expeditions under his belt. He initially set sail from Liverpool, England to New York in 1834, where he began an epic geological trip in the Americas, which included discovering copper in Canada, and travelling the west coast from Chile to California. He visited Cuba, Tahiti and the South Sea Islands before eventually arriving in Sydney.

With an ambitious dream of conducting a geological survey of Australia, Strzelecki’s expeditions would see him cover over 7,000 miles in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. While studying the mineralogy of the country he was the first person to discover gold and silver near Hartley and Wellington, but Governor Gipps, in office at the time, asked him to keep his discovery a secret, to avoid a gold rush and to maintain discipline among the convict population. Strzelecki agreed, and in doing so apparently forfeited his own claim to a fortune.

His expedition led him through the Snowy Mountains, where he climbed the highest peak in Australia, naming it Mount Kosciuszko, after Polish leader Tadeusz Kosciuszko. Kosciuszko was a worthy namesake, considered a national hero not just in his native Poland, but also in Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and the USA. He fought on the US side in the American Revolutionary War, and is honoured with statues in several US cities – to fight against the British and then have a mountain named after him in a British Colony is pretty impressive! If Strzelecki had marked his map with the local indigenous name of ‘Targangal’ however, Australians would have had a far easier time of spelling out their highest mountain for the last 160 years.

Strzelecki then travelled south through the area he named Gippsland, after the Governor. After passing the la Trobe River things took a turn for the worse and the party were forced to abandon the horses and minerals and make a dash for Melbourne. They reached it on the edge of starvation and exhaustion, but thankfully alive, in May 1840.

He was accompanied on his trip by James Macarthur and James Riley, and it was mainly thanks to their Aboriginal guides Charlie Tarra and Jackey that the group survived. Cycling trivia fans might be interested to note that James Riley was the great-grandfather of one of Australia’s greatest cyclists, Russell Mockridge. Mockridge won cycling medals around the world, and even beat the pros in Paris in 1952 – a ‘humiliation’ which caused organisers to ban amateurs for years. He competed in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, turned pro the following year, and was one of only 60 riders to finish the 1955 Tour de France, out of a starting line of 150.

Strzelecki then travelled Tasmania (or Van Diemen’s Land as it was then known) for two years, discovering coal while he was there, before returning to Australia. He eventually set sail back to England in 1843, managing to squeeze in further expeditions in China, the East Indies and Egypt on his way back. On his return he published his findings to great acclaim from the scientific community. His snappily-titled Physical Description of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land won him praise from Charles Darwin himself, and was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society.

He produced the first large geological map of New South Wales and Tasmania, which is still on public display at the Royal Geographical Society in London. He later became a British Citizen, and in 1869 was knighted, receiving the title of Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG), an honour specifically for services to the British Commonwealth, most notably his work done as a famine relief agent, which he refused to accept payment for and it has been estimated that the various works in which he was involved in during those horrible famine years saved 200,000 lives.

If you have found your way to this page you have made a vital step in joining us for some rides on Zwift. Chris Small is leading the way on this and after 4 weeks in isolation at home in Florence is well versed in how it all works. So much so he’s been top of our Strava Club classification for the last four weeks and he’s not allowed to ride outside! The rest of our Zwift team pictured – Megan, Richie, and Dylan – are new to the platform and have spent the last couple of weeks getting familiarised so they can also lead the rides. The ride times will be posted via our Ride & Seek Strava Club and Epicurean newsletter so we invite you to sign up to both if you haven’t already. Most importantly though you’ll need to follow us – Rideandseekers Ride&Seek – on the Zwift companion app so we can invite you to our Meetups. In times like these, there is no better remedy to our problems than a nice pedal and a chat with some social distancing thrown into the mix! We look forward to riding with you in the virtual world!

What do I need to join the rides?

Essentials

• A Bike!
• Zwift account – free 7-day trial for new users and then a monthly subscription.
• Zwift companion app – use this to follow Rideandseekers Ride&Seek so we can invite you to the rides.
• A smart trainer, direct drive or wheel-on trainer.
• Computer, Apple tv, iPad or smartphone to enter the Zwift virtual world – position that in front of the bike.

Optional

• Discord app – download this and we can invite you to chat with the group during the rides.
• Smartphone to send messages to the group via Zwift companion.
• Heart rate monitor.
• Cadence monitor.
• A fan to keep you cool.
• ANT connectivity – considered more stable than Bluetooth.

General advice

• Once you have received your invite to ride with us (best to check for this on the Zwift companion app) accept the invite and sign in to Zwift 20 minutes before the ride time.
• When you sign in and set up your sensors you will have a choice of worlds to enter. They can be found at the top of the Zwift page. Click on the one we are using for our ride and start to warm up. 3 minutes before the start time you will get prompted on the screen to go to the start of the ride. Click yes and join the fun.
• Our friends at GCN have also put together their usual concise overview of how it all works that is GCN Zwift rides.

Ride options – we will have two options each week

• The options will link to our espresso grading system with Option 1 aimed at all 2-4 espresso cup riders. Option 2, on the other hand, is better suited to 3 & 4 espresso cup riders.
• Option 1: A  no-drop group ride which will keep us all together regardless of the speed you pedal at. If someone rides at 400 watts and the slowest rider is at 100 watts you simply stay together until someone stops peddling and the elastic band effect snaps.
• Option 2: A normal group ride where we encourage people to ride together whilst lifting the pace around halfway and doing a mini race for the last 4/5 km (2.5/3 miles).

These 13 tips for beginner zwifters are worth a read as well. see you all on the virtual road soon!

Our First-Ever Hannibal Testimonials (2012)

Josh Robinson (Stage 1 – Barcelona to Avignon)

What a journey it’s been so far. Some of us only have a few days to go. Some are going all the way to Rome in Hannibal’s footsteps. All of us are loving every minute, every hill, every vista, every descent, every espresso stop, and certainly every carb-packed dinner.

We’re all here because we want more than a bike ride – we want an adventure. We want to push things a bit. We enjoy not knowing what’s around the next corner. We like dropping ourselves into a new scene and seeing what happens. Fortune favours the brave.

The cycling, through some of the most beautiful landscape many of us have seen, is what gets us up in the morning. But it’s the people that get us through each day.  Whether its the perfectly-timed snack stops or the words of encouragement, friendly rivalry and good dose of humour from our fellow riders. It’s the people that keep the legs pumping and the wheels turning.  Up until a few days ago we were strangers. Now, thanks to a great journey, we’ve become friends.

With Ride & Seek you don’t just discover new places. And the learning doesn’t stop with Hannibal and his elephant-powered crusade. You find out something new about yourself and about other people too. Not bad for a bike ride!

The Epic 4! – Barcelona to Rome

Jason Langer (one of the original 4!)

“It is a rare thing to experience something that changes your perspective on life permanently; even more rare when that something is a choice, and not a challenge that life has forced upon you.

In 2012, the Hannibal Tour, led by Dylan and Sam at Ride-and-Seek, did just that – it changed my perspective on life.  I started the tour with very high expectations – to see the best of Europe, to make friends, to challenge myself physically.  What it achieved was well beyond this.  The Hannibal Tour covered some of the most extraordinary landscape I will ever see, including times when I truly was on top of the world.  Meeting the physical challenge of 26 days of cycling – when I have never in my life before been a “cyclist” – has left me with an incredible belief that anything is possible in life.  I have made lifelong friends from across the globe.  On this tour, I felt more alive than I had since I was a kid.  We all laughed hard, ate and drank like kings, and at the top of the Alps I cried with joy.  And all this, from the seat of a bicycle.

Ride & Seek did a faultless job running the tour – from the hotels to the food, the support, the hire bikes and the incredible history of Hannibal along the way, I cannot imagine how it could have been executed any better.  They were both professional, dedicated, friendly and supportive.  Their experience shone through and is their greatest asset. I already have my next Ride-and-Seek tour planned, and it won’t be the last.”

Jason Langer rode the Hannibal Epic in 2012 and neither he nor we as guides quite knew what to expect as he only learned how to ride a bike 3 years before! We are often asked how hard the Hannibal tour is and whilst the espresso grading system provides clear parameters the subjectivity involved makes it hard to give a definitive answer. One thing for sure though is that we now have Jason to use as an example for all future riders who have doubts. With no experience of multi-day riding, Jason proved to be an inspiration to us all and seeing Jason get to the top of Col Agnel (2744m) was an amazing tour highlight.