Endless Opportunities to Get Outside on the First Weekend of June

Each year, on the first Saturday of June, individuals across the country unite for a shared trail experience during American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day®. With thousands of events in all 50 states and beyond it’s easy to find an event near you. Young or old, inexperienced or expert, there’s a trail and a National Trails Day event to suit the interests of every individual. Lace up your hiking boots, pump up your bike tires, get out your work gloves, grab your paddle, or saddle up your horse and hit the trail!

Thousands of organizations and individuals have begun organizing a variety of events tailored for every muscle-powered trail activity under the sun for National Trails Day. For the cycling community, Adventure Cycling Association has organized the second annual Bike Travel Weekend, June 2 – 4, which coincides with National Trails Day on June 3.

Use the Bike Travel Weekend Toolkit to plan, prepare, and help get your friends and family excited about Bike Travel Weekend.

With hundreds of trail-specific bike trips in the works for National Trails Day, Adventure Cycling Association has added a great lineup of events for cyclists across America.  We recently interviewed Eva Dunn-Froebig, Adventure Cycling Association’s Events & Outreach Coordinator, about Bike Travel Weekend and how it connects with National Trails Day.

What makes Bike Travel Weekend unique?

Bike Travel Weekend is the only bike travel event that anyone can do from anywhere in the world. The idea is to go on a one- or two-night bicycle trip during the weekend of June 2 – 4. You can go with friends and family or solo. You can stay overnight in a campground, hotel, B&B, hostel or even a friend or relative’s house. You can ride your bike as far as you’d like and wherever you’d like. YOU choose the ice cream and brewery stops.

Never been on a bike overnight? No problem! Bike Travel Weekend Advisors are standing by to help you plan your route and answer general bike travel questions. Public trips taking place on trails have been added to the National Trails Day event database, and a complete listing of public Bike Travel trips can be found on the Bike Travel Weekend interactive map, and you’ll make new friends who also have the bike travel bug.

Use the Bike Travel Weekend Toolkit to plan, prepare, and help get your friends and family excited about Bike Travel Weekend.

Why should people participate?
It’s fun, easy, inclusive—and it’s free! Plus, everyone who registers will receive a Bike Travel Weekend sticker in the mail and will be entered to win an Advocate Cycles bike and an Amtrak trip to Glacier National Park (with bikes) for two people.

Do you have a unique example of a great Bike Travel Weekend trip?

The Young People’s Bike Tour is organized by the Finger Lakes Cycling Club and is especially for kids and teens, and their adult chaperones. This year, their trip will start in Rochester, N. Y. and they will bicycle 60 miles over the course of the weekend. What’s great about this trip is the organizers take care of all of the route planning, meals, snack and water stops, camping fee and logistics (which includes showers and a swimming pool), and they carry your gear for you—all for just $35 per person. It’s a good example of trips we hope more groups will organize to help spread the joy of bike travel.

 

Sharing a weekend-long bike adventure with some new friends sounds like a great way to start the summer, but don’t lose heart If you can’t get away for a large chunk of the weekend during Bike Travel Weekend. You can still have a great experience by participating in short bike rides, trail stewardship projects, and a wide spectrum of other trail activities at one of the thousands of single day events taking place on National Trails Day. Whether you set out on an epic three-day bike trip or join a short 1-mile guided hike we hope to see you on the trail on June 3, 2017.