This has inspired me to try and work up to December in nz... Always a quiet month
BC road trip for a month next month north shore, Squamish, whistler and pemberton. Ideally 2 month to go even deeper into BC. Last year 12 days was nowhere near enough we barely scratched the surface. Trails are amazing
Regarding the Grand Canyon/bike thing, the third option is to hike across with your bike on your back! Bikes aren't allowed in the canyon, but it's been decided so long as they're not being wheeled/touching the floor, it's OK. The main use for this is the Arizona Trail route that crosses the whole of the state, North/South (or South/North!). It's also the starting point for a bike packing race, the AZT750, that requires the Grand Canyon hike, with bike on back, after about 650 miles of tough, desert single track... Examples of the hike setup can be seen on the web, i.e. here:
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from the short blog on the race here:
[url= http://salsacycles.com/culture/the_humbling_azt ]AZT750 blog[/url]
And back to the OPs question, I might well try to run a single track heavy version of the great divide route, taking in the AZT750, the Colorado Trail, and any other interesting routes, with some flat linking days to recover in between... Might take more than a month though!
Regarding the Grand Canyon/bike thing, the third option is to hike across with your bike on your back!
Ha,ha! My touring set up is a Long Haul Trucker and 4 Panniers. I'd need a team of Sherpas to carry it across.
Fair do's! I actually started the AZT750 but ran out of time about 50 miles from the Canyon so never did the hike, despite packing walking poles etc in preparation... Have hiked the Canyon a few times without the bike, that's hard enough!
Train to South western edge of Alps, down to and along Mediterranean Coast, Northern Italy, Slovenia and North as far as time allows, MTb and train touring....
Think I'd start in Northern Italy and drive across alps via France Switzerland, then down to Spain and Andorra.
I've heard that NZ while looking good, has pretty limited off road access?
Do you want to go touring or experience famous mountain biking destinations?
If you want the latter, would your budget cover flying between locations in the month? You could pick 4 locations with good flight connections and transfers and spend a week in each. You could ride in a lot of the US and Canada if you were able to fly between cities. Or do a whistle stop tour. You could manage Sun Valley, Park City, Bend, somewhere in Washington then to Canada, Rockies and the costal mountains.
Do some research to see which locations could entertain you for a week. As I'm sure you know, the problem with doing road trips in North America is the size of the place. Unless you want to be driving and not riding, you are better off flying. It takes 12 hours to drive from Calgary to Vancouver, for example. You would pass through some very good places to ride your bike, though. Hiring a car big enough for bikes cN be expensive, too.
No matter what you end up doing, it is going to be fun. I'm jealous.
Nepal, the Annapurna circuit is on my list.
I've been twice before on longer tours and it's amazing. Just the most amazing country in the world.
I'd base myself in Verbier. You could easily fill a month riding the stuff there and thereabouts, but you'd have easy access to other places if you needed a change of scene/terrain.
For me it would be New Zealand - if I've got a month then I might as well travel as far as I can
Europe can easily be visited for a week, so I'd save that for a shorter trip
Agree about the time of year though - for a biking trip I wouldn't want to head to NZ in say July
Oregon, loved the riding there, Bend was good, McKenzie River was the best trail I've ridden, wished I had more time there, would go back to do the same again plus Oakridge, Mt Hood, Umpqua and more.
some great responses...... me, Im thinking New Zealand, SOUTH island, because having been before and sampled only a fraction of the mtb on offer, I want to go back and explore the rest...Plan B option looks like BC whistler for the xc I hear its legendary
I'd be looking to road trip the entire Riviera region, from Mandelieu through Peille (Nico & Fab's hometown - some ridiculous trails there), Dolce Acqua, Sanremo, Finale and all the rest of the region. There's easily a month's worth of phenomenal riding there, good food, nice beaches and lots of other stuff to do too. Plus relatively easy to do on a budget.... 🙂
Perhaps I'm a little unadventurous but for me, it'd be the West coast of Scotland again with unlimited ferry tickets and maybe the occasional night in a b&b this time. Managed to spread it out to six weeks last time - felt a bit like a dream most days.
Bikepacking in Oregon, Idaho, Montana, hot springs and fire lookout towers.
