Why we run Bicycle Tours without a Van?

We get this question every once in awhile so I thought I'd offer an explanation via this blog. When we started Wild Heart Cycling we had a couple of themes we wanted to be part of every bicycle tour we run:

• Introduce people to the type of cycling experience we enjoy. Let’s call them real bicycle tours. Celia and I have always toured without a SAG vehicle. 1,000's of other people have done the same. People have traveled to the far ends of the earth by bike. We wanted to breakdown those barriers people may have to touring without a SAG van. Here are our barrier breakers:

• Lead small groups. Maintain a high guide/client ratio.
• Prepare delicious meals. A lot of planning goes into setting up tasty food for every meal.
• Include the safety net of an emergency medical kit and bike repair kit. We have a well thought out risk management plan for every tour.
• Guides with a strong skill set, including bike repair, cooking and first skills.
• Be true to our environmental ethic. Our goal was to offer an experience that is has a small carbon footprint. With your typical van-supported tours you have a van that burns gas and is made using petroleum based energy sources. All those parts in that van were likely made using coal or some other petroleum based energy source. These same vans also need to be maintained. Their parts wear out after being driven many miles over a given season. Even vans that run on biodiesel have a significant carbon footprint though biodiesel is a better fuel choice than unleaded gas. Even our bikes have a carbon footprint but a 25 lb bike has a much smaller footprint than a 2 ton van. Things we do to reduce our footprint:

• On our camping tours we purchase our food from local grocers and we ask them to provide us with local produce when possible. We pick the food up as we pass the stores by bike, so that no vehicle is required to cache or shuttle our food. DONE
• Run our tours as loops. For 2009 all our tours will be loops. No shuttling folks back to the tour start.
• Purchase the electrical power we use in our offices from renewable hydro and solar sources. DONE
• Guides carpool and utilize public transportation when possible. DONE Our lead guide has no car.
• Hire local guides. Avoid/minimize travel excessive travel of our guides. This is a season to season effort. As we expand our tours this will be a significant challenge for us. We've been fairly successful with this so far.
• Support nonprofit organizations promoting a healthier planet DONE
• Encourage office staff to telecommute. Wild Heart Cycling is essentially a virtual office. DONE
• Install energy saving devices and operate the office in an energy efficient manner. This includes fluorescent bulbs, printing wisely, setting the thermostat conservatively, and turning the electronics off when done working. DONE
• With all this being said we still have room for improvement though our carbon footprint starting point is much smaller. Each season we look for opportunities to raise the sustainability bar on our business.

I hope this answers a few questions of who we are and why we offer the experiences we do. Our goal is to offer a wonderful vacation with no carbon footprint. There's an independence, sense of accomplishment, and real joy of bicycle touring without a SAG van. Power to the bike!

Pop me an email at info@wildheartcycling.com if you have any questions about who we are.

Enjoy your weekend,
Cheers, Ben

p.s. Keep an eye on our blog. We've got some exciting new camping tours coming for 2009.

Bicycle tours in Oregon, California, and Vermont
www.wildheartcycling.com