A bicycle trip is just a reason for people to come together. On these rides we regroup several times a day so that nobody gets too far ahead or behind. Your guide Tyler cares deeply that riders have a shared experience of mutual support and encouragement throughout our adventures. During these trips we should look out for each other while also checking in with ourselves to feel how our trip is going.

Cycling and camping is a challenge, and by testing our self-reliance we discover more about ourselves. Your guide wants to facilitate your personal growth through these trips. We do have a screening process before the events to make sure that the terrain and overall difficulty of the trip matches with each rider's fitness levels and comfort levels with sleeping outdoors.

To have a smooth tour, it's essential in the run-up to the event that each rider demonstrates their touring setup to Tyler with photos, a video, or a visit to a local bike shop where they can inspect and check your bike.

Ask Tyler about renting gear for bicycle touring and camping such as rear racks, front racks, panniers, camp stoves, water filters, tents, and hammocks. We have items to borrow and share during trips, so nobody is going to be without a headlamp or hot water.

What's special about Lichen Bike Tours is our bikepacking trips that bring you closer to nature by camping in the wilderness and carrying your own shelter, sleep, and food systems on the frame of the bicycle. For these trips we leave the electrified campgrounds behind and camp in remote areas where we observe Leave No Trace (LNT) principles. We prefer to camp near the large wooden lean-to shelters that dot our forests. Our bikepacking trips are fine for all touring setups, whether that is racks & panniers or a combination of modular bags, because we stay on gravel and road surfaces.

When it comes to meals on these trips, we will go 36 or 48 hours between grocery stops. On a longer trip there will be several days that include a stop at a restaurant and a grocery store to resupply. As a result of traveling on bicycles and not by foot, in one day we can cover mileage that a long distance hiker can only dream of. We take advantage of that by routing ourselves through towns and purchasing meals at local restaurants (often a diner, a pub, or a Mexican restaurant).

FIRST BIKEPACKING TRIPS Lichen Bike Tours also wants to lead people on their first bikepacking trips and these trips are a much different experience than the backcountry experiences above. Spending a couple days on a bicycle and sleeping outdoors in the middle of it is a lot to ask of yourself, of a partner or of friends! You might be experienced in either cycling or camping, but not both; or you may have done both and enjoyed them, but want some guidance in how to do both at the same time AND have a nice time while doing it. If you are the one who is "more into it" than your friend, then you might want to think about joining one of these guided trips. What we do is:

1. guide folks individually in the planning stages by offering more personal attention and talking through what to expect,
2. design a route that takes in other activities throughout the day so that when we take a break it's not just to catch your breath. We're legitimately "Cycling and ___", whether it's swimming, cheese tasting, cooking in the campsite, taking in a street fair...,
3. design a route that avoids unnecessary hills and includes a sensible amount of miles,
4. use campgrounds that have drinking water, flush toilets, showers, and electricity for recharging batteries.

Sometimes we like to incorporate collectively cooked meals so that we can have a campfire gourmet kind of experience. "Not-too-tough" is how we like to describe these bikepacking trips because we are still carrying our shelter, sleep and cook systems plus all our comforts on the bicycle, and we are still camping overnight, BUT you are not trying to max out your endurance and adrenaline. You'll get a rush and a real sense of satisfaction from trying and enjoying a new activity.

IF CAMPING IS NOT YOUR THING then Lichen Bike Tours is still right for you! We respect and appreciate "real beds" and "real breakfast in the morning" so much that we are organizing Inn-to-Inn bicycle tours and hotel stays for our 2025 season.

Expect something like 4 days and 4 nights through the Catskills and a similar timeframe for going around Lake Champlain. We can also add some 2 or 3 day trips to/from NYC and the capital area if there's sufficient interest.

Firstly, we offer trip planning consultations in which we help you in your planning for a solo trip like riding across the country, Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, and more. Usually a bundle of 3 pre-trip sessions and 1 post-trip session. These are 1-on-1 video calls 60 minutes in length, plus a lot of email communication. Think of this as having a coach for your trip who makes sure you are well prepared.

PRIVATE GUIDED TRIPS Contact Tyler if you have your own ideas for a trip involving two out of these four activities (cycling - hiking - camping - snowshoeing) and we can put together a custom trip that Lichen Bike Tours leads for you. For groups up to 3 individuals, rates start at $750/day with additional costs for equipment rentals or for larger groups. So a weekend overnighter customized to the fitness levels, comfort levels sleeping outdoors, and interests of you and two friends would start at $1500.

Or, you could take one of those four activities (cycling - hiking - camping - snowshoeing) and mix in some fly fishing, birding, meditation, dark sky photography, sound baths, yoga, spas or another activity that you think of, and Tyler will collaborate with other guides to put together your dream experience. For example, if you wanted to mix in fly fishing with the cycling, then we would be able to phone a friend and coordinate a full day of guided fly fishing during your guided bike tour.

Contact Tyler with any questions.

• email at guides@lichenbiketours.com
• text and phone call at 518-755-0217
• IG: @lichen_bike_tours_hudsonNY