Guide: Selecting Cycle-friendly Accommodation

If you are thing about taking your bikes away with you on holiday or planning a specific cycling / mtb break, then here are 5 Top Tips to consider when booking accommodation:

1. Secure bike storage — leaving your bikes inside the property is not always acceptable for the Cottage / B&B owners, plus if the bikes are wet and muddy you won’t want them indoors. However, your bikes are worth several hundred if not thousand of pounds and may be the target for thieves, so if they are outside, ensure the shed/outbuilding is secure.

2. Cycle Washing Facilities — this doesn’t need to be anything more than a hose pipe and an area that is suitable for washing down your bikes. Make sure you take some lube if you’re staying for longer than a day or two, otherwise the components on your cycles will rust after washing — not good.

3. Clothes Washing / Drying Facilities — if you are away for a number of days it may not be practical to take a new change of shorts / base layers for every day. Plus your cycling shoes, helmet and jacket will be needed each day — therefore having somewhere to wash and dry clothes is a big help.

4. Accommodation location — not crucial this one, but if you are deciding between 2 similar properties to stay in, it’s worth finding out if either is situated at the top or bottom of a hill. Bottom of a hill means the first riding you do in the morning (with cold legs) will most likely be up — top of a hill means the last riding you do every day (when you’re tired after a day’s riding) will be up. Your choice!

5. Plan your routes beforehand — taking time to buy maps (or downloading routes off the web) beforehand is time well spent. Often cyclists and bikers will travel significant distances to go away for a long weekend riding — you want to therefore maximise the time you spend riding and minimise the time spent huddled over an OS Map.